Sportsbooks certainly give bettors as many opportunities to lose their money as possible. Besides the standard game bets and totals wagers there are parlays and teasers. As if that isn't enough, nearly every sportsbook also allows bettors to make wagers on just the first half of a college basketball game or an NBA game. There will also be new lines posted at halftime on most basketball games, giving bettors even one more opportunity to have a bet on a game before it ends.
There are no rules etched in stone when it comes to first half point spreads, but there are a few general tendencies the sportsbooks have. For side wagers, teams that are favored by 6 or fewer points are normally favored by half of that for first half wagering. A 6-point favorite will normally be favored by 3 points in the first half.
On larger spreads, the favorite is typically favored by more than half of the game spread. A 12-point favorite is likely to be favored by 7 in first-half betting.
Finally, most sportsbooks will round up when it comes to first half lines. A 5.5-point favorite will likely be favored by 3 points for the first half, while a 4.5-point favorite will be favored by 2.5
First Half Totals
Totals are typically a different story, however, as sportsbooks don't expect the same number of points to be score in each half. A general rule is that the second half of a college basketball game will see 9-10 more points scored than the first half. This is due to teams fouling towards the end of games, as well as "garbage time" on games that are out of hand.
If the total on a game is 140, the expected total in the first half would be between 65 and 66 points, depending on the sportsbook.
There can be the opportunity for good value on first half totals once you begin to notice the tendencies of some teams. Some teams tend to start slow, which makes first half unders a strong possibility. This is especially true when it comes to poor shooting teams.
When sportsbooks post an over/under line the main thing they look at is the points scored and allowed of each team. They do not pay attention to which half the points were scored in.
First half totals are made by using the game total as a guideline. The sportsbook takes the game total, divides by two and then subtracts an additional 4 to 5 points to get the first half total.
For an example, we'll use the game between Eastern Washington and Sacramento State on Feb. 7, 2010. Sacramento State was favored by two points and the total on the game was 137, which seemed a bit high considering the shooting woes of both schools.
But a quick look at the first meeting between the two teams showed a final of 79-75 in favor of Eastern. What was noteworthy, however, was that the halftime score was 33-26 and the teams combined for 95 second-half points.
That right there was enough to make me hesitate taking under 137 and instead look at the first half going under 63.5, which we used for the main pick on the main site.
The first 10 minutes went as well as we could have hoped, with the score 12-10. We did have to survive a 22-point barrage in a span of four minutes, but when the buzzer sounded it was 36-27 in favor of Sacramento State.
Much like the first meeting, the teams combined for 78 points in the second half to send the game over the total of 137, as 20 points were scored in the final 2:22 of play.
If you like a total, don't forget to give some consideration to playing the first half. There are some decent wagers out there for those willing to look for them.
