Here are the current handicapping articles and how to tips
from Maddux Sports.
There are few things as hard for teams in the NHL or NBA than winning a seven game series. The intensity of the sports increases almost exponentially once the playoff begins, and every win comes at a big cost. For fans there is nothing better than the playoffs. They can be great for bettors as well, but only if they are properly prepared for them and the unique challenges they offer. One of those challenges is the ways in which a series changes as it progresses. The way teams approach the first game of the series is different from the fourth, a ...
Anyone who is a serious bettor of any pro sport in North America knows that at some point each year you have to make the transition from the regular season to the playoffs. In a lot of ways betting on the postseason in any sport is the same as the regular season - the game is still the same. Fans know, though, that there are some key differences between the regular season and the playoffs. Smart bettors know that those differences require adjustments to be made in order profitability to be maintained. Here are six possible adjustments that coul ...
Every major professional betting sport in the country has a substantial playoff. Each sport’s playoff is obviously unique, but regardless of which sport it is there is some common factors that indicate likely success or failure for teams. Here are five bad signs for teams heading into the playoffs regardless of their sport: ...
There are many different ways to be on a game, and some will work better for you than others. The two most popular are betting on a side and betting on totals. Lots of bettors successfully play both kinds of bets, but there is almost certainly one type of bet that works better for those bettors than the other. Each type of bet requires different mindsets and mentalities to succeed, and some mindsets are easier for some than for others. If you are aware of the differences between the two groups of bet types you can decide which work for you, and ...
Successful sports betting is all about handling transitions well. You regularly have to make transitions between different sports, types of bets, or phases of the season. The preseason is different than the early part of the regular season, and the stretch drive of the season is different than the playoffs. The better someone is able to make those transitions, the more likely they will be a profitable long term bettor. ...
When we are handicapping games we spend a lot of time looking at the stats, the matchups, the star players, and so on. What often doesn’t get as much attention, though, is the coaching matchup. Quite often the coaches aren’t particularly relevant because they are fairly evenly matched, or they won’t have a direct impact on the game. Sometimes, though, the coaches have a direct and significant impact on the outcome of the game. Here’s a look at four things to keep in mind when you are trying to determine if there is a coaching mismatch that crea ...
If there is one trait shared by almost all losing sports bettors - other than the fact that they lose more bets than they win, of course - it’s that they make too many assumptions. At the heart of it all, sports betting is about looking at facts, comparing those facts, and determining which factors matter and which don’t. That’s hard enough to do when your facts are well established and proven. When you are trying to base things not on what is proven but what you assume to be true, then, you are doomed. You would be in trouble if even a small n ...
Good handicappers know that getting an insight into how a game is likely to turn out requires a careful analysis of statistics that matter. Figuring out which of the statistics actually matter is a big issue, but one that we won’t deal with here. What I do want to look at today is situations in which bettors are unintentionally paying too much attention to a particular type of stat. Without knowing they are doing it handicappers can easily count statistics twice, and that can skew their view of games and lead them to make frustratingly inaccura ...
In the NHL and NBA playoffs quirks of scheduling and series that run long an mean that teams ca have short layoffs between one series and the next. They could endure a grueling seven game series only to have to start the next with just a day of rest. A transition like that isn’t easy on a team because of the challenges of moving on from the emotional and physical toll a long series can extract. When a team starts their next series, then, handicappers need to be able to assess what impact that last series had and how the team is likely to perfor ...
One of the many tough things for handicappers to deal with in the NBA or NHL playoffs is a team that wins their seven game series in just four or five games. Teams that win that quickly are all but certain to have a long break between the end of one series and the start of the next. Their opponent likely isn’t finished their series yet, and even if they are the league isn’t likely to start the next series until all the other series are over so that the series don’t get too out of whack. A team that sweeps can easily find themselves sitting on t ...
One of the things that both players and bettors learn is that you shouldn’t spend time looking ahead to games further up the schedule. The most important game is the next one you are playing, and if you forget that you can make costly mistakes. There are times, though, that it actually makes sense for bettors to be taking a peek at what is to come. Here are four situations in which you should be looking beyond the next games to be played: ...
Without question, the single most valuable part of my handicapping process - regardless of what sport I am handicapping - is when I make my own lines. Before I look at the lines that the sports books are offering I determine what I think a fair number would be. I don’t have the resources available to me that oddsmakers do, so it’s not often that I am exactly right once I compare my numbers to the real ones. Most times, though, I am roughly in the ballpark. Those aren’t the interesting cases, though. The times I really like are when my odds are ...
Power ratings - a term that every handicapper has heard, and every successful handicapper understands. A lot of winning bettors use power ratings as the basis of their handicapping approach. Even those who don’t formally use a power rating often employ the underlying principles behind power ratings that make them effective. Power ratings don’t have to be complicated, but they are often misunderstood. Here are four good questions to help you understand power ratings better: ...
People who are trying to become better sports bettors will hear time and again that they have to have a long term view. There is nothing that is more true than that. Once you have a handicapping approach that works you can’t worry about what happens in any given game or week - if it is a winning approach then over the long term you will come out ahead. If you spend too much time worrying about what’s happening on a day to day basis - getting too excited by wins or too frustrated by losses - then you can lose focus on what’s important and what y ...
If you read or talk about sports betting at all then one of the words you hear all the time is ‘edge’. People will tell you that sports betting is all about finding an edge, that they know that they have a big edge, and so on. It’s a very important concept - really the key to sports betting - but it’s not always one that is well understood. Let’s look at what an edge is, and the keys to keep in mind when thinking about, and looking for, an edge. ...
If you have spent any time at all in the sports betting world then you have inevitably heard about locks - picks that absolutely can’t lose. We’ll go into more detail, but if there is one thing you need to take from this article it’s this: ...
Spring is the time when we clean our house, our yards, and our offices, so it only makes sense that we do a little spring cleaning on our handicapping as well. Spring is a good time for most bettors to do it as well - hockey and basketball are winding down, football is a long way off, and baseball is in a stable period. Even if you have had a successful year your handicapping can always use a little polishing, and a few parts can be replaced and a few bolts tightened. If you aren’t spending time at least once a year looking at what is working a ...
Twitter is getting more and more popular every day. It used to be that it was just a fringe website used by gossips. Now everyone is on it, and there is an incredible amount of valuable information out there. For handicappers it can be a real goldmine, and if you use it effectively it can give you a real edge. I have a Twitter account set up just to follow people useful to my handicapping, and it frequently produces valuable information that I may not have seen at all, and certainly wouldn’t have seen as quickly. ...
Statistical analysis in sports is getting more and more powerful all the time. Handicappers who are aware of the stats that are available and how they can be helpful in the handicapping process have a clear and obvious edge over others. Baseball stats guru Bill James is one of the biggest driving forces in the development of more potent statistical analysis. One of his concepts that has taken hold in baseball and is being used increasingly in basketball as well is Pythagorean expectation. It can be a powerful tool for handicappers. ...
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