Sharp
A sharp is a professional sports bettor who consistently wins over the long term. Sharps are the "smart money" in sports betting—the institutional players whose action moves lines and whose methods define what it means to be skilled at this game.
Sharp vs Square
The opposite of a sharp is a square—a recreational bettor who bets with their gut, follows their favorite team, and loses to the vig over time. In fintech terms:
| Sharp | Square | |
|---|---|---|
| Finance Equivalent | Institutional trader | Retail investor |
| Decision Making | Models, data, edge | Gut feel, fandom |
| Long-term Result | Profitable | Loses to vig |
| Market Impact | Moves lines | Absorbed by market |
How Sharps Operate
Sharps don't bet for entertainment. They treat sports betting as a quantitative discipline:
Edge identification. Sharps have proprietary models that generate probability estimates. When their number differs significantly from the market, they bet.
Line shopping. Sharps maintain accounts at dozens of sportsbooks to capture the best available price. A half-point difference matters over thousands of bets.
Bankroll management. Sharps use systematic sizing methods like the Kelly Criterion to maximize long-term growth while managing risk.
Volume. A sharp might place hundreds of bets per week across multiple sports. Their edge is small on any individual bet but compounds over time.
How Sportsbooks Treat Sharps
Here's the uncomfortable truth: sportsbooks often limit or ban winning players. If you're consistently beating the closing line, your account will be restricted.
This is why sharps use beards—proxy bettors with clean accounts who place bets on their behalf. It's the sports betting equivalent of using multiple brokers to avoid pattern detection.
Some sharps become "originators"—the alpha sources whose opinions set the market. Everyone else is just following their lead.
Measuring "Sharpness"
The gold standard metric for sharp betting is CLV (Closing Line Value). If you consistently bet lines that move in your favor by game time, you're demonstrating sharp skill—even if individual bets lose.
A bettor who takes -3 when the line closes at -5 has captured +2 points of CLV. Over thousands of bets, positive CLV correlates directly to profitability.
Related Terms
- Square — Recreational bettor (opposite of sharp)
- CLV — Closing Line Value, the key metric for measuring sharp skill
- Steam — Rapid line movement caused by sharp action
- Reverse Line Movement — When sharp money contradicts public betting
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