Value Bet Explained in Detail 2025

eSports odds are something that are often taken for granted. A lot of players simply accept what they are offered and that’s that. However, there is actually a lot to be said for studying the odds.

If we can find out which bookmakers offer the best odds in our favor, we can potentially profit from it. Even better still is to find out when bookies offer better odds than the actual probability of a win, effectively when they make a mistake. And briefly, that’s the value bet explained. So let’s take a closer look.

Why are Betting Guides and Strategies So Important?

Any eSports betting guide should examine the strategies that players can use to maximize their betting potential. Why? Because it has a chance at landing us more cash! Of course betting is random, and if there was any sure-fire way to make cash from it, then all sportsbooks would go out of business. But there are some things we can do to maximize our chances of taking home a win, and the value of that win.

If you’re betting small amounts of cash for fun from time to time, betting guides and strategies probably aren’t fundamental to your experience. But if you take things a bit more seriously and want to win some good money, getting clued up with these guides would not be the worst idea in the world. Perhaps one of the most useful is the value bet guide. But check out our guide to eSports multiple bets, too!

Who Should Make Use of the Guides?

While a lot of betting guides are presented to those just entering the scene (see our eSports bookies  for beginners guide if that’s you!), there is a lot to be said for anyone in the world of eSports betting to take advantage of these guides. You might think you’ve got a great understanding of how to place your bets, and that’s awesome. But you can never have too much information when it comes to knowing where to put your money!

We do have to take into account the fact that these guides aren’t going to guarantee you wins. So when we ask ‘what is a value bet?’, it’s important to scrutinize the answer and find out if it looks right for you to take up. We’ll explain a little more about the importance of that and show you how to do it later on in this guide.

Betting Guides & Strategies: how to use the value bet

So, with an understanding of what betting guides are and how they can benefit us, it’s time to have the value bet explained. Here’s our ultimate guide, answering the question ‘what is a value bet?’ and showing you how to get the most out of it.

1. The basics of the value bet

A value bet is, as we mentioned earlier, effectively a mistake from a bookmaker that offers better odds than it should do. While we firmly believe that any eSports bookies should offer good odds all the time, there are times when a particular market jumps out at being a little too good. And these are the ones we want to be putting our money on, just as long as we feel that there is a good chance of it coming in. Otherwise, it could still prove to be a waste of cash.

Mistakes from bookmakers can go two ways: they either sell the players short or they sell themselves short, therefore potentially landing the players with more cash than they should have done if the bet does come in. It is, of course, the latter we are looking for with a value bet. If we can make a little more money from a bookmaker than perhaps we maybe should’ve, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world!

2. Benefits of the value bet explained

The one fundamental benefit of a value bet is that it can land you more money than a regular bet. It might be a little time consuming to have to look out for value bets, so we recommend simply keeping an eye out for them alongside your regular betting rather than becoming too absorbed with the idea of finding them, but if you can, you could walk away with much more cash than you would’ve done from another bookmaker.

Learning about value bets can also give you a better understanding of the betting market in general, as learning about odds is a great way to get the best out of your betting. Taking the time to compare odds will not only allow you to choose the best odds for betting but also to find out which are the best sites to sign up for.

3. How to find a value bet

This is where things get a little trickier. As exciting as the concept of finding a value bet is, it is easier said than done. However, there are a couple of ways you can do it:

• Keep an eye out for eSports tipsters: if you follow professional eSports bettors on social media, you might be able to cash in when they share their own value bet finds with their followers. Don’t take this at face value, though. It’s always worth double checking this using one of our other two methods to ensure that it is legit.

• Learn the markets yourself: the most difficult yet effective way to get value bets is to understand odds and the markets like the back of your hand. If you consider yourself to be an expert in Dota 2 and if you have solid betting experience on it, there is a good chance you’ll be able to sport value bets for yourself. If you can, you’re onto a winner.

• Check out odds comparison sites: it’s not strictly necessary to know exactly how all odds should look. The reason for this is that odds comparison sites exist. These sites will show you a bunch of bookies’ odds on a particular market so that you can tell whether there is an anomaly or not.

It’s also worth noting that the best eSports betting sites with the most experience are less likely to slip up with value bets than newer ones. That’s because they have a lot more information, so we recommend keeping a closer eye on those in the startup stages (of which there are several!).

4. Further useful betting knowledge

In combination with keeping an eye out for a solid value bet, there are a few other key pieces of betting information that we recommend keeping in mind as you go about your eSports betting adventure:

• Look out for the right markets: there’s not a lot of use in putting down cash on value bets you’re not sure on. Just because you’ve been told that the odds are better than expected, you’ve got to be sure that the bet is right for you. If you’ve never come across CS:GO skin gambling, for example, you could be wasting your time and money by placing value bets in this field.

• Don’t take the value bet for granted: just because you (or a friend, tipster or other recommendation) thinks a market is a value bet, it doesn’t mean it is. There could be a good reason for the odds being offered as they are, so proceed with caution and always scrutinize any value bet recommendations you are given.

• Check out more guides on eSports betting: you can never have too much information on eSports betting, as the more you get clued up, the better of a position you’ll be in to be able to win some money and have a good time in doing so. We’ve put together an eSports gambling country by country guide that has all the details you would need about betting on eSports, no matter which part of the world you are in.

• Play within your means: one of the most important things to do for any punter out there is to set a budget for how much you want to spend in any one betting session as well as each week or month. Then, make sure you add up the number of bets that you make so that you don’t go over this and end up spending more money than you can afford to lose.

Conclusion: our last thoughts on value bet

Looking out for a value bet is a really great way to make a bit of extra cash on your betting. If you’re really confident that a value bet is going to come in, it could be a good place to put down a reasonable-sized stake. But be prepared. There could be a good reason that what you might think is a value bet is being offered at those odds. That’s why it’s super important to double-check any value bet tips you get or any suspicions of your own as to whether a bet is valued or not.

If you can make sure that you are betting on the right markets and double-checking any value bet, this could be a really handy method to consider as you bet on eSports. Good luck!

Value Bet Explained FAQ