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Making Heads and Tails of Soccer Betting – Betting Types

Proposition bets in soccer are where the true diversity and where the unlimited possibilities reside. Soccer prop bets are quite a bit different from your regular money line and over/under bets. The great thing about these prop bets is that they can be about pretty much anything. Bettors can wager on some of the most out-of-this-world things, like which player gets the first yellow/red card, who commits the first foul, which team takes the first corner shot etc. The possibilities are quite endless and that makes things quite impossible to handicap for players. That’s the bad news about these proposition bets. The good news is, the bookie won’t be able to handicap these propositions as thoroughly as he handicaps his money lines and over/unders either. The influence of the money which comes in on these prop bets isn’t as great either, as obviously, there are much fewer people who take advantage of them than money line or over/under bettors. The bookie doesn’t have as much riding on these bets, which is yet another reason for a bit of sloppiness on his part.

Now then, even if you can never hope to handicap proposition bets properly, you have to at least have a basic understanding and knowledge of the two teams involved, lest you should commit money on an embarrassingly silly bet like picking a defender to score the first goal of a game.

Live proposition bets work quite similarly to regular live bets. There are countless online odds services out there which offer live odds on prop bets in addition to their regular odds. There, one can track the odds as the game progresses. Of course, if one bets on a player who has already scored a goal in a game, the odds will be altered quite a bit.

In the case of live prop bets, it is even more important that you know a thing or two about both teams involved, than with regular prop bets. These live prop bets are usually for more experienced bettors, as rookies can’t quite hope to get anywhere until they gather enough experience under their belts. Prop bets are extremely versatile and can therefore be quite frustrating for beginners, but they do tend to offer experienced bettors an advantage.

If you specialize in one type of prop bet, you will likely be forced to stick to one site, because soccer prop bets usually differ from one site to another. What that means is that you won’t really be able to go shopping around for odds.

You should also know however that there are no good and bad prop bets out there. They’re all the same as far as the odds and the payouts are concerned: those that look bad carry better payouts, those that look good, usually offer a smaller payout-edge.

The bottom line: soccer prop betting can be a wonderful way to spice up your betting a little, but these bets are not exactly mainstream workhorses and they shouldn’t be treated as such.
Whatever you do, you should always take your betting online. Online sportsbooks give you bonuses and loyalty deals which are a lot like rakeback in online poker. These perks can go a long way when it comes to drawing the line at the end of the month. If you’re a high-volume bettor, you may even get to take advantage of a poker prop deal-like setup, in which you’ll get fabulous rebates and other perks that will completely change the way you gamble online.