By Only Players Staff
Updated 4/30/24 3:14am ET
Finding value is the goal of every sports bettor. Exactly what distinguishes “line value”?
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Sports betting is complicated and it can be intimidating as a new bettor. We’re here to help.
Mariah: Class is in session welcome to bet-ology 101 betting terminology broken down by Professor Doug here and today’s word phrase line value what is it
Doug: Yeah it’s a term I use here and there it’s really all about sort of betting value and having an edge based on the market so what does that mean in theory obviously we talk about the casino versus the sports betting market the casino the math that’s we know the roulette wheel we know the craps table and even the deck of cards and things like that to a certain extent. Sport’s not as clean but it’s the same concept but the closing number of a game in a major sport like NFL college football marquee games things like that is as close to the clean math as we get so sometimes early in the week you kind of beat the market.
So let’s say you’re laying two in a college football game and the line closes at three involving Alabama like a marquee you have some line value at two now the question is like how big of a line value is it you know stuff like that that’s what you have to assess because it’s more so like in contests where you’re in pick um leagues and you spreads close on like Friday of an NFL weekend and you’ll get like minus three and the line the market Sunday all of a sudden goes to like six or something like that maybe a player’s out the opposing quarterback and then you have great line value in your pick um league so you should always sort of take that minus three even though you might like the other side something like that um that’s all it is it’s it’s locking in a line or a wager or bet in relation to the market um sometimes it’s just number based
For example this is a really nuanced uh example but it’s still an example so sometimes books will get a little confused so you know in a sport that doesn’t have ties like the NBA let’s say a big favorite is trailing at halftime like by eight they might make the second half line like seven so it’s plus one for the game then they’ll go minus 7 minus 120 and then it’ll go to like eight which means pick them for the game and then they’ll sometimes move to like eight and a half with less juice well that’s like the same thing because it’s pick them or minus a half for the game and obviously can’t have ties so sometimes you get like a good number because the odds maker messed up or something like that where you get like a good 10 cent or 20 cent so there’s some line value there like you’d rather lay eight and a half flat versus like 8 minus 20 or minus 10 because obviously eight eight and a half are the same thing um so it’s it’s around that sort of stuff where you see some edges and some line value and things along those lines or sometimes and we talked about this with the draft they’ll move one market in the index bets like with all and then they won’t move the other.
So a popular one the final week was Jayden Daniels to go number two overall his juice moved from like minus 130 to minus 400 but then Washington to draft Daniels or Daniels to go to Washington did not move as much so you got a little bit of line value on that Market at let’s say minus 250 when the other Market was minus 400 so things like that you can sort of get a different angle um like in the NBA Playoffs they’ll do series spreads and then they’ll do like the money line of that game so if a team’s up 3-1 let’s say it’s Boston and they’ll be like oh the prop of the Celtics to win in five games is minus 300 and then the money line for the game might be like 340 so you can just bet the minus 300 and get line value in theory things along those lines so you can always search for stuff um and that’s the concept you’re you’re finding line value if you believe the market on a game or something like that is like the baseline or the you know the litmus test
Mariah: So would it be similar to like I just I always go back to the Super Bowl when you look at the MVP odds versus the game odds
Doug: Correct that’s a great example now there is a scenario where obviously win what whatever but yeah I mean you you can say like there’s that I would guess I would technically say betting value but I still think line value it’s usually line value as if it’s the same exact thing so I guess the NFL draft example is not exactly the same because maybe Washington trades their pick and another team drafts that that quarterback second but in the example of the NBA playoff like that’s the same thing you’re just getting a better number um I think it’s more like locking in a spread like in the pick um league example and it’s like oh there’s line value there if the market if the market because it’s closer to kickoff so it’s more right if the market at kickoff is like six and you get to lock in three that’s line value in theory so it’s about contests and pick them leagues things along those lines
Mariah: all right so line value can be applied in many situations many different sports there you have it broken down by Professor Doug
