Fifty terms you will hit in the daily threads, what they actually mean, and the handful that are specific to Reddit rather than to betting.
Reading a betting thread for the first time is a strange experience. The words are English, the sentences parse, and you have no idea what anyone is saying. “Took 2u on the dog at +4.5, got steamed to +3, sitting on decent CLV even if it loses.”
Here is the whole vocabulary, grouped by where you will run into it. The terms marked as Reddit-specific will not help you anywhere else.
On this page
The everyday words
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
Unit, written 1u | One standard bet size, usually one percent of a bankroll. People post in units so records can be compared without anyone revealing how much money they actually have. Covered in more detail in what a unit means. |
| Chalk | The favourite. Betting chalk means backing the side everyone expects to win. |
| Dog | The underdog. A live dog is one people think has a real chance. |
| Juice or vig | The book’s cut, built into the price. At -110 you risk $110 to win $100, and the extra $10 is the juice. |
| Cover | Beating the spread rather than just winning the game. |
| Push | The result lands exactly on the number. The bet is void and your stake comes back. |
| Bad beat | Losing in a way that feels personal. A garbage-time score, a late foul, a backdoor cover. |
| Backdoor cover | A meaningless late score that flips the spread. The most common cause of a bad beat post. |
| Lock | A certainty. Used sincerely by people selling picks and sarcastically by everyone else, because there is no such thing. |
| Fade | Bet against something, usually against a particular person’s pick. |
| Tail | The opposite. Follow somebody onto their bet. |
| Sweat | Watching a bet you have money on. A sweat is also the act of doing it. |
| Cooler | A losing run that is unlucky rather than deserved. |
| Variance | Randomness. The reason a good bettor can lose for a month and a bad one can win for one. |
| Degen | Short for degenerate. Self-applied, usually affectionately, by people betting more than they should. Worth being a little careful with, because the joke covers real problems. |
Market types
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Moneyline | Who wins, no spread involved. |
| Spread | A handicap applied to level the two sides. |
| Total or over-under | Combined score, and whether it goes over or under the posted number. |
| Run line, puck line | The baseball and hockey versions of a spread, usually fixed at 1.5. |
| Prop | A bet on something other than the result. A player’s strikeouts, a team’s first-half total. |
| F5 | First five innings. Baseball only. You are betting the starting pitchers rather than the bullpens. |
| Parlay | Several bets combined, all of which must win. Covered in Reddit parlay culture. |
| SGP | Same game parlay. Legs from one match, priced to account for how they relate to each other. |
| Teaser | A parlay where you move each spread in your favour by an agreed number of points, at a reduced payout. |
| Alt line | An alternative spread or total at a different price. |
| Buy points | Paying extra juice to move a spread half a point or more. |
| Futures | Season-long markets. Championship winners, win totals, awards. |
| Live or in-play | Betting during the event, with prices updating in real time. |
| If bet and reverse | Conditional bets where the second only fires if the first wins. Rare at recreational books. |
| Cash out | Settling a bet early for a reduced amount. Convenient, and priced in the book’s favour. |
Sharp talk
This is the vocabulary that separates the daily picks threads from r/algobetting and r/EVbetting.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Sharp | A bettor who wins, or a book that takes their action and moves its lines accordingly. |
| Square | A recreational bettor. Also used of books built for them. |
| CLV | Closing line value. Whether you got a better number than the one available at kickoff. Regarded as the best single measure of whether you are actually any good. |
| Steam | A sudden, coordinated line move across multiple books. |
| Reverse line movement | The line moving against the side most of the public is betting, which suggests bigger money is on the other side. |
| +EV and -EV | Positive and negative expected value. Whether the price is better or worse than the true probability. |
| Arb | Taking both sides at prices that cannot both be right, locking in a profit. See r/arbitragebetting. |
| Middle | Betting both sides at different numbers so that certain results win both. |
| Hedge | Betting the other side later to reduce risk or lock in a smaller profit. |
| Line shopping | Checking several books and taking the best number. The least glamorous and most reliable edge there is. |
| Kelly | A staking formula that sizes bets by edge. Half Kelly is the version most people actually use. |
| ROI | Return on investment. Profit divided by total staked, not by bankroll. |
Money and accounts
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Book | Sportsbook. “Which book” means which operator. |
| Bankroll or roll | The money set aside for betting, separate from everything else. |
| Limited | Having your maximum stake cut by a book because you win too often. See what getting limited means. |
| Rollover or playthrough | How much you must wager before withdrawing. Applies to bonuses and, at some books, to plain deposits. |
| Free play | Bonus credit where you keep the profit but not the stake. |
| Boost | An enhanced price offered as a promotion. |
| Rebate or rakeback | A percentage of what you wager paid back regardless of result. Standard in racebooks, covered in the horse racing community. |
| KYC | Know your customer. The identity check that usually happens at your first withdrawal rather than at signup. |
| Offshore | A book licensed outside the United States. Explained in our guide to offshore sportsbooks. |
Reddit-specific
These will get you blank looks anywhere else.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Flex and cope | The name of the r/sportsbook daily thread for winning and losing tickets. Flex your win, cope with your loss, same place. |
| POTD | Pick of the Day, the signature daily thread. |
| Tout | Somebody who sells picks. Always pejorative, and banned across every major betting community. See why you cannot sell picks on Reddit. |
| Capper | Short for handicapper. Neutral in general use, and treated with suspicion on Reddit because most people using it are selling something. |
| The daily | Whichever recurring thread is relevant. Explained in the daily threads guide. |
| Tailing the sub | Betting whatever the thread is most enthusiastic about. Said as a warning, not a strategy. |
Questions people ask
What does 1u mean in betting?
One unit, meaning one standard bet size. Most people set a unit at around one percent of their bankroll. Posting in units lets people compare records without disclosing how much money they are actually betting.
What does chalk mean?
The favourite. Betting chalk means backing the expected winner. Chalky refers to a slate or a parlay made up entirely of favourites.
What is the difference between tailing and fading?
Tailing means following somebody onto their bet. Fading means deliberately betting the opposite side. Both are used constantly in daily threads, usually about a specific person’s picks.
What does CLV mean?
Closing line value, the difference between the price you took and the price available just before the event starts. Beating the closing number consistently is regarded as better evidence of skill than short-term profit, because profit over a small sample is mostly variance.
What does it mean to get limited?
A sportsbook cutting your maximum stake, sometimes to a few dollars, because it has decided you win too often. It is not a ban and there is usually no notification. It is one of the most discussed subjects on Reddit betting communities.
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