Action Reverse Bet

 
  1. Of course, the lower the risk the less the payout. Thus, the reverse bet does not offer the same type of cash as the if bet or the parlay. The reverse bet is simply a double-action if bet. With the reverse bet you would put $110 on the Pats in game one and $110 on the Bears in game two.
  2. An Action-Reverse wager is a pair of IF Action wagers. The pairs are made by taking the original IF Action wager and placing another IF Action wager in reverse order. Following is a breakdown of a 2 play Action-Reverse.
  3. An action reverse bet places two separate if bets simultaneously, one in each direction. An action reverse bet also risks twice as much as an if bet, because it is effectively two separate bets. If an action reverse bet was placed on the Jets and Kings, it would cost $20, instead of $10, because two individual $10 bets are being placed.

What does reverse line movement mean, and is it a profitable strategy to wager on games? This is a popular question that we get from inexperienced bettors. This article will try to break down the basics of what it is, and if it’s a tool that can help you add profits to your bankroll.

Reverse line movement (RLM) is something that is brought up a lot around the gambling industry. For those of you who are confused on what a RLM is, here’s an in-depth explanation.

Basically an action reverse pays 4x your bet. Lose one game lose amount bet plus 20% vig. Lose both games lose 2x your bet plus 20% vig. Action Reverse An action reverse is accomplished by combining two if bets made simultaneously on the same set of outcomes. In our case, we will split our maximum loss of $100 into two If Bets, each.

Understanding Betting Line Movements in General

In order to spot a reverse line movement, you have to have an understanding of how a line should move based on action. It’s well known that Vegas and the online sportsbooks want to have as close to even money being wagered on both sides of any action as possible.

Reverse Action Betekenis

They do their best to set an opening line that they feel will attract bettors to both sides. If they are getting uneven action on a game, they will move the line to try an get more bets (money) on the other side.

Let’s say a team opens as a 6-point favorite. If 60% of the bets are coming in on that team to cover, the books are vulnerable. The juice wouldn’t cover the loss if the favorite covered. That’s why they are quick to move the line. In this case, you would expect the line to go up to -6.5 or -7.

Why do they do this? Because they have a built-in profit margin called the vig. If both sides of a spread or total is -110, that 10 cents of juice charged to the loser is how the book makes money. If they have even action on both sides of a game, there is no liability. That is to say that the books are taking no risks and have no chance of losing.

If the books are unbalanced, then there is a risk of taking a loss. Since Vegas casinos are now run by corporations, and corporations generally frown on losing money, the days of sportsbook managers taking a stance on games are long gone.

How Does An Action Reverse Bet Work

Reverse

Now, the number of bets and money coming in is important, but the books will also pay attention to who is making those wagers. There are professional gamblers that can beat the line day in and day out. If one of these guys comes in and places a max bet, you can be guaranteed to see the line move. If a whale comes in and does the same, the book might be confident enough in its line to leave it be.

The best sportsbooks in the world aren’t afraid of sharp action. Instead, they use it to sharpen up their lines. Weaker books limit or ban winning players, they only want recreational fish who donate time after time and don’t try to actually win.

Where to go to Find Reverse Line Moves

You might be asking yourself, how do you know which side is receiving the majority of the bets? There are several sites out there that will show you the percentage of bets being wagered on each side. One of my favorites place to check for this is the odds page at SportsCapping.

The key thing you have to realize is the percentage is the number of bets not the amount of money. The books do not disclose how much money is being wagered on one side or another. You also have to use some common sense. The public likes to bet on things to happen. They like taking overs because rooting for points to not be scored isn’t as fun. They like taking favorites because it’s tough for them to back a team they don’t feel are as good as their opponents. You need to have this in the back of your mind as you try to determine what line moves are going in the opposite direction of the public’s action.

Spotting Reverse Line Movement

It’s really easy once you get it figured out. Just because a team is receiving 60% of the action, doesn’t mean they are getting the majority of the money.

Let’s say there are 100 wagers that have been placed on a game. There’s 60 on one side (60%) and 40 on the other. If the average bet of the 60 is only $50, the total money bet would be $3,000. If the average bet of the 40 is $200, the total bet would be $8,000.

Even though one side is receiving 60% of the action, it’s possible the books are getting way more money on the other side. The spread on the team that is getting 60% is going to get better. If they were -4, the books are going to drop that down to -3.5 or even -3 to try and get more money flowing in on the favorite.

Action Reverse Bet Example

All you have to do is study the lines and betting percentages. If a team is getting 60% or more of the action and the line moves the other direction, this is what is known as a reverse line move.

You also have to remember that the majority of money staked on a game is going to come from the public. The sharps do not have opinions on every game. Determining whether a move is based on sharp action, public action, or new information is very difficult even for the veteran bettor. It takes a little bit of feel to do so correctly.

One thing to look at is the size of the market. A line move in the NFL typically means that new information has been brought to light (such as a significant injury) or a really massive amount of money has been thrown around. To move the line in a small conference college basketball game might mean just a few thousand dollars were thrown down by a gambler that the book respects.

Are Reverse Line Movements Profitable?

Action Reverse Bet Explained

I’m guessing a lot of you right now are asking yourself if it’s profitable to follow. The answer is yes, but you have to trust it long-term.

The important thing to note is those reverse line movements are almost a result of sharp bettors. The public loves action and likes to bet on a lot of games. Their average bet size isn’t typically that much. Sharps, on the other hand, bet massive amounts on a select few games.

Almost every time you play an RLM, you are betting alongside the sharps. These are people who do this for a living and spend countless hours breaking down games.

I do want to point out that you do have to some research of your own. Not all line movement is a result of money being bet. You have to make sure that oddsmakers aren’t moving the line because of an injury or suspension. Sometimes they also notice the sharps do not have an opinion on the game but the public is heavily favoring one side or another. The books will want to adjust the odds, in this case, to try and encourage the sharps to come in and balance their action.

An if bet is a series of wagers where the action continues to the next bet only if a condition is met. These can be if win bets or if win/push. A similar wagering option called reverse bets function as if win, push, no action or cancel. To explain in simple terms here is an example of a 2-selection if win/pushwager: Chicago Bears -4 -110 Risk $220 to win $200. If win/push: Then: New England Patriots -7 -110 Risk $220 to win $200. In the above example the Patriots wager only has action if the Bears wager wins or pushes. It is worth noting that even if the Patriot game was played at 1PM and the Bears game at 8PM (or even the following day) you could still make this same wager.

Where to Make If Bets Online

www.5dimes.eu is no question the best website for if betting. They have an option called Rolling If Bets (RIF) where you can create if bets on demand using an already pending wager. This means if your account balance was tied up in pending wagers but you had a $550 to win $500 bet pending on the Lakers who with 5:00 left in the game are winning by 33, you could bet the $1050 return before the game is even settled. To do this: click “Straight and RIF” (as opposed to Bet the Board) from their wagering menu. At many online sportsbooks “if bet” rules are restrictive. Some sites allow only the stake, or only the winnings, from a bet to be rolled forward as opposed to the full return. It is also industry standard that if bets can only be done on point spreads, totals and moneylines. At 5Dimes none of these restrictions apply. You can roll forward any amount up to your full return. You can also do if bets off teasers and parlays, and can even make if bets on props, team totals and any other market they offer.

Where to find the if bet section on 5dimes

If Betting Strategy

Understand if betting is mostly a bankroll management tool for those with underfunded accounts. There is no advantage that this form of wagering provides over straight bets and parlay bets. I already provided an example in the section above of a reason to use this form of wagering. That example was making a rolling if bet (RIF) using a pending ticket at www.5dimes.eu. A strategy you could use at any site is say you are 100% sure you want to bet $300 on the Monday night game, but only have $300 in your account. For some reason you have the bankroll but can’t deposit. There are Sunday games you might wish to wager too but the Monday night game is most important. You could in this case wager the Monday night game with an if win/push then: (insert various Sunday game wagers).

In years past more strategy was available. Some sportsbooks allowed if bets for larger than the return. For example: $5.00 on -9 and if win then $2500 on over 36.5. This was allowed at some sites for the same game. In this example, we just wagered $5 for the team to beat the 9 point spread. In the case they did beat the -9 spread, we then bet $2500 on the total being over 36.5. In a scenario such as that, when a team beats a 9 point spread, the match total will almost certainly be over 36.5. Our $2500 is almost risk free in this situation as it is only bet, if the team beats the 9 point spread. These are of course correlated and shows how even as late as 2005 some bookies were not very sharp. Today the bookmakers realize the advantage this provides and such wagers are not allowed.

Another time you might use this option is if a site offered fixed odds on parlay bets. If they also allow full return to be used on if bet tickets then you could get true odds parlays using that option in instead. Outside of what’s covered, here there are not too many reasons to use if bets. If you’ are simply in a mood to gamble you might want to instead use round robin, make parlay wagers or wager long underdogs on the moneylines. That all said, no matter what your goal is using if bets, we at Online Gambling wish you the best of luck.