Beware On When The Line Moves (Not Always The Best Strategy)

"Beat The Move" (steam plays). The logic is simple enough: watch the betting lines and when you see a drastic line move "steam" (typically caused by a large movement of money) find a bookie or sportsbook that is slow to move, and bet the same number as the "wiseguy" (a person/group that has the power/money to move a line). Blindly following every steam move caused a lot of players to go broke. A lot of times "wiseguys" would use the “steam following” to their advantage. They would knowingly bet on the wrong side just to obtain a more favorable number when they finally "bought back" on the other side. Some of biggest names in sports betting (The Billy Walters’ of the world) would do exactly that. Bet $50K on the home team only to see the market overreact, then bet $150K on the side they wanted, usually getting 1.5 to 2pt move in their favor.