Even if you win 55% of your bets, you will come out consistently ahead. This really is, on the other hand, easier said than done and involves more than a little bit reading and checking the injury reports. If Paul the octopus picked every winner in the recent soccer gamble World Cup, picking winning football teams should be just as easy, right? Wrong. If it were that easy, plenty of people will be making money and also the sports books could have to go out of business. If winning at football betting involves some knowledge, some strategy and, allow us to face it, a dash of luck, it's since the bookmakers set very tight lines for the games. In contrast, if you keep the following tips in mind, it should enhance your prospects of winning.

Bet as early when you can. Many of the sports books post their lines as early as they can and some offshore books do this by Sunday afternoon for the following week's games. If you locate a game and odds that you like ensure that you can find no serious injury problems for the team that you pick. Bookmakers are not perfect and can also make mistakes in setting the line. Pounce early before heavy betting irons out the mistakes.

Focus on several teams. Because knowledge is important, if you concentrate on several teams, you can build up a considerable amount of knowledge that you can use in making your bets. Also limit your betting to just a number of games every Sunday.

Avoid heavy favorites. The crowd loves favorites and will rush to bet on them. On the flip side, they're not good choices if you want to maintain your 55% average in winning bets. Even when you need to do win several, the payouts will be small. The very best strategy is to bet on short priced underdogs because, when you win, you generally make more than you have bet.

Use totals judiciously. Totals set early in the week are typically determined by predictions of good weather. In late season games, rain or snow sometimes affects the scoring as well as a heavy wind almost always keeps scoring down. In these conditions, you would do good by betting the Under

Use yards per play ranking. One method of evaluating teams is to look at the offensive yards gained per play as well as the defensive yards given away per play. Teams that gain more than they lose find yourself winning more games. The statistics are readily available and you will calculate the main difference with a positive difference becoming an advantage. The rule of thumb to calculate a points spread from the yardage differential is that every 0.15 yards will be worth one point. A differential of 0.60 yards between the two teams will be worth four points. As with all betting tools, use your other data and information to confirm your findings.

Do not avoid teasers. There's a common perception that teasers are a rip-off and as a consequence best avoided. Under certain circumstances, an NFL teaser which is a two-game parlay bet might make sense.

Pay focus on the injury reports. Read the injury reports carefully to ascertain what difference it is going to make to the performance of your chosen team. Do not just look-at key players because all of the guys within the team have to perform at their peak.