How To Bet Puck Lines

If you love to bet on hockey or baseball you need to know about puck line and run line betting. It can be an easy way to increase your payouts on a game you think will be a blowout. Despite the possibility for increased payouts many bettors avoid betting the puck line or run line because they find it confusing.

Really though it’s quite simple. Let’s start with how the puck line works. Puck line betting is obviously only available when wagering on hockey. On a puck line wager you are betting on a team to win by more than one goal.

The best way to explain how it works is to compare a single game on the money line and the puck line.

Money line:
Anaheim +180
Washington -220

Puck line:
Anaheim +1.5 -150
Washington -1.5 +130

In the example the odds change considerably from the money line to the puck line. By simply adding a 1.5-goal spread the Capitals go from a -220 favorite to a +130 underdog. On the money line you would win $180 on a $100 wager on Anaheim and you would have to wager $220 on Washington to win $100.

On the puck line you would have to bet $150 on Anaheim to win $100, while a $100 bet on Washington would pay $130. There’s a catch though because of the 1.5-goal spread. To win a wager on Washington they must win by at least two goals. If you bet on Anaheim they don’t even have to win for you to get paid. They just have to lose by one goal. That’s why if you can spot a potential blowout you can make more cash on a puck line wager than a money line bet.

If you can figure out a puck line bet than a run line bet is easy. Run line betting is exactly the same as a puck line wager, but it is made on baseball. On a run line bet you are wagering on a team to win by more than one run. Here’s an example using the money line and the run line from a game.

Money line:
Toronto +155
Boston -165

Run line:
Toronto +1.5 (-155)
Boston -1.5 (+135)

On the money line is this example you would bet $165 to win $100 on the Red Sox and $100 to win $155 on the Blue Jays.

On the run line you would bet on the Red Sox to win by at least two runs at +135. That’s a big change from -155 to +135 by adding a 1.5-run spread. On the run line the Red Sox are now the underdog and would pay $135 on a $100 bet as long as they win by at least two runs.

The Jays have become the favorite on the money line and to win $100 you must now bet $155. However, the Jays don’t have to win for you to win your run line bet. You still get paid if they lose by a single run.

Just like the puck line in hockey a run line bet is definitely worth betting instead of the money line in games you expect to be heavily one-sided.