What is Push?
A bet that lands exactly on the line — neither winner nor loser. Stakes are refunded.
Pushes happen most on whole-number spreads and totals: a -3 spread when the game lands on exactly 3 is a push. Sportsbooks now use half-points (−2.5, −3.5) on most popular markets to eliminate pushes and force a winner — and to collect more vig in the process.
Related terms
A handicap a sportsbook adds to the underdog (or subtracts from the favorite) to make a moneyline mismatch into a roughly 50/50 market.
A bet on whether the combined score of both teams will go over or under a sportsbook-set number.
The most common margins of victory in a sport — crossing them with a spread or hook adds disproportionate value.
See push applied to a real slate
NotaSportsGuru runs the math behind every published leg — Parlay of the Day, player props, match lines — with the model’s expected value and edge on every line.