Strategy & Theory: Middling

We’ve often times explained different theories in sports betting in an attempt to help all take advantage of game, and even season, situations.  One little known, and seldom used, strategy is often referred to as Middling.

Middling is where a bettor places a bet on each side of a game, albeit ATS or Total, which allows for an opportunity to hit both bets.  Ultimately this allows the bettor to double the profits if the line or total falls in the “middle”.

If you bet Alabama at -5 1/2 against Ole MIss, and the line moves to Alabama -7 1/2 later, you now bet Ole Miss +7 1/2.  The “middle” is the 2 point difference.  In the event that Alabama wins by 7, you win both bets. Essentially, you are looking to double your profits, and worst case scenario, be down only the juice on one bet.  This falls into the category of low risk, high reward.

The key to doing this is to find a game in which there are large line movements to give your middle as much room to hit as possible.  So, where do we find these games where there is likely to be large line movement on either the spread or total?  We have found the best place is college football and college basketball.  And, more specifically, smaller conference games.  While all eyes are usually on the large conferences (Such as SEC Football, or ACC Basketball), the smaller conferences typically get large line movements because the money comes in heavy from the pros.  It can be typical to find a small conference game that moves by 4-8 points from the opening number to right before kickoff or tipoff.

When going through your bet sheet, remember to look at some of these lines, especially when there are teams that the pros hammer right from the opening line.  It may make sense to take a game early, wait for line movement, and take the opposite side right before the game starts, creating your middle.

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