Even when you win 55% of your bets, you will come out consistently ahead. This really is, on the flip side, easier said than done and involves more than just a little reading and checking the injury reports. If Paul the octopus picked every winner in the recent soccer World Cup, picking winning football teams should be just as easy, right? Wrong. If it were that easy, a lot of people could be making money and also the sports books could have to go out of business. If winning at football betting involves some knowledge, some strategy and, allow us to face it, a dash of luck, it’s since the bookmakers set very tight lines for the games. On the flip side, if you keep the next tips in mind, it should improve your probability of winning.

Bet as early as you can. Many of the sports books post their lines as early because they can and some offshore books do this by Sunday afternoon for the following week’s games. If you find a game and odds that you like make certain that there are no serious injury problems for the team that you pick. Bookmakers are not perfect and may make mistakes in setting the line. Pounce early before heavy betting irons out the mistakes.

Concentrate on a number of teams. Because knowledge is important, if you pay attention to several teams, you can build up a tremendous amount of knowledge that you just can use in making your bets. Also limit your betting to just a couple of games every Sunday.

Avoid heavy favorites. The crowd loves favorites and will rush to bet on them. In contrast, they’re not good choices if you want to maintain your 55% average in winning bets. Even when you do win several, the payouts will be small. The very best strategy is to bet on short priced underdogs because, when you win, you generally make more than you have bet.

Use totals judiciously. Totals set early in the week are generally based upon predictions of good weather. In late season games, rain or snow sometimes affects the scoring and a heavy wind almost always keeps scoring down. In these conditions, you would do well by betting the Under

Use yards per play ranking. One method of evaluating teams is to look-at the offensive yards gained per play and the defensive yards given away per play. Teams that gain more than they lose find yourself winning more games. The statistics are easily accessible as well as you can calculate the difference with a positive difference becoming an advantage. The general guideline to calculate a points spread from Kskccs the yardage differential is that every 0.15 yards will be worth one point. A differential of 0.60 yards between the 2 teams is worth four points. As with all betting tools, use your other data and information to confirm your findings.

Do not avoid teasers. There’s a common perception that teasers are a rip-off and therefore best avoided. Under certain circumstances, an NFL teaser which is a two-game parlay bet could make sense.

Pay attention to the injury reports. Read the injury reports carefully to find out what difference it really is going to make to the performance of your chosen team. Do not just look at key players because all of the guys within the team have to perform at their peak.