Betting Strategy Guide: Winning Sports Betting Strategies Explained

Find the Latest Esports Betting Strategies Right Here!

You can already see all of our esports betting guides – so if you’re looking to bet on a particular esports title, chances are we’ve got an article for you to have a look at, to benefit your esports betting strategy. Whether you’re looking for the best betting strategy for esports, or you’re looking for inspiration for your own personal esports betting strategy, you don’t have to look further than Strafe.com. There are many different betting strategies for you to explore, meaning you have a lot of opportunities to maybe try a new way of betting, or perfect your current esports betting strategy.

General Betting Strategies

If you’re going to start betting on esports, then building and creating a betting strategy is the best way to go about it. There’s absolutely no point in placing random wagers on markets you have absolutely no idea about. Instead, planning your bets and using your knowledge and understanding will be much more beneficial, and has a much higher chance of being successful. One way to do this is to use a betting strategy – it’s very helpful. Here are two examples of common betting strategies that punters use when placing bets.

Arbitrage Betting Strategy

Also known as the ‘arb’ betting strategy, arbitrage involves the process of placing multiple bets on a single event, or in our case, a single esports match. This way, you’re essentially placing bets on all of the different outcomes of the match. Therefore, it’s safe to say that at least one bet is going to come, right? Bookmakers have caught on to this, but it’s still possible for customers to place these bets. So, if you’re wanting to bet on a single esports match, using this strategy will ensure that one of the bets will return some form of winnings.

Matched Betting Strategy

Another popular betting strategy commonly used by punters from across the world is the matched betting strategy. This method of betting takes advantage of a bookmaker’s welcome bonus and/or sign up offers. By the way, we round up the best bookmaker sign up offers and promo codes – we’re too good to you, aren’t we? Anyway, using a bookie’s bonus offer to place a bet on the result of a single match, whilst using your own betting funds to place a bet on the other outcome/s – again, at least one bet will be successful and return winnings. Your betting risk is also reduced, as you know that one bet will come in and you’ll receive at least some winnings.

What Esports Can I Bet On?

The esports betting scene is on the rise, with more and more bookies offering a range of esports markets for you to place your wagers. Almost every available bookmaker will offer some form of esports markets, whether they have committed to providing an extensive selection of esports odds or not. League of Legends, CS:GO and Dota 2 are considered to be the three biggest esports titles when it comes to betting markets, so expect to see these names on pretty much every bookmaker. There are multiple esports markets on offers - not just the biggest esports names around. If you compare multiple bookies, you’ll be able to find an increasing number of esports games on offer. If you’re looking for esports such as Rocket League, Valorant, StarCraft or Fortnite, there are odds out there for you. Some of the biggest operators around will offer various esports markets, usually covering the major esports tournaments. Meanwhile, those bookies dedicated to their esports offerings will have even more opportunities for you to bet on. There are so many choices and options available to you, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed with having to make that decision, let us help! Read our bookmaker reviews, where we look at the best esports bookmakers – including our rankings and recommendations for you to consider.

Esports Betting Strategies

As well as the general betting strategies, we think there are a couple of alternative options available for you to try out. For example, you can read our 1.01 betting strategy page, where we discuss everything there is to know about a way of betting you may not be familiar with. The pick-3 betting strategy can be used for your esports wagering, a way of betting that is pretty much described in its name – pick three winners of consecutive matches for your bet to come in. That’s not all there is, with another strategy we think you should have a look at. Our over-under betting strategy page will tell you how this form of betting offers you an alternative to betting markets such as match results and handicaps.

What is Handicap Betting?

When it comes to handicap betting, there’s a base understanding that’s needed before you get started with this form of betting – so let’s get into it. The official definition of ‘handicap’ is “a circumstance that makes success difficult”. What does that mean in terms of online betting? Well, when there is a clear favourite within a matchup, bookies will offer a handicap market. Here, the odds are more competitive and appealing to the customers, as the winning team will have to meet certain criteria for your bet to be successful. For esports gambling, this is no different, meaning that if a player/team is much more likely to win than their opponent, bookmakers will offer a handicap market for you. Still unsure? Now is not the time to worry - take a look at our example to see how handicap betting looks.

Example

Let’s say we have a football match between Team A and Team B. Team A is the strong favourite, with odds of 1/10. Meanwhile, Team B is not likely to win the game, and has odds of 20/1. Bookmakers could offer a handicap market of: Team A (-2) with 2/1 odds, and Team B (+2) with 1/1 odds. Here, Team A would have to win by 3 goals or more for your bet to be successful. Easy, right?

Pre-Match Esports Betting

Before an esports match has started, bettors will be able to place bets on select markets. As well as the usual ‘match winner’ markets, some bookmakers will also give you the chance to place bets on other specific events of the game – something we think you should definitely consider for your esports betting strategy. This is before players/teams have entered the map, or arena, and will be available for a number of esports titles. This way of betting can usually offer some appealing odds, as the match has not yet started, meaning that people can make their predictions, but no one knows for certain how the action will unfold. Choosing the correct bookmaker for you will also benefit your pre-match betting experience, as the selection varies from site to site. Those operators committed to esports markets will have a wider range of pre-match betting odds available – so making this decision will be key.

Outright Betting

It’s also worth mentioning about outright betting, where you pick a team to win a competition – a market offered across a range of sports and esports. If you fancy your chances on who’s going to win an esports tournament overall, then you will have the opportunity to place a bet on this with a lot of bookmakers. This is also the case for match winners, as you’ll be able to pick outright which player/team will win each and every esports match. Read more about outright betting on our betting odds page, where you can also find the best bookmakers for esports odds.

Live Esports Betting

Live betting is widely popular with esports punters, and it’s a very exciting form of betting to get involved with. There are plenty of opportunities available for bettors when it comes to live esports odds. Bookmakers are increasing their range of live esports markets, meaning customers like yourself can place some in-game wagers on some of the biggest esports matches, tournaments and competitions. Just before we briefly explain what live markets are best at points in an esports match, we recommend that you check out all of the live betting guides we have on offer. We cover all of your favourite esports titles, and we think it’s a great help to your live esports betting strategy.

Start

As the live action begins, we think that bettors should be looking at the player’s/team’s playing strategy, and determine what their early aims are to begin the match. For example, in MOBA games – League of Legends, Dota 2 – a team looking to form an offensive strategy should immediately give you a decision to make about the ‘first blood’ live markets available on certain bookies’ sites. Or, if shooters are more your thing, then in a similar fashion, you could look at ‘first to…’ and/or ‘first kill’ markets. Our betting guides go through in much more detail of what you should be looking out for early on, so be sure to check them out. This section is just to give you some food for thought.

Middle

At the midpoint of a lot of esports matches, some of the major betting markets will become available for you to place a bet on. At this point, you should also have a good understanding of each team, and who seems to be on top. If you’re wanting to place an in-play wager on who’s going to win, then that will of course be available to you, with the odds still appealing as the result is still very much undecided. On top of that, ‘total’ markets will be on offer, meaning that you can take a look at kills, towers, buildings – depending on the esport, of course – and use your instinctive decision-making.

End

By this point in an esports match, your esports betting strategy should be looking at the overall winner. As a lot of the markets have already been played out, there are less odds available for you to bet on, but by no means is there nothing to have a look at. The winning team can sometimes be clear, meaning the odds on the match winner won’t be as attractive and may not be worth betting on. However, placing a bet on markets that are not related to the outcome of the match will be beneficial to your esports betting strategy here.

Our Esports Betting Strategy Conclusion

Now, we know we can’t tell you specifically what the best betting strategy for esports is, but we can certainly help you to decide what you prefer in terms of an esports betting strategy. There are a number of betting strategies available to you, all of which are available for you to try out. If you’re willing to put the time into researching and building your understanding of particular betting strategies, then this will definitely help you further down the line in your esports betting. Don’t forget to check out all of our betting guides, where we dive into each specific esports title and the specific details of how to bet on it. What are you still doing here? Get onto building your own esports betting strategy – you’ll be glad you did.

Esports Betting Strategy FAQs

[faq-wrapper] [faq-item headline="❓ What is handicap betting?"] Handicap betting is used by bookmakers to offer more appealing odds on clear favourites of a particular match/event. This way, those most likely to win will have to meet certain criteria for the bet to be successful. Read more about handicap betting on our esports betting strategies page. [/faq-item] [faq-item headline="⌚ Can I bet live on esports?"] Live betting is becoming increasingly popular in the esports betting scene, with more bookmakers than ever before offering live betting markets on an array of esports titles. For more information, check out our live betting guides. [/faq-item] [faq-item headline="🎮 Which esports can I bet on?"] Most, if not all, bookmakers will have coverage on those esports considered to be the most popular when it comes to esports betting. Esports such as League of Legends, CS:GO and Dota 2 will feature in many operators’ sites. To find out which esports you can bet on, be sure to read our bookmaker reviews to see which bookie offers the best range of esports. [/faq-item] [/faq-wrapper]