During the NFL season it’s difficult for the teams to come out firing on all cylinders every week. You can easily find the teams that should dominate the game based on stats, but this just isn’t the case all the time. Once the season is over though, the playoffs begin which is when the best teams start to come out and play their best football. Betting on the NFL playoffs can be very rewarding for the people that know a little bit about football.

When going into the NFL playoffs you need to consider several factors. The teams that do the best in the first round are often the teams that are on a roll. You’ll often see an upset or two during the first round of the NFL playoffs for one simple reason. The teams that need to fight for a playoff position often come into the playoffs on a roll because in order to get into the playoffs they need to be playing their best football. The teams that have locked up playoff positions early often sit their players in the last few weeks of the season and this causes them to get a little rusty in some cases.

With many games coming down to the last minute in the playoffs you also need to look closely at the underdogs when getting more then 3 points. You can do research on the underdogs by looking for good NFL betting articles. There aren’t going to be that many point spreads over 7 in the playoffs, but when you can get them make sure you jump on the underdog. Home field advantage also plays a huge role in the NFL playoffs, but keep in mind that the Superbowl is played on a neutral football field. If you’re able to get a home underdog in the playoffs you’re typically making a good bet.

You should pay close attention to any injuries and weather updates as the playoff games near close as well each season. Most teams won’t list there injured players until the very last minute and you need to make sure you know about all injuries before you make your bet. With the playoffs being played throughout the winter months every year you also need to consider the weather at certain stadiums. Some teams just don’t like playing in the cold and when they have too it can be a huge disadvantage to that team. There is tons of money wagered on the NFL playoffs every year and in order to come out on top you need to be selective about your picks and go with your gut feeling.

However, where this so-called East Coast baseball betting bias, if it were true (which many can point to some in-your-face statistics to support their case that it is true) can hurt those betting on baseball the most is with televised games.

Why? In order to really learn a team and what they’re capable of, you have to watch them play on at least a semi-regular basis. You have to. At least once a week. So if ESPN is only throwing on Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox games, and TBS is only giving you the Braves, how are you going to really follow the progress and development of teams in the Midwest and West that aren’t named the Cubs, and don’t play in or near the town in which you live? It’s not easy. I’m sorry, you can’t make serious, informed monetary decisions based on 20-second clips off a Web site. Following live statistics, as well, will only take you so far.

And while we’re at it, if you live on the East Coast, you’re faced with another disadvantage when it comes to East Coast games. You guessed it, they all start at 9 or 10 p.m. If any of you have a regular job, you’re not staying up past the fourth inning or so, unless the game’s on a Friday or Saturday night. You might not think it much of a handicap, but I still think it puts you as a disadvantage. You’re putting money on the line, you should has as much first-hand experience studying a team as possible.

You can look at all the stats online you want. You can study them up and down for two hours a day. It still wouldn’t change the fact that if you’re not watching a team on a regular basis, you’d basically guessing more than if you were. It also subconsciously allows thoughts like “well, they won that big game two weeks ago, I like their chances.” Yeah, good luck with that.

But what can you do if the games aren’t on TV? Well, you can probably buy an online package to watch them anyway, or you can focus your betting energy on the teams whose games you can watch.

Once an online sports betting account has been opened, the soccer fan may wager on the soccer matches of the World Cup. When betting on the soccer matches, you will notice that the matches may be wagered on by way of either the point spread or the money line. A sample line for the World Cup might look like the following line:

England -1, -175

United States +1, +500

Draw +260

In this sample line, England is favored by a single goal. This means that when betting on the point spread, England spots the USA a goal. Thus, for betting purposes, the score line begins at 1-0 on kickoff. In order for England to win the point spread bet, they must defeat the USA by more than a goal. If the US side of the point spread bet wins, they must at least draw against England in the actual score line. In the event the match is a draw on the point spread method of betting (England wins by a single goal in the actual match results), the bet is a push.

If betting on the money line, those who are betting on England will win $100 for every $175 they wager should England pull off the victory. In the event the United States emerges victorious, those who have wagered on the USA by way of the world cup odds money line will win $500 for every $100 they have laid on a USA win. Unlike the point spread line, the money line relies upon the actual outcome of the game. No points are spotted in money line betting.

In addition to betting on one side to win, a money line bettor can place a wager on the game ending in a draw. If the USA and England’s World Cup match ends in a draw, those who have wagered on the draw will win $260 for every $100 they have bet.

Eastern Conference – Atlantic Division

New Jersey Devils – Prudential Center
New York Islanders – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
New York Rangers – Madison Square Gardens
Philadelphia Flyers – Wachovia Center
Pittsburgh Penguins – Mellon Arena

Eastern Conference – Northeast Division

Boston Bruins – TD Banknorth Garden
Buffalo Sabres – HSBC Arena
Montreal Canadiens – Bell Centre
Ottawa Senators – Scotiabank Place
Toronto Maple Leafs – Air Canada Center

Eastern Conference – Southeast Division

Atlanta Thrashers – Philips Arena
Carolina Hurricanes – RBC Center
Florida Panthers – BankAtlantic Center
Tampa Bay Lightning – St. Pete Times Forum
Washington Capitols – Verizon Center

Western Conference – Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks – United Center
Columbus Blue Jackets – Nationwide Arena
Detroit Red Wings – Joe Louis Arena
Nashville Predators – Sommet Center
St. Louis Blues – Scottrade Center

Western Conference – Northwest Division

Calgary Flames – Pengrowth Saddledome
Colorado Avalanche – Pepsi Center
Edmonton Oilers – Rexall Place
Minnesota Wild – Xcel Energy Center
Vancouver Canucks – General Motors Place

Western Conference – Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks – Honda Center
Dallas Stars – American Airlines Center
Los Angeles Kings – Staples Center
Phoenix Coyotes – Jobing.com Arena
San Jose Sharks – HP Pavilion at San Jose

Learning which NHL Lines are in what division is important when you’re going to wager on future bets. At the beginning of the season if you want to bet on the future bets you’ll need to know what teams are in what division. You can bet on who will win the Stanley Cup, who will win each conference and who will win each division.

Some of the divisions are a lot weaker then other divisions and you can easily make some money by placing future bets on who you think will win certain divisions. For instance, the Red Wings often win the Central Division every year which is generally easy money if you bet on them. Picking a team to win the conference at the beginning of the year is a lot harder and you need to consider how the teams match-up against each other. There have been no new teams since 2000 and none of the divisions have changed at all either since then. I don’t expect any new teams to be added to the league anytime soon either, although the Coyotes still might be sold sometime soon. You can learn how the NHL playoffs run every year by viewing our page on the past Stanley Cup Champions.

With so many games on tap for the bowl season, we’re going to take a look at the most important games only. For those of you wondering the lines are from 5Dimes (Dec 16th).

#1 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. #2 Texas Longhorns

Obviously the biggest game of the entire College Football betting season is the BCS National Championship Game. If you had asked most people at the beginning of the season what team had the best shot at getting to this game they would have told you the Gators. With the Gators getting spanked by the Tide though, we’ll see #1 Alabama go up against #2 Texas. Both McCoy and Ingram will be most likely fighting for the Heisman Trophy in the game and it’s sure to be electric.

The #1 Crimson Tide are currently -5 favourites going into this game. After watching Bama beat the Gators in stunning fashion I expect the public to be on Alabama’s side so if you want to bet on Bama I would take the -5 while you can get it. I can’t see the spread moving too much, but it could definitely get up to a -6.5 or so before kick-off in January.

#3 Cincinnati vs. #5 Florida Gators

The Sugar Bowl this year will feature two very strong teams, the Cincinnati Bearcats and Florida Gators. The bookies have the game set at -10.5 in favour of the Gators, but I think this might be a bit high. The Bearcats went undefeated throughout the entire season thus far, but most think they should have lost against Pittsburgh. Pike has had some up and down moments this season and it should be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of the Sugar Bowl and going up against Tim Tebow.

This is going to be the very last game played in College Football for Tim Tebow and I’m sure he would love nothing more then to go out with a sports betting bang. This is obviously not the game he wanted to be in this year, but I don’t think that will affect his performance. Florida is the much better team in this game, but the Bearcats have been able to put up points this year when they needed too. I think it the game will be close to the spread and could go either way, but the Gators will walk away with the Sugar Bowl.