Even if you win 55% of your bets, you will come out consistently ahead. This really is, however, easier said than done and involves more than a little bit reading and checking the injury reports. If Paul the octopus picked every winner in the recent soccer World Cup, picking winning football teams should be just as easy, right? Wrong. If it were that easy, lots of people will be making money and also the sports books would have to go out of business. If winning at football betting involves some knowledge, some strategy and, let us face it, a dash of luck, it’s because the bookmakers set very tight lines for the games. On the other hand, if you keep the next tips in mind, it should boost your probability of winning.

Bet as early when you can. Many of the sports books post their lines as early since they can and some offshore books do this by Sunday afternoon for the next week’s games. If you locate a game and odds that you like make sure that there are actually no serious injury problems for the team that you pick. Bookmakers are not perfect and may also make mistakes in setting the line. Pounce early before heavy betting irons out the mistakes.

Focus on several teams. Because knowledge is important, if you pay attention to a couple of teams, you may build up a large amount of knowledge that you can use in making your bets. Also limit your betting to just a couple of games every Sunday.

Avoid heavy favorites. The crowd loves favorites and will rush to bet on them. In contrast, they can be not good choices if you want to maintain your 55% average in winning bets. Even when you do win a few, the payouts will be small. The best strategy is to bet on short priced underdogs because, whenever you win, you generally make more than you’ve got bet.

Use totals judiciously. Totals set early in the week are typically based upon predictions of good weather. In late season games, rain or snow sometimes affects the scoring as well as a heavy wind almost always keeps scoring down. In these conditions, you would do well by betting the Under

Use yards per play ranking. One method of evaluating teams is to look-at the offensive yards gained per play and the defensive yards given away per play. Teams that gain more than they lose find yourself winning more games. The statistics are readily available and you may calculate the difference with a positive difference being an advantage. The general guideline to calculate a points spread from the yardage differential is that every 0.15 yards may be worth one point. A differential of 0.60 yards between the two teams will be worth four points. As with all betting tools, use your other data and information to confirm your findings.

Do not avoid teasers. There is a common perception that teasers are a rip-off and therefore best avoided. Under certain circumstances, an NFL teaser which is a two-game parlay bet may make sense.

Pay attention to the injury reports. Read the injury reports carefully to find out what difference it really is Going Here to make to the performance of your chosen team. Do not just look at key players because all the guys in the team have to perform at their peak.