4 Tips for Live Betting NBA Games

The combination of The Digital Age and the 102nd US Supreme Court overturning the antiquated Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018 has been the perfect storm for Live Betting or In-game Wagering to flourish over the last several years.

Live Betting can be somewhat intimidating for the novice when first starting out, and it isn’t a bad idea to practice Live Bets until you feel a little bit more comfortable, get the hang of it, decide to start betting real money and making real live bets.

The best NBA betting sites all offer up In-game Wagering these crazy days and it is easy to find where the Live Betting market tabs are in the online sportsbooks. Unlike many of the other online betting markets, Live Betting or In-game Wagering doesn’t have to be refreshed to see new or changing lines with constant refreshes.

So, if you are looking to improve your NBA Live Betting skills, or embark on this venture for the first time, then check out some of expert simple tips for Live Betting NBA games.

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1. Employ Number Shopping and Have Multiple Outs

When choosing live betting or In-game wagering in the NBA, you have to make quicker decisions—both to bet and not to bet on a given number—and besides being a quicker- and clearer-thinker than you have ever been, you need to have the best number. And to give yourself a chance to have the best numbers in Live Wagering, you need as many “Outs” as possible.

What’s an “Out”?:

An Out is simply an individual sportsbook that you use and have an account in.

With so many more sportsbooks out there now, signing up and having multiple Outs has never been easier. And, with the speed of the Internet, more and more bettors are choosing to dabble or even solely make In-Game wagering their preferred way of betting on the NBA. And if you miss the start of an NBA game, so what?

Live and In-game Wagering serves up the opportunity to bet on Teams or Totals, and when you want with the added advantage of physically being able to watch the game on which you are doing Live NBA betting. Conventional wisdom shows that if you have multiple outs and are shopping for the best Live numbers, you can always give yourself a chance to find the best betting value.

But you have to be really quick and possibly have multiple devices open and ready to bet to go to war with the online sportsbooks in order to give yourself the best chance at ultimately winning consistently.

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— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) October 8, 2022

2. Make Hedging, Middles, Locking in Profits Part of Strategy

Live Wagering in the NBA offers up a number of different realities you just can’t find when betting on the league in the convention (Full Game) way. With ever-changing odds, it turns games, even Quarters and Halves, into little Stock Markets of their own.

And you can play your In-game wagers against a Full Game wager and create things like Hedges and Middles utilizing these modern online Live betting markets. And you aren’t really alive until you have dabbled in Live NBA Wagering. It’s like riding a Bull. You can also lock in profits or create Middles with In-game wagering should the numbers end up going your way. Say you have the Suns -6 for the game and Phoenix is up so big, say 20, in the 4th Quarter that you see a line of Sacramento +12½ Live with 5 minutes left.

If you bet the Kings +12½ and you have the Suns -6, you can be fairly confident the original Full game wager of PHX -6 will cover ATS (Against The Spread), so by taking Sacramento +12½ Live at that theoretical point in time, you are pulling for the Kings to cut the gap.

And this makes perfect sense.

Why? Because Phoenix is up by 20 points and it’s a foregone conclusion the Suns will win by 7 or more and cover the Full Game Point Spread with so little time remaining. Knowing the Suns don’t care about scoring or D creates that edge. Looking for Phoenix to win by 6 (Pushes Full Game, In-Game Hedge wins) or the Suns to win by 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 points gives the Live Wagering In-Game NBA bettor a chance to win both bets on 6 different spots should Phoenix with by between 7 and 12 points.

And if the Live-Wager loses, at least you know you had control of when and how much you wagered live, knowing that you had that Suns -6 (and a likely winner) “in your front pocket” as esteemed bookmakerJ immy Vaccarro would say.

Here are simple definitions of Middles and Hedges:

Hedge—A Hedge bet is a wager made on the opposite side (Teams or Totals) of your or original bet to guarantee yourself a profit, totally regardless of the game result.
Middle—A Middle bet is a bet made by wagering on both Sides (Teams or Totals) of a given game with different betting prices with hopes of cashing in both bets. Middles can be attempted with two Full Game numbers, one Full Game and In-Game (or more) bets or even with two In-game numbers at different points in an NBA game.

For example, if you bet the Bulls +7 Full Game and had a chance to bet the Bucks -4 during (in-game) in a Live betting market online, should Milwaukee win by 5 or 6 points, you would end up cashing in both bets (CHI +7 Full Game, MIL -4 In-Game).

This dude is everywhere @bennythebull pic.twitter.com/KjwGsnKQTj
— flep (@flep) October 10, 2022

3. Know Expected Rotations, Team’s Injuries, Statistics

Actually taking notes during an NBA game and writing down scores at particular points in time can help as well as knowing how a team’s Rotation works, the best statistics to use and who are the players beyond the starting 5 that will come into a given NBA game.

Some teams, like the defending NBA champion Warriors (+575 to win 202 NBA Championship, BetOnline) have scorers on their Bench, so bringing in substitutes isn’t as scary for the Live NBA bettors as it might be when betting on some other teams. NBA games are made up of four 12-minutes Quarters (49 minutes Total in Regulation) so with the nature of the highest-scoring of all of the Professional Sports and the quick-paced ebb-and-flow of an NBA game, it can be the best sport for Live Wagering.

There are fewer lead changes in the NHL, MLB and the NFL than in the NBA where lead changes are a part of the fabric, so knowing who is expected to come in (and Healthy) can make a huge difference as some NBA Rotations and second units are stronger than others.

4. Targeted Timing of In-Game Wagering

This may be the most underrated of the Tips for Live betting NBA.

You must be quick on the “trigger” (mouse) when Live Betting as the odds are constantly being refreshed and change with every possession. No sport sees more quick scoring than the NBA.

Having Multiple Outs ready and looking at as many numbers as possible before making the decision to “jump in” to a given Live Bet is crucial, and you can often find holes in NBA live betting odds as it gets hard for the oddsmakers to keep up with the changing score.

One thing to try to discipline yourself to, and try and get in the habit of doing is executing your targeted timing of a Live NBA bet after the opposing team has scored or missed and your team is getting or has possession of the Basketball. Possessions in the NBA usually equate to an average of 1 point, so locking in with the number you want and having the ball and a chance to score 1 (FT), 2 (2-point basket), or 3 (3-point basket) points is the point of the learned discipline.

But you have to really be fast and aware and know what you’re doing as often clicking on an NBA live bet at a certain number doesn’t always guarantee that wager gets places, as all Live Bettors of the NBA know. NBA In-game wagering like dealing with drunk mosquitoes.

NBA Live Betting Gets Easier the More That You Do It

They say that “practice makes perfect,” and in NBA Live wagering, you can practice making fake bets and learning how best to attack NBA Live wagering or you can just get in and gamble with real money and simply bet smaller amounts and try to learn that way.

Number-shop and have multiple Outs; aim for Hedges, Middles and to lock in Profits; know Rotations, Pre-Game, and In-Game Injuries; and have ideal Targeted Timing of what and when you want to bet In-Game are 4 Tips for Live betting NBA that all really matter.