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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

Sam studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield before joining the team to indulge his long-established interests in writing, sports and betting. Whilst Sam’s speciality is soccer, he enjoys following most sports for their major events and exploring betting markets with his love of stats in tow in order to find value.

Sam Pearce

<h3>What can we learn from the opening six matches?</h3>
For the purpose of this article, we are going to determine the ‘opening’ of the soccer season as its first six matches. While at first glance this may appear to be a small sample size, there is a historical basis for this. For instance, the winner of the Premier League has been outside the top four after the opening six games on just four occasions since 1995/96.
Furthermore, within their opening six matches a team will usually play three home and three away fixtures each. Those games also&nbsp;offer an insight as to whether any significant changes such as new players, a new manager, and <a style="color: #f50;" id="articleLink" href="/betting-resources/en/soccer/part-one-new-stadium-disadvantage/sjk2ntju4txrnfr2/" target="_blank">even a new stadium</a> will entail a positive or negative impact on their overall performance. The first six matches also give bettors the chance to assess <a style="color: #f50;" id="articleLink" href="/betting-resources/en/betting-strategy/how-to-bet-on-newly-promoted-teams/bkw2gchlpy73qgwv/" target="_blank">how newly promoted teams will perform</a> or whether they will <a style="color: #f50;" id="articleLink" href="/betting-resources/en/soccer/what-can-bettors-learn-from-pre-season-soccer-matches/vbp2gxralgr6uzef/" target="_blank">maintain any notable pre-season form into the new campaign</a>.
<h3>What can strong starts to a season teach us?</h3>
In the table below are the top six teams in the Premier League after six matches for each of the last five seasons, as well as their final finishing position:
<table class=" article-table">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Position after six matches
</td>
<td>
2016/17
</td>
<td>
2017/18
</td>
<td>
2018/19
</td>
<td>
2019/20
</td>
<td>
2020/21
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
1st
</td>
<td>
Manchester City 3rd
</td>
<td>
Manchester City 1st
</td>
<td>
Liverpool 2nd
</td>
<td>
Liverpool 1st
</td>
<td>
Everton 10th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
2nd
</td>
<td>
Tottenham Hotspur 2nd
</td>
<td>
Manchester United 2nd
</td>
<td>
Manchester City 1st
</td>
<td>
Manchester City 2nd
</td>
<td>
Liverpool 3rd
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
3rd
</td>
<td>
Arsenal 5th
</td>
<td>
Chelsea 5th
</td>
<td>
Chelsea 3rd
</td>
<td>
Leicester City 5th
</td>
<td>
Aston Villa 11th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
4th
</td>
<td>
Liverpool 4th
</td>
<td>
Tottenham Hotspur 3rd
</td>
<td>
Watford 11th
</td>
<td>
Arsenal 8th
</td>
<td>
Leicester City 5th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
5th
</td>
<td>
Everton 7th
</td>
<td>
Liverpool 4th
</td>
<td>
Tottenham Hotspur 4th
</td>
<td>
West Ham United 16th
</td>
<td>
Tottenham Hotspur 7th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
6th
</td>
<td>
Manchester United 6th
</td>
<td>
Watford 14th
</td>
<td>
Arsenal 5th
</td>
<td>
Bournemouth 18th
</td>
<td>
Leeds United 9th
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The broad takeaway from this is teams who start a Premier League season well tend to&nbsp;maintain such standards throughout the campaign. Indeed, of the last 30 teams to occupy the top six positions after the opening six matches, 20 finished in the top six at the end of the season and 26 finished in the top half.
Ultimately, this is perhaps not that surprising. Consistency is key to any league title challenge and we would habitually expect the league’s strongest teams to be trading places near the top of the table for the remaining 32 matches.
However, this does not mean there aren’t instances of teams wildly overperforming or underperforming against expectations during their opening six matches. As highlighted in the table above, Watford were sixth after six matches in the 2017/18 season but ultimately came 14th, while West Ham and Bournemouth occupied fifth and sixth respectively after six games in 2019/20 only to both finish in the bottom five.
<div class="articleV2 unordered-list">
<ul>
<li><a style="color: #f50;" id="articleLink" href="/betting-resources/en/soccer/premier-league-2021-22-expected-points-preview/lju2d7anhmzcyem3/" target="_blank">Premier League 2021/22: Expected points preview</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
As previously mentioned, it is also a rare sight to witness Premier League winners residing outside the top four after the opening six games. The only teams to have won the competition after such a start are Manchester United in 2002/03 (who were 10th after six games), Manchester City in 2013/14 (seventh after six games), Chelsea in 2016/17 (eighth after six games), and Manchester City again in 2020/21 (13th after six games).
This indicates that when making predictions for league winners, an important component to consider is which teams you think are well-geared for a strong start. In the Premier League, teams dominating proceedings throughout are far from unprecedented – in 2014/15, Chelsea led the table for the entire season from Gameweek 3 onwards, while in 2017/18 Manchester City were not budged from first at any point after Gameweek 5.
<h3>What can poor starts to a season teach us?</h3>
Here is the equivalent table for the teams placed in the bottom six of the Premier League after six matches for each of the last five seasons, as well as their final finishing position:
<table class=" article-table">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Position after six matches
</td>
<td>
2016/17
</td>
<td>
2017/18
</td>
<td>
2018/19
</td>
<td>
2019/20
</td>
<td>
2020/21
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
15th
</td>
<td>
Bournemouth 9th
</td>
<td>
Swansea City 18th
</td>
<td>
Fulham 19th
</td>
<td>
Brighton and Hove Albion 15th
</td>
<td>
Manchester United 2nd
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
16th
</td>
<td>
Middlesbrough 19th
</td>
<td>
Stoke City 19th
</td>
<td>
Burnley 15th
</td>
<td>
Norwich City 20th
</td>
<td>
Brighton and Hove Albion 16th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
17th
</td>
<td>
Swansea City 15th
</td>
<td>
Leicester City 9th
</td>
<td>
West Ham United 10th
</td>
<td>
Newcastle United 13th
</td>
<td>
West Bromwich Albion 19th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
18th
</td>
<td>
West Ham United 11th
</td>
<td>
West Ham United 13th
</td>
<td>
Newcastle United 13th
</td>
<td>
Aston Villa 17th
</td>
<td>
Burnley 17th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
19th
</td>
<td>
Stoke City 13th
</td>
<td>
Bournemouth 12th
</td>
<td>
Cardiff City 18th
</td>
<td>
Wolves 7th
</td>
<td>
Sheffield United 20th
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
20th
</td>
<td>
Sunderland 20th
</td>
<td>
Crystal Palace 11th
</td>
<td>
Huddersfield Town 20th
</td>
<td>
Watford 19th
</td>
<td>
Fulham 18th
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
As you can see, similar observations can be drawn. Of the last 30 teams to be sat in the bottom six positions of the Premier League after the opening six matches, 18 finished in the bottom six at the end of the season (including 12 that were relegated). Just four went on to finish in the top half, and only Manchester United last season achieved a top six finish.
Furthermore, at least one team in the bottom six after six matches went on to be relegated in each of the last five seasons. Even more ominously, at least one team in the bottom three after six games&nbsp;was relegated in 24 of the 26 38-match Premier League seasons to date, indicating that it can be thoroughly difficult to recover from a poor start to the campaign.
<div class="articleV2 unordered-list">
<ul>
<li><a style="color: #f50;" id="articleLink" href="/betting-resources/en/soccer/serie-a-2021-22-outright-betting-preview/6gj2mxlpw88pcjaa/" target="_blank">Serie A 2021/22: Outright betting preview</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
However, it is still important to remember that the teams occupying the relegation spots frequently change during the season, and on just one occasion in the Premier League have the bottom three teams after six matches gone on to be the three sides that were relegated (in 2006/07).
<h3>How can bettors use this data to their advantage?</h3>
Bettors can benefit from using the data above in different ways when betting on the Premier League as well as Europe’s other major soccer leagues. As outright markets are often reposted throughout the season, you can assess whether a team still offers value after a particularly good or bad start when analysing their chances of winning the league or getting relegated.
Equally, the first six matches of the season can be utilised to gauge performance and help predict the outcome of individual matches. As well as using the results from the opening stages of the season, <a style="color: #f50;" id="articleLink" href="/betting-resources/en/soccer/how-to-calculate-poisson-distribution/md62mlxumkmxz6a8/" target="_blank">applying Poisson distribution</a> and <a style="color: #f50;" id="articleLink" href="/betting-resources/en/soccer/expected-goals-explained/b8q2hgj7xmjrz58c/" target="_blank">using an expected goals model</a> will also help you implement a more strategic approach to soccer league betting.

How important are the first six matches of the soccer season?

To what extent do the opening six matches of the soccer season determine what might happen during the rest of it? Do teams maintain particularly good or bad starts to the season? Read on to find out.

In Europe’s major soccer leagues, the season is contested over 34 to 38 matches spanning eight to nine months. Naturally, that is both a large number of fixtures and long period of time during which the season can take shape, yet a popular suggestion among soccer fans is that the opening stages of the season are the most crucial and capable of determining a team’s overall success. Is there any truth to this? Read on to find out.