Betting 101: The basics of betting on hockey

Looking at getting into betting on the NHL? Today, I’m offering up some basics and tips I have picked up over the years to help you out.

Like any bet, there is risk involved and no system or process is going to guarantee success, but with some of these tips and research that you can obtain on FTN, you should be able to beat the public and turn a profit.

NHL betting basics

Like most other sports, basic betting on hockey boils down to a couple items: team vs. team (side), or over/under (total).

Side betting is done using a money line format where teams will have a number associated with them, such as:

Typically, the team listed on the bottom is the home team, but make sure to double check that the game is not being played at a neutral site. The numbers listed next to the teams are the moneyline figures — the team that is negative is the favorite and the team that is positive is the underdog. There are occasions where both teams may be negative if neither is a large enough favorite to overcome the vig, which is how the sports books make their profit. In the example above, Tampa Bay is a -260 favorite, meaning you must wager $260 to win $100 (or any magnitude of that ratio). Montreal is a +200 underdog, meaning you win $200 for each $100 you wager.

When wagering on the total of a game, you will see the options listed next to the teams like this:

These options represent the total number of goals scored by both teams combined; in this case, the total is six goals, so if the score is seven or more the total goes over, and if it’s five or fewer the total goes under. If the game total is exactly six, it’s a push and all total bets are returned. There will be a vig number next to both options on the totals — in this example, you need to wager $110 to win $100 on either option. On many occasions the total will contain a figure that has a half (i.e. 5.5 or 6.5), in which case there cannot be a tie in the wagering, as the game has to over or under.

A more advanced version of side wagering is called “puck line,” which if you are familiar with NFL point spreads is a 1.5-goal handicap where the favorite is required to win by two or more goals in order to win the wager; the flip side is the underdog only needs to keep the game within a goal or win the game outright in order to win the wager.

In this case, if Tampa Bay wins by two or more you would win $110 for each $100 wagered; if you bet on Montreal and they lost by one or won the game outright you would win $100 for each $130 wagered.

Background information

One of the most important things to research while betting on hockey is the status of teams playing on back-to-back nights — many times, first-string goalies will not play on back-to-back nights, resulting in situations where you can attack inferior goalies while the odds have not yet caught up to the information. Teams playing on the second of a back-to-back, especially when traveling between games, tend to be tired and cause be good sports to target opposing teams or higher goal totals.

Home ice is important in hockey, but not as much in terms of crowd support as in other sports; where the home ice advantage comes into play in hockey is the home team is allowed to see who the visiting team puts on the ice following a stoppage in play — it may react to the visiting team’s choices and attempt to take advantage of matchups.

Sportsbook odds

No matter where you place your bets, you should make projections for each game before you check the odds; there is a bias that naturally occurs when you check the odds before doing research on games. When you do your projections, factor in the starting goalies, the location the game and the pace of the game; after gathering all this information, come up with a projected score of the game and only then check the odds to determine your wagers for the day.