Intro to Sports Betting Part 5: Grand Salami, Three-Way Moneyline, and Courtsiding

In continuation with my previous posts, let's delve more into sports betting and understanding types of bets. In my first post, we covered the three major types of bets - Moneyline, Spread, and Over/Under - as well as reading and understanding odds and payouts. In my second post, we covered parlays and prop bets. In my third post, we covered futures, vig, and pushes. In my fourth post, we covered steam, line shopping, and arbitrage. In this post, we will Grand Salami, Three-Way Moneyline, and Courtsiding.

Grand Salami

A Grand Salami Steam refers to a total points bet covering the total combined points for every team in each game in a league. These bets are typically found in hockey and baseball betting. For example, say there are four baseball games on a certain day, with the Yankees playing the Red Sox, the Blue Jays playing the Rays, the Padres playing the Dodgers, and the Giants playing the Athletics. The total line for each game might be 8.5, and the Grand Salami bet might be 29.5. You could do a bet on the totals of each of the four games, but with a Grand Salami bet you are betting that the 8 teams will combine for more or less than 30 runs. Most sportsbooks will offer a Grand Salami bet each night for NHL and MLB games. There are occasionally Grand Salami bets for NBA and NFL bets for Conference Championship days or in the NBA playoffs, but usually they are just offered for baseball and hockey. The main thing to consider for hockey Grand Salami bets is the starting goaltenders, as you might have more success if a lot of backups are playing. For baseball, the biggest thing to consider is the starting pitchers, as the best pitchers are more likely to give up fewer runs. The second most important factor is the weather, as balls will fly less in the cold but may travel further with the wind. In the case of a postponed game, the Grand Salami will be a push and you will be refunded.

Three-Way Moneyline

A moneyline bet, as covered previously, is a bet on which team will win outright regardless of the margin of victory. In these bets, a tie is a push and your bet is refunded. However, there are also three-way moneylines which include a tie as an option. In these cases, the payouts are higher for a win as betting on a win does not include the insurance from a tie.  In addition, the payout for a tie can be very large compared to either team winning. For most sports, the three-way moneyline will include overtime, which means that if the game ends in a tie in regulation time, a win in overtime will count as a win. However, this is not the case in soccer. For soccer, bets are settled after 90 minutes of play. This is partly due to ties being very common in the low scoring game. Furthermore, three-way moneylines are the standard betting format for soccer, and the payout for a tie is much lower than for sports such as football and baseball.

Courtsiding

Courtsiding is a strategy for live betting where you are placing bets as they happen live in the game. It involves physically going to the game and watching the watch. As soon as you see a big play happen or a point scored, you place a bet before the sportsbook odds are updated. For example, you might see a field goal be kicked and see that it is good, and bet on that team immediately before the score is officially updated. You might see a big hit and know it will clear the homerun fence and bet on it before it officially lands beyond the wall and the score updates.  Or you may see a live fumble be recovered and bet on the team before the player is downed and the play is recorded. This strategy requires very fast timing, but there is always some nonzero lag as the sportsbook require referees and umpires to confirm a play's result or a score, and there are small windows to place a bet before the information is input, sent to a sportsbook, and the lines are changed. Typically, this strategy works best for tennis betting where a single point can significantly swing the odds of a match, and the score is manually entered by the umpire instead of using video technology in sports such as hockey and soccer that speeds up the process and shrinks the available time window.

Next Steps

If you would like to further your knowledge about sports betting, many sportsbook apps offer good tutorials on betting and advanced types of bets. They also offer promotions to receive free bets to try out betting risk-free. At many of these sites and apps you will also receive bonuses matching deposits you make. If you want to get started with sports betting here are some options to get free bets with great new player offers

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