Although Ice Hockey is highly popular in the USA and Canada, the original version of the sport is called Field Hockey, typically played on natural grass. In recent decades, synthetic grass has also been used a lot for indoor purposes. The game is now played mainly in Western Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South Asia, and of course – India where we have the very popular Hockey India League (HIL). Enter Hockey betting at your favorite sports betting sites.
Top Hockey Betting Sites
India has a long history with Field Hockey. It’s one of the most recognized sports in the country to this day and betting is also highly popular, especially online. Some betting sites also have live casino tables where they show live games in the background. So, you can place your bets and then go gamble on some Andar Bahar or Teen Patti tables, while watching the hockey matches too.
What is Field Hockey?
Hockey is an outdoor game played by two teams. There are 11 players on each team. The game involves the use of hockey sticks and a hard ball, similar to a cricket ball. Hockey sticks are long wooden sticks with curves at the bottom. The aim is to hit the ball using the stick into a goal. Rules of this game dictate that the ball should not touch any part of the body and should be maneuvered only with sticks.
Hockey the game
The game is played on a 100 X 60 yards pitch. There is a centerline and two 25-yard lines. The goals are 4 yards wide and 7 feet high. The scoring is based on how many times the ball is hit into the goal. A goal is counted only if the ball goes in the opponent’s side goal. The cork/plastic ball is 9 inches in circumference and the stick is 1 meter long. The ball is allowed to be hit only with the flat left side of the stick.
The team has five forwards, three halfbacks, two fullbacks, and a goalkeeper. A game is played in two halves of 35 minutes each.
Hockey gameplay
Play is started in the center of the field. If there is a time-out, the game is restarted with a face-off, or bully, following penalties. In a face-off, one player from each team faces each other with the ball in the middle. They alternately tap the ground and then his opponent’s stick three times. Both players try to hit the ball and move the game forward. There are other ways to continue the game if the ball goes out of the field.
Hockey rules
There are two umpires, one for each half of the field making sure the game is played according to the rules. Raising the stick above the level of the shoulder while playing, stopping the ball with the hand, foot, or body, playing roughly, and causing harm to the opponent player are all fouls. In case of an injury occurring time-out is called.
The goalkeeper can obstruct the ball while he is in the shooting circle, however, this is foul play if other players do this. The obstruction rule ensures that a player does not use his stick or foot/hand out to cause the opponent to fall or lose the ball. Fouls are penalized by giving the opposing team a free hit from the point where the foul happened.
Hockey Betting – Most Popular Bets
Knowing the types of bets available when placing money on field hockey is always a good idea. Unlike other sports, Hockey betting is less complex.
Team to Win – This bet is obviously the type where you predict the winning team. There are limits to the amount you can bet. The payouts are higher when the team that is not the favorite wins. Betting on the favorite team does not garner much money.
Over and Under – This bet means that the bookmaker offers a total number of goals in the game that you are betting in. You get the judge whether the final score will be over or under the set number. The bookmaker generally picks a decimal number such as 4.5 so the betting can always go over or under and there is no confusion.
Handicap Betting – This betting option came into being when the bookmakers realized the people will not place bets if there are no returns with the winning team being the favorite. Hence, they encourage people to predict the margin of the win. This makes any Hockey game interesting to watch and bet on.
Hockey Betting Strategy – What to look out for
You probably won’t become a millionaire overnight with these tips, but they will certainly help you make bigger profits and avoid common errors.
Choose a Good BookMaker for your Hockey Betting
The betting public does not have an impressive reputation for profitability. It is therefore extremely important to pick a trustworthy place to bet at. Online betting is a great idea because of the ability to access multiple bets from different Hockey events.
Hockey Betting Break Down – Line Matchups
Hockey is a team sport. Teams operate in pre-planned lineups. It is like a group of team members play one part of the game while the other group plays another part. When you are looking at two teams, you need to look at individual players and their recent records.
Predetermined groups of players will give you a good idea of what to place your money on when betting. Comparing the wins and losses of these individual groups will compare what the entire team looks like. And comparing lines/groups shows a totally different picture than when you compare the teams as a whole.
Comparing the inplay’s within the game and the type of planning they do will help you see which game plans work and which struggle to win. This will help you weigh the correct balance. It will be a smart move to bet on the team with the most winning game plans viz a viz those that struggle.
The big details of the games are important, but having said that the greater chances of wins stay with the smaller details in planning and their execution. These minute nuances help you get ahead of the general betting public that bets on the general factors such as most wins.
The value derived from looking at inplay-gameplans will reap better earnings for you than going by general standards and depending on lady luck.
Power Plays and Penalties
Teams that normally play an easy game throughout become killing machines during a powerplay. This time accounts for almost 50% of the goals. Tracking these statistics will show a clear picture of which of the two teams play very well during the power play or if they falter under pressure.
The results of your math may not change the outcome but will certainly show you which way to go for placing your hockey bets.
There are times when the statistics show you a picture that has huge odds against the prevailing opinions. You have the opportunity to place a bet where your risk is calculated and has a greater chance of winning. Study and stats will help you beat the bandwagon and follow your own more educated predictions. The hidden favorite can be identified by comparison of the stats of previous plays.
Powerplay is the time when we also realize how much risk the team takes and makes an uncalled-for foul. The calm team makes fewer fouls and earns more points. These things can heavily influence the outcome of the final game.
Defenses Win Games
Teams playing well defensively have done better than the ones that have played offensive. Offensive squads cannot be completely dismissed, but the takeaway here is that when betting on crucial games, siding with the team playing defensively is always a better option.
Teams playing very offensively with little or no defense will often end up losing the game with their high-handed over-confident attitude.
Watch the Goalies
Hockey can be brutal when the stakes are high. The most injured player in the entire team is the goalkeeper. The stakes on all the players are high but the stakes on the goalkeeper’s injury are the highest. That’s the reason that some goalies make just as much as other skill position players.
A good goalie can cut off great attacks and help you win more, just as a bad goalie will harm your hockey bets. Goalies also get injured and may get pulled out of a game. Having the stats of the replacement goalie helps a lot. If they’re not, go back to the drawing board and make sure your prediction still makes sense.
Fatigue and Schedules
Field Hockey takes a serious toll on the body. If injuries are grave or occur too often the player is not going to bounce back fast enough to make any difference to the team. They are not able to run fast enough and the tiredness will slow reflexes. This means more mistakes.
If the players’ schedules are too close together and they have not had the time to recover from the fatigue from the earlier day’s play they will not make the mark on the next day. Tracking schedules will help you keep away from losses made by public popularity versus actual ability.
Look for Roster Depth
Looking at a team’s roster depth shows if they are technically sound or if they are a bunch of raw boys. The Vegas Golden Knights was a team with no superstar but each individual player on the roster was good. They were written off at 400 to 1 odds to win. Later on, they went on to the Stanley Cup although they did not win, they were not expected to get that far.
It is essential that when making a risky hockey bet one takes into consideration how the team survives the violence of the game. Good teams need to have deep squads.
Risk vs Value
One of the most important tips when making bets is finding the value of a bet. If you are taking a risk on a player or the line you must know the value of your bet. Is your risk calculated or random? Random bets are just a prediction you feel this team will win without knowing anything about the team.
Also, sportsbooks sometimes have different lines on the exact same hockey bets because they want to balance their own books. Due to this, you can get much better betting lines on the exact same bets simply by checking multiple sportsbooks. This practice is commonly known as line shopping.