Part 1 - Money Lines
There are four categories of betting lines in baseball. They are, in order of their popularity:
(1) A money line quoted to $100
(2) A combination of a run line with a money line quoted to $100
(3) A money line quoted to $5
(4) A pure run line.
We'll fully discuss each of these lines over the next few days.
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The line quoted in terms of money odds to $100 is by far the most common line. It's popularity probably stems from the fact that it is usually the most advantageous line to the player. When a game is quoted based on odds to $100, the odds given are the odds on the favorite. The odds quote on the favorite tells you the amount you must risk on the favorite to win $100. The comeback quote on the underdog must be specifically requested from the bookmaker, and it tells you the amount you will be paid if you risk $100 on the underdog.
As an example, let's assume the Mets are favored over the Phils and the line is quoted as Mets -140. The quote means that you must risk $140 to win $100 if you bet on the Mets. Sometimes, instead of being quoted in terms of odds to win $100, the line will be quoted as odds to win $1. In that instance, the line of -140 will be posted as -1.40 instead, which means you will need to risk $1.40 for every $1 you want to win by betting on the Mets.
If you want to risk more or less than $140, you must calculate how much to bet by dividing the amount you want to risk by the odds to $1. If, for instance, you want to risk $50 you would divide $50 by 1.40. The result, rounded off, is $35.
The bookmaker makes different assumptions depending on whether a favorite or an underdog is bet. When you place a bet on the favorite, the amount you tell the bookmaker you want to bet is assumed to be the amount you want to win, and not the amount you are actually betting or risking. In our example, you would tell the bookmaker "Give me the Mets for $35." That will be interpreted to mean that you are betting to win $35, and therefore you will be risking $35 x 1.40 = $49 to win $35. If you want to bet or risk $50 and you say, "Give me $50 on the Mets," your bet would be interpreted as a risk of $70 ($50 x 1.40) to win $50. When you bet on the underdog, however, the amount you say you want to bet will no longer be interpreted as the amount you want to win. It will now be interpreted as the amount you want risk. If you wanted to risk $50 on the underdog in our example, you would tell the bookmaker, "Give me the Phils for $50." You would then be assumed to have bet $50 to win $65 ($50 x the odds of 1.30). As we will discuss in later posts, how you manage these differing assumptions between favorite and underdog betting is very important to your success betting baseball.
If the line on the favorite is -1.40, the line you will get on the underdog depends on how much your bookmaker wants to charge for the bet. In our example, we will assume that, based on odds to $100, the bookmaker will pay you $10 less if you win with the underdog than he will charge those who lost by betting the favorite. This type of line spread is usually referred to as a "dime" line or "10-cent line," because the difference between the odds you lay on the favorite and the odds you get on the underdog based on a quote to $1 is 10 cents. If the bookmaker offers you a "dime" line, when the quote on the favorite is -140, the odds if you bet the underdog will be +130.
To determine how much you will win if you bet $50 on the underdog at +130, you would simply multiply the $50 you are betting by the $1.30 that the bookmaker will pay you for every dollar you bet. The result is a win of $65.
The bookmaker earns his profit from the difference between the odds on the favorite and the odds on the underdog. To illustrate this profit, we'll use odds to $100. Ideally, for every $100 bet on the underdog, there will be $140 risked on the favorite. For the bookmaker to lose $100 to a favorite bettor that bettor must lay $140. If the underdog wins, the bookmaker will collect $140 from the favorite bettor, and pay out $130 to the underdog bettor. The bookmaker pockets the extra $10 as his profit. If the favorite wins, the bookmaker pays the favorite bettor $100, and collects $100 from the underdog bettor. Theoretically, the bookmaker only makes a profit on a money line when the underdog wins, and breaks even every time a favorite wins.
In the next post we'll compare the benefits of a "dime" line to other spreads offered by bookmakers, and give you a comparison guide for the odds offered in a true "dime" line.