Advanced Greyhound Betting Tips
One of the great things about gambling on any sport, whether it's basketball or racing, is that it doesn't take very long before you're acclimated with the sport in question. For instance, as soon as you learn about the different types of greyhound bets and how oddsmakers set the lines, you'll be almost ready to move up in skill level and to start learning about how you can really make money. At Greyhound Betting Online, we make it a point to reach out to the beginner's crowd with some general knowledge, but we also bring the meat for those of you who already know your racing.
If you're more than a novice at greyhound racing, you may just appreciate these advanced-level tips for winning money. Now, we cannot claim that people will be guaranteed winners, but statistically speaking you will improve your odds of winning greatly by following these tips.
A Greyhound Racing Guide for the More Seasoned Gambler
1: Understand what a "Value Odd" Is, and Find Them
Finding value in greyhounds is harder than other sports. For instance, an NFL line might read something like +210/-150. You can calculate the value here, which can be gauged solidly by knowing that a coin flip is 50/50 and thus even odds would be 2.00. So, we can see that 210 is 5% higher than the baseline. We won't stick with straight math here, as there's no quiz after this. Suffice to say that there is a mathematical formula for calculating value bets in sports with more complex lines. In greyhound racing, what you're looking for in terms of "value" is a bet whose odds increase/decrease, despite the dog, based on the action at the gate (or at the site, as it were). Read tip #2 to understand the full implications. For now, our first tip is for you to spot this value bet. So, for instance, if you see a favorite who's 3:1 drop to 10:1, you know there's value in placing that bet because it pays out a lot more should you win.
2: Wait Until Opening Gate Times to Bet
As you will find, these betting tips all basically naturally rely on one another. For instance, let's say that you're on a racebook and a dog, let's call him Sir Runs, is 8:1 to win, yet a swarm of people bet on him. Before the race starts, his odds will be sharply adjusted, and he will become the favorite. This needs to happen in parimutuel betting in order to split the pool properly. Likewise, if you spot a strong dog with favorable odds, yet few people are betting on him, then those odds are going to get longer and longer. What was a 4:1 dog may become 12:1 due to a lack of betting. Keep your eyes peeled for this type of action to spot value (callback to tip #1). The longer you wait to place your bets, the more odds you're going to see.
3: Favor Active Greyhounds
It may seem counter-intuitive, but your best bet on a greyhound is selecting a greyhound that has recently completed a race, either that day or in very recent memory. The reason is that greyhound races are very quick and very frequent, and owners of good dogs run them a lot. So if a dog hasn't ran in a week or so, then that dog may be injured. The appeal here would be for you to bet on a dog that has won a whole lot yet hasn't raced in a week. When this dog enters the field, he does so with long odds. So, you see a winning dog historically, with better than 10:1 odds, and you think that's valuable. However, it might be a trap. If this dog isn't in the swing of things, betting on it to win isn't very smart. You're much more likely to win by picking the winning dog of races from earlier that same day.
4: Leverage Your Big Tickets with Smaller Place/Show Tickets (use with #2)
Although this can come across as an advanced tip, it's one that even a novice can understand. Let's say you have researched a dog, Sir Runs, and you think he's a lock to win on the dirt track in the #5 race. However, his odds are 12:1 so he's not exactly the favorite. Even still, you place a $50 bet here because you're confident. Well, if you use tip #2 and wait until race times, you may find a race where few people aren't betting on place and show bets. This means that the odds of place and show wagers go to 5:1, meaning a bet of $1 gets you $5, and all you have to do is pick a horse that places in the top 3. This is too good to pass up for leverage. Another $20 bet on the favorite is a virtual lock, barring some injury or some unforeseen circumstance, and even if you lose that $50 you're still up $50 with a 5:1 place ticket. These are the types of leverage bets you can find every race if you're focused on the odds at race time rather than when the lines open.
5: Play Your Trifecta with Hot Dogs
Using tip #3, you know that active greyhounds are your best bet. So, let's say you're in race 6 of the day, and you see that the same dog has won two races, and two of the same dogs have finished in a "place" position (2nd or 3rd) in three of the races. This is where you can play a trifecta for some big bucks. Don't spent a lot on the ticket. A $10 trifecta will get you some serious cash if the odds are good enough. Use your outside research, plus the win sheet of the dogs thus far, and play your ticket to see if you can nail the trifecta. The odds are much more in your favor doing it this way. Also, don't forget about #4 up there! For every bet you make, no matter what it is, you can always leverage a few more dollars on a value bet that just appears at the gate, like good odds on a show, or a favorite that becomes a better proposition. Placing more than one bet does technically mean you're risking more money, but it also mathematically means that you have more options covered and are thus at least twice as likely to win money.
Like we said, we cannot guarantee that you win here, but we can guarantee that your odds are much better to win if you follow some of these tips. Leveraging, finding value bets at the gate, and using some common sense when wagering can come across as advanced gambling if done correctly.