Sharp bettors are posing significant challenges to bookmakers. Not only do they bet smartly, but they also bet big and this increases the exposure of sportsbooks to the possibility of losing money. So, sportsbooks are running the risk of being unable to fulfill the one, fundamental role for which they exist, and this is no other than making profit.

Bookmakers, including all the trusted Polish betting sites are businesses. They will never throw away money or give away their profits. Generating revenues and profits is their main goal and everything or everyone that is jeopardizing their capacity to achieve this goal, is a serious threat.

Sharp bettors are indeed a serious threat to bookmakers. Since they are highly skilled, professional -at least in most cases-. extremely disciplined, knowledgeable and experienced bettors, their picks and overall bets are something that bookies need to take note of.

Sharp bettors usually have a very strong edge in a game, whether this is a basketball game or an NFL match, which they transform into a high-potential bet. Although they don’t mark only wins – they often lose – their profitability is sustained throughout time and in the long run. And this is something that sportsbooks don’t really like.

For most bookmakers, sharp bettors are the necessary evil and for that manner, they have developed ways to deal with sharp money. Since they can’t actually exclude them or leave them out of the game, they try to react to their moves and shield themselves from losing big, or sometimes go along with their trends in order to obtain value.

One of the most common methods of reacting to sharp bettors is putting limits on their bets. Placing limits helps bookmakers set some boundaries to the sharps’ game and prevent themselves from losing a lot of money. You will often hear about a bookmaker having certain limits for some customers who keep on winning or who keep on placing smart, profitable bets.

Of course, this is a very “aggressive” way of dealing with sharp bettors, but it is often used by betting sites, given that they have the right to do so.

Another very common method is to move the betting lines. When bookmakers realize that sharp money has been put on a given side of a bet, then they obviously need to react in some way.

If bookmakers track sharps’ bets on a betting side, then they move the line to make the other side more attractive to the public and in this way generate a large volume of tickets to offset the potential loss. Making the other side more attractive by moving the lines means more bets coming in and more bets means that they can balance out the betting sides and prevent themselves from losses.

Sometimes when there is much money on one side and bookmakers suspect sharp action, they make a steep movement of the line, suddenly so that a drastic reaction from the public is triggered. This is called a steam move and it is denoted by the sudden, drastic line movement responding to much money on a side coming from pro bettors.

But there are times when bookmakers are better off being on the same side as sharp bettors. This is a lucrative option, when they spot sharp action opposite to public preference not necessarily early enough. When this happens, those bookies that respect and believe that sharp bettors might know something more, make a reverse line movement, which is the opposite of what we described previously.

Here the line moves to the other side – the side where there is a lot of public preference, and instead of enticing punters to bet where there is not much action from a betting ticket perspective, they are enticing them to further intensify the “imbalance” by making the loaded side even more attractive! This is predominantly done to leverage the sharps’ edge and remain aligned with the sharp money.

Whatever the reaction, what is certain is that bookmakers need to respond to sharp bettors. They can’t simply leave sharp bets go unnoticed, because they will end up losing money in the long run.