Best Bets Today: Free Picks, Our Number vs the Market Skip to content
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Best Bets Today

A game is a bet here only when our number and the market's price are far enough apart to back it, so some days have several and some have none. The next predictions follow, with or without a bet.

Today's best bets

The bet furthest past its own threshold first. Prices move, so check the one you are offered before you bet.

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How a game becomes a best bet

Each of the best bets today comes from one of our game predictions. Nothing is added to this list by hand, and no game is on it without a prediction behind it.

A prediction starts with our number for the game: a win chance for each side, a winning margin in points, or a total.

Then the market’s number, on the same scale. A spread and a total already are numbers. A moneyline has to be converted, and the book’s margin taken out first. Two sides priced at 52.4% each add up to 104.8%. The extra 4.8 is the margin. Divide each side by 1.048 and both read 50%. That is the market’s number, and it is the one we compare ours with.

The distance between the two numbers is the gap. Every league has a threshold. A gap at or past it is a bet. Anything short of it is not. The list above ranks the day’s bets by that gap, widest first.

Open any bet to see the price it was made at and the time that price was read. Prices move after we read them. If the one you are offered is worse, the gap is smaller than the one shown, and it may be gone.

These are free picks. The prediction behind each one is open to read in full.

What no bet means

No bet is a call too. It says the price and our number are too close for the difference to mean anything. It does not say the game is a coin flip, and it does not say the favorite is wrong.

A game is also no bet when we have no number for it, or when no line was posted at the time of the read.

Games that are no bet stay off this list. They keep their own pages, with the same working shown, under all predictions.

Moneyline bets

A moneyline bet is on who wins. Our number is the side’s chance of winning, the market’s is the price with the margin removed, and the gap is counted in percentage points. An underdog can be the bet when its chance is better than its price says. A favorite can be too. The moneyline guide explains how the prices read, and the guide to betting odds shows how to turn a price into a chance and find the margin.

Spread bets

A spread bet is on the margin. Our number is how many points we make the home side better or worse, and the spread is the market’s answer to the same question. If we have the home side by 6 and the spread has it by 3, the gap is 3 points, on the home side. The side named on the list is the one the gap favours, at the spread as it stood when we read it. The spread guide covers how a spread is read, what the hook is and what happens on a push.

Total bets

A total bet is on the combined score, over or under a posted number. It reaches this list when a prediction’s projected total sits far enough from the posted one. The call names the direction and the number: an under at the posted total is not the same bet half a point lower. The alternate totals guide shows how the price changes as that number moves.

After the game

A call can change before a game if the price is read again, and the prediction then shows the new price and its time. Once the game is played we do not edit the call. On NFL predictions the final score and whether the call won or lost go at the top of the page, with the prediction kept below as it was published.

A bet that clears the threshold can still lose. If you bet, set the amount before you look at the list. The responsible gambling guide has more on that.

Questions and answers

Are the best bets free?

Yes. The list and every prediction behind it are open to read, with the price, our number and the gap shown.

Why is there no best bet today?

Because no game on the day’s slate reached its threshold, or the day’s predictions are not all published yet. A day with no bet is a normal day here.

How many best bets are there each day?

There is no set number. The list holds every game that clears its threshold and nothing else, so it can be long on a full slate and empty on a short one.

Is a best bet a sure thing?

No. It is a game where our number and the price disagree by more than usual. Our number can be the one that is wrong, and the price can reflect things our number does not.

The price I am offered is different. Is it still a bet?

Compare it with the price on the prediction. A better price than ours makes the gap wider. A worse one makes it narrower, and past a point there is no bet left.

Do you list parlays or player props here?

No. This list holds single-game bets on the moneyline, the spread or the total. A game appears here once at most.

When does the list change?

When a prediction is published and when a price is read again. There is no fixed hour.