Implied Odds Give You The Bookmaker's Odds of a Result Taking Place
Published on February 7th, 2020 3:17 pm ESTWritten By: Dave Manuel
What do 2.00, 1/1 and +100 all have in common?They all mean the same thing - that this outcome has a 50% chance of taking place, based on the implied odds.
These three numbers are just three different ways of saying the same thing - that an event has a coin flip's chance of happening.
It is important to note, however, that these implied odds (the odds of something happening as implied by the odds given by the sportsbook) can not necessarily reflect the true odds of something taking place.
For instance - take a look at the Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor boxing match.
Now, what were the true odds of Conor McGregor actually winning that fight? Likely something in the neighbourhood of 1/100 - meaning, for every 100 boxing matches that Mayweather and McGregor had, McGregor would win 1 of them.
Based on this, you could say that the proper line for McGregor heading into this fight was 100/1.
Instead, McGregor was something like 5/1-6/1 when the two men stepped into the ring against each other. This meant that the "implied odds" of McGregor winning - or, the odds of him winning based on the odds given by the sportsbooks - was 20%.
Anybody who followed the sport of boxing knew that McGregor essentially had zero chance of winning, which is why many sharp bettors regarded this contest as the greatest case of "free money" of all time, as the implied odds were completely separated from the reality of the situation.
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In order to become a successful sports bettor, you need to find situations where the implied odds deviate greatly from what you feel should be the real odds.
So, if the sportsbooks provide odds that have the odds of something taking place at even money, but you feel that it should be a significant favourite, you should jump all over these odds and bet. You are looking for edges wherever you can find them.
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Now - how do you calculate implied odds?
We've set up a very easy to use odds conversion tool, which you can access by clicking on the link.
All you have to do is enter the odds (in any format - American, decimal or fractional) and it will spit out the implied odds for you. It's as simple as that.
