With Euro 2008 now in full swing you may be tempted to consider having a bet on the winners. The pre-tournament hype suggested that the likely winners would come from the usual trio of France, Italy or Germany and the odds that you would get for these teams reflected this. However, the first week of the tournament has highlighted that maybe these three are not quite good enough this time around.

France and Italy are on the verge of elimination and the tournament outsiders Spain, Portugal and Holland now look like the ones to put your money on. If you have never place a bet on soccer games before or you are unfamiliar with the sport then perhaps you should consider it. If you take some time to understand the odds and perhaps analyze the current form of the teams then it is very possible that you can win some money.

First let's deal with the basics. Soccer is very simple to bet on as you either back the home team or the away team to win or you can predict a draw. Therefore you have a one in three chance of predicting the correct result.

The bookmaker's odds will reflect the likelihood of each result on the basis of a team's current form. Their past results against the opposition, the form of the players and any player absentees. Also any other mitigating factor such as the weather conditions.

What you should not do is bet on a whim. So many people lose money because they just had a feeling for a certain team, or perhaps it's the team that they support. This is OK if you just want a bit of fun, but if you plan to make money then you should decide your bets on the basis of current form and reputation of the teams.

So if you are new to soccer betting what should you look out for? Firstly, you should use the Internet to acquire research on the teams involved. Look out for who the experts think are the likely winners. Most soccer websites post match previews where they list a predicted outcome. Aim to look at 4 or 5 of these previews to gage who the favorite is.

Second, you need to decide on what type of bet you wish to place. I would advise that you avoid accumulator bets. These are attractive because the payout is good. But this requires that you predict maybe 5 or 6 results correctly. If you just get one wrong you do not win any money. It is a safer risk if you just bet on individual matches.

In the case of Euro 2008 there are many different types of betting available. As mentioned you can bet on the straight result between two teams in a match. These are the safer bets but you might want to also consider such bets as the score at half-time, who the first goal scorer will be and what the exact final score will be.

Throughout the tournament, many bookmakers will offer betting specials. These may include who the top goal scorer will be at the end of the tournament, who will win the groups, who will win the tournament overall, who will be the first player to get sent off, will a game go to penalties and so on.

There are plenty of betting possibilities for those who are interesting in the longer odds. So if you have not tried soccer betting before then give it a try. There are many websites that offer live in-game betting and the thrill of winning makes it worth a flutter.