Protect Your NFL Bets
How do you protect or insure your NFL bet lead from losing ?
“It ain`t over till it`s over”. One of the most famous baseball quotes from Yogi Berra — God bless his soul. These words of wisdom (yogisms) also apply to NFL football game comebacks. How in the hell did the Dallas Cowboys cover the 5 point spread against the Eagles in the Sunday night game last week.
If you bet the Eagles, you were counting down to a winner with a lead throughout the game. Somehow, the game goes to overtime and you still think you have a winner. But then it hits you that Dallas could score a TD in overtime on their first series of play. Now you are thinking you could lose by 1 point. How could this happen when I was looking real good about 30 minutes ago !
NFL betting hazards can turn your perceived profit into a bad loss if you let it. Looking towards a fourth quarter comeback by Dallas is not something you want to consider. You just want the clock to move and not be upended by unrealized circumstances — like Dallas covering in OT.
If you are betting online keep close to your computer to look at updated odds with live betting that off-shore books are now offering. You need to be aware of what hedge is available to lock in profits when you are in a winning position. A lead is never safe in any sport but large comebacks should not screw you if you hedge your bet.
What Yogi was referring to in baseball is a large run lead in late innings. No lead is safe until you get that final out. There is no ticking clock to end the game in baseball as there is in football and other sports.
Now there are ways to insure your lead with live betting options usually offered by off-shore books and some Vegas books. However, the online books are at your fingertips to secure your lead with hedging against a comeback against your team.
With the Eagles leading 23 to 13 late in the game, Dallas was listed as +150 to win the game on the money line. They were +280 to cover the minus 5 point spread. These odds were available with a couple of off-shore books on their live betting option board.
The Eagles looked good to win or at least cover the game. Somehow, Dallas comes back to tie the Eagles at 23 all and cover the 5 points with a TD in overtime. If you sat back counting your money with the Eagles, you got handed an unlikely loss by the football Gods. If you bet Dallas you lucked out.
You needed a live option bet on Dallas to hedge against a comeback against your Eagles. The game was an example of the need to protect or insure a lead with the live betting option. Dallas is one of a few teams that is capable of a comeback playing at home. It is probably not necessary to hedge your bet with every lead you have since the time left in a game helps your bet.
However, certain circumstances arise in a game where you have to be ready to make a quick decision to hedge or not. But if you can lock-in a profit by hedging against your bet, then by all means take the money and sit back and relax.
