Tips for betting on NFL matchups

Here are some rule-of-thumb guidelines for betting on NFL games:

* Shop around before making any bet. “Before you walk into a casino book, make sure you check the odds at online betting sites to at least get an idea of what they should be,” says gambling strategist Stanford Wong. “Say one casino offers a point spread of minus seven and another offers 6 1/2 . You want to take that last bet because if your team loses by exactly seven, you tie instead of winning.” Adds pro gambler King Yao: “Look for books willing to hang out their own lines, those willing to differ from others. But remember that big hotels owned by the same corporate chain will have the same identical lines, so don’t waste your time comparing them.”

* Favor undervalued underdogs. “Probably the single easiest fix for the casual tourist bettor is don’t bet on good teams. Bet only bad teams,” says Yao. “That alone would eliminate most mistakes. That means don’t get tempted to go this year with easy favorites like the Patriots, the Chargers, the Colts. Instead, try to find weaker teams like the Raiders, the Lions or the Vikings when they are being too undervalued. There’s your edge.”

* Ask for your comp drink tickets when you place your bet at the counter. At sports books, booze usually isn’t free.

* Don’t bet one-way action futures (like who’s going to win the Super Bowl). Same story on so-called one-way props, or proposition bets, like betting on yardage gained or passes completed. “If you can’t bet against something and only for it, it is the definition of a bad bet,” Wong says. “Figure the casino advantage to be much higher than the standard on these sort of bets. Make sure all bets you make have two-way, for/against action -- it evens out the odds.”

* Don’t bet sentimental or local favorites. Sports betting is about crunching numbers, not rooting from the bleachers. “The biggest boo-boo made,” says Yao, “is betting on who you merely think will win.” Leave your heart and your fan cap at home, and bring your ATM card.

* Don’t bet on preprinted parlay cards where you have to pick several winners to cash in. The house advantage doubles on these gimmicks. Bet one team to win or lose and get the best possible price.

* Keep the casino vigorish. Keep the house advantage as low as possible. The easy metric is to try to make bets where the money line spread is no more than 20 cents on the dollar. The standard casino football wager is to bet $11 to win $10 if the team you are taking wins or loses. If the gap between the winning and losing bet opens up beyond 20 cents, start getting queasy. If you can hold the line to that 20-cent gap, the casino is taking about 4.5% advantage, as it is a healthy edge similar to the take in a sucker game like roulette.

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