Tips for March Madness gambling

It’s no new story that as soon as the whistle blows for the opening game of the NCAA Tournament, every basketball fan is bound to see himself get into betting for his favorite team, or simply compete in the office pool. In order to make it through with the March Madness’s betting season, here I’ve brought some gambling tricks for the NCAA Tournament 2012, which some veteran bookies and gamblers have shared.

Last weekend’s strong forces to be faded: It’s nowhere written that the teams with winning streak in the last weekend will carry their momentum in the Big Dance too. Rather, the teams who didn’t win their conference tournaments have higher odds of getting into the Top 16. Moreover, many of the top contenders of the title have already dropped out early. In fact, the fade list actually extends its horizon to the teams, which went out to secure a bid in their conference tournaments, but unfortunately came up short. The fade list includes teams like Cincinnati, Baylor, and even San Diego State.

Luck requirement in winning office pool: Competing in the office pool requires additional wise predictions, including chances to pick up upsets during the tournament’s move from Sweet 16 to Elite Eight, and then to the Final Four. Many a office poll players work way too hard on picking up early round upsets and doesn’t focus too much picking up the final four. The top four teams are actually the most seeded teams, and so I always pick two #1 seeds for my Final Four team list. Moreover, bigger pool implies more picking opportunities for the upsets. Pickings should be done in a way that upsets that supply bigger points on the second weekend should be the first ones to be picked. On the other hand, conservative strategy must be opted for smaller pools, as it doesn’t involve a need for a bunch of upsets.

Home court advantages must be avoided: Even though the tournament is played on neutral floors, but elite teams like Kentucky, Kansas, West Virginia etc. enjoy home advantage in the first weekend of the tournament’s friendly matches, while teams like VCU, Indiana, and Gonzaga etc. spend hard time in travelling.

Free throws cover pointspreads: Whenever you notice that the rate at which one team gets to the free throw in line is higher than the other, it means that the team has to lead in the final minutes somehow. Now, it depends on the team as to how to make it to the lead by the final time – whether to be fundamentally sound in defense, or switch on their attack mode. No one can ignore that even a team winning by two is capable of covering the spread by hitting their free throws in the final half-minute.

Records don’t count: Counting on the performance of a team at home against a weaker rival is simply of no use. Rather, if you really want to judge the team’s potential, look out for the performance that the team made against a better team and that too away from home. Conference games, away games and neutral ground performances give a better idea on it.

Look out for defense: Good defense line up have always won championships. In fact, allowed shooting percentage, along with allowed assist-to-turnover ratio are two major criteria to judge the defense of a team. Moreover, if both the stats turn out to be low for a team playing against an upper echelon team, simply go for the former.

Hotter turns out to be the winner: Determination of a team’s potential doesn’t correspond to how the team has been given a market value against its pointspread, rather the team’s actual performance as compared to how it has been determined by market value actually counts. However, overrated and underrated teams are quite susceptible to stay the way they have been valued. The hot teams include New Mexico, Michigan State, Indiana and many more, which have high odds of winning and hence giving you an upper hand in your bet.

Perfect blend of strategy & support: Teams like North Carolina, New Mexico State, Michigan State, Kentucky etc. have the potential to give winning a shot, because of their quality guard play, and hence leading fewer turnovers and extra assists. Moreover, junior and senior leadership in the backcourt count equally as the defense action does for the team.

Ignore seeding: It must be kept in mind that the pointspreads count more than the seeds do. Seeding only matters to some extent in some cases, as it shows the way the team has to pass through to get into the Final Four. For example, #1 seed team has an upper hand in getting in the Final Four than the #6 team. But, in case #11 seed is a favorite against the #6 seed, the market itself tells you everything.

Follow the path that Pros do: It’s always advised that if you are a beginner in betting, just don’t hesitate to rely on advises of Pros. Professional bettors are quite experienced and have quite good knowledge about the trade and the trend as well.