If you thought that hockey only happens on ice, you were wrong. There are athletes who do not like cold, ice and skating, preferring all these green surfaces and soft shoes. In this article, we will talk about such a sport as field hockey, or rather, about betting on this sport.
Features of the sport
Field hockey is played by two teams of 11 people each. The game takes place on an artificial turf on a site almost identical in size to a football field. Athletes use twisted hooks and an ivory ball slightly larger than a billiard ball. The match takes place in two halves of 35 minutes or in 4 quarters of 17 minutes 30 seconds (European Hockey League). The goal of the game is simple – to score a goal into the opponent’s goal.
During the match, the coach has the right to make only two substitutions. Also, the match referee can remove a player from either team for 2, 5, 10 minutes or until the end of the match – depending on the severity of his violation.
Types of field hockey bets
Outcomes. As in other types of hockey, in this sport there are bets on the victory of one or the other team or on a draw (W1, X, W2). This is what is called the main outcomes of the match, and bets on the outcomes are considered one of the most popular types of bets.
Handicap. The superiority in the class of one team over another in field hockey can be significant: in such cases, betting fans, in order to get a higher coefficient, bet with a handicap on the victory of one of the teams. A handicap bet implies the initial advantage or lag of one of the parties in the final score of the match, the number of cards received, etc.
Total. Each bet on total goals in field hockey has a numerical value and is a bet on the total number of goals in a specific indicator, for example:
– total total (the number of goals scored by two teams in the whole match)
– individual total (the number of goals scored by a specific team)
– total goals in each half (both teams or a specific team)
Note that the national teams of Argentina, the Netherlands, Pakistan, India and New Zealand are the grandees of field hockey: traditionally, the games of these national teams, as well as the championships of these countries, are distinguished by high performance.
According to statistics, teams score 4.5 goals on average per match. After the initial stage of the championship (8-10 matches), the player, having studied the statistics, can choose for himself “riding” matches with the participation of teams that have already “played out” and know how to score.
Long-term bets. Many bookmaker companies offer their players to make long-term bets on the results of a tournament or season. In a line with long-term bets, you can bet, for example, on the team’s victory in the season, on a specific place in the standings at the end of the season / tournament, etc.
How to bet on field hockey
As in the case of any other sport, the advice here is quite simple: you need to know its characteristic features and rules, understand the rules of tournaments, understand the teams and the nuances of the game of each of them.
There is no method that allows you to consistently and guaranteed to win on bets. Except for this method, perhaps the bets on surebets . However, we recall that such a strategy entails the bookmaker’s sanctions against the player.
Unfortunately, even an excellent knowledge of a particular sport cannot guarantee constant profit in the betting game, but it helps to correctly analyze and minimize risks.
Which bookmakers accept field hockey bets?
Field hockey, unlike its “ice” counterpart, cannot be classified as one of the most popular sports. Nevertheless, if you are familiar with it and want to place bets, there is no problem to find the best bookmaker in Russia for several reasons.
First, the bookmaker’s margin (guaranteed bookmaker’s profit, incorporated in the odds) in some cases can be relatively low and be at the level of 4-5%, while bets on unpopular sports are usually accepted with a higher margin value. Secondly, bookmakers may lack field hockey analysts, which means that underestimation of teams and, as a result, overestimated odds are not ruled out.