Jimmy Boyd in
The WNBA is one of my favorite niche sports to follow.
It’s not mainstream like the MLB. It’s not even as popular as the PGA Tour.
But this means there are plenty of opportunities. The books do not spend as much time on the WNBA odds each day as they do the MLB.
They aren’t going to be as good at setting openers as they are at other sports. And, with lower limits the sharpest bettors in the world aren’t going to spend time on a sport without much liquidity.
That means it’s a great place to get started if you have a smaller bankroll, or you are just learning how to win.
So let’s learn a few sports handicapping methods you can use to cash more tickets this summer.
Using WNBA Line Movements to Win Wagers
Lines are going to move.
It could be due to injuries, or team news, but at the end of the day, it’s because a significant amount of money came in from a bettor the book respects.
Normally the other operators are glued to the screen and waiting to move on air. That means they don’t even have to take a bet on the game before they move the spread or total in the same direction as the move at a sharper book.
However, since the operators pay less attention to betting the WNBA, those moves will be slower. You have a lot more time to get into the same bets as the pros do by following the top-down approach and mimicking what they do.
You should be able to pick up significant closing line value (CLV) with this strategy and end the year profitable if you get a big enough sample size.
If you follow our free WNBA picks at this site you’ll see the lines start to move after the handicapper releases his prediction on the winning side.
Watching Games to Get an Edge in Women’s Basketball Betting
Normally I don’t think game-watching is a viable strategy for capping games, but in the WNBA that is a little bit easier. That’s because there are fewer games played, so you could conceivably watch nearly every single game.
You can pick up if a player isn’t looking like herself, or if she has finally bounced back from injury. You can see if the team is finally clicking with the new strategy the coach put into place. Basically all the little details that someone who isn’t as involved with the sport is going to know about.
Modeling and Information Gathering to Win Betting the WNBA
My two favorite ways to beat the books are with my model and with having more information than they do.
The coverage of women’s basketball isn’t as intense as with the NBA, but you can still find writers who offer nuggets and insights into the players and coaches. You can read transcripts of their interviews. If you do enough digging you can find some good sources of information.
Modeling is easier. All of the same information that you get for the men’s game is out there. A site that I love to gather data from is HerHoopStats. They have advanced analytics and box scores from every part of the game.
Since they focus on the women’s game it’s very easy to get the stats that you are after.
Conclusion
A niche sport like the WNBA is easier to beat than a major market like the NFL, NBA, or MLB. There is plenty of opportunity there if you are willing to put in the work. If you don’t want to work that hard then you can buy WNBA picks and cash in without the effort. However you want to win, it’s up to you to get started.