14 Ice Hockey / Betfair Education / 25 March 2008 / Leave a comment

Ice Hockey presents a number of betting opportunities.

The Money Line:

The most common market bet in Las Vegas - the final result of the match, just the two teams to bet on. This option includes all overtime and penalty shootouts.

Regular Time Match Odds:

What will the result be after regular time? The tie is an option in this market.

Regular Time Goals:

How many goals will be scored during regular time?

As ice hockey is a higher-scoring sport than football, the line here is usually 5.5 or 6.5 goals.

Handicaps:

Handicap lines are always +1.5 goals to the side deemed weakest. Important things to consider when betting on this market include home advantage, starting line-ups (are there any star players injured or being rested?), how tired or fresh each team is, and form. It is often possible to back teams to beat the handicap if you correctly analyse all these features from both teams' perspectives.

Long-term markets:

Betfair has markets for the Stanley Cup winner as well as the Eastern and Western Conference winners. As is always the case the outright winner year-on-year is extremely difficult to call but these markets are good if you back a team you think will do well at a big price and then lay them back later in the season.