What is a prop bet?

The kinds

• Player props. One player's numbers: passing yards, points, rebounds, strikeouts, whether he scores.
• Game props. Something about the game itself: the first team to score, the longest touchdown, whether there is overtime.
• Novelty props. The coin toss and the like, mostly around the biggest games of the year.

How they are priced

Most props are an over/under on a number, or a yes and a no. Look at the price, because it is rarely -110.

Props are often dealt at -115 on both sides, and at that price you need to win 53.49 percent of the time, with the book's cut at about 6.5 percent against 4.5 on a point spread. Props with a long list of outcomes, such as the first player to score, usually carry a good deal more than that, spread across so many prices that it is hard to see. I'd leave those alone.

The house rules

The player has to play: at most books a prop on a player who doesn't take part is void and the stake comes back, and what counts as taking part is in the house rules. The limits are low, so a book that takes thousands on a side may take a few hundred on a prop. And winners get noticed. Books cut prop limits for players who beat them faster than they do on sides.

Why serious bettors still look

A book puts up hundreds of props on one game, and no office gives each of them the attention it gives the point spread, so more of them are wrong. The low limits are the book admitting it.

That cuts both ways. There are more soft numbers, and more of your money goes to the cut when you are guessing.

So I'd only bet a prop when I knew something the price didn't; a player's role or his minutes will do, and if you have nothing, pass. Compare both the number and the price between books, because props vary more than sides do. I'd stake small, 1 or 2 percent of your bankroll at most, and I'd be careful stacking props into one ticket, since the cut compounds, as on any parlay.

The props guide goes into each type. A prop is a small market. Bet it like one.