In play betting - make it pay

Basketball betting may be a new departure for the good people here at betting.com, but as with any American sport, the statistical analysis available to the general public, and thus the betting public, is excellent. As a result it's very possible to make these trends into friends and to exploit them on a betting in running basis. No game is more perfectly set up for this than tomorrow night's game five between the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat. This Eastern conference semi final series is delightfully poised at two games each, with two home games still to come for the pre-series favourites, the Heat. 6.5 is the betting spread for this game five and momentum is certainly with the Heat after they levelled the series in Indiana last night. Lebron James was even more outstanding than we've come to expect, notching up 40 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists, but he was ably assisted by Dwayne Wade, who also stepped up to the mark with 30 points. Before this series began, this was ...

Football betting enthusiasts usually either love or hate International match weeks. For some, it’s a chance to exploit a different type of knowledge, be it the different distributions that come into play for matches with an unusual dynamic, or their knowledge of players and standards in countries that normally don’t feature too prominently in the betting world. We’ve covered previously here on betting.com how betting on International Friendlies is a difficult art to master. It’s all the more so on weeks where teams are at completely different stages in their development and preparation – some have a huge tournament immediately on the horizon, others are looking ahead to World Cup qualification already. For example, let’s take England’s meeting with Belgium this Saturday, a game that will be at the forefront of the thoughts of most of our readers here on this site, and not just because of potential betting opportunities. For a moment, put yourself ...

Some would argue that the 2012 European Championships have been an in-play betting event for two years now, but with the business end of the competition looming, now represents a great opportunity to have a look at the antepost betting market with a view to trying to isolate which countries could possibly represent the best value. Later in the week we'll have a look at the group betting, but for now we'll focus on the bigger picture and the race to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy in a month's time. No team has ever won three major international trophies in succession, but that's exactly the challenge facing Spain this month and as favourites in the betting market, best priced at 14/5 with Bodog and Bwin, they have to be discussed. Many analysts expect fatigue to be an issue for the reigning champions, but Vicente Del Bosque is an experienced hand at the wheel and he'll be sure to give his players sufficient rest in the lead up to the competition. With a relatively old ...

Tonight's Eastern Conference Finals game 5 between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat is possibly the most eagerly awaited game of the season so far, after these two franchises played out an incredible 93-91 overtime game last time out in Boston. The series is delicately poised at 2-2 now, with home advantage the decisive factor in terms of which side gets the result so far. That would point to Miami taking a 3-2 lead tonight, but it's a brave punter who'll bet against the Celtics in a playoff situation. However from a betting perspective, level stakes on the home club would only have you breaking even. Miami in game 2 and Boston in game 4 only did enough to win, they didn't cover the spread in the process, and with an eight point line on offer from most betting firms for tonight, that has to be considered another very real possibility. Sportingbet go 9/2 about the Heat winning the game by 1-5 points and with both defenses starting to look far superior, that looks like ...

Today we'll look at the antepost betting for the four Euro 2012 groups, and we'll start our preview with Group A, including hosts Poland, who were one of our antepost tips when we had a look at the outright betting earlier in the week. Russia lead the market with Skybet, Sportingbet and Bodog all betting 6/4 about them topping the group. On all known form, they should do just that, since they are clearly the class act of the field. The Czech Republic have regressed in recent seasons and are nothing like the force they were several years ago, while if the tournament was taking place anywhere other than Poland, the Poles would be bottom of the betting list due to their world ranking of 62. The issue with that world ranking however is that Poland didn't have the chance to prove themselves over a grueling qualifying campaign, as fourteen of the other fifteen nations did. Perhaps they would have impressed us and climbed the ladder if they had the games to prove themselves, since ...

It's time now to look at Groups C and D, starting with Group C, the home of outright betting favourites Spain. The Spanish will have a tough time of it winning the tournament and as we discussed earlier in the week, they don't represent great value as an outright wager - however the market is clearly happy to pile into them as potential group winners. The few bits of 4/6 and 8/13 that were offered by the bookmaking community have been gobbled up and 4/7 is now the best price you can have on the fixed odds betting market. while the betting exchanges are no better for those looking to pile into the European and World champions. Victor Chandler are really overdoing it, offering a mere 2/5 about Spain topping the group, while giving standout prices on Croatia and the Republic of Ireland. Earlier this week we advised Italy as a good value outright punt, purely because they may gather momentum as the tournament progresses. However they are extremely unlikely to take any points from playing ...

At 1-0 up and with Greece down to ten men, it looked for all the world as if the hosts, and our 50/1 outright betting recommendation, would get off to the best possible start in this European Championships. Instead, they conceded a soft equaliser and now face a clash with in-form Russia, knowing that defeat could spell the end of their chances. In theory, Poland would have a chance of qualification going into their last match against the Czech Republic, regardless of results today. However as betting veterans will tell you, the level of motivation that a team brings to the table in a particular game is crucial. If Russia were to win tonight and the Czechs were to draw with Greece, then Russia would play Greece in the last group game knowing that they were going to top the group regardless - so they would undoubtedly rest key players with one eye on bigger tests ahead. That would of course open the door for the Greeks, and leave Poland in a situation where they could beat the Czechs but ...

After last year's lockout, NBA officials must be delighted with this year's finals pairing, which looks well poised to engage supporters and to get people back talking about the good things in basketball, rather than listening to millionaires arguing about money. Granted some people have still got a lot to learn, such as Shane Battier. The Miami player made the comment that " I anticipate record ratings, which is great, so maybe we can get some of the escrow check back from the owners." It would be easy to read a comment like that in advance of a finals series and come to an instant conclusion - that we should bet on the Thunder - purely because it suggests that a starting player has his mind on things other than winning a championship. However there is no doubt that there are players on both sides who are thinking the same thing, though they probably have the sense not to say anything, so we'll leave that aside when considering our wagering approach. Despite their ...

An Irish supporter interviewed live from Poland earlier today summed up the situation for tonight's match perfectly in the space of one short and memorable sentence. "Never mind Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta - we've got Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews and Paul McShane!" Fifteen enthusiastic words, accurately summing up a ridiculous gulf in class that even the most optimistic Irish supporter doesn't really believe can be bridged. This makes it all the more surprising that while the World and European Champions are obviously the strong favourites tonight in the betting market, best priced at 2/7 with Paddy Power, the odds on offer don't really reflect the fact that player for player, these two squads inhabit different worlds. Spain's squad is almost entirely drawn from clubs at the top of La Liga, while Ireland will start the game without a single player who is a regular in any club that will play European football next year. Damien Duff, a regular but not perennial ...

Both France and England approach tonight's Group D deciders in a good position, but Ukraine's win over Sweden means that Laurent Blanc is in a much more comfortable position right now than his English counterpart and the betting on offer for the two games reflects this. England are best priced at 6/5 to beat the Ukraine (Ladbrokes, Stan James), while France are a clear odds on shot to beat Sweden, who have nothing but pride to play for tonight. While no country would want to lie down in a big European Championship finals fixture in front of a worldwide television audience, France will have that extra competitive edge tonight and even though the best priced wager on offer at the moment is 3/4 with BetVictor, that's still the only side we'd like to be on in that fixture. The French are playing some excellent football at the moment, they have an unbeaten run stretching back to the start of this qualifying campaign and the comfortable nature of their win over Ukraine in the ...