Who are you playing against?

[swogerino]

OP: Many people don't know that even when the odds of a favorite team are better, each player's bet is redistributed among those who are betting on that team, which results in you not actually receiving the payment that corresponds to that percentage, sumarry, the payment is supported by the players themselves when a team is a big favorite.

Therefore, the ignorant person who only bets on low odds in the long term ends up losing money, he must bet on odds at a disadvantage, if he is not able to predict to go against the favorite bets, he loses money.

That is a fact and nothing changes this. In fact if it was otherwise the sport bookies would have gone down if everyone would have won with low odds, we have the odds of 1.04 in Basketball where the absolute favorite lost against last place, we have daily odds of 1.10 which keep losing their games and yet people still think that betting on the favorite is the way to go, in fact is the way to misery. Successful people in sport betting are the ones who lose 99 bets and when they win the 100 bet they recover all the money and make additional money to make another 100 bets, difficult to achieve but not impossible.

[AVE5]

I agree with you. When I bet on sports, I am playing against other players (not the bookmaker).

My winnings depend on how much better my analytical skills are than the other players. Or how much more informed I am than the other players.

In order to win in the long run, I need a competitive edge. In analogy with poker, this is called "picking the right table to play". In order to win, I need to pick a table where there are weaker players than me. If there are stronger players than me at the table, then I am doomed to lose.

Having a bookmaker who claims a commission on each game reduces my potential winnings / increases my potential losings. But I am playing against other players.

I am think playing against others is on the aspect of those players who wagers their bets specifically on the teams to win like being extremely grudge with other teams while your own intake of betting is based on analytical minds that is based on anyway with any of your desired clubs ought to give you winning
You can either even bet against your team just for winning sake. That means you're both on opposition of betting against each other.
But on a contrary, betting against other players and not the bookmakers, does it mean your predictions is to challenge other players? I don't know how this could be because it isn't the players that programed the games if not the bookmakers.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

Who we play against is largely dependent on the type of game we're playing.

We can play against other gamblers when we play some peer-to-peer games like poker, dice e.t.c and we're lucky if we find a weather have in the other end to guarantee us wins. The house only collected a small commission(known as rake) from your winnings

In sports betting, we play expressly against the bookmarker, he sets the odds in such a way as to mitigate loses and he's responsible for paying out all the wins obtainable by gamblers, even when the total wins exceed total money collected by the bookmarker, he would pay and incur some momentary financial losses. That's why they put up preventive measures to reduce their losses by reducing odds and giving the underdog teams big odds to lure greedy gamblers to bet on them and neglect the strong teams with obvious low odds among other strategies.

Finally you can bet against the house(casino) directly when you play blackjack, roulette, slots e.t.c and they're responsible for paying your wins. They programme the games in such a way that they the house would regain in profit.

[Jaycoinz]

Let's discuss the question of who we play against in sports betting and betting in general, that is, in disputes on sports and non-sports events.

If you're a sport betting gambler, then you may have to choose between betting on the player or the team, this is because you will have to rely on your skills and experience in making a bet, there is more to understand by sport betting and the need to make it a conservative game within what we already know, this is not like the casino games we often play as against the system, in so many cases, it may not really matter about what or who we are playing against, but the things which constitutes what we know and understand about the bet we are playing.

Well I guess you are not because it's what you know that you will put your money and you understand the sequence of betting on players than betting on the clubs then I think you are good to go. Although sometimes there are some teams that you might have grudges against for the fact that they might have played against your prediction but the truth if you do your research and see that they are good to play for me I wouldn't mind still betting on them and a perfect example would be Manchester city.

[rachael9385]

Let's discuss the question of who we play against in sports betting and betting in general, that is, in disputes on sports and non-sports events. We are accustomed to thinking that in centralized bookmakers we play against the bookmaker, and on prediction platforms like Polymarket we play against other players. But is this really true? This is a question that is not discussed enough and not understood correctly by everyone. Imagine a sports match where the bookmaker gives one side high odds and the other side low odds. Most players are confident that the favorite who is given the high odds will win and they start betting big money on this outcome. Very few players bet money on another outcome of the match (let's imagine for simplicity that the match is tennis and therefore it has only 2 outcomes) and the question arises: from what money will the winnings of the winners be paid out if the favorite wins? The bookmaker will basically have to pay out of its own funds. Therefore, he changes the odds to make the distribution of money on the outcome of the match more even. That is, he lowers the odds for the favorite and increases them for the underdog. If even in this case they do not bet money on the outsider, then in this case the bookmaker will have to pay the winnings from their own funds. It turns out that every time you play sports betting, you are not playing against the bookmaker at all, but in some sense against other players. The 20th century bettor J.R. Miller wrote about this well in one of his books. I have already cited his quotes in other topics. This is a fairly long quote from his book, but it explains this thesis in great detail.

Actually, I have thought about this before, like I asked myself that all those money we lose "Where Does It Go To?" But was till confused until I saw this post. It's actually true that no one is talking about it, except
Based on what you explained, we are all betting against other gambler that bet the opposite of what we bet. However, the truth is, not everyone will bet on a particular odd because everyone has their own opinion and their own patterns of predictions. But the truth is, if we want to have fun we have to bet on different odds so that the luckiest person will go home with the money or continue having fun till his satisfied. Talking about the bookmakers, they are just there to hold the money and pay to the winning, whichmeans the bookmakers have nothing to lose, that's why no gambler can win the house.

[Findingnemo]

Odds of a game or not some random numbers given by the Bookmakers, it's calculated based on complex forumala using various factors so saying they are intentionally giving high odds to a team and lower to another is not a fact. And we are playing against the bookmakers not against the players which I just want to explain with simple example.

Let's assume there's a game, with Team A and team B with odds of 1.95 and 3.1 respectively.

Now 10 people are betting on this game in total and all of them bet on the same team A, and now the team A won the game now bookmaker has to pay all the bettors from their own funds which pretty much explains who we are betting.

[coolcoinz]

That's a matter of perspective, OP. If we admit that it's the bookmaker who changes the odds to make it more even, we are still playing against him, because he tries to be on top and he modifies the odds. Other players just choose the player. They don't care how much money other people bet, how many people bet for the opponent, the majority just wants to win money, any money. It's the win that counts, even if you get 10%.

The majority of people who bet don't know the game and don't even follow the players. They just bet on the favored one hoping to get some money out of it because the majority has to know what they're doing, right?

[Onyeeze]

Of course, you are betting against other players and that's why you see that if you bet on an underdog team and it turns out to be a win, you will make more profits compared to those who bet on the professional club, because the professional club will have more people betting on the club and the underdog few. So the many bets on the professional club will be shared among  those few gamblers that bet on the underdog and their profits will be big.

On the other hand, the opposite is the case, if few gamblers bet on an underdog club and they got defeated, their money would be shared amongst those many gamblers that bet on the professional club and their profits will be small.

I never had this idea in gambling that sometimes we have to bet against ourselves depending what we bet on to be honest I am little confused in this statement I thought that we bet against the system not individual that makes us to lose if what is said is right who supposed to have a number of winners in gambling more than number of losers but most people participating always complain of losing so if the scenario that you made mentioned is true that means nobody will be crying out of losing in gambling, I will make you investigation towards what you said but I don't know if I am getting you wrong from what to just said now

[Baofeng]

Odds of a game or not some random numbers given by the Bookmakers, it's calculated based on complex forumala using various factors so saying they are intentionally giving high odds to a team and lower to another is not a fact. And we are playing against the bookmakers not against the players which I just want to explain with simple example.

Let's assume there's a game, with Team A and team B with odds of 1.95 and 3.1 respectively.

Now 10 people are betting on this game in total and all of them bet on the same team A, and now the team A won the game now bookmaker has to pay all the bettors from their own funds which pretty much explains who we are betting.

Yes, we can even compare it when we play baccarat in casinos. Same can be question as well, are we playing against the house or player against player? Same in sports betting, but I guess at the end of the day, it will still be the casinos that are going to pay us, whether it will come from the losing bet of the other player or the money coming from themselves.

And we have to think on how many players did actually win compare to how many of them losses. For the odds to be computed, yeah, they might be using AI today and advance sports modeling to give us that odds.

[I_Anime]

That's a matter of perspective, OP. If we admit that it's the bookmaker who changes the odds to make it more even, we are still playing against him, because he tries to be on top and he modifies the odds. Other players just choose the player. They don't care how much money other people bet, how many people bet for the opponent, the majority just wants to win money, any money. It's the win that counts, even if you get 10%.

The majority of people who bet don't know the game and don't even follow the players. They just bet on the favored one hoping to get some money out of it because the majority has to know what they're doing, right?

Well that's true most folks do bet in games they don't fully understand aslong there's a chance of winning they will take it , that's why majority of people gambles for the money not for the fun in it , that's sometimes some focus on casino game because they believe they can easily make good amount of money fast . Some even bet against their favourite team , because they want to win some extra bucks.

[Slow death]

When I place sports bets, I keep in mind that I am betting against the odds makers. For example, if the odds maker says that team X has odds of @1.60, then I need to analyze the game carefully and then think about whether that team is really so good that it deserves those odds or if the odds maker is setting a trap for me to bet and then lose. When I win, I feel happy because I managed to beat the odds maker.

[nelson4lov]

My take: Betting against bookmarkers & other players.

Hear me out. Imo, it's a mix of Pvp (other players) and PVE (bookmarkers or gambling platform owners).

A bookmarker sets the odds and stands to benefit if the odd goes against most of the players.

Likewise other players benefit if their chosen bet wins against other players.

So if remainder after the money given to winners of any market is far larger than the winners rewards, then bookmarkers stand to benefit from it.

Vice versa too: if the amount won by winners is far larger than the amount that was staked for that market, the bookmarkers have to still pay up.

[Ultegra134]

That's a matter of perspective, OP. If we admit that it's the bookmaker who changes the odds to make it more even, we are still playing against him, because he tries to be on top and he modifies the odds. Other players just choose the player. They don't care how much money other people bet, how many people bet for the opponent, the majority just wants to win money, any money. It's the win that counts, even if you get 10%.

The majority of people who bet don't know the game and don't even follow the players. They just bet on the favored one hoping to get some money out of it because the majority has to know what they're doing, right?

That's how I also see things. This is precisely why bookmakers aim at balancing the odds to minimize risk and profit for all outcomes, which is why it makes it look like we're playing against them. Other people's bets shouldn't affect us; we don't know how much money they're betting or how many there are, but it's true that a large number of bettors simply go with the flow, betting on the team that seems the safest or has received the most bets, without considering too much about it.

Sometimes a bet that looks guaranteed and may yield low odds isn't the safest; the 1.10 odds you might be looking at in a match and consider safe might actually be the opposite, as you're risking an X amount of money for minor returns, which to me usually isn't worth the risk.

[LUCKMCFLY]

On freebitco.in, you are indeed playing against the other bettors because the casino uses parimutuel betting. Player A bets against Player B, no matter who wins, the casino takes 5%. I don’t really know if any other casino offers that kind of stuff (polymarket is too doing it probably now I realized) but I like it tbh. To make it work the casino has to have lots of active players though, so it is not going to work on newly established casinos. The others casinos have usually get their rates from some other choice and I don’t like that.

I've been playing freebitco.in all my life and the truth is I didn't Know those things , of course I Haven't said much either, I thought that the site was just guiding itself Individually with the probably fair and that's it, that everything was independent.

I really like it when you play virtually in PVP mode, it's the most Comfortable and I think it's exciting and not playing against the casino house because the chances of winning are very low, they are always like that, however freebitco.,inm I would like it to be fixed , that its Problems Would Pass and that its reputation could be generated again like

[uneng]

You are playing against the bookmaker AND gamblers who bet on the opposite side. The house isn't only distributing money from the losers to the winners, otherwise it wouldn't be a profitable business for them to venture into. In every cases the house always profit, because it's not black or red: it's black, red and green (or zero), which in sports betting can be translated into draws.

If it was simple as playing against other gamblers, there wouldn't be a third party platform working as middleman between gamblers. That is why gambling in its current concept is so hard to be profitable for gamblers the more they play. P2P or PVP gambling could give gamblers better winning chances on long term, in different categories of betting.

[Oluwa-btc]

I believe it still hasn’t changed, that’s the principle of sports betting,  we’re essentially playing against each other, while the bookies are just facilitating our bets. Bookmakers are their to provide the odds, and its designed to ensure balanced action so that, at the end of the day, the bookies profit from the juice or commission they earn.

Exactly just as I presume, yeah sports betting it's so vast and sometimes seems complicated and I use to wonder sometimes how betting against the opposite team works and what really prompt our wins after every successful bets but of recent I came to understand that the bookies have alot influence in the bet and they try to make sure they are not in losses and gets bigger share of everything.

[Free Market Capitalist]

Let's discuss the question of who we play against in sports betting and betting in general, that is, in disputes on sports and non-sports events.

In poker this is a no brainer, you play agains other players. There are some varieties of computer games where you don't, such as video poker, where you play against the house, but in poker in general, regardless of the variety (Holdem, Omaha, 5 card draw, etc.) you play against other players and the good thing about it is that if you are better than the average player you can win money in the long run.

[Sanitough]

In poker this is a no brainer, you play agains other players. There are some varieties of computer games where you don't, such as video poker, where you play against the house, but in poker in general, regardless of the variety (Holdem, Omaha, 5 card draw, etc.) you play against other players and the good thing about it is that if you are better than the average player you can win money in the long run.

That definition obviously fits poker, but we’re not discussing poker here since the answer is straightforward. We’re talking about sports betting and how it’s called "betting against each other."

In fact, I’ve seen some great answers in the previous pages, which makes me think they truly understand what they’re doing. Sports betting is fun because the games are exciting, but without understanding our actual chances, we risk getting misguided and never improving our skills. That’s why it’s so important to understand the basics first before diving into this type of gambling.

[asarfiar]

The trend of betting is spreading all over the world as time goes by. We like to bet first on the team that participates in the gaming world with various skills and wins most of the time in each game. I usually bet not on the team but on the performance of a player of that team. The team may be weak but a player of the team is achieving fame and success through his play in the gaming world. I like to bet more on a successful player than on the team. And even if his team is unsuccessful in the game, if that player has tried his best to win the game against the opposing team with all his might. I feel very comfortable in making such bets and there is no curiosity in my mind due to losing the game.

[Jody.Drummer]

That's a matter of perspective, OP. If we admit that it's the bookmaker who changes the odds to make it more even, we are still playing against him, because he tries to be on top and he modifies the odds. Other players just choose the player. They don't care how much money other people bet, how many people bet for the opponent, the majority just wants to win money, any money. It's the win that counts, even if you get 10%.

The majority of people who bet don't know the game and don't even follow the players. They just bet on the favored one hoping to get some money out of it because the majority has to know what they're doing, right?

Well that's true most folks do bet in games they don't fully understand aslong there's a chance of winning they will take it , that's why majority of people gambles for the money not for the fun in it , that's sometimes some focus on casino game because they believe they can easily make good amount of money fast . Some even bet against their favourite team , because they want to win some extra bucks.

I agree with you, From the many people who gamble their big goal is for money not for fun so it is not strange that many cases of negative things happen whether they bet on sports gambling or other types. This is not just talk but in my opinion it is true, sometimes those who bet only rely on luck without any knowledge or certain skills but still gamble to get results that make them happy, namely profit. It is not strange with their enthusiastic behavior when gambling because they have the thought of wanting to get victory or profit quickly, even though if they gamble for fun maybe they can do it healthily and it will not make them stressed when they lose on the bets they make.