The 2016 NFL regular season gets underway in early September and whether you have been betting on the games for years or new to the world of online sports betting, you should always take the time to formulate a solid betting strategy to try and create the best possible return on investment for your money.
Most NFL bettors stick to straight bets on the sides of a game through a pointspead or on the points scored through a total line, but today’s top offshore sportsbooks operating online offer a number of different ways to add even more excitement to the action, while increasing your possible return on a wager. Often times, these type of bets are referred to as “exotics”.
One of the most overlooked betting lines for NFL games could be the moneyline odds. This type of bet is not really considered an exotic, but it can still offer quite a bit of value in the right circumstances. One of the best opportunities to cash in on the added value of a moneyline bet is when your confidence level is high on an underdog winning a game straight up. Instead of taking the points on an underdog in a straight bet, you should take the better value in the moneyline odds in a head-to-head matchup.
Upsets are pretty common in the NFL on a weekly basis given the high level of parity between many of the teams. The simple fact that the betting public tends to gravitate towards favorites also helps to drive up the value in the moneyline odds for the underdog.
One of the most popular exotic bets for the NFL is the parlay. This bet allows you to group together two or more picks in one combined wager with a much higher payout as long as you win every game in that grouping. A parlay can be as few as two teams all the way up to a double-digit grouping, but the actual value in the payout odds starts to diminish with every pick you add given the high degree of difficulty involved with winning every game.
A two-team parlay normally pays out at 2.64/1 and a 10-team parlay pays out at 642/1 with most of the more popular offshore sportsbooks. Winning parlays is all about your confidence level in your individual picks. That is why one of the most popular parlay plays is three teams at a 6/1 return on your money. After that, it becomes harder and harder to cash in on that many picks
Another NFL exotic that offers an interesting twist on the concept of grouping bets together is the if-bet. This type of wager allows you to make multiple bets with one result hinging on the other. This chain of wagers will only carry over if you win your initial game. If you lose that first bet then there is no action on any of the subsequent games bet. If you win that first game, then the action continues to the second bet in the chain.
These are just two examples of the ways you can try and add some additional action to the NFL this season. Some of the other exotic bets offered for the NFL by online sportsbooks include teasers and pleasers where you have the opportunity to tweak the pointspread for a particular game one way or the other as a part of a parlay play. A teaser will generally move the spread in your favor, while a pleaser spread goes against you to create a better return on your overall bet.
It takes some basic knowledge of exactly how each exotic works and a bit of experience when it comes to being successful with these types of wagers, but they can be worth the effort in light of the potential high return on investment they can provide.
