Scalping Baseball Games
What is it? Is it worth it? By Jimmy Boyd
The dictionary definition of the word scalping is as follows: To engage in the reselling of something, such as tickets, at a price higher than the established value. My definition of scalping baseball is as follows: To wager on both sides of a sporting event in order to ensure a profit regardless of which team wins. What. What is that? You can bet on both teams and make money no matter which team wins?? How can this be? Well, the answer is quite simple, but like as in some many other areas of life the theory is relatively easy, yet the actual completion of the task is the tricky part.
At its very root, scalping in sports means to buy a moneyline low and sell it high. Take for an example the Reds playing the Marlins. Any serious gambler is going to have many outs, online books. And this is going to be the key for scalping. As previously mentioned, the idea is simple, but one who is serious about scalping must weigh the means to get to the end. A friend of mine scalps, and that is all he does. He does not place any wager without knowing in advance he is going to make money no matter what the outcome. This gentleman recommends at least 5 online accounts to have a chance at scalping. And of course the more outs you have, the more chances there will be to scalp. But having at least 5 books seems to be the minimum requirement to make any of this worthwhile. In each of those accounts you are going to have to have a pretty decent amount of money. The thing with scalping is that you make money before the game even starts, but profits are usually in the range of 1 to 3% of all monies wagered. Say for instance, you get a nice scalp, 2% and you are able to get down $3500, total action, then your return before the game even starts is $70. Not to shabby. Yes you do have to put up 3500 to make 70, but remember THIS IS RISK FREE.
Ok, so back to our Reds/ Marlins example. Assume the average line is Cincinnati –150, Florida+140. The first thing you start to do is shop. Any serious gambler that would be betting this game would already be shopping for the best line. After looking through our many online books we find a possible scalping situation. We see sportsbook #1 is offering Cincy –165, and Florida +155. After some more looking we come across another book that is offering different odds. Sportsbook #2 has Cincy –145, Florida +135. So what do we do? We have a chance to buy cheap and sell high. We are going to bet at sportsbook #1 on Florida +155, and at sportsbook #2 we bet Cincy –145. We now have bet on both sides on a single event. Sounds kind of crazy, but follow me here. Let us assume we are going to bet 1000 on the “higher” dog. 1000 on Florida +155. How much do we get down on Cincy. If we do not do this correctly, we have a possibility to lose the scalp. I have a formula that will figure for you exactly how much money to wager on the –(fav) per 1 dollar you bet on the +(dog). So we bet 1000 on Florida at +155, the ideal number to bet on Cincy is 1.51 dollars for every dollar bet on Florida. So 1510 down on the Marlins.
Remember that you must TAKE (T) the higher odds and LAY (L) the lower odds. The formula is based of off what odds you can get. In the above example the take (T) odds are 155, and the lay (L) odds are 145.
(T + 1) /( L + 1) x L = amount to lay per 1 dollar bet on the take odds.
So our take odd is 1.55, and our lay odd is 1.45
(1.55 + 1) / (1.45 + 1) X 1.45 = 1.51
For every 1 Dollar bet at +155, we bet 1.51 at –145.
The next formula is to determine the percentage profit we are guaranteed.
(T – L) / L (T+2) + 1 = percentage won.
(1.55) / 1.45(1.55 + 2) + 1 = 1.6%
We have concluded that scalping is a way to make money risk free. So if we see the chance to scalp a game, why not take it. It’s free money. You are using your brain to take a small advantage and make a little money from it. But just how many chances are there to scalp per day/week/month. Therein lies the hard part. The chances like the one above are quite rare, but they are out there. What I suggest is that now we know what to look for, and what a scalp is, we keep ours eyes open for possibilities. If we happen to see a possibly scalp, take note of it, and check it out, then jump all over it. I do not suggest that anyone reading this article quit his job and try to scalp fulltime. I just don’t believe there are a lot of opportunities to scalp. However if while line shopping the opportunity is there, bet it. From my tracking I have seen an average of 3 or 4 scalps a week, in baseball. But you have to have the outs. Having 2 online books is not going to cut it. Remember buy low and sell high. It is easy money. My idea is to have the ability to scalp in case the opportunity occurs and to use scalping as another tool in your ever growing handicapping arsenal.
Jimmy Boyd of Locksmith Sports is a Professional Sports Handicapperand currently ranked 2nd in the Professional Handicappers Leaguefor the MLB Season. Get his Guaranteed and Premium Plays at LocksmithSportsPicks.com.
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