What is a Pick’em in Sports Betting?

The vast majority of the time, in basketball and football wagering, there is one team that is favored over another by a calculated number of points, however there are times that the game is a true toss-up, this is called a Pick’em. This means that you get the same odds betting on any scenario for either team. Tonight’s Tulane @ East Carolina game is a great example of this.

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As you can see, both teams are -110 on the money line, and while they offer the spread at +1 at -115 for Tulane and -1 for -105 for East Carolina, it is rare to not have a true favorite on the money line. While the term “pick’em” generally means that there should be no spread for either side, some books like to provide options to cater to bettors who like to have that one-point security blanket, while others would be ok with pushing on a one-point win to get that better line. It is amazing to see how many different styles of bettors there are, but anyone placing a bet has the same goal, to win. (Ironically enough, this game ended up going to overtime)

It is imperative that when you look at a pick’em game, like the above, you do EXTRA research on the game, rather than less. Some people may take one look and think to just look at what team is hotter or has won more of their games, but there is a reason that the oddsmakers felt like there was no edge for each side.

Most people who bet regularly will not play these games because, over any course of time, it is assumed that both teams would win half of these games, so with no edge, there is no money to be made in playing these. With that being said, having an even money line between teams allows for no-nonsense with covering spreads or backdoor covers.

When betting soccer, it is a completely different ball game with a draw as an option, but they use the pick’em in a more traditional sense when there are “Draw-No Bet” plays offered in close games. We will take this weekend’s clash between Italian sides Empoli and Sassuolo as an example. While it isn’t an exact coin flip, in soccer, the pick’em allows for a push if the game ends in a draw, which may attract more bettors towards the game, especially here in the United States where the draw in sports is a foreign concept.

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Josh Weil is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @Josh_Weil.