Placing a bet:

When you first take a look at all of the lines available for the first time, you'll feel like a four-year-old at Toys 'R Us. You can bet sides, total, parlays, exotics, props, money lines, point spreads, elections, reality shows and anything else that moves. But before you start making it rain, you have to understand what you are doing and the different types of bets. Here are some examples of the basics.

Betting the Money Line:

Betting the money line is one of the simpler bets to understand. When you bet the money line, you are predicting on a team to win a game. Sounds simple, doesn't it? It pretty much is, except for the numbers games. Not all money lines are equal and most payouts don't pay back the exact same amount that you bet.

For example, if the New England Patriots are playing a feeble opponent like the Miami Dolphins, they might be favored by -400. -400 means that if you were to bet the Patriots, you would have to bet four times the amount you want to receive if they win. To win $20, you would have to bet $80. Contrarily, if you wanted to bet the underdog - or the team that is not expected to win the game - you would get a much bigger payout since they are not predicted to win.

In this case, the Dolphins would be around the price of 350, which means that a $10 bet would pay out $35 in winnings.

The minus signs always indicates the favorite and the number that corresponds is the amount of money you would have to bet to win $100. The plus sign indicates the underdog and the number that corresponds is the amount of money you would win if you bet $100.

Betting the Point Spread:

Betting the point spread is a different type of game than betting the money line, but some of the lessons we have already learned carry over. On the money line, you are predicting a team to simply win the game. In the previous example, if you had bet the Patriots, it doesn't matter if they win by one point or by 100 points, you still win. This scenario is a little different.

In football and basketball, the point spread is the predicted scoring differential between the two teams in the game. So if the Patriots are a big favorite over the Dolphins on the money line, they will also be a big favorite on the point spread. The Patriots might be favored by 9.5 points (-9.5), which means they would have to win the game by 10 points or more to cover the spread. If you bet the Dolphins, they could lose the game by as many as nine points and you would still win the bet.

To calculate the point spread winner at the conclusion of the game, take the final score and add the point spread to the side you bet. The new final score indicates who covered the spread. For example: If the final score was New England 35, Miami 20 and the point spread was 9.5.

New England 35 - 9.5 = 25.5. New England's 25.5 is still bigger than Miami's 20, so they covered by 5 points. You could also calculate it by taking the final score and adding 9.5 points to Miami.

On the point spread, if there is a minus sign, that indicates that that team has to win by the number that correlates with the sign to cover the spread. If there is a plus sign, then that team can lose by the number of points listed, or win the game outright and still cover the spread.