Totals
A total is a bet on how many points the two teams score between them. The book posts a number and you bet over it or under it. Who wins the game makes no difference.
Over or under the number
The book lists a football game with a total of 44.5, and a price on each side.
| Bet | Price |
|---|---|
| Over 44.5 | -110 |
| Under 44.5 | -110 |
Add the two final scores together.
- The game ends 27 to 20. That is 47 points. The over wins.
- The game ends 20 to 17. That is 37 points. The under wins.
Over/under, O/U and the total are three names for the same bet, and on a board the total is often shown as a single number beside the game with an "o" or a "u" in front of it. There is a short version of this page at what over/under means.
If the total is a whole number, it can push. At 44, a 24 to 20 final lands on it and both sides get their stake back, and the half point is there to prevent that.
What counts toward it
Overtime counts toward a full-game total at most books. An under bettor with a 20 to 20 game heading into overtime is in trouble through no fault of his own.
Baseball is the one to read the rules on. Most books need the full game to be played for a total to stand, and a game called early for rain is usually void on the total even when the side bet stands. I'd read the house rule on overtime and on shortened games before the first time it matters, because the first time it matters is the wrong time to learn it.
Books also write totals on pieces of a game: a half, a quarter, the first five innings, one team's points. A total on one player's numbers is a prop, and it has its own page under props.
The price as well as the number
At -110 on both sides you risk $110 to win $100 and need to win 52.38 percent of the time to break even. It is the same price and the same arithmetic as a point spread.
Watch the price as well as the number, because a book that doesn't want to move a total off 44.5 can move the price instead.
| Bet | Price | Break-even |
|---|---|---|
| Over 44.5 | -115 | 53.49% |
| Under 44.5 | -105 | 51.22% |
The number still says 44.5. The over just got more expensive.
And shop the number itself. Totals often differ by half a point between books, sometimes by a full point, and 44.5 against 45.5 is a real difference on an over. I wouldn't bet a total at one book without checking a second.
Where the number comes from
A total is the book's read on how the game will be played: how fast the two teams go, how well they score, how well they stop it, who is hurt. Outdoors, the weather is in there too. When the wind picks up a football total drops, and it can drop a long way in an afternoon, so before an outdoor total I'd check the forecast and whether the number has already moved for it.
After that it moves the way any line does, on money and on news. Why odds move covers it.
The side nobody wants
The vig is the first part of the book's edge. The second part is the public.
Recreational players like the over (nobody buys a ticket so he can cheer for punts). I've seen books lean on that, and on a game everyone is watching the total can sit a little higher than it otherwise would. That does not make every under a good bet. It does mean the under is the side fewer people want, and the unwanted side of a line is the first place I'd look.
An under is also the harder bet to sit through. An over can win in the third quarter; an under can't win until the game is finished, and it can lose on the last play. Keep the stake the same on every bet and small against your bankroll, because at -110 you can pick well and still have a losing month. You don't need to know who wins. You need to know what kind of game it will be.