[cruntly]

What is a middle ?

Is it just another name for an Arb ?

[Ganchrow]

A "middle" is a bet that a team's margin of victory will fall within a certain range. It is made by placing two opposing bets with varying point spreads. For a middle the point spread on the dog will be greater than the pointspread on the fave.

An example is:
Bet 1 unit on Team A +12.5 points at -110
Bet 1 unit on Team B -9.5 points at -110.
Hence, if the margin of victory for Team B falls between 10 and 12 points inclusively, you'll win 2 units. If not you'll lose 0.2 units.



A "reverse middle" is a bet that a team's margin of victory will not fall within a certain range. It is made by placing two opposing bets with different point spreads. For a middle the pointspread on the dog will be lower than the pointspread on the fave.

An example is:
Bet 1 unit on Team A +9.5 points at +110
Bet 1 unit on Team B -12.5 points at +110.
Hence, if the margin of victory for Team B falls between 10 and 12 points inclusively, you'll lose 2 units. If not you'll win 0.2 units.


Note that not all middles are on balance profitable. The only way to determine if a given middle yields a positive expected return is to examine the historical frequency of various margins of victory.

[RickySteve]

A "middle" is a bet that a team's margin of victory will fall within a certain range. It is made by placing two opposing bets with varying point spreads. For a middle the point spread on the dog will be greater than the pointspread on the fave.

Wow, aren't you "sharp"? Feels good to show off how brilliant you are, doesn't it?

Information equals money, genius. Sportsbetting isn't about beating the bookie. You're in competition with every bettor out there for the best lines. By helping them, you hurt yourself and everyone else.

[Ganchrow]

Information equals money, genius. Sportsbetting isn't about beating the bookie. You're in competition with every bettor out there for the best lines. By helping them, you hurt yourself and everyone else.

I had no idea that the definition of a middle was so valuable a commodity.

Somehow I'm not too worried.

[raiders72001]

I had no idea that the definition of a middle was so valuable a commodity.

The forums are made to share information as Ganchrow just did. Relax Ricky, if this is a trade secret to you then you have a lot of work ahead of you to beat this game. Ganch didn't even tell him the value of the numbers in his example. He just answered the question.

[RickySteve]

Explaining concepts like middling to someone that doesn't understand does nothing except to feed your competition. There's only so much cake to go around. The more it's shared, the less there is for everyone else. And I'm greedy. I have the corner piece with all the frosting, and I don't want to share.

If you really have a soft spot in your heart for some rookie, why can't you send a private reply? This forum is a repository of information. An explanation like that could very well inspire 10/100/1000 other people and that hurts everyone.

[raiders72001]

Ricky- Middling is Gambling 101. If a guy asks a question we should help him. Explaining middling is not going to hurt anyone. If middling is advanced gambling then you should see my tech section, it would be theoretical astrophysics at Harvard.

[cruntly]

Thanks for your help Ganchrow. I appreciate it. I joined the forum to try and learn a little bit more about gambling and improve my results a little bit. Take a chill pill Ricky as I wont be taking any of your profits any time soon.

[raiders72001]

cruntly- Good to see you here. More people should take your approach.

[isetcap]

Or often referred to in the nonpolitically correct crowd as a polish middle.

Sometimes I like to polish my shoes or my furniture! Is the ethically wrong? Does the government dislike me?

[imgv94]

are you polish iset???

ganchrow you are sharp!!

[BuddyBear]

An example is:
Bet 1 unit on Team A +12.5 points at -110
Bet 1 unit on Team B -9.5 points at -110.
Hence, if the margin of victory for Team B falls between 10 and 12 points inclusively, you'll win 2 units. If not you'll lose 0.2 units.

If you find middles like this regularly you are going to be a very rich man!

[marc]

Ricky,

Explaining what terms like middle, sider arb scalp... isn't going to hurt anyone. IN fact I would say that the more ametuer middlers there are the better. WIthout knowing the values of numbers, most people who tyr to middle will likely lose. The more money sportsbook make the bettor is for those of us who win.