Pool Betting: How To Find The Best Prediction Strategy
Like most sports, pool and gambling go way back and share a common history. People who enjoy gambling do this on every type of sport and pool is no exception. Still, in comparison with sports such as rugby or football, there are less gambling enthusiasts who turn their bets towards a game of pool. The way pool betting works is different from other sports which is why we decided to come up with a specific pool related guide that can help you to effectively place your bets.
It is still very important to make the right choices when you make your next wager as betting on pool requires real money and thus a real strategy. Our guide on pool betting is meant to make Kiwis find the best prediction strategy so they win too if their favourite player wins. By carefully going through this guide you will have a clear picture of what to pay some extra attention to when you make your next move. Off to the pool table it is!
Table of Contents
Pool and The Rules
Let’s start with an important note that pool betting should not be confused with what is called a betting pool. The latter is when players pay a predetermined amount into a pool and make a selection on the outcome of the pool. This setup is closely related to sports and very common for bigger sports tournaments such as the Rugby World Cup.
Pool betting means players place their bets on a game of pool which can be a single match or a tournament. The most popular type of pool is Nine-Ball Pool. This type of pool is also the most popular version amongst Kiwi players as well as in countries like the UK and Australia.
Straight Pool
This is the very first type of pool. It was also considered the most played style of play for a time after which is lost its power to other versions with the game of nine-ball pool (we’ll touch upon this type of pool as well) being the most important competing type of pool. Like in a game of eight-ball pool, straight pool also starts with 16 balls; each bball is worth one point. A game of straight pool goes on until a player gets to the tournament’s predefined number of points. There are still heaps of straight pool competitions in NZ so players who have this preference will have lots of options to choose from.
Eight-Ball Pool
This type of poker was first played in the 1900s and the biggest challenge is to score all the balls of the same group. In total there are 7 balls on each side, the game is completed by pocketing the number 8 black ball. Stripes or solids are awarded to players by looking at the first pocketed ball after the break. In the event of the first ball of the frame being a solid, it is the player who will need to make the shot. This needs to be done to sink all the solids after which the game continues. If the player sinks a stripe and a solid, he or she will need to choose which side they want to stick to. This move is made based on the position of the ball.
Nine-Ball Pool
In Eight-Ball pool there are 16 balls on the table at a time (including the cue ball) at the start of each new game, but in a game of nine-ball pool there are six fewer balls. Nine-Ball pool is therefore considered a much more dynamic version of eight-ball pool with the objective being to sink the balls in numerical order. This happens from the first to the ninth number. The biggest number of professional pool tournaments around the world are held for this type of pool. Nine-ball pool is known to be a popular version in New Zealand which the gambling minded will see at sportsbooks and new casino sites. A lot of events you can bet on online will be of this type of pool.
Betting on Pool
This brings us to the betting part as that is what most of our readers will pursue when they turn their online attention to the game of pool. Below we have included some, but not all of the most common betting options we recommend our fellow Kiwis to pay extra attention to:
- For a Head Start: in case of 2 pool competing professionals that belong to different classes, the outcome is not going to be even or it will alternatively be presented in a stripped-down variant. This way you predict that the player you bet on will beat the opponent by at least 3 games.
- Moneyline: this basically stands for which player is going win the game. Other than in other sports, draws are inexistent in pool. As a consequence, this means that you’ll need to make a clear choice between the players that compete.
- Over Under: this bet is made on how many games will need to be played in a match. Another alternative bet is whether this number is < lower or higher > than a certain number. Comparable bets exist in other sports such as tennis or football with each sports having their own over-under bets.
- Tournament Winner: this is another popular line. If you opt for this one you will need to predict the winner of the pool tournament. Apart from the odds-on the absolute winner, it is fairly difficult to predict this. In the end, you need to bear in mind that there are so many participants competing which is why the operator typically offers odds on players to reach a certain phase instead of the actual winner of the complete tournament.
All of the above options are fairly straightforward and should be rather easy to learn. It is also a very accessible way to get used to betting on pool as these betting options, although having a solid strategy is still very important to make the right bets.
Prediction Strategy: How to Bet
Like with other betting activities, being well prepared will increase your chances of making a winning bet and the good thing about sports betting is that preparation makes a huge difference. Sports betting is thus not a pure sang game of chance like online pokies that are known for their randomness. Becoming an expert in this sport is yet another separate objective you should pursue. This consists of a few steps we will touch upon below:
Keep Up With WPA ratings
To get a broad idea of each pool player’s qualities, make sure to stay updated about the WPA rating, comparable with FIFA’s world ranking in football or ATP Rankings in tennis. Although these rankings do not always reflect a final outcome, they can be useful to have at least an idea of estimating one’s chances of winning. To illustrate this, players from the bottom of the ranking tend to have a limited chance of defeating top players. These are the players who are listed somewhere in the upper part. We believe this makes sense as it works like this in virtually any sport.
Tournaments Require A Different Approach
Before a bet is made you should carefully analyse the tournament which means you’ll need to pay attention to the format, venue, players, and of course the draw. The latter can be particularly useful to come to a final decision as having all the top players on a certain side of the draw may result in a completely different outcome than with equally balanced sides. The location of the event also has a certain influence on the results as home support can definitely make a difference. This is especially true for Asian competitors as the home support has shown to strengthen players from countries like China and The Philippines in recent years.
Analyse Historical Results
Before making a bet on a certain player it is crucial to evaluate his or her past form and results. This is true for all sports, but especially in pools as we’re talking about an individual sport and not about a team performance where teammates play a role as well. Current form and previous head to head confrontations also affect future results. Side events do too as it’s not always the theoretically best players of the two that have to win.
Final Note
All together, always make sure to follow the latest pool-related news, read the analytics that come with them and follow the most relevant pages or sources about pool on the internet. Other than more mainstream sports, information about pool isn’t in abundance, as is even the case of snooker, but try to find a few reliable sources to gain a significant advantage in either the medium-term or long term. This guide on pool betting is one of our many gambling guides for players that are based in New Zealand and have an interest in the game of pool. If you’re interested in sports betting, we advise you to check out our other guides as these can turn out to be very helpful for those wanting to increase their chances of winning.
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