Betting on hockey: Advanced tips for pro bettors
The 2023-24 NHL season is in full swing, and we have already had some amazing games. The Bruins, Rangers, Avalanche and Golden Knights all look really strong to start the season and you may think they make a safe betting option. However, that isn’t always necessarily true. If you are into sports betting, you know that just betting on the top team doesn’t always work.
If you enjoy NHL betting and can’t seem to take the next step, we are here to help. We’ve used our knowledge and experience to share eight advanced tips that can give you that boost. Obviously, we aren’t guaranteeing that you will always win, but with these tips, you should be able to bet on hockey games with more intelligence and forethought and hopefully get some consistent payouts.
1. Research is key – Know your teams and stats
The most important tip we can give is to be informed. Anyone who randomly decides to place a bet on the Avalanche with no knowledge of hockey or NHL teams could get lucky once. However, you can guarantee that overall, they won’t do well.
However, someone who has in-depth knowledge of the NHL, current standings, team performance and player performance will have a much better chance of making consistent payouts. If you are serious about your NHL betting, then you need to be willing to put in the time and effort to learn the sport and keep track of what’s going on in the league.
2. Browse hockey prediction sites
If you do a little Google research, you can find a range of hockey prediction sites. These websites use vast resources and knowledge (and sometimes insider info) to give predictions for upcoming NHL games.
These predictions won’t always come through and no prediction site has a 100% record; however, it’s worth taking a look and seeing what takes they have on the upcoming games you wanted to bet on. They might have some info you weren’t aware of, such as injuries or lineup changes, that could actually make a big difference to the game outcome.
- Compare odds between different sportsbooks
Generally, the biggest NHL sports betting sites have consistent odds and there isn’t much variance between platforms. It does depend though on the resources they allocate into betting research and predictions. Sometimes, NHL can have less resources devoted to it compared to sports such as basketball, football and soccer.
This means you can sometimes find odds variances — particularly with the less-popular sportsbooks as they may not always have the resources to be as accurate with their odds as the major players.
While hockey prediction sites can be great, there’s also a range of professional tipsters who are active on social media. These people often have insider knowledge or are incredibly knowledgeable about the NHL and the current performance of teams and players.
They use this knowledge to give betting tips, sometimes for free and sometimes for a fee. This can be a great source of information to boost your own knowledge of the game and betting strategies.
- Don’t forget about live hockey betting
Most people who bet on hockey for fun will do so with futures bets, which are bets that have set odds before a match starts. This is fine, but don’t overlook live in-play betting. In-play betting allows you to react to what’s happening in a game and make better use of the scores and teams in-game form. For example, a heavy favourite team such as the Bruins might be having an off-night and you could capitalize on this by betting on the opposite team, whereas with a future bet you would have probably backed the Bruins.
- Keep track of your betting results and make adjustments
You need to consider betting as something you can continually improve at.. This means you need to see where you went wrong, so it can help to keep track of your bets, regularly assess them, and see what did and didn’t work. You can then make adjustments to your NHL betting, continue with bet types that had good payouts, and cut out the ones that end up being the biggest losses.
- Make the best use of promos and special offers
If you are already a seasoned NHL bettor, then you have probably already claimed the welcome offer at the sportsbook you are registered with. If not, what are you waiting for? Most sportsbooks have a welcome offer for newly registered users, so it pays to look at other NHL betting sites to see what welcome offers are available.
We also advise regularly checking the promotions page of the sportsbooks you are registered with as they often have season promos and special offers for different events. For example, they might have some promos when the NHL Playoffs start later in the season.
- Set betting limits per match/week
Every successful sports bettor has limits and manages their money effectively. You can’t expect to maintain cashflow simply by re-betting all your funds and having no limits. If one bet goes badly, then you’re back to square one and need to deposit additional funds.
We typically set ourselves a betting limit either per match, or per week. We stick to this and always put aside the winnings we make, so that we are only ever playing with our initial betting funds. By doing this and staying disciplined, we are able to maintain our cashflow and will build up a pot quicker.
Take your hockey betting to the next level with these tips
It’s important to appreciate that there is always a huge element of luck involved with sports betting, whether it’s hockey, basketball or football. You can’t account for every eventuality, and sometimes underdogs provide a surprise or things don’t follow the predictions.
That being said, you can steer the luck in your favour by using the above advanced betting tips. The key is to improve your knowledge of the sport, the teams and the players, make smart decisions and consider all the options before placing a wager.
