Sports Betting Terms ... I Wish I knew earlier

[Ultegra134]

You probably do not use sport betting sites that much that is why you haven't heard of those terms or you probably lack gambling conversations because personally they are nothing special as you come across words that are coined every day in conversations. I do not have a list of new words that I have heard or read in this forum but definitely a lot but they aren't special as I said. And as for confusion, I'm never confused because I have Google which I can easily turn to and ask whatever.

These are the most basic ones, and there are a couple more like it was mentioned by other user, such as Asian handicapped, Double chance, etc. I also wasn't familiar with all of them, I'm still not, because I usually stick to specific strategies, especially over and under, which are my most frequent bets. If I'm honest, there are many types of bets you can place in sports betting, soccer in my case, and I still haven't explored them all as well, but the majority of those posted by the OP are the most usual or common ones I'd say.

I started only choosing who's going to win (moneyline) and didn't even know it was called like that. I slowly started fiddling with other types, such as over/under, and now I've expanded to first half total, first goal, Asian handicapped etc.

[sotelorene]

When I first started with sports betting, I honestly had no clue about the terms. I thought it was just about picking who wins, and that’s it.
Then I saw people talking about spreads, juice, parlays, and I was like, “what?”

For example:

Moneyline ..  this one I understood easily, just betting who wins.
Point Spread .. this confused me at first. I lost a few bets because my team won the game, but didn’t “cover the spread.” That’s when I realized it’s not just about winning, but by how much.
Over/Under .. also called totals, where you bet on the combined score. Took me a while before I got comfortable with this.
Parlay ... I tried this early on thinking it was an easy jackpot, but the risk is crazy. All your bets have to hit, or you get nothing.
Juice/Vig ... didn’t even know this existed when I started. Basically, the house edge that makes sure the book earns no matter what.

Now it makes more sense, but I wish I knew these sooner.

How about you guys? What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

The word handicap was very strange and that option was complex to understand at first but as time went on it became simple. Betting terms are not rocket science, Im surprised to see that there are beginners that purchase courses from people just to understand what these terms actually means, you don't need to pay anyone to lecture you on this like it's a trading course, it might be confusing at that beginning but it gets simple later on

I started gambling myself I never actually met anyone to teach me but people directs and guide me as I  grow up, and when I first started most if these options I don't even know what they mean but while I stay long there I began to know a lot of options and there meaning. Currently I understand the meaning of the handicap and a lot and I think one of the thing that makes gambling easy sometimes is knowing options because there are options that has a high possibility or probability of the game entering and I call them safe options.

[mcdouglasx]

The most advisable thing when you start is to make simple bets, win or lose, then with time you will learn the rest, just like it happened with you, although if I had to choose, I would say that everyone should leave aside bets other than this one because they are only adding an extra layer of difficulty to their game, and it could make them lose more easily.

[SOKO-DEKE]

When I first started with sports betting, I honestly had no clue about the terms. I thought it was just about picking who wins, and that’s it.
Then I saw people talking about spreads, juice, parlays, and I was like, “what?”

For example:

Moneyline ..  this one I understood easily, just betting who wins.
Point Spread .. this confused me at first. I lost a few bets because my team won the game, but didn’t “cover the spread.” That’s when I realized it’s not just about winning, but by how much.
Over/Under .. also called totals, where you bet on the combined score. Took me a while before I got comfortable with this.
Parlay ... I tried this early on thinking it was an easy jackpot, but the risk is crazy. All your bets have to hit, or you get nothing.
Juice/Vig ... didn’t even know this existed when I started. Basically, the house edge that makes sure the book earns no matter what.

Now it makes more sense, but I wish I knew these sooner.

How about you guys? What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

As I started betting, I had someone who was guiding me, so with that, I was not that confused. There are different options in sports betting, but at first despite knowing about the different options the only one I would always go for was the win or draw option. From there, I gradually started trying other options.parlay betting, that is what I started with. We hardly bet on single game in my society, almost everyone deal with the idea of parlay betting. This was because we always used a very small amount of money to bet. So, if you decided to bet on only a single game, even if you won, the returns would be very small. That’s the reason why we like combine betting.

[Alphakilo]

When I first started with sports betting, I honestly had no clue about the terms. I thought it was just about picking who wins, and that’s it.
Then I saw people talking about spreads, juice, parlays, and I was like, “what?”

For example:

Moneyline ..  this one I understood easily, just betting who wins.
Point Spread .. this confused me at first. I lost a few bets because my team won the game, but didn’t “cover the spread.” That’s when I realized it’s not just about winning, but by how much.
Over/Under .. also called totals, where you bet on the combined score. Took me a while before I got comfortable with this.
Parlay ... I tried this early on thinking it was an easy jackpot, but the risk is crazy. All your bets have to hit, or you get nothing.
Juice/Vig ... didn’t even know this existed when I started. Basically, the house edge that makes sure the book earns no matter what.

Now it makes more sense, but I wish I knew these sooner.

How about you guys? What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

As I started betting, I had someone who was guiding me, so with that, I was not that confused. There are different options in sports betting, but at first despite knowing about the different options the only one I would always go for was the win or draw option. From there, I gradually started trying other options.parlay betting, that is what I started with. We hardly bet on single game in my society, almost everyone deal with the idea of parlay betting. This was because we always used a very small amount of money to bet. So, if you decided to bet on only a single game, even if you won, the returns would be very small. That’s the reason why we like combine betting.

One thing I have noticed is how easy it is to find betting mentors and guides as compared to finding trading mentors. That's why most of us would have been betting for a long time now without actually knowing any of the basic terms or definitions unless those we learnt from word of mouth mostly from our mentor or close friends and associates.
Am also guilty of learning some of the terms from a mentor that is my friend and that is how it went until I could forecast games and make my own bets.

While it is important to know the basic terms associated with betting or gambling, what's more important is the strategy that's involved and deployed, above even what the terms mean.

[_BlackStar]

-snip-

While it is important to know the basic terms associated with betting or gambling, what's more important is the strategy that's involved and deployed, above even what the terms mean.

This is interesting - why is strategy more important than anything else?
Understanding these terms allows you to make choices at certain points that you think are likely to win based on the odds - but more choices usually only increase the risk of losing. Strategy doesn't determine the result - but it can increase your probability of winning.

[OgNasty]

Parlay ... I tried this early on thinking it was an easy jackpot, but the risk is crazy. All your bets have to hit, or you get nothing.

This is probably my favorite gambling term and while it can seem extremely risky for people when beginning, I've found that it is actually one of the less risky ways to gamble with the addition of live betting.  This is because you can cancel your bet before one of your wagers loses it for you, and if you've had a few wins on the parlay already you can even make money!  Not to many bets will let you cash out for a profit right before it is about to lose.  A great strategy in my opinion.

[AVE5]

Now it makes more sense, but I wish I knew these sooner.

How about you guys? What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

Those aren't really gambling terms rather are gambling options in the sport bets that's left for individuals to decide the formats of their decisions on games out.
They're betting formations or you can say they're predicting strategies which every experience players knows what best strategy for them if it's playing on money line, parley or point spread. They all have their pros and cons so don't think you've just learnt a strategy to hit the jackpot because your winning will still be tied to lucks but it's good to know all these strategies because it migrates players sense of humors with different feelings if playing for fun.

[Woodie]

And new terminology is always popping up as players ask for more markets from their bookies and it's hard to keep up.

And to be frank, gambling shouldn't be complicated with knowing all these kind of markets..win draw lose is what we all start with, then as you get to learn the ropes the overs and unders get to be your arsenal and journey goes on like that... having to overload a beginner with all the terminology at once can be overwhelming and don't think people have it this way.

[Powerjumboo]

When I first started with sports betting, I honestly had no clue about the terms. I thought it was just about picking who wins, and that’s it.
Then I saw people talking about spreads, juice, parlays, and I was like, “what?”

For example:

Moneyline ..  this one I understood easily, just betting who wins.
Point Spread .. this confused me at first. I lost a few bets because my team won the game, but didn’t “cover the spread.” That’s when I realized it’s not just about winning, but by how much.
Over/Under .. also called totals, where you bet on the combined score. Took me a while before I got comfortable with this.
Parlay ... I tried this early on thinking it was an easy jackpot, but the risk is crazy. All your bets have to hit, or you get nothing.
Juice/Vig ... didn’t even know this existed when I started. Basically, the house edge that makes sure the book earns no matter what.

Now it makes more sense, but I wish I knew these sooner.

How about you guys? What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

I am not really experienced with all these terms and conditions, I have only bet on sports betting and have participated in them repeatedly. Since I have not played any other game except sports betting, I am not familiar with all these terms and conditions. However, I may have heard from many people about all these terms and conditions that you have mentioned for gambling, but I have not had direct experience with them, but I think are all these terms and conditions really necessary for sports betting?

[Felicity_Tide]

~snip

How about you guys? What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

I actually knew all these terms before now, but not by their names like you mentioned. I usually call the Moneyline a straight win, since I expect a particular team to win. If I understood what you explained about points spread, then the number of games and their odds should also determine how much someone can win. I'm not a fan of betting too many games though. Maybe a bet on one or two is always enough. And as for the over/under, that's literally the best betting strategy for me. Football can come with a lot of surprises, but I always prefer to risk most games with an 'over'.

Betting is not that complex, and at the same time, the outcomes are not always promising. A regular bettor should know all these few basic things.

[ryzaadit]

You have no clue ? but you're betting on it.

I mean, it's the weird things we are read right now. You're putting your money on the line, and doesn't know the reason why you put money to be gamble on those. At least some people knew even is lost.

Like the pick is favourite team or the team againts your pick is sucks.

[Kelvinid]

You have no clue ? but you're betting on it.

That was back when I was new- too naive, just playing with whatever markets they offered. It felt a bit like stocks, so it got me interested. But eventually, when I started joining gambling forums and reading here, I realized it was necessary to actually learn those things. I might be a slow learner, but I still learn.

Now I think no one can fool me anymore with these terms, and I can already relate effectively to the discussions.

[Pi-network314159]

How about you guys? What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

Knowing the terms does not really matters the main point is knowing the option to bet, all other terms are just their to make the gambling activities be fun but the main thing about betting is knowing the options like home win or away, home or draw, away or draw, draw. Over and under games,  both team to score (BTS) knowing this option will be more preferable because those are the options used by a beginner to learn how to place a bet but others terms are just there to make this game look attractive and fun. So I don't see the reason to bother yourself much about that. The main point is to know the one to place your bet.

[Agbamoni]

What betting terms confused you at the start? Any tips for newbies on which ones they should master first before placing serious bets?

If you are the type that bet with more than one casino you should look out for the type of bookmakers odd. I know of common 3 types.

1. The fraction odds which is commonly known to be the British type of odd. It is written in fractions. For example 5/1, 10/3). And you can find them in some casino.

2. The decimal odds. So basically this is the most popular type of odds used. We can find them in with most casinos and local sportsbook. This is how it is , 2.00, 3.50, 4.21 etc. I believe most bettors are familiar with this one.

3. The American fraction type of odd. Honestly, this is one odds I still cant wrap my head around. It has to involve a negative and a positive sign before the odds. For example, -105 +105 and +102 -102. The first time I come across this type of odd was when i place a bet in Bet105. Till date, I didn't know the odds i choose.

[Ochan_yazo_tochant]

The term that confused me the most at the start was actually the 'Point Spread' as well.I distinctly remember the feeling of betrayal when 'my team' won but my bet lost. It was the moment I truly understood that sports betting is a market against the odds, not just a prediction of the game's outcome.

My number one tip for newbies would perfectly align with your journey: Master the Moneyline and Point Spread first.!!these are the foundational pillars. Once you are completely comfortable with how they work, their risks, and how to analyze them, then you can carefully explore Totals (Over/Under). I always advise staying away from Parlays until much later, as you rightly called them a 'crazy risk' that can quickly burn a bankroll.

[Maslate]

@Agbamoni, good thing most sportsbooks give you the option to choose what kind of odds display you want to use. In the one I play at, they have American odds and decimal, but for simplicity I stick with decimal since it’s easier to understand.

But can this be part of the discussion when we say “sports betting terms”? Because honestly, I don’t see odds formats being discussed much in betting forums. What you normally see are terms like ML, ATS, or over/under.

[rdluffy]

This is probably my favorite gambling term and while it can seem extremely risky for people when beginning, I've found that it is actually one of the less risky ways to gamble with the addition of live betting.  This is because you can cancel your bet before one of your wagers loses it for you, and if you've had a few wins on the parlay already you can even make money!  Not to many bets will let you cash out for a profit right before it is about to lose.  A great strategy in my opinion.

I usually place parlays (multiple bets) on certain championships or specific games, but I'm extremely bad at live betting, so I usually place my bets and don't stay logged in to the site so I don't take any risks live and also don't cash out before all the bets are settled, hehehe 

These terms are really confusing at first. I had several questions that I had no idea what they meant, especially Asian handicap and Vig

However, I usually only bet on 1 x 2 - victory for a team and sometimes on Under or Over goals