Check out our guide to Overwatch 2 Handicap betting

Overwatch 2 Handicap Betting Brilliantly Explained

So you’re betting on Overwatch 2 online, you’re enjoying it, and you’re looking to find the best value in your wagers. This is where we come in.

Once you’ve found your favorite bookmaker and got a grasp of the basics, you want to be keeping an eye out for gaps in the market that you can throw yourself into - handicap betting is a great way of doing this. This is our guide to Overwatch 2 betting handicaps, what to look out for, and how to figure out the difference between a good bet and a total flop.

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What is Overwatch 2 handicap betting?

If you’re new to online gamlbing, or gambling in general, you may not be immediately aware of what handicap betting is. Basically, handicap betting revolves around placing handicap bets. These are wagers just like any others, but where the operator has slightly changed the parameters of the bet.

Here’s an example:

Mike Tyson is fighting Barry from down the road. Obviously, nobody in their right mind would put any money on Barry (unless you have some insider knowledge that Barry is some kind of ruthless killing machine), so to make the event more interesting, bookmakers mess with the odds a bit. Rather than having Tyson at 1000/1 to win the fight, and Barry at 1/1000 - thus making the whole market pointless as no self-respecting bettor would put their money on either of those outcomes.

Bookmakers take those odds, and apply a handicap. If the wager is to win the fight, Barry might have a handicap of +9 or something like that, meaning he wouldn’t have to win every round for a fight winner to come in.

Basically, handicap betting is about making everyday gambling more fun by adding slight modifiers to how the winner of the bet is calculated.

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Why bet with a handicap?

Well, there are a few major reasons why someone might handicap bet. For starters, it spices things up. There’s nothing less interesting than a completely lop-sided contest that goes exactly the way it’s expected to, and more often than not they do. Handicaps at least make the betting aspect of the event way more exciting for the punters, as there’s actually some kind of competition for you to tune into.

Also, when operators apply handicaps to otherwise ridiculously unfavourable odds, they’ve essentially created a new market. Nobody is putting money on a contest that seems like it’s been decided before it’s happened, so by offering an alternate price point the bookmakers are giving themselves, and their customers, more options.

And it’s not just about the fun - the fact is that savvy punters will almost definitely be able to find value in the handicap bets proposed by operators. These bets are obscure and will leave plenty of room for loose value - points where punters think the bookmaker has slightly overestimated/underestimated certain Overwatch 2 odds giving you a chance to pick up some winnings.

5 tips to take advantage of handicap betting

It’s one thing to dive into handicap esports betting online, but it’s another thing entirely to do it properly. Sure, on the surface, handicap betting is a nice twist on the regular markets, but in reality it’s a doorway into the world of online betting success.

You can use handicap betting to increase your chances of winning your wagers, so here are our top 5 tips as to how.

1: Don’t go crazy...

Once you start handicap betting, the temptation can be to put money down here there and everywhere. “Hey, look at this, British Hurricanes only need to win 1 game against Shanghai Dragons and I win, this is a no-brainer.”

Sadly, it’s not as easy as that. While those numbers look appealing, you need to know the actual chances of your chosen result happening. Fact is, you could have the greatest handicap betting prices in the history of man, but a bad bet is a bad bet. Sometimes you just don’t have much chance of it coming in, regardless of the favourable prices.

It might take some time for you to become accustomed to the prices on Overwatch 2 handicap betting, but once you do it’ll become like a second language to you. Until that time though you should analyze the numbers carefully before putting money down, because even though 1 game isn’t a lot, there’s still a chance it won’t come in at all, thus rendering your handicap bet pointless.

2: ...Until you know the score

Of course, the previous tip only applies if you’re new to Overwatch 2 handicap betting. If you’re the kind of punter who considers themselves extremely experienced in Overwatch 2 handicap betting, then you might have all the information necessary to start going for it.

The most important knowledge when Overwatch 2 handicap betting is game knowledge. Knowing how successful the esports teams have historically been, how a certain map favours specific playstyles, which players will be controlling which heroes and how this will affect the game are all examples of essential knowledge that will inform your Overwatch 2 handicap betting drastically.

These aspects of game knowledge are the difference between a punter who’s placing savvy bets and a punter who’s throwing money around randomly, so anyone who’s never played or watched a match of Overwatch 2 and is thinking of handicap betting on the esport desperately needs to learn more about the game - please, we’re begging you, don’t be an idiot about it. You can always spend a bit more time going over our strategy guides - we've covered the pick 3 esports betting strategy, plus much more.

3: Try not to overestimate

The trickiest aspect of handicap betting is, not only predicting which team will actually win the match, but also by how much they’ll win it. When a brilliant team plays a less-than-brilliant team, the difficulty in handicap betting is figuring out by how much the lesser team will probably lose by.

Of course, various operators offer different markets for Overwatch 2 handicap betting (overall kills obtainted, match score, rounds won and time controlling the zone are all possible handicap markets you may run into), but roughly speaking, the most difficult part of it all is getting your estimation bang on.

While it’s also very easy to underestimate a team (“WHAT DO YOU MEAN LONDON SPITFIRE JUST WON THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS?!#*”) more often than not we think you’ll lose money by overestimating. Just because an established team is coming up against a less experienced outfit doesn’t mean that it’ll be a complete landslide, and you might find that if you constantly overestimate how much the better teams will trounce the smaller ones, you end up losing bankroll.

4: Start by betting small

We know, we know, you don’t want to bet small. You have all the basics down and you’re avoiding the pitfalls - you know everything there is to know about Overwatch 2 handicap betting, and you’re ready to claim your enormous fortune.

Slow down, Rockefeller, you’re not ready yet. We highly recommend you start out slow with your handicap betting, at least until you can get the lay of the land. The last thing you want to happen when you start Overwatch 2 handicap betting online is for you to make a massive mistake on the odds and end up losing a big chunk of your starting bankroll.

This can be easily avoided by just starting small and slowly working your way up to proper money. Even experienced punters have to understand that handicap betting is a slightly different situation to regular betting, so we can’t recommend enough that you dip your toe into the water before diving in head first.

5: Bet regularly!

Almost definitely the best way of getting used to Overwatch 2 handicap betting, and therefore being way more successful with it, is to regularly do it. The more you use handicap betting, the more familiar you’ll become with the numbers, you’ll start to recognize the good/bad teams, you’ll just become way more proficient at spotting a deal.

Combine this with our earlier tip of betting small, and you can build some seriously valuable experience in handicap betting as well as possibly increasing the size of your betting bank. The more you practice, the more successful you’re bound to become.

Bookmakers who offer Overwatch 2 handicap odds

Almost all esports bookmakers will be able to offer Overwatch 2 handicap odds at the right time. Below we’ve listed some of our favourite esports operators. We think your best bet, if you’re looking for Overwatch handicap betting, would be to tune into these bookmaker websites when there’s a massive Overwatch 2 esports tournament ongoing.

If you’re new to esports gambling, we think you’d be best finding an esports operator that offers Overwatch 2 live betting and streaming. This will help you get into esports and work out where you can find value in the markets, and also inform your bets heavily.

Not all bookmakers will offer handicap odds, and the ones that do won’t offer them at all times. Really, it’s up to you as a punter to notice when there’s probably going to be Overwatch handicap betting offers online and cash in. Here’s some of our favourite esports bookmakers and why we think they’re in the top bracket.

• GG.BET - loads of markets, great coverage of games, clearly displayed on going events

• Winners.Bet - Great introductory offer, many different esports featured, easily accessible live streaming

• Luckbox - Professional website, mobile access, live streaming.

Pitfalls to avoid

Even after taking all of our Overwatch 2 betting tips for gaining maximum value while Overwatch 2 handicap betting, there are still plenty of things that can go wrong if you’re not all that experienced. Below are our biggest shouts on pitfalls to avoid while handicap betting.

Never bet on a draw:

9 times out of 10, an Overwatch 2 match will be won or lost by one of the participating teams. There’s basically no room for draws whatsoever, so if you ever get a chance to put money on a draw, just don’t. Most Overwatch 2 handicap markets won’t offer draws, so it’s probably not something you need to be too concerned about, but just remember that a draw is the least likely result in most esports matches.

Don’t ignore the favorites:

The temptation with esports betting is to ignore the favourites. You’re never going to get very good odds on the best team in the world beating… well, anyone, so what’s the point? Obviously, handicap betting changes this. There’ll be plenty of handicap bets available when the big teams are playing, and it may even be a good opportunity for you to snag some good value.

Clock the bonuses:

Almost every esports operator will offer deals and Overwatch 2 promo codes alongside their regular markets. Don’t let them go to waste - one of the biggest mistakes new punters can make is to jump straight into the esports gambling world without checking the promotional offers on their chosen bookmaker first. Not only is it essential to do when you first sign up, as brand new players will receive special offers for being new, but it’s also something you should be doing on a regular basis anyway.

Don’t just stick to the same operator forever:

Of course finding the bookmaker that most appeals to you is a great tactic, but why make it exclusive? If you’re not shopping around for different odds and promotions, you’re essentially missing out on possible applicable bonus bankroll, which is just never a good thing. The best call really is to hop between operators keeping an eye on their weekly offers, and making sure you do this when there’s a crazy big esports tournament on. These competitions are a great time for punters to shop around, as most esports operators will be going crazy with their promotional offers and themed bonuses.

Don’t stress:

Guys, at the end of the day, Overwatch 2 handicap betting is supposed to be fun. If you’re stressing about the numbers and how you’re going to win your next wager, just chill out. The very nature of online gambling means nobody is ever going to win them all, so above all else we want you to manage your bankroll properly, use promotions effectively, and basically just have fun. If you’re not enjoying your wagers, take a break for a while, because the worst thing you can possibly do is make a bet mindlessly.

Conclusion

When all’s said and done, handicap betting can be extremely important to Overwatch 2 esports bettors. While it would be nice for every competitive match to be extremely contested, the reality of esports is that more often than not one of the teams is far more skilled than the other. While anything can happen in a match, handicap Overwatch 2 betting is a great way to find value in a competition that looks like it’s already decided.

The danger for new players is that they misunderstand how valuable a certain handicap bet is, and end up throwing away a lot of their capital chasing massive winnings, so we can’t stress enough how much we think you should follow our tips and tricks further up in this Overwatch 2 betting guide.

Overwatch 2 Handicap Betting FAQ