Following the Sharp Sports Bettor

By Tom Wilkinson

“Sharps” or “Wise Guys” are sports betting terms that pertain to sports bettors that are either professionals or acting on the behalf of professionals that pounce on the opening sports betting lines that are evaluated by professional sports bettors to be “soft”, which is another way to say that these professional sports bettors want to bet a lot of money on a odds posted by online sportsbooks or sportsbooks that have a nice big minimum edge number for that professional sports bettor such as a football pick of a sports bettor with a field goal or better minimum edge advantage.

An early sports betting line posted at an sports gambling house or sportsbook is usually solid but there are usually a few soft lines posted every week that the “sharps” will pounce on immediately before the rest of the sports betting public bets the sports betting line to where it should have been in the first place.

Sportsbooks and online sportsbooks will immediately adjust the sports betting line of a game that is bet early by the “sharps.” One of the ways that an sports gambling house or sportsbook protects itself from “sharps” is to post a limit on the early sports betting wager amounts.

The sharps will bet a game that they think should have a sports betting line of three that is posted by the sports gambling house or sportsbook at seven all the way up until the point that the bargain in points against the weak sports betting line is no longer worth the “juice” of 10% that they have to lay out to the sports gambling house or sportsbook. The rest of the wannabe “sharps” will then follow suit and pick up the crumbs of the weak sports betting line, (usually the final one to one and a half point adjustments), until the sports betting line is where it should have been posted in the first place by the sportsbook or sports gambling house.

sports bettors that follow the lead of the “sharps” and follow their bets must realize that they are not getting the full advantage of the sports betting line at its worst when it was first posted by the sports gambling house or sportsbook and that imitation of the sharps by sports bettors often results in a “too little, too late” scenario with a lot of “bad beats” for the followers of the sports betting leaders.