Glossary

Player prop terms, explained plainly.

A starting glossary for the language used across Prop Scanner's research workflow.

Core terms

The basic terms used throughout the scanner.

Player prop: A bet on an individual player's statistical performance in a game (points, rebounds, strikeouts, etc.) rather than the outcome of the game itself. The sportsbook sets a numeric line for a stat category, and you're wagering on whether the player goes over or under it.
Prop scanning: The workflow of reviewing a sportsbook's full slate of player props at once — searching, filtering, and comparing lines by market, confidence, and recent form — instead of researching bets one at a time. A prop scanner is a tool built specifically for this workflow.
Hit rate: The percentage of recent games in which a player's actual stat total cleared a given line. A last-5-games hit rate of 80% on 25.5 points means the player went over 25.5 in 4 of their last 5 games.
Alternate line: A version of a standard prop set at a different threshold than the main line, priced with correspondingly different odds. Alt lines let you trade a higher probability of hitting for a lower payout, or vice versa.
Line movement: The change in a prop's posted number or odds between when it's first published and game time, driven by new information (injury news, lineup changes) or betting volume. Consistent movement in one direction is often read as a signal, though it isn't a guarantee.
Market: The specific stat category a prop is built on — points, rebounds, assists, strikeouts, hits, and so on.

Terms that matter when reviewing evidence instead of following a pick blindly.

Recent form: How a player has performed over a short recent window (typically last 3, 5, or 10 games) compared to their season-long average. Recent form often diverges from a book's posted line, which tends to sit closer to a full-season baseline.
Matchup context: Game-situation factors beyond a player's own recent stats that could affect their output — opponent defensive strength, pace of play, teammate injuries, home/away, back-to-back scheduling.
Sample size: The number of games a stat or hit rate is calculated from. A hit rate built on 3 games carries far more noise than one built on 20 — smaller samples should be weighted with more caution.
Confidence score: A single 0-100 number that combines recent form, matchup context, and market signals into one research shortcut. It's an analytical estimate, not a guarantee of outcome.
Model edge: The gap between a projection model's expected value for a stat and the line the book has posted. A larger edge means the model and the market disagree more — it points to where to look closer, not a predicted result.
Performance tracking: Logging the props you've researched, along with the outcome, so you can evaluate your own process over time instead of relying on memory or one-off results.