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Maybe this wasn’t asked before, but I think it’s interesting to see how you guys usually bet.

Do you trust the favorites more or do you like taking your chances with the underdogs?

I mostly bet ATS, and honestly, I kinda lean toward the underdogs. Feels like there’s more value there, especially when the public is all over the favorite. But of course, sometimes the favorite just dominates and makes you regret not taking the easy side.

how others do it here..  are you more of a dog bettor, or do you stick with the strong teams and trust them to cover?

It actually depends, there are some good underdogs who are trying to compete and you know they have something to offer and that's usually what I'm looking at. I personally don't just place bets on underdogs because we know that most of them are still figuring out if they can make it or just getting experience in actual leagues but in some lower leagues there are some underdogs who perform good (I'm not sure if the top teams are just trying new starts that's why they sometimes lose to underdogs or experimenting things).

So it depends but I would most likely place bet in lower brackets as some of the strong teams are just chilling and trying new strategies since they are more likely to lose. By the way I experience this most in Esports leagues.

I usually bet on the favorite ATS, but only when it’s a big one, not those small lines like -2.5 or -3.5. I prefer higher ones, like -5.5 or more. Based on my observation, even though I don’t keep strict records, I tend to win more that way. Of course, I’m still selective with the games I bet on, if I don’t see any real value or the line looks tricky, I’ll just skip it.

The underdog can be my favorite at times but this situation is not common. In most cases, I prefer to bet on the stronge team which is what you mean as favorite because in most cases, betting on underdog is not worth it at all. The odds for stronger teams are lower but I still prefer to go for the strong team than underdogs.

There could be times that we see the underdog as a good bet. Maybe it was gut instinct on what, so we might go against the favorite and see how it goes. And there are gamblers who really loves to go on the underdogs in any sports so it's no brainer for them.

Specially if the underdog is somewhat a good team too, but they have to face a better team this time. But you know that they could have pull a upset so even a ML bet will be a good stake already and no need to take the handicap. Maybe a good underdog odds is around 2.5x or higher.

Look at the win percentages for the top four teams in the top leagues:

Serie A: 2x70% + 2x60%
EPL: 80% + 2x60% + 50%
La Liga: 91% + 72% + 63% + 54% (that's Atlético lol)
Bundesliga: 100% + 77% + 2x66%

It turns out that there are literally only a few reliable teams, and even among them, the average odds are far from 100%. Accordingly, you need to evaluate the odds offered by bookmakers - if they compensate for the risk, then you can go with the favorites; if not, it's better to try betting on the underdogs. I combine these two approaches and make large multiple bets, but of course, there are more outcomes where I've chosen the favorites.

I prefer to bet after analyze. Analyze can tell you sometimes that favorite has some problems and underdog has good chances to win. Or it can tell you that such event would be better to skip.
I don`t even think in such categories: favorite or underdog. In such way of betting you pay for name, but don`t control the situation. You don`t see unjuries, transfers, last games. As the result you get lower odds(due to the name) and higher risks(because without analyze).

That’s right. They’re the underdog, but the public is heavily betting on their handicap. In point spread betting, it’s not really about who’s favored or not, it’s about which side the money is flowing to. If you’re familiar with the “betting against the public” strategy, that’s exactly what some bettors use. They believe that when one side gets too much public action, it’s often a trap, and the real value lies on the opposite side.

I do bet the same way like this since it’s more safer to assume the underdog can cover the spread instead of the favorites having a huge gap just get a W on bets.

There’s any times that favorite even beaten by the underdog or they perform less that’s why the points difference is very low that doesn’t cover the spread.

Depending on the sports but on basketball I often bet on underdog for point spread bets.

Well, this is something I can't even remember how many times it's been discussed here, but as a matter of fact, it's been discussed multiple times but then, it's not bad to still dicuss it since we are having new gamblers join the forum every day..

For me though, I don't have a special or particularly way u bet, I simply place my bets based on my research and who I personally think will win the match, at times, my research could be telling me that the favorite will win the match, I go ahead to bet on them, and at times when my research is showing me that the underdog have a great chance of winning, I risk it and bet on them, in the end, what ever turn out to be the outcome, I gladly take it and move on..

Gambling disappointment can come from any angle, this may be from the favorite or the underdog, it also depend on the choice of bet we made, some may predict a total number of goals on both teams, some straight win and some may choose to consider other features upon which they wanted to play their bet, everything is bound to the chance of winning or losing, because anyone of the strong or weak team can disappoint or make us proud.

I lean towards the favorite team to win as that is the essence of the analysis which is done to check basic information like their scoring pattern and conceding pattern as well as injuries and suspensions. After checking these factors, it is pretty easier choosing the favorite to bet on and not betting on the underdog which is very risky despite their big odd.

I’m usually on the public side since I like betting on high ATS favorites. I don’t really have solid data to prove if it’s profitable, but that’s just where I feel comfortable. In basketball, I always make sure that when I bet on the favorite, it’s a playoff-caliber team, I don’t want to just gamble blindly.. I want my picks to come from careful analysis.

Sometimes I do take the underdog too, but only if the line’s not too wide, usually a max of +4.5.

Depends.

I take underdog bets a lot of times, but when I see the opponent being too strong and the spreads are above 10 or sometimes not enough that I believe it can be covered, I will take a pass.
Recently, I have been picky with my bets. I don't know why, but I became more carefu,l and I want to have a good winning rate this NBA season. Last year was not so good because there's too much emotional bets and mostly underdog takes.
I will still pick them, but it will depend on their opponent.

I can relate to this experience. Choosing an underdog bet is an easy way to destroy your winning rate on sports betting. There’s only few underdog team that can actually beat a favorite team on regular basis.

I manage to scoop a huge win placing on underdog bet on MLB WS between Blue Jays and Dodgers. I’m confident that Blue Jays is a strong team since it beat my favorite team while Dodgers is the favorite on this match up so I frequently bet on Jays on ML and sometimes with point spread during live games and keep winning.

It’s more on we should fully understand the full capacity of the underdog before we can start betting on it.

A long time ago, I think such question has been asked, I could not find the topic tho, but I think I have answered a similar question in a thread before. Sports betting for me is based on the option that I think is possible to give me a win. This time around, I don't only bet on favorite team or underdog but after I make my analysis, that's what will determine which option I should go with and the one that is likely to fail me, then I also consider odd based on the options.

yeah there is something  outstanding feeling about wagering on an underdog team &  winning, especially when people are passionate about the favorites. I mean, there are not many things in life better than a  7 point underdog actually undefeated the game, lol

But I think the key is to understand the line changes &  the bias of the general public. you know sometimes bookmakers force the value underdogs to run, while the favorites in effect win tacitly. if you ask me, i usually play both,, when I really see the robustness of a team ,, like injuries or power differential !

I hate losing my bet, that's why I don't like betting on underdogs. It's a good strategy provided that you are gambling with the amount of money that you can afford to lose. As you keep on betting on them, anytime that you win your bet, it will be a good recovery of your losses.

I prefer making little profits often than winning big once. Little profits gives you more reason to continue gambling with the mindset that you are doing the right thing.

We are alike in this case. if I'm not betting on moneyline ill just bet ATS only on the higher ones. I do not bet on low ATS, no big return regardless of the risk involved. By the look of thing, it seems much safer but trust me, ATS is much more risky compared to when you bet on moneyline.
The mistake some bettors do is to bet on every game they see. Some games just need to be avoided because of how tricky it is.

Underdog is not always losing and most of the time they can cover the spread. You just need to bet on the right underdog team or the match that they are against.

Sometimes, team becomes an underdog because of the bettors following the heard thinking that the favorite team is strong snd will win.

The popularity of the sports team sometimes create an illusion that it will always win.

When you say they cover the spread most of the time, you really need to back that up with data. That’s one of the common problems, we assume the underdog will cover, especially when the handicap looks high, but in reality, it doesn’t always happen. It’s better to say it’s based on your own observation rather than claiming they cover most of the time, because without numbers to support it, it just sounds like a personal impression, not a fact.

here's some data  - https://www.oddsshark.com/sports-betting/which-sport-do-betting-underdogs-win-most-often