---
title: 'I Used AI to Build a Profitable NFL Betting Strategy in One Afternoon'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=cRW6wZZou68'
video_id: 'cRW6wZZou68'
date: 2026-08-19
duration_sec: 478
channel: 'OddsJam: Sports Betting, Free Picks & Best Bets'
---

# I Used AI to Build a Profitable NFL Betting Strategy in One Afternoon

> Source: [I Used AI to Build a Profitable NFL Betting Strategy in One Afternoon](https://youtube.com/watch?v=cRW6wZZou68)

## Summary

The video demonstrates how to build a profitable NFL betting strategy using data from sharp sportsbooks (Circa and Pinnacle) and the Optic Odds API, processed through Claude AI. It focuses on derivative markets—first half spreads, first half totals, and team totals—to find value against recreational books.

### Key Points

- **Sharp books as benchmark** [00:28] — The strategy uses closing lines from Circa and Pinnacle as a benchmark for true probability, targeting recreational books like FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.
- **Why derivative markets** [01:07] — Derivative markets (first half spreads, totals, team totals) are less efficiently priced because most bettors focus on mainline markets.
- **One-point divergence rule** [02:01] — A value bet is flagged when a recreational book drifts one point away from the average of the two sharp books.
- **Building the dashboard** [02:57] — The Optic Odds API pulls all 2025 NFL closing lines, and Claude AI builds an interactive dashboard for filtering by market, book, and odds range.
- **Team totals are the winner** [05:49] — Team totals showed the most consistent profitability across all books, with some books yielding nearly 20% ROI.
- **Avoid first half spreads** [05:37] — First half spreads were unprofitable across all books, while first half totals only showed promise with DraftKings.

## Transcript

betting strategy in under 10 minutes using nothing but data and sharp lines with a little help from Optic Odds API. [music] In this video, you're going to see the power of the API and how you can build a number of different strategies
[music] we're going to focus on the NFL in three markets: first half totals, first half spreads, and team totals. We're going to look at all of last year's 2025 closing lines and build a strategy using Circa
and Pinnacle, two sportsbooks that are famously known for very accurate NFL pricing. There's no gut feeling involved in this strategy. We're only using the data to tell us where to look for value. You see, Pinnacle and Circa take action
line is about as close to the true probability of the event that you're going to find anywhere. We're going to look to attack the recreational sportsbooks like FanDuel, DraftKings, or BetMGM. You see, these books are
managing promos, managing their risks, and sometimes their line can really And [music] if there's a wide enough gap, we can exploit it with this strategy. So, the reason that I picked first half spreads, first half totals,
and team totals, these are derivative markets. These are markets, in my value. People aren't paying attention to these markets. Most sharp and recreational bettors are focused on mainline markets, spreads, money lines,
and totals. These markets aren't as popular or efficiently priced. So, over here on Claude, we're going to click on this drop-down. Either select Fable 5 or Opus if you're looking to recreate this same type of betting strategy. Next, I'm
here, which I will link in the description below. While Claude is working, we are specifically looking to attack the recreational books, BetMGM, BetRivers, DraftKings, and we're looking for these three specific markets, taking
a look at all of last season's closing lines from Circa and Pinnacle, using an average between those two sharp sportsbooks, and seeing where we can find in these three markets any value. What we're specifically looking for is
if any recreational books drift one point away from where the sharp books average. Now, the reason that we like to have two sharp sports books here is can get a little off with the pricing. So, having a collective blend of two
provides us a very sound number. And then, one point might not sound like a lot. We're talking about first half spreads, totals, and team totals. And with football, that can be a really big deal. Getting the over under at 20.5
between a win and a loss when we're talking about total points in the first half. Or, getting the Chiefs at minus 2.5 compared to 3.5, that's a really big deal. The Chiefs are up by three, well, one bet wins and one bet loses at the
end of the first half. The books that we're looking to attack, FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, BetMGM, BetRivers, and The Score, or what formerly known as telling Claude to do right now is create an interactive dashboard. I can look by
market, sport, odds range, everything I can filter by and take a look at the The dashboard is created. Claude finished its run, so I'm just going to and then you're going to see this dashboard is completely interactive. So,
we can take a look at by market, whether it's team total, first half spreads, or first half totals. We can look by sports book. Now, one caveat, I was unable to pull the Score {slash} ESPN Bet. So, I made a substitution with Rebet. So,
everything up here at the top, we can look by market, by book. We can see where the most profitable markets are when it comes to team totals, first half spreads, and first half totals by an ROI percentage. From here, we have
everything down here that's broken down in terms of number of bets. So, for first half spreads, we have 500 bets loaded up here. First half team totals, just over 200 bets, and then team totals were sitting in the 300 bet range. Then
we can also see by sports book how many bets placed, the win-loss record, our ROI, our edge, if we were betting by units, how many units we would win or lose. And then finally, we can go through every single bet that was
through every single bet that was flagged for the 2025 NFL season. So, if totals, which looks like a really good market, maybe we want to attack DraftKings. Well, we could see here that we're bringing back almost a 20% ROI in
this specific market. Now, over here you can see for the American odds range, I could also look at something that's minimum max. So, maybe I'm looking for a tight odds range like -125 all the way up to +110 odds. You can see
that these numbers change as I change the odds range. If I wanted to take this up to +150, you can see our profit goes up quite a bit. If I take this up to +200, stays about the same, but everything here is fully interactive,
which is incredible. Now, remember, our minimum divergence is one point off. So, then we can scroll down and see exactly all the plays here where we would win and lose our bets based off of DraftKings for the team totals. 57 bets
in total, which is a smaller sample size, but remember, we're going after this specific odds range between -125 and +200. If I wanted to bring this down you're going to be able to see that we have 54 bets that meet this criteria,
and we're bringing back almost an 18% ROI. So, there's something that just comes to these three markets. Number one, I don't want to bet first half one, I don't want to bet first half spreads. Every single book is red. Now,
first half totals, really only DraftKings is going to be worth my time when it comes to betting these types of plays. Now, we only have 37 samples here, which is a bit small, but there could be some gold in these hills when
it comes to attacking DraftKings. But, without a doubt, team totals, whether it's MGM, any of these books, we want to bet team totals. That is a signal that is screaming to me on the board here. So, any of these books when it comes to
FanDuel, we want to go after. So, best books that, you know, a little easier if we get limited. 53 bets over here, and we can just go book by book and see 66 on Caesars, 55 on BetRivers.
But, this is absolutely fantastic. So, now I can drill down even further into team totals. What odds ranges? Where do we want to focus on? It seems like across the board all the books we can win, but we can kind of dive in a little
bit deeper in terms of points divergence, etc. But, this is how you can use Optic Odds and just focus on the NFL. And something that we learn in this not going to bet them. Don't want to touch them. Team totals, absolutely.
This is a market that we can find a lot of value in. First half totals, well, while the sample size is smaller, we just want to go after DraftKings, maybe it's going to be DraftKings for first half totals and then every sports book
here for team totals. Within a matter of minutes, I was able to pull every fixture from the 2025 NFL season. Take a look at Circa and Pinnacle and then run it through Claude and find out which markets that I actually want to attack.
This is the beautiful thing with Optic Odds and their API is that it has a lot at the different markets, sports, leagues, run this analysis for various different places and areas for sports books and markets, and then find out
really what's worth attacking. So, if you're finding value in this content and smash that subscribe button, click that thumbs up button, and tap that bell notification so you don't miss the next video that I release. Team totals is
just one market that I love to attack the books on when it comes to the NFL. I'm going to walk you through my favorite sports books, odds ranges, markets that I love to attack so that
season cuz I did the legwork for you. Click this video right here and I'll see Click this video right here and I'll see you in the next one.