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 What Are the Most Exciting Sports When Betting In-Play?

What Are the Most Exciting Sports When Betting In-Play?

Betting In-Play is the fastest and potentially most exciting form of wagering available at a betting site. 

But if you really want to ramp up the excitement, or want to get to grips with how In Play Betting works, what are the best sports to bet on live? 

It is an important question as the very nature of Betting In-Play, and one of its most appealing aspects, is its dynamism. A market can change from a short price to a longer price, within the space of a few moments. 

However, learning to anticipate these market changes, and being able to respond to them fast enough, particularly when watching a sporting event that you are betting on, is what makes Betting In-Play so enthralling.

Bet365 Sport offers an extensive In Play Betting service under its In-Play tab on the site, and you can also find extensive Live Streaming options there for a vast number of sports. These are free if you have a credit balance in your account, or you have placed a bet inside the past 24-hour period.

This site is certainly a good place to start your Betting In-Play adventure, after you have finished reading this post of course!

That’s because we are going to answer some key questions about Betting In-Play, starting with the most obvious!

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What Is Betting In-Play or Live Betting?

Betting In-Play is simply betting on a sporting event while it is in progress, rather than placing a bet on an outcome before the event has begun. 

While the process of betting is the same – you pick your market, click on the odds, enter your stake and click a button to place the bet, there is one key difference. When Betting In-Play, the odds on a market can change very quickly, so you need to time your bets carefully.

Bookmaking sites use sophisticated software to track all the In Play markets and to adjust the odds to try and match the ebb and flow of a sporting contest. However, sporting events can provide you with surprises and actions that go against what is expected and it is in these markets where you can find some of the best odds available. 

Given the much faster-paced nature of Betting In-Play, it is something that does require a little getting used to, but the good news is that there are some sports which are a nice gentle introduction to In Play betting, whereas others may require you to place your bets much more quickly.

Let’s look at what the best options are for both these types of Live Betting activity.

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What Sports Are the Best Betting In-Play Options? 

If you are new to Betting In-Play then it is probably best you give yourself as much time as possible to make your Live bets and fortunately, given the stop-start nature of some sports, there are a few that are best for novice In Play bettors.

  • Slower Paced Sports

A game such as cricket, where the game is divided neatly into overs of six balls, with a decent length of time in between each ball, you can place your bets on this type of game at a relatively sedentary pace.

Other sports that are somewhat stop-start in their nature also make a good introduction to Betting In-Play for beginners. This includes games such as American Football, where there is a delay of at least 40 seconds between each play (unless there is a time-out, in which case it can be longer).

Golf is another excellent sport for a novice Live betting bettor as there can be a considerable amount of time between each shot for a single golfer – plus there are so many different markets and players to consider that you have a great choice of options for betting. 

  • Medium Paced Sports

Speeding things up slightly are games such as tennis or table tennis or volleyball. In these games, there is a short pause in between each point which allows you time to peruse the markets, but the time in between each point can be markedly different.

For example, in Tennis, if a player serves an ace, then the time between that point and the next is much shorter than if the two players become involved in a long exchange of shots from the baseline. 

It’s a similar process in games like Volleyball, where one point can be over in an instant, but the next can take several seconds, or even longer, to be completed. 

  • Fast Paced Sports

At the top end of our Betting In-Play speed scale are sports such as Basketball, Rugby League and Union, Horse Racing, Greyhound Racing, Esports and of course Football. 

In all these events, the action is near constant and of course, this means that the odds will update regularly on certain markets. Some markets may change a little more slowly than others (such as betting on who will be the next player booked), but other (such as who will win the next throw in) may only be available for just a few seconds. 

It is these faster paced Betting In-Play options which can prove trickier for newer In Play betting fans as sometimes markets may only be open for a few seconds before they are closed as new odds are generated. 

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What Are the Skills I Need to Make Betting In-Play Better?

So, if you are Betting In-Play, or planning to, what are the skills you need to enjoy this exciting form of betting? 

For me, the key skill is the ability to make a snap decision when you don’t have too much time to think about it. In a pre-match market, you can spend as much time as you like researching your bet.

In fact, that is a sensible strategy when betting in this way. With In Play betting, you must have done any research you have prior to the game, or to have the stats you need available on the in-game console with your betting provider.

Fortunately, many providers have all the key betting information for your markets available across a wide range of sports for Betting In-Play. This makes making decisions a little easier as you have at least some information available to you. 

Prevaricating over a decision when Betting In-Play can be costly. You may feel that a tennis match is starting to swing away from the current leader towards the player losing. But if you delay your bet, then the odds will tumble if that losing player starts to get the momentum in the game. 

So, in addition to the ability to make a snap decision, you also need to have a good instinct for how a game is progressing. Are there signs that one team is going to make a comeback in a game? Has a coach’s pep-talk during a timeout galvanised a team? Has a substitution invigorated a team that they are now on top in a game they were losing?

The ability to read these signs and make educated bets In Play based on these indicators, and the data you already have available, is what makes Betting In-Play so exciting. 

Betting In-Play is a huge market for betting companies now and it is a discipline which requires a certain mindset to enjoy to the full. As with all kinds of betting, winning is not guaranteed, but there is a great deal of satisfaction when you make an In Play bet that goes against the current odds, but ends up as a winner. 

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5 Top Tips When Betting In-Play

  1. Use a betting service provider with an outstanding In Play betting service and one that also provides extensive Live Streaming of as many sports events as possible. A good place to start is bet365 Sport.
  2. Don’t prevaricate! Odds change quickly when Betting In-Play, so if you decide on a bet, add it to your bet slip quickly and place the bet. Delay and those odds may no longer be available. 
  3. Do a little pre-match research on the event you are going to bet in play on. Even a little knowledge gained from 15-20 minutes of research before Betting In-Play can be beneficial to you.
  4. Start off Betting In-Play on slower-paced sports we mentioned above and then progress through to medium and then fast-paced sports as you get used to the timing aspect of live betting that is key to its success and appeal.
  5. Know when to stop. The end of a sporting contest does not necessarily mean that is when you should stop Betting In-Play. If you have made a profit (or loss) then it may well be time to end your session at that point. Knowing when to stop betting is more important than knowing when to start!

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