How to Bet Totals
Posted by BTB Team in Sports Betting Tips on Nov 26th, 2011 
How to Bet Totals
Betting totals is one of the easiest ways to make money each week in the NFL and college. What exactly is a total? It is simply the line for how many combined points both teams will score in any given game. The line is not set with an attempt to get equal action on both sides of the line: it is set with an attempt to make money off the gullible public. This concept actually took me the longest time to understand. Forever I blindly assumed the books wanted equal action so as to make money off the vig (the -110 you make for every bet). The books actually want that money plus the extra 10-20% that the public will make them after they push the line up or down depending on the game. If the Packers-Eagles are playing and the total is determined to be 50.5, then the books will probably push that total up to 53 or so simply because the public will bet the over in the game no matter what. 80% of the bets will come in on the inflated over and the book will have an edge over all of those bets. Similarly, if the Ravens-Steelers are playing then the books will probably give a deflated number like 37.5 (as opposed to more accurate number like 40) because of the public perception that the game will be a defensive battle. In the long run, these extra points become extra money for the books.
