In sports betting, a sharp refers to a professional bettor who consistently wins and can move the lines or odds of a game or event by placing large bets.
Sharp bettors are typically well-informed and use advanced statistical and analytical models to make their picks, in addition to using public money inputs to their advantage. It is a thin line to be considered a sharp bettor, as it is widely considered that their win percentage must more over 55%, is usually around 55% or higher, with reaching the 65% mark being unrealistic.
There isn't a lot of wiggle room for those considering sports betting as a profession or to have a positive ROI over the course of a season.
They are disciplined, well-informed, and always looking for the best possible value. Below is a map of a sharp bettor's possible timeline to placing wagers. Non-sharp players can learn from their strategies and improve their own betting performance by adopting similar techniques.
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Sharps Bet Early With Their Own Models
There aren't many occasional bettors that wrap up the weekend with Sunday Night Football and look to wager on the following week's games. They are usually licking their wounds from that weekend or perhaps cashing out some of their dollars after a successful weekend.
Of course, there are outliers, but sharp bettors almost always wager before the general public, especially with a week between events. Sharp bettors also create their own lines for events, and do not solely go off what a sportsbook operator provides. On Monday, the Oakland Raiders open as a -6-point favorite against the Denver Broncos. After comparing it with their own line for the same game, the first wave of sharp money will go towards whichever said has the most value.

Sharps Go Against Public Money
As the week goes by, more casual customers begin to place their wagers by mainly going off a public narrative or perhaps just basing their selections off a team's play from the previous week. The counter-reaction from sharps would be to buy back against whatever side the public is putting money into.
This is where the second wave of sharp money comes in, as look to fade the public, or go against where most of the casual customer money is aligning. As the public money piles in, sharps are waiting for the best moment to go against the public.
Using the prior example, the Raiders opened as a -6-point favorite and has now ballooned to an -8-point Raiders spread due to the influx of both the first sharp money wave and the public wave.
Sharp bettors now place their action on the Broncos at +8. Sharp bettors almost always have multiple bets within the same event and in this example, would have both the Raiders -6 and the Broncos +8. They received the value on each side by setting the stage, waiting for money to come in, and reacting again when more information is available. The dream result would be for the Broncos to lose by 7 so both of their Raiders -6 wagers win and their Broncos +8 wagers win.
Sharps Identify and Shop Around
By following and interpreting line movement, customers can learn how to identify which side is receiving sharp action. This requires quite a bit of attention and time and is not a strategy that can be utilized if only checking in a few times a week.
Monitoring lines in real lines to find these swings, and then acting upon them, is an important part of the process. In addition to being on top of line movement, this is across a variety of sportsbook operators and not solely focused on one sportsbook. Getting the best number at one book compared to another book could be vastly different things, especially when approaching key football numbers for spreads.
Sharps Spot Line Inefficiencies and Closing Live Value
Closing line value (CLV) is a measure used in sports betting that assesses the accuracy of a bettor’s predictions by comparing them to the closing lines set by bookmakers.
This is mentioned earlier when saying sharp bettors create their own odds and lines for games prior to sportsbook operators releasing them. The closing line is the final point spread, money line, or total that is set by bookmakers just before the game begins.
The closing line reflects the combined wisdom of the betting market and incorporates all available information, breaking team news, injury updates, and weather conditions.
CLV is calculated by comparing the line that a sharp bettor placed their wager on to the last available line before the event starts. If a sharp bettor’s line is more favorable (i.e., offers more points, a better price, etc.) than the closing line, the bettor has positive CLV.
If the sharp bettor’s line is less favorable than the closing line, the bettor has negative CLV.
Positive CLV indicates that the sharp bettor’s predictions were more accurate than the betting market’s predictions. It also gives credence to that sharp bettor's process.
Even if the result of the wager is a loss, receiving positive CLV for a specific event means the process of creating their own line is in a strong place that could be successful in the future. Negative CLV suggests the bettor’s predictions were less accurate than the betting market’s predictions, which could result in part of their process in need of a tweak.
In the long run, sharp bettors who consistently achieve positive CLV are more likely to be profitable than those who consistently achieve negative CLV.
Sharps Find Value In Underdogs
Typical casual bettor behavior leads to money being wagered on the expected favorite winning and totals going over the number. When just passing through and making the casual wager, not many people want to sit there and see only a few points scored or the star players not perform well.
It is natural to want athletes to perform their best and have wishful thinking for an entertaining game that someone can watch. As a result, sharp bettors often find value in betting unders or underdogs.
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