The World Of Matchup Bets With The Action Networks Jason Sobel

High Fade was lucky enough to have on Jason Sobel who is one of, if not the best, golf writer of the last 20 years on the pod this week to discuss everything from his past collegiate golf experience at Brandeis, to the Shakespearean play we are currently watching as Tiger creeps closer to his next major victory. If you are a golf fan this episode should be a no brainer because not only is Jason one of the most cultured golf journalists on the circuit, he is an awesome story teller and he shared a couple great stories from his past that are sure to entertain. With Jason recently moving to the Action Network, we talked a lot about golf gambling, and I wanted to highlight what he said as his favorite way to bet on golf, and dive even deeper into the world of matchup bets.

While Jason, and most golf gamblers will put a couple bucks on some guys to win, as those bets have the most upside, it is also the hardest bet to win, maybe in all of gambling. Instead of throwing all of your money down the drain right away, Jason and I discussed the matchup bets, both round by round, and full tournament bets that not only make each round more exciting, they can pay out a pretty penny if you parlay them like Jason and I do.

For those unaware of matchup bets, they are pretty simple and while they come in two variations, you are just betting on one golfer to beat another golfer in either that individual round, or for the entire tournament. For example, this week at the Dell Technologies at TPC Boston, Tiger Woods is -155 to beat Adam Scott straight up for the entire tournament. So instead of Tiger beating the entire field, he just has to beat one other guy for you to win the bet. Now, as I said earlier, betting on guys to win the tournament has tremendous upside, while for this bet you’d have to bet $155 to win $100, so while it may be easier to win the bet, the return is just not there….unless you parlay them.

This is where matchup bets get fun, when you parlay 3-4 or in Jason’s case during the PGA Championship, TEN golfers, the payouts look more like a bet to win, rather a boring old -155 matchup bet. These type of bets is what makes watching golf, and being at golf tournaments that much more exciting, and still gives you a chance to win some money even if the guys you bet to win have no shot of actually winning the tournament. While matchup bets seem to just be a free for all on who to take, Jason gives a little background on his strategy of picking guys for round by round matchup bets.

As Jason alluded to in the interview, his favorite bets tend to be 2nd and 3rd round matchup bets because he gets to see how the course is playing, and which golfers have been playing well early on to hop on those guys later in tournament. However, there is a difference between playing well, and scoring well, which Jason explained further talking about finding guys who may have shot a 71, but hit 16/18 greens, as being prime candidates for matchup bets in the coming days. It is not only about finding value in these matchup bets, but taking account of more than just what they shot the previous day.

Now we just talked a lot about matchup bets, and while they are the most exciting type of golf bet in my opinion, with the legalization of gambling, there will continue to be new ways to bet on golfers in the near future, even betting hole by hole, which can get dangerous. As Jason also proved, you can be sweating a 10 golfer parlay at the PGA Championship, or a Champions Tour sweat on a hot tip at the same time, and that is what makes gambling on golf so much fun. You will also notice that Jason, like myself, don’t bet exorbitant amounts of money, because no one can make a living off betting on golf, but it sure as hell makes it more entertaining.

AM RT: Fun story: How I spent my weekend sweating the senior circuit.https://t.co/q2AFgb4iV1

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelTAN) August 28, 2018

The matchup bets to end all matchup bets will be this Thanksgiving weekend, with “The Match” between Tiger and Phil, and even though Jason doesn’t have a pick yet, he does think Phil is more motivated than Tiger. It is still too early for me to lock in a bet, but if you do like Phil, it is probably in your best interest to get him at +150.

Current Betting Odds via @LVSuperBook:

-180 @TigerWoods
+150 @PhilMickelson @JasonSobelTAN: https://t.co/voco12S0h0

— The Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) August 22, 2018