Hockey Odds Explained
Hockey, the all fast and yet cold/winter sport of the World, is a game who is getting more and more attention when it comes to betting, especially with hardcore games happening within the National Hockey League (NHL), and the latest World events, such as the Winter Olympics, the Hockey World Cup, and more. As a sport growing in betting popularity, it obviously comes with a wide variety of different types of hockey bets to choices from, such as hockey puck line betting.
Hockey Odds Explained Fantasy
The first point to make note of is that in hockey puck line betting you will see the point spread representing the favorite (team most likely to win according to the online sportsbooks) and the underdog (team less likely to win according to the online sportsbook) by a simple plus or minus sign next to them. The ‘underdog’ is usually accorded with a plus sign while the ‘favorite’ is given the minus sign both at the puck line odds, and the money line too. Secondly, these puck line odds/numbers represent how many goals the ‘favorite’ team must win by or vice-versa, how many goals the ‘underdog’ can lose by. It will all make much better sense once we get over to the example below.
The puckline is hockey’s version of the point spread and similar to baseball’s runline. For the NHL, oddsmakers give the underdog an advantage of 1.5 goals while disadvantaging the favorite by 1.5 goals. The line is adjusted accordingly based on how strong the fave is and how weak the dog is. The ‘underdog’ is usually accorded with a plus sign while the ‘favorite’ is given the minus sign both at the puck line odds, and the money line too. Secondly, these puck line odds/numbers represent how many goals the ‘favorite’ team must win by or vice-versa, how many goals the ‘underdog’ can lose. Jan 13, 2019 NHL American Odds American odds are the most popular of format for NHL betting. In fact, we use them as part of our NHL betting tips service. The American odds favorite is displayed by a ‘-‘ sign and shows you how much you need to bet to win $100.
* Please see illustration below to help understand puck line bets, text explanation follows.
The hockey puck line is quite simple to understand and is similar to point spreads, with the addition of the hockey money line in it too. Looking at the example, you will need to bet $155 at the Detroit Red Wings to win $100 since they are the favorite, and you will only need to bet $100 to win $210 with the Nashville Predators, as they as the underdogs, less likely to win, and hence, will give you a higher possible payout if they do win – very tempting, right?
Example of a Puck Line:
Detroit Red Wings -1.5 (-155)
Nashville Predators +1.5 (+210)
The bet above illustrates that If you were to bet on the Detroit Red Wings’ puck line, you are betting that they will win by at least 2 goals (giving 1.5 in goal advantage to the Predators). If you were to side with the Nashville Predators, then that means they must either win or lose by no more than 1 goal for you to win your bet.
Take note, the .5 in the puck line point spread above is used to eliminate any possibilities of a tie happening, which would end up in a ‘push’, or in other words, the online sportsbooks returning the money to the bettors as a ‘no action’ bet. Puck lines are almost always available to bet on; however, if a game is too evenly matched according to the odds-makers, unfortunately there will not be one available to bet on.
Puck Line Hockey Betting Strategies and Tips
Although sometimes you would like to go with your gut feeling in betting our odds there are still a number of hockey puck line betting strategies and tips you should consider and which should work for you.
Some of the basics, yet, quite important and forgotten about by many bettors, is to research. Go through our list of recommended sportsbooks at www.OnlineBetting.com and look through their puck line odds, see which will give you a better payout if not a better opportunity to win according to your facts on the teams and game. That is where the other part of research fall under; research the teams, the statistics for home games vs. away games, injuries, replacements, did they just come from another game? Would they be tired? Is their goaltender in a current Hot Streak? There are a lot of things to account for and think about so make sure you keep researching until you are confident on your bet.
When it comes to hockey puck line betting tips, there is nothing better than research, that way you will know if a strong team, the favorite, will score as they usually do in case their most valuable players (MVP) is missing from the ice, for example. All considered, there is no better way of learning than by trial and error.
Hockey Odds Stanley Cup
The point spread - also called 'the line' or 'the spread' - is used as a margin to handicap the favorite team. For betting purposes, the oddsmaker predicts that the favored team will win by a certain number of points. This number of points is the point spread. The favorite is always indicated by a minus sign (e.g. -5.5) and the underdog by a plus sign (e.g.+5.5). If you bet on the favorite, you win your bet if the favorite wins AND their margin of victory is greater than the point spread. If you bet on the underdog, you win if the underdog wins, ties, or if the favored team wins but fails to exceed the point spread. It is standard for point spread bets in most sports that you wager $110 to win $100.
The point spread given in the table above is for the home team only. To see the odds for both teams, click on the matchup.
Understanding Hockey Odds
A money line, used in baseball and hockey, takes the place of a point spread. Money line betting is simply wagering on the contest based on a given price rather than a point spread. The team wagered on has to win the game outright, regardless of the score. The minus sign (e.g.-130) always indicates the favorite and the amount you must bet to win $100. The plus sign (e.g.+120) always indicates the underdog and the amount you win for every $100 bet. Using this example, therefore, you would bet $130 to win $100 on the favorite, while for the underdog you would bet $100 to win $120.
The over/under is the number of points oddsmakers expect will be the total score for the contest (both teams combined, overtime included). You bet on whether the total points scored will be more or less than this number. As with point spread bets, you must generally wager $110 to win $100.
Betting on a point spread or money line is sometimes called betting 'sides' - that is, betting that one side or the other will be the winner - while betting the over/under is referred to as betting 'totals'.
Hockey Plays Explained
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