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What Are Blackjack Side Bets?Side bets are bonus bets placed on a round of Blackjack on outcomes beyond whether the player or dealer will win. The majority are staked at the start of the round before the cards have been dealt alongside regular bets and many have fixed odds that usually offer greater payouts than the simple 2:1 rewarded for beating the dealer.Play Blackjack at Pinnacle Casino

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Side bets provide an exciting way to make Blackjack games more interesting whilst offering you a greater number of ways to win. So what are side bets, what side bets are available and are they worth it? Read on to find out.

Blackjack Side Bets Explained

Finding a niche market in betting can often lead to value. This can be anything from specialist knowledge of handball betting to extensive experience in betting on Japanese baseball. Providing you know more than the bookmaker, there is money to be made.  &lt;Bet on soccer at Pinnacle&gt; They also make for interesting and potentially profitable bets, as they can be a little more reliable

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A corner is one of the most inexplicably exciting events in soccer. Only around three per cent of them lead to a goal, but you can guarantee that the attacking team’s fans will roar their approval and encouragement if their team are awarded one. Read on to find out how you can benefit from betting on corners.

Corners betting in soccer: Value in a lesser-known market

Poisson Distribution is a mathematical concept for translating mean averages into a probability for variable outcomes across a distribution. For example, if we know Manchester City average 1.7 goals per game, so by putting the Poisson Distribution formula tells us that this average equates to Manchester City&nbsp;scoring 0 goals 18.3% of the time, 1 goal 31% of the time, 2 goals 26.4% of the time and 3 goals 15% of the time.

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Poisson Distribution: Predict the score in soccer betting

What is Expected Value?The amount a player can expect to win or lose if they were to place a bet on the same odds many times over, calculated through a simple equation multiplying your probability of winning with the amount you could win per bet, and subtracting the probability of losing multiplied by the amount lost per bet.A simple example of Expected Value (EV) put into practice -&nbsp;if you were

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The Expected Value of a bet shows us how much we can expect to win (on average) per bet, and as such is the most valuable calculation a bettor can make when comparing bookmakers' odds. How can you calculate Expected Value in sports betting in order to predict your winnings? Read on to find out.

How to Calculate Expected Value

Neel previously worked as a teacher and freelance writer before taking the plunge to go full time as a sports bettor and trader. A holder of postgraduate degrees in Philosophy and Psychology, he spends his days trying to beat the bookmakers and improving his betting knowledge, and is also currently writing a book on value betting.

Neel Shah

<h3>Analysing the decision</h3>
<p>For most people, a sum of $1 million would be a significant amount and the cast-iron guarantee that you could walk away from this situation with that cash in your pocket would be very tempting. However, would you be a fool or a reckless gambler if you considered taking the chance on the $1 billion?</p>
<blockquote>Many people would consider it a terrible decision to take $1,000 instead of risking $1 million.</blockquote>
<p>After all, $1 million may be a life-changing amount for you but $1 billion could be a life-changing amount for you, your wider community, and much more. Imagine the good (or evil) that could be done with a fortune that big!</p>
<p>Assuming that most people would take the $1 million guaranteed, what if you were presented with a similar dilemma: Instead of the $1 million, you are now guaranteed $1,000 and one of the boxes contains $1 million. Would you still opt for the $1000 instead of taking a risk on the $1 million?</p>
<p>What’s interesting here, is that most people would take the risk of giving up the $1,000 for a chance at winning the $1 million, yet would do the total opposite in the first example. The ratios are the same, with one amount being worth 1,000x the other, but the psychological effect of losing $1,000 is less painful than losing the $1 million offered in the first example.</p>
<h3>What is the psychology involved?</h3>
<p>Why is this the case? Theoretically, the two boxes have an expected value of $500 million each ($1 billion divided by two), so there could be a rational reason for taking a chance on one of the two boxes. One could argue that you are no worse off for going home with nothing than you were when you began. Others would consider that you have lost $1 million by your decision.</p>
<p>Kahneman and Tversky’s prospect theory suggests that humans are risk-averse when it comes to gains and we prefer solutions that have a lower expected utility (i.e. less of a financial reward) but with a higher certainty of success. However, if the situation was slightly different - if we are faced with a risky choice that could lead to a loss - we actively seek risk if there is a potential to avoid our losses.</p>
<p>Most people will frame their answer as to how much difference this sum of money will make to their life. $1,000 might be harder to turn into $1 million but $1 million could feasibly be turned into $10 million (or even more) through smart investing and good fortune.</p>
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<p>Speaking as a London native, $1 million sounds like a lot (and it certainly is) but it might not be life-changing to the point of securing a financial future. After all, you may be lucky to get a 2-bedroom apartment for $1 million in Central London and the cautionary tales of million-dollar lottery winners who have burned through their winnings with a lavish lifestyle also suggest that this money can only enhance your life to a certain point. $1 billion would be in another category altogether and for some, well worth the risk.</p>
<p>In relation to betting, this is perhaps why people will cash in on an accumulator with only one leg left to run. It might also explain why many bettors dislike betting on short-odds selections as the risk of loss is greater than the risk of reward.</p>
<p><strong>So the question is, with all this in mind: Would you take the $1 million or the chance at $1 billion?</strong></p>

Imagine that you are appearing on a TV game show. The presenter puts two boxes in front of you and you have to pick one. In one box is a $1 billion prize and in the other, nothing. Would you pick one of the boxes for a 50% chance of getting $1 billion or walk away to get a guaranteed $1 million?

Imagine that you are appearing on a TV game show. The presenter puts two boxes in front of you and you have to pick one. In one box is a $1 billion prize and in the other, nothing. Would you pick one of the boxes for a 50% chance of getting $1 billion or walk away to get a guaranteed $1 million? What would you do?