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Serious sports bettors often dismiss futures wagers as sucker bets targeted at 'squares' looking for a big payoff. For example, a typical futures 'sucker bet' would be something like betting that Harvard will win the NCAA basketball tournament at 500/1 odds. Sure, the potential payback is huge but here's the problem--the "true odds" of Harvard winning the NCAA hoops tournament are astronomical, and certainly well in excess of 500/1. That means that from the outset this bet represents a poor wagering value.

For the more serious bettor, there's a number of obvious problems with futures wagers. They require that your wagering 'capital' be tied up for months. Furthermore, once you've placed your bet you're at the mercy of injuries, suspensions, trades and the other numerous factors that can spell defeat for a sports team. It's no simple task keeping up with these variables on a day to day basis, and predicting them over a longer term is the province of psychics and not sports handicappers.

So futures plays have no relevance to a serious approach to sports handicapping? Not necessarily. It's crucial to think of the sports betting discipline in terms of value. Used properly, futures wagers are frequently a good way of maximizing line value and finding overlay situations. Here are some ways in which future wagers can be successfully leveraged.

The early bird gets the worm. The early bettor gets the value: Many sports books offer non-sports proposition bets, including entertainment based wagers like the Academy Awards. Someone who enjoys following the industry and keeping up-to-date on whats happening in Hollywood can get a decided edge over the bookmaker, who doesn't have the time to stay juiced in to industry news and gossip.

With many books taking bets on awards like 'Best Picture' before nominations are even announced, a bettor has a great opportunity to find overlay situations. By staying on top of the entertainment news and accurately predicting which films will be nominated, its often possible to get substantially better prices than will be available after their announcement.

Making the Academy Awards an even better candidate for futures wagers is the nature of the film business itself. The release schedule for films is set well in advance, and after the year end cut off date no 'surprise' releases can sneak in to consideration. At this point, its relatively easy to narrow down the serious contenders and with some work to come up with a 'short list' of Oscar candidates.

Taking a position for profit: Now well turn our attention to sports and how to use the futures wager there. As I noted above, sports inherently presents more variables than the film industry. Furthermore, the top teams are usually not priced for value. Currently you can get +650 on New England to eventually win the 2010 Superbowl. The Patriots are certainly capable of winning, but the value just isn't there.

To find value on this sort of wager you need to look for 'dark horse' candidates. For example, at midseason you could have bet on the Carolina Hurricanes to win the 2009 Stanley Cup at prices as high as 25/1 or 30/1. Now, they're one of four teams remaining and are priced at 5/1 to 7/1 depending on the book.

This play wasn't based on any sort of profound revelation that a team that underachieved early in the season would turn it around, but rather on the potential value they presented. In other words, the 'true odds' were far less than the number offered at the time the bet was placed. At these high prices, its possible to isolate a few potential 'dark horse' candidates and should any pan out they present a variety of opportunities to hedge and lock in profits.

"The field" can occasionally offer wagering value as well. A good example was the NASCAR Rookie of the Year futures in 2001. Some books offered a bet on 'the field' at prices as high as 15/1. After Dale Earnhardt's tragic death, his team turned to rookie Kevin Harvick to fill 'The Intimidator's' place in the driver's seat. Someone who followed NASCAR closely knew this was going to happen well before it was publicly announced, and was able to grab a great price on Harvick as part of 'the field'. By midseason, Harvick's success had pushed prices on 'the field' down to the point that it was the favorite everywhere with prices in the range of -250 to -300.

Clearly the Harvick play was a 'best case scenario' but there are other instances where value can be had on 'the field'. While sportsbooks have learned a lot about NASCAR in recent years, up until a few years ago it was frequently possible to find a 'field' bet on road course races that included the 'specialists' that teams frequently hire for these events. In other words, it was possible to bet a group of road course 'ringers' such as Ron Fellows, Scott Pruett and Robbie Gordon with one wager. Again, you have to keep your eyes open and be ready to act quickly to take advantage of these rare opportunities.

Don't forget to shop around for the best wagering value. This is true with any sports bet, but particularly so with futures wagers as the prices you find will vary much more than a typical pointspread. A little bit of effort can easily reveal a more advantageous price, meaning greater line value.

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Ross Everett is a well known writer specializing in sports handicapping, auto racing, travel and fencing. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is in charge of providing daily free sports picks to a number of websites and broadcast media outlets. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a wombat.

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