Today’s Best Free Sports Betting Picks and Predictions From Our Experts

[1%] Free Play on Rockies +108

Recommended Bet: Maccabi Tel Aviv FC +125

Ricky's 1* play on Over.

Key Angle: It's important to remember that Ricky never makes a bet on any game based on just one angle. In order to make the grade, all his premium picks must meet several important criteria. He doesn't share all his secrets within his analysis, instead he chooses to reveal only the angle that he feels is the most significant. Here in this game the recent history of these two teams is particularly significant.

- The Over is 6-3 in the Diamondbacks last 9 games.

- The Over is 6-1 in the Diamondbacks last 7 head to head meetings.

- The Over is 3-1 in the Diamondbacks last 4 road games.

Verdict: We should see plenty of Runs in this game.

1* Free Play on Rams/Chargers under 38½ -105

3* on 49ers

This is a FREE PLAY on the UNDER Astros/Yanks.

The first two games of this series have flown OVER the number, but I think the UNDER is worth a "second look" in the finale.

Hayden Wesneski is 3-1 with a 4.23 ERA for the Astros, while Gerrit Cole is 7-6 with a 3.11 ERA for the Yanks.

Houston is attempting to snap a run of three straight series losses.

While the first two games have been high-scoring, everything points to a "duel" here on Thursday in my opinion.

Consider the UNDER in what I believe is a great situational play.

Good luck, NP

1* Free Pick on Bills -149

All plays are made using sophisticated machine learning models.

1* FREE INFO PLAY Astros +139

1* Free Wiseguy Play on 49ers +3½ -110

*All picks are based on situations, trends, statistics and injuries among many other factors*

1* Free Sharp Play on Brewers vs Mets over 7 -115

OPENING GAME 11-0 CFB TOTALS SYSTEM ( ONLY 2 TIME COLLEGE CHAMP )  18-0 WNBA 6* LATE SEASON TOTALS SYSTEM + 6* 2X PERFECT NFLX + MLB and MORE- Massive Card up. Comp play below

The Thursday CFB Comp play is on Southern Illinois -21 at 7 eastern. The Salukis fit a nice 75% opening week Thursday Specific system that plays on Week 1 Thursday road favorites of 14 or more if they won at least 4 games last season and the posted total is more than 50. Southern Illinois has plenty of experience back on both sides of the ball and should be a force in the Missouri Valley Conference and they are ranked 16th overall in the FCS. They travel to West Florida to take on the Argonauts who are making the jump this year to the FCS and while they will have a loud crowd behind them, as the game progresses and the talent gulf appears the game and cover will eventually go to Southern Illinois who has a top level offense. Play on The Salukis. GL Rob V-

Free Play from Doc’s Sports. MLS Soccer Take Houston over San Jose (8:30 p.m. EST, Saturday August 29) We have been doing well with our free soccer picks, so let’s grab another winner this Saturday. San Jose was high in the MLS standings to start the season with nine wins in 10 matches, but they haven’t won since before the World Cup. Since June, they have five losses and a draw, with a goal differential of -14. They hosted another struggling side, Minnesota, on Saturday, and this was the worst loss yet, a 5-1 home loss. They gave up during that match, and that seemed like a spot where they might circle the wagons and give an inspired performance. But instead, it seems like they didn’t care. They have been plummeting in the standings, and we just don’t see them raising their level of play here on the road against Houston, the No. 2 side in the Western Conference. Houston has collected 22 points at home in 10 matches, with seven outright wins and a +6 goal differential. They have won 11 of 15 home meetings against San Jose. The Earthquakes have conceded at least a goal now in 17 straight matches, and the defense and goalkeeping has been dreadful and seems to be getting worse by the match. We think this number will rise as the match gets closer, so jump on this one early!

Pure Lock's FREE NFLX play Thursday 8-27-26

Cleveland +2 1/2

Pure Lock has a TOP NFLX play available on Friday on the Texans/Panthers. Pure Lock is mainly known for his selectivity in handicapping all sports and normally releases one pick per sport per day or passes! QUALITY over Quantity here. Currently on an impressive 33-16 (67%) run over his last 49 OVERALL picks! $1,000 per game players have CASHED $16,700 since July 27, 2026!

Pure Lock has a TOP CFB play available on Saturday on the NC State/Virginia. Pure Lock is mainly known for his selectivity in handicapping all sports and normally releases one pick per sport per day or passes! QUALITY over Quantity here. Currently on an impressive 33-16 (67%) run over his last 49 OVERALL picks! $1,000 per game players have CASHED $16,700 since July 27, 2026!

5-1 83% CFL run!  Pure Lock has a TOP CFL play available on Saturday on the Toronto/Saskatchewan. Pure Lock is mainly known for his selectivity in handicapping all sports and normally releases one pick per sport per day or passes! QUALITY over Quantity here. Currently on an impressive 33-16 (67%) run over his last 49 OVERALL picks! $1,000 per game players have CASHED $16,700 since July 27, 2026!

R&R Totals FREE NFLX Over-Under Thursday 8-27-26

OVER 37 San Francisco/Las Vegas

R&R Totals has a TOP WNBA Over-Under for Thursday! Now an impressive 35-20 (64%) over his last 55 basketball picks! Join us and make money like the $1,000 per game clients who are up $12,800 since March 16, 2026!

R&R Totals has a TOP NFLX Over-Under for Friday! Now an impressive 172-149 (54%) over his last 338 OVERALL picks! Join us and make money like the $1,000 per game clients who are up $6,030 since March 19, 2026!

R&R Totals has a TOP NCAA-F Over-Under for Saturday! Now an impressive 187-157 (54%) over his last 356 NCAA-F picks! Join us and make money like the $1,000 per game clients who are up $14,850 since September 10, 2011!

’m taking the Las Vegas Raiders to cover the spread against the San Francisco 49ers in Thursday’s preseason finale. The biggest factor tilting me towards this pick is simply how the two teams are approaching the game. Kyle Shanahan said he doesn’t expect many, if any, San Francisco starters to play this game as the team tries to stay as healthy as possible before heading to Australia next week for the season opener. The 49ers also have over two-dozen players on injured reserve, which severely limits their depth.

Las Vegas will likely have a massive edge at quarterback once the backups roll in. Aidan O’Connell should play a majority of the game and brings plenty of NFL experience along with 17 career starts. He finished 15-of-24 last week for 166 yards and guided a 96-yard game-winning drive in Week 3’s 22-20 victory over the Houston Texans.

That experience will matter this week in a preseason finale. O’Connell will be fighting for a roster spot while possibly auditioning for other teams. A bunch of Raiders reserves will also be fighting for spots on the roster. Las Vegas has proven depth and outplayed the Texans, winning the yardage battle 400-219 despite trailing 20-3 at halftime.

The 49ers scored 41 points last week against the Chargers, but that offense was inflated by an 83-yard punt-return touchdown. San Francisco is going to roll out a far more reserve-heavy lineup on Thursday. Las Vegas is at home in Allegiant Stadium and has the more experienced backup quarterback situation, so I expect the Raiders to win this game once it starts trending in one direction.

Jim's Play: 106. LV Raiders

Looking at the Week 0 board this year, one number keeps staring me right in the face. TCU laying a touchdown against North Carolina over in Dublin feels like the cleanest play on the early slate.

I have been on this one for a while now. TCU has the more settled roster, especially in the trenches, and that continuity matters more than most people want to admit in Week 0. North Carolina is still sorting through a heavy overhaul in Belichick’s second season, with a new offensive coordinator trying to install a system on the fly and a pile of new bodies who have not taken meaningful snaps together yet. In college football, that gap tends to show up early, especially when both teams have to fly across the ocean for a noon kick.

Neutral-site openers have always been kind to the more physical, more experienced side. Over the last fifteen years, favorites laying between six and eight points in true neutral-site season openers have covered right around 58 percent of the time. At standard juice you only need to hit 52.4 percent to break even, so that edge is real. When you tighten the filter to games that involved long-haul or overseas travel, the favorite’s cover rate climbs closer to 61 percent and the under hits nearly 60 percent of the time. The average total in those spots has finished almost four points under the number. Jet lag is no joke, and neither is limited practice time before a transatlantic flight.

TCU has been the more consistent outfit under Sonny Dykes. His teams usually play with a clear physical identity and they do not mind grinding it out early in the season. North Carolina, meanwhile, has spent the last couple of years looking like a roster still trying to figure out who belongs where. Historical trends for ACC teams opening against Big 12 competition on neutral fields lean toward the side with better line continuity, and TCU checks that box. Favorites in this exact range that also held a clear edge up front have covered better than 60 percent since the mid-2010s. That is the kind of number that keeps the lights on if you stay disciplined.

I will take the under as a secondary piece if the total sits near 48. Early-season scoring is often suppressed when teams are still installing, traveling, and playing a little tight. Both sides prefer a physical brand of football, and that style rarely produces fireworks in the first half of a Week 0 game on foreign soil.

Hawai’i getting points at Stanford and Memphis as a small dog against UNLV are fine secondary looks if you like chasing value on the dog side. I generally leave the massive numbers alone unless the total is screaming. This TCU spot is different. It is the kind of early-season situation where the sharper side of the board usually cashes, and the travel factor only adds another layer of protection.

I have been wrong before and I will be wrong again, but this one sits right with me. Continuity, trenches, travel, and the historical numbers all point the same direction. If the line drifts a half-point either way I am still on it. Good luck if you decide to ride along.

Note: I bet this selection while was able to get -7. But it s still good at this number.

Please unless your a weekend warrior do not buy off the hook.

BUYING OFF THE HOOK 

Buying off the hook is one of those moves that feels smart in the moment and slowly bleeds you over time. I have watched plenty of sharp money and square money both fall into the same trap, and the long-term numbers do not lie. You are paying extra juice to move the line half a point or a full point so a common final margin turns into a push or a win instead of a loss. Classic example is laying the three and a half instead of the three, or taking the plus three and a half instead of the plus three. The hook disappears, your ticket looks safer, and the price quietly climbs from minus one-ten to minus one-twenty or worse.

That extra juice is the real problem. Standard minus one-ten needs you to cash about fifty-two point four percent just to break even. Jump to minus one-twenty and you need roughly fifty-four and a half percent. At minus one-thirty you are staring at fifty-six and a half percent. Those two to four extra points of required win rate add up fast across a season. The probability of a game landing exactly on the number you bought off is almost never high enough to cover the cost over hundreds of plays.

Football is where the conversation gets loudest because the key numbers actually matter. Three and seven have historically been the biggest hooks in both the NFL and college game. League-wide data over the last decade shows finals of three happening in the high teens percentage range and sevens in the low double digits. Buying off those numbers is the only spot where the math gets closer to break-even. Even then you are usually still overpaying. Outside of those true keys the half-points become pure juice leaks. Teams that routinely buy from three and a half to three or from seven and a half to seven have shown thin or negative edges once you factor in the price.

Basketball is a different animal. NBA and college totals and spreads move around half-points constantly, but the distribution of final margins is flatter. Landing exactly on a three or a four happens less often than football’s big keys, so the value of buying the half-point is even thinner. Same story in baseball with the run line. Buying from one and a half to one or two and a half to two costs you juice that the frequency of those exact margins rarely repays. Soccer worldwide, whether Premier League, La Liga, Serie A or the big South American leagues, runs mostly on Asian handicaps where the half-goal and quarter-goal moves are already priced aggressively. Buying further off the number there is usually just giving the book more of your money for protection you do not need.

I have seen the same pattern in hockey, tennis, and the rest of the major venues. The public loves the feeling of being off the hook. The long-term winners almost never make it a habit. They would rather shop for the best available number, take the standard juice, and live with the occasional hook loss. The ones who grind out profits treat buying points like a last resort, not a regular tool. Only when the price is unusually soft on a true key number does the play even enter the conversation, and those spots are rare.

The bottom line is simple. Occasional, selective buys off a real key number at a fair price can be tolerable. Making it standard operating procedure is a slow leak that compounds against you. The juice almost always costs more than the protection is worth. Stay patient, shop the numbers, and let the hooks fall where they fall. That approach has kept more bankrolls healthy than any amount of buying ever will.

Alex Smart

My selection is on the 'under' between the Rams and Chargers at 10 pm et on Thursday.

We won with the 'over' in the Chargers blowout loss at home against the 49ers last week. San Francisco did most of the heavy lifting with that total. In fact, it eclipsed the game total all on its own. All indications are that the Chargers will give their starters a bit of a run in this game, but likely only a drive or so. The Rams are one of the more disinterested preseason teams annually under head coach Sean McVay, so don't count on seeing their starters here - certainly not QB Matthew Stafford. Off last week's high-scoring game at SoFi Stadium, I think casual bettors will look to back the 'over' here with the total sitting in the 30's, but we'll confidently go the other way. Take the under (8*).

Celebrating my 23rd year handicapping professionally, now is the time to hop on board with football season right around the corner! Long-term packages are available at massive discounts over the price of individual picks; sign up today!

1* on 49ers +3½

PSP Data Driven 1* Yankees.

At Professionalsportspicks we see a future where those handicapping sports without advanced analytics and data-driven strategies will be left behind. Our data-driven picks use data integration, search and discovery, and knowledge management along with collaboration with our in-house handicappers. By isolating relevant trends, removing human bias, and targeting only lines with a positive expected value above a certain threshold, our data-driven picks promise to outperform any and all human competitors.

Our models suggest that the value is on the favorite. Gerrit Cole is 4-1 in his last 5 starts for the Yankees. The Astros are 2-4 in their last 6 games.

Florida State finished last season with a disappointing 5-7 overall record and a 2-6 conference record.  They were 5-2 at home and 0-5 on the road.  The Seminoles put up 33 points per game and allowed 22 points per game. New Mexico State finished last season with a 4-8 overall record and a  2-6 conference record. They were 3-3 at home and 1-5 on the road. The Aggies scored 21.6 points per game and allowed 27.6 points per game. New Mexico State has lost each of its last 10 road openers. New Mexico State has failed to cover the spread in each of its last eight games in August. Florida State has lost four of its last five season openers as a favorite. Florida State has failed to cover the spread in each of its last five season openers as a favorite. Florida State needs to show an improvement over last season. They are the better team, but this is a lot of points in an opener for a team that has failed to cover in five straight openers.

Play on New Mexico State. This is a FREE play,

Rams vs. Chargers — Preseason Betting Notes

Preseason is about what we know. Here's what we've got:

Quarterbacks

McVay doesn't play his starters in preseason

QB2 battle: Stetson Bennett vs. Ty Simpson — Bennett got most of the work last week, Simpson got most of it in Week 1. Expect each to see a half

Herbert played one drive last week and I don't expect more than that this week

Trey Lance and DJ Uiagalelei should take the majority of Chargers snaps

Trends

Despite starters sitting, the Rams have strong preseason trends:

8-0 ATS in their last 8 preseason games

14-6 ATS following a preseason win

8-0 ATS as a preseason underdog

2-0 this preseason, including a 34-0 win over the Saints

The Play

I lean Under, but the side is Rams +3.5, with a small sprinkle on the ML at +150

Let's cash some tickets!