Table Tennis was invented in the 1880s in England and organized as a regulated sport in 1926 for its first World Championship. The addition of a World Cup in 1980 and becoming an Olympic sport in 1988 have helped its popularity to grow considerably in recent years. There is now an annual ITTF World Tour, formerly known as the Pro Tour, with around 15 tournaments held each year and a Grand Finals at the end. Recently a series of rule and format changes have made matches more appealing to television audiences. The increased exposure has brought demand for betting markets and the betting aspect of the sport is the topic of this article.

1. Tennis Gambling
2. How Does Tennis Betting Work
3. Tennis Betting Online
4. Tennis Betting Strategy

Step 1: Open a Betting Site Account. To get started, click on a link to visit one of our recommended betting sites. This will take you to a signup page where you’ll need to pick a username and password. International table tennis is played on a table that is precisely 9 feet long by 5 feet wide by 2.5 feet high. Players use rackets that are black on one side and red on the reverse, and use a 40mm+ plastic ball.

Where to Bet Table Tennis Online

The 2016 Summer Olympics which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are quite a while away at the time I’m writing this article. This is where the bulk of table tennis betting is done, and when the tournament rolls around you can expect most online bookmakers will have odds. Betting options for matches from the ITTF World Tour including the Grand Finals, the World Championships, World Team Championships, Men’s and Women’s World Cup / World Team Cup, China vs. World Challenge and other ITTF sanctioned tournaments, are fairly limited. The sites best for this are listed below.

• Why We Like'em
• Only betting site that covers smaller table tennis tournaments as well as providing early odds on most events.
• Good odds and take larger bets than most competitors.

Note: By far the best sites for betting on table tennis matches are Nordic Bet and ComeOn. They offer odds on far more competitions compared to other sites. For example, at the time of writing they are the only online betting sites that offers odds on the Challenger Series, the Swedish Pingisligan and on the French League Pro A.

Another important note is that you will not find many, if any, prematch odds for ITTF tournament matches. What you will find is live streams with a plethora of in-play betting opportunities. This allows you watch the matches right from your computer and bet on a variety of markets. I’ll cover these shortly but first let me mention pre-match betting.

Table Tennis Odds

Tennis Gambling

If you’re looking to bet before a match begins you’ll need to turn to one of Nordic Bet, ComeOn or Paddy Power. These sites only offer betting odds on which player will win a match; there are no other markets covered.

ComeOn and Nordic Bet have a $200 maximum bet which is also a cumulative limit. Understand it is not possible to get down thousands of dollars on a table tennis match at online betting sites. Perhaps the most you’ll be able to get down is a $500 stake. This is $200 at ComeOn and max bets of $100-$200 each at the other sportsbooks that have table tennis odds. No matter what your bankroll size is, it is advised you check all the sites listed above prior to making table tennis bets. One final note is you won’t find too many overnight lines. For match betting Nordic Bet and Paddy Power have the earliest opening lines, while ComeOn and the other sites tend open the odds about 4 hours before the first match of the day.

Live In-Play Betting

Once matches start becomes the best site for wagering table tennis. Not only can you bet on match winner, with the odds shifting as the match progresses, but you can bet many additional markets. Some examples include game winner, point winner, and races to 3, 5, 7 and 9 points in a given game. You can also bet total points scored, whether points scored will be odds or even and so much more.

A small tip: If you have an account funded with at least $5.00, you can visit their site, log-in and from the top menu click “live streaming”. This will open their stream viewer interface which includes a schedule of upcoming streams. If you select table tennis from the menu you can filter it and get a list of all matches that will be streamed in the coming days. This comes in handy for knowing which matches to handicap in advanced.

Table Tennis Betting Strategy

As I mentioned earlier, it is not possible to bet a great deal of money online for this sport. This is actually good news for smaller limit players as professional punters have limited to no interest due to the smaller limits. If you’re looking for a little extra value towards making table tennis bets here are a few tips.

Tip #1 – Study Tendencies – Most of the competitions streamed involve the same players in each tournament. Get to know the top players and look for performance trends. Does the player stay focused and go for the kill at all stages of a match or when a game is in control do they maybe relax within a couple points of taking the game. Get to know also their opponent. Though a lopsided match does this opponent give a full effort until the very end? Knowing this information can help greatly with live in-play betting.

Tip #2 – Look for Value Outside of China – This is a sport largely dominated by Chinese players. Look especially for times you feel non-Asian players who are an underdog have a chance against a Chinese player. Understand that players like Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, and Vladimir Samsonov are all well-known on the men’s side. On the women’s side however you can sometimes find good value on players like Viktoria Pavlovich, Elizabeta Samara and Kristin Silbereisen. While I wouldn’t suggest betting these players blindly understand most the wagers on table tennis are backing top rated Chinese players. If you spot times you think a European might have a chance, that player is often worth a punt.

How Does Tennis Betting Work

Tip #3: Watch the Pinnacle Prices – Again, China is the most dominant nation in the sport. Pinnacle Sports is available in Chinese language and has Chinese banking options. Because Pinnacle moves the lines with every bet, a good strategy is to note their odds 4 hours before a match, 2 hours before, an hour before, and then come back and watch the odds update in the final minutes. You can find times where it is easy to suspect fans have kept betting the Chinese player blindly. In such spots where you notice a lot of line movement, betting the other side can be a great idea. Let me conclude by saying, the strategy suggested in tip #3 is not advised for major sports such as football betting. The reason it is more viable in table tennis betting is because this is a small market. Most of the bets are placed by fans and the limits are so low that sharp players don’t have a large interest. There is also not enough of a betting market for match fixing to be anything but an extremely minor concern. No matter if you follow our tips or use your own, we at Online Gambling hope you manage to a few winners!

Sports Betting Guide

As online betting becomes more and more popular, we get to bet on a larger variety of sports. Thanks to that, we get to explore more and more interesting markets like table tennis. What do such sports offer to the regular punter and how to beat a bookmaker betting on table tennis? Find answers to these and many other questions in our table tennis betting guide.

Tennis Betting Online

Table tennis betting

Table tennis is not a popular sport discipline to bet on, although best online betting sites have it in their offers. What distinguishes betting on table tennis from betting on football? First of all, the main factor is bookmakers' lack of knowledge and, what goes with it, a possibility of finding incredible value. Sometimes it is shocking how even the top online bookmakers set the odds, making you ask yourself where do they get them from. In the majority of cases, they are probably prompted only by the ranking and leaving aside much more important factors. It is possible that they might be using some simple formula that has a large error margin, which could overestimate the odds up to 40%, giving punters a huge advantage!

We would like to demonstrate it using a football example.

Let's assume, Manchester United plays its best roster against Wolverhampton and bookmakers set the odds for the Draw No Bet market: Man Utd - 2.87 (187/100), Wolverhampton - 1.44 (11/25). Every football fan or punter would notice right away that something is not as it's supposed to be and that the odds should actually go the other way around. Football is such a popular sport that the odds would get verified by the market within few hours (or even less). However, in the case of table tennis, bookmakers do not have enough knowledge, hence mistakes may happen.

Tennis Betting Strategy

What should we pay attention to while betting on table tennis?

• Ranking is not everything. Of course, it is important to check the ranking, but it is even more important to check ups and downs of particular players in the ranking. This part is checked by the bookmakers, therefore, it is hard to gain an edge. Please, keep that in mind.
  
• Current shape of a player. It is a crucial factor, which we believe is neglected by the bookmakers. Obviously, recent wins, loses, and overall performance is important. Checking those will definitely do you a huge favour accurately estimating the situation and giving you some sort of advantage over the bookmaker. Have you ever placed a bet on your favourite football team without checking their most recent matches?
  
• Tournaments & competitions. Lower-ranked tournaments and competitions always have a bigger share of surprises (not only in table tennis). Just like in every other sport, top players are expected to participate in the higher-ranked tournaments like World Cup, Olympics, Champions League, etc. What is more, low-ranked tournaments might also have their own rules, which in some cases can affect the odds by even 5%.

• Important in-game factors. We all know that playing style plays quite an essential role in the majority of sports. Surprisingly or not, but it is of even greater importance in table tennis. For instance, some players struggle against left-handed opponents. There are so many examples of great players, who are winning game after game but fail to perform well against lefties. Every player has their preferred way of holding a racquet, some might be more comfortable with a backhand, while others feel more confident with a forehand. Many European players find it unusual to play against penhold style grip opponents. On the other hand, Asian players find the more traditional shakehand grip quite uncomfortable, as well. The way a player serves the ball and whether or not he/she curls it is also very important.
  
• Non-sport-related information about a player. Unfortunately, there is not too much information about table tennis players in the media, and you have to give it an extra effort to find it yourself. We suggest starting your search from social media, which usually offers the most recent and reliable information about the particular person (especially nowadays). Don’t forget that table tennis is an individual sport, therefore, psychological and mental aspects play a more important role. If a player has some personal problems, issue or any sort of distraction in his/her life, their performance might be hugely affected.
  
• Bookmakers’ prices. Despite it being one of the fundamental rules of betting, many punters tend to forget about the importance of price competitiveness. The odds for the particular matches/events may differ among top online bookmakers. The difference might seem ineligible but take our word, it will be worth spending a bit more time shopping for better odds to get the best price possible.
  Why is it better to have accounts with multiple bookmakers?​​​​​​
  
• Match winner over set winner. Unfortunately, we have noticed that many inexperienced punters are instantly backing the player to be a sure match-winner just after one high-margin winning set. Such behaviour moves the odds down, providing the market with an inaccurate price. Why is it wrong? First of all, it is hard to properly analyse all of the above factors in just one set (moreover if it is played up to 11 only). Second of all, players who get an easy blow-out win at the beginning, tend to get a bit more relaxed & loose, and, as a result, lose focus later on. We suggest treating the first set rather as a tryout, therefore, try to focus more on the following aspects: how well do players deal with opponents’ serves, how many and what type of mistake do both players fulfil and what is the scoring pattern.
  
• Emotions. Follow the instructions and make sure to keep your head cool. Do not get biased by short-term success, which can ultimately hurt your budget. Try to stay calm and use more common sense, along with our suggestions.

Professional advice from a veteran punter

The best method that at the end of the day will give you an advantage over the bookmaker is to estimate your own odds. Do not look at the odds offered by the bookmaker, instead, always try to find out yourself what the actual odds for the given event supposed to be. The key point here is to avoid getting biased by the bookmaker’s odds. Therefore, try not to look at them to have the best result. Fifteen to twenty minutes is usually enough to set the odds even more accurately than the bookmaker. Sometimes you will be impressed by how bookies set their odds so inaccurately. In rare cases, you would find that the odds for the favourite are set around 2.50 (3/2) - 2.80 (9/5)! You can easily find significant price differences & bookmakers’ mistakes, thanks to this simple but very handy technique. Do not also forget about the use of a proper staking method, because nothing is for sure in sports! You can also find lots of useful articles and betting guides that will help you find and master your own betting technique in our sports betting guide section.