Have you started learning about value betting as a way to make money from sports betting? Keen to get started but wondering how to find value bets?
No problem. This article will be a comprehensive guide on the 3 main ways you can find value in sports betting.
In a nutshell, the 3 methods are:
- Manual searching and calculation
- Using free value betting software
- Using premium value betting software
The first two methods are entirely free, but the time spent per value bet is quite high.
Wondering what Value Betting is?
Check out this detailed article on the concepts behind profiting from value betting!
For the manual searching method, you will need to spend hours trawling through bookmaker websites and comparing odds before you find a potential value bet. Once you place the bet, you then need to log it manually in a spreadsheet, to keep track of your performance.
Free value betting software will find the value bets for you (with some limitations), which saves you a lot of time, but you still need to do the accounting yourself.
With paid software, the arbs will be delivered to you without any restrictions and once you place your bets, they will automatically be logged and tracked with integrated bet tracking software.
This saves you from spending a lot of time on the menial tasks, and allows you to spend more time placing bets, which is where the profit comes from!
Ultimately, you will make more money by using premium software, but understandably not everyone is ready to do that straight away, so this article will show you both free and paid methods.
Method 1: Using Manual Searching
As I mentioned earlier, manual searching is the most time consuming way to find value bets. However, it is entirely free and is a good way to help you understand the concepts behind value betting.
If you have read my introduction to value betting, you will know that the way we find value bets is by comparing sharp bookmaker odds to soft bookmaker odds. When a soft bookmaker has much higher odds than a sharp bookmaker for the same event, it means that they may have made a mistake.
We can exploit their error for profit by placing a bet on their incorrect odds. This is the essence of a value bet.
So how do we go about doing it? Here are the fundamental steps.
- 1Open up the Pinnacle website. Pinnacle are the world’s leading sharp bookmaker.
- 2In separate tabs, open up the websites for every bookmaker you have an account with.
- 3Open up a spreadsheet or get a pen and paper.
- 4Make a table with each of the bookmakers as a separate row and 3 columns labelled ‘Outcome 1’, ‘Outcome 2’ and ‘Outcome 3’.
Bookmaker | Outcome 1 | Outcome 2 | Outcome 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
Pinnacle | |||
William Hill | |||
- 5Select a sport (soccer or football is a good place to start), select an upcoming match and navigate to the relevant page for that match on each of the bookmaker websites. Note that the match should be starting within 12 hours, as the odds are more accurate at this time.
- 6Select a particular betting market to start with.
- 7Open up a spreadsheet or get a pen and paper.
- 8Starting with Pinnacle, record the odds for each of the possible outcomes of that betting market.
New Zealand Basketball
- 9Then do the same with each of your other bookmakers.
Bookmaker | Outcome 1 | Outcome 2 | Outcome 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
Pinnacle | 2.18 | 1.636 | |
William Hill | 2.50 | 1.50 | |
- 10Identify any soft bookmaker odds that are higher than Pinnacle. In this case, we can see that William Hill have much higher odds than Pinnacle for the Canterbury Rams to win the match!
- 11Enter these odds into The Arb Academy’s free value betting calculator. Determine the potential value. In this case, the bet has an expected value of 14.7%, which is very high.
- 12If you are satisfied, place your bet!
This example made it look easy, as if I just stumbled upon this value bet easily. In reality, you will spend hours switching back and forth between bookmaker tabs and recording odds, only to find a handful of value bets.
That’s why I only recommend this method for those who are still learning how value betting works.
Method 2: Using Free Value Betting Software to Find Value Bets
Once you have spent a bit of time doing manual searching, you will quickly realise that it is not an effective use of your time. Spending hours searching to find a handful of value bets is no way to generate a decent side income.
For this reason, I recommend that you quickly graduate to method 2, which involves using free value betting software to find the value bets for you.
Value betting software compares the odds for tens of thousands of matches and sports across hundreds of bookmakers, notifying you when it finds a potential value bet.
Many of the companies that produce these value betting software offer free versions or free trials. We can use these to find value bets without paying a cent!
Here are my recommended free value betting software.
Free Trial Period | Overall Rating | |
|---|---|---|
14 days | ||
Unlimited | ||
Unlimited |
You can also read my detailed article on free value betting software for more detail.
Method 3: Using Premium Value Betting Software to Find Value Bets
Whilst free value betting software is a great way to get started, these free packages often only display a handful of the total value bets out there at any point in time.
They usually restrict their feed of value bets by implementing one or more of the following:
- A time delay on the value bet feed
- Maximum profit limit per bet
- Limited number of bookmakers
- Limited number of sports
In addition, free value betting software won’t do any accounting or bet tracking for you. If you are serious about value betting, you will be placing many, many bets each day.
Premium software has no restrictions on the value bet feed. It can also automatically log the bets you place, and enter the outcome of the bet (win/loss) once the match is completed.
It will provide you with detailed statistics and graphs showing your profit and betting performance over time. This is the only way to know if your value betting strategy is really successful or not.
Paid value betting software will allow you to dedicate your time solely to placing bets, without worrying about finding them or tracking them. A high volume of bets is the key to long term profit in value betting.
For this reason, premium value betting software will actually help you make more money in the long run, despite the fact that it comes with a monthly subscription fee.
Here are my recommendations for premium value betting software:
Monthly Price | Overall Rating | |
|---|---|---|
€69 (€34.50) | ||
€12 | ||
€125 | ||
€60 |
You can also read my detailed guide on the best value betting software out there, for more information.
How to Find Value Bets - Conclusion
There are 3 main ways to find value bets:
- Manual searching
- Free value betting software
- Premium value betting software
If you are just getting started, try manual searching until you get your head around the concepts of value betting. Then upgrade to free software and ultimately paid software once you have enough time and a sufficient starting bankroll to justify the monthly subscription fee.
I hope you have enjoyed this guide on how to find value bets! If you think I have missed anything or have any questions, leave them in the comments below!
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Interesting very good. Im in Australia.