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Buying Points
sports bettingPaying extra juice to move the point spread in your favor by half a point or more.
Key Takeaways
- 1Buying points moves the spread in your favor for extra juice
- 2Most valuable around key numbers 3 and 7 in football
- 3Rarely justified off non-key numbers
- 4Always calculate if the cost is worth the improved probability
What is Buying Points?
Buying points means paying additional vigorish (juice) to move the point spread in your favor. Instead of taking a team at -7 (-110), you might buy a half point to get -6.5 (-120).
When It Makes Sense
Buying points is most valuable around key numbers in football — particularly 3 and 7, which are the most common margins of victory.
Key Number Analysis
- Moving from -3 to -2.5 is valuable because many NFL games are decided by exactly 3
- Moving from -7 to -6.5 is valuable for the same reason with 7
- Moving from -4 to -3.5 is less valuable because 4 is not a key number
The Math
Buying points costs you juice, so you need to calculate whether the increased win probability justifies the cost. In most cases, buying off key numbers (3 and 7) in football is the only mathematically justified scenario.