First-half markets are not just half a match; they behave like a different game. The full match gives goals 90-plus minutes to arrive, so slow starters can recover and patterns have time to emerge. The first half compresses everything into 45 minutes. A team that scores most of its goals after the hour mark can have strong full-match numbers and still be a poor first-half prospect. The First Half +EV prompt works from first-half-specific expectations rather than halving the full-match view.
The two lines you will see most are FH Over 0.5 and FH Over 1.5, and the gap between them is bigger than it looks. FH Over 0.5 needs one goal before the break, so the odds are short and the edges are usually small. FH Over 1.5 needs two, which is far less common, so the odds stretch and the value, when it exists, is often more substantial. Check both lines: sometimes the market prices one goal about right and underestimates the chance of two, leaving the bigger edge on the longer line.
The match profile tells you which line is viable. When both teams create early chances, FH Over 1.5 becomes realistic. When one side dominates the first-half expected goals, both goals depend on a single team, which is harder. When the combined first-half xG is low, even FH Over 0.5 carries real risk.
Expect more variance here than in full-match markets. The same underlying probability plays out over fewer minutes, so winning and losing runs both stretch longer than intuition suggests. A losing run on first-half positions does not mean the edge has gone; it means a compressed timeframe is doing what compressed timeframes do. The usual discipline applies: Sanity Score and +EV thresholds first, then the match profile.