Anyone else bet on sports? I just opened an account last weekend and won $75 on the fights, $70 on the seahawks yesterday. Put $50 on the dodgers today.
Let’s see where you are in a few years. There’s a reason these companies make billions a year.
The few that do succeed in sports betting are those that bet on very few games with big money, and not the opposite.
A buddy of mine bets on bet365 daily. Has about $500 in his account. It’s tough to win consistently.
^ That’s because it’s impossible to win consistently by betting on 3-4 games a day. There are maybe 3-4 good opportunities a month, dare I say a year in sports.
How’d that Dodgers bet work out?
I’ve won decent money a couple of times. Biggest was £300 or so from a £10 bet on the Cardinals to score a safety against the Lions a couple years ago.
I don’t really gamble to make money, it’s just for fun and I don’t put a significant amount of cash in. Didn’t make anything in the World Cup unfortunately. In hindsight, something like 55% of the games ended 2-1, I should have just put money on 2-1 each time and would have finished positive… but that’s a boring way to gamble.
he rarely bets on the games themselves but rather things like longest field goal or total passing yards.
I don’t bet, but I have a friend who has been running a sports book for 20 years (took over from his father) and he makes a nice side income from it every year. Based on my discussions with him, you can’t consistently win betting on major sports because the information is too good (i.e. it is a very efficient market). Where you can make money consistently is betting on small conference games in college football because the odds makers don’t pay that much attention and there is not a lot of Vegas action so the lines don’t really move. For that reason, he doesn’t take bets on smaller conference college football games.
I cleaned up on World Cup. But generally, its a mugs game, only for enjoyment. You will almost certainly lose money.
Lost $50 on the dodgers but still up overall.
For today I put $10 on the Colts, $10 on central florida, and $10 parlay. If colts and central florida win, I win $28.
(From the perspective of NFL betting)
I’ve read you are considered “Pro” at handicapping if you can maintain at or above a 54% hit rate. But it’s not so much about wins/losses as it is managing how much wagered. As what was stated earlier, with the efficiency in information, the point spread is designed to be (and is very effective) at making the outcome a coin flip, with the book earning the vig. You want to minimize exposure to these 50/50 games while maximizing bets where the odds are more favorable. Goes back to what former trader says, the money is made on those few choice opportunities. Being “Pro” is being able to identify those and bet accordingly. This train of thought directly applies also to card-counting and trading…One of the most profound discussions I ever had with my CIO was about this. He didn’t care about our hit ratio as much as he cared about how much exposure we had when DID hit vs how much we had when we missed. There are a million opportunites out there to make money, but you only bet the farm when you KNOW you have the informational advantage.
^My man, take it from me, do not get involved in gambling, it is a lose lose. I kid you not, i decided to quit poker last night after a crushing loss (time will only tell if i have the will power to truly stay away) but here are my reasons not to get involved.
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At a certain point in time you come to the crossroads of whether or not you are doing it for the money or for the adrenoline. In my experience, it starts as the former and quickly shifts to the latter making it a constant battle to get your fix.
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Because it usually turns into a quasi high like sensation, you’ll need to constantly up your stakes. Today you are starting with minor stakes but soon (and its drastic) you are gambling thousands to ten thousands per game. This will surly devalue money in your eyes and i can’t explain how bad this facet is when it comes to everyday life.
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It’s never enough and a win is never equivalent to a loss. You can win x amount of dollars and it will never be enough. Conversly, a loss of a lesser or equal value will impact your mood and your outlook on life.
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Finally, and most importantly, its a waste of time. You devote yourself to strategizing and honing your skills where your efforts could be used elsewhere and more efficiently.
Having said all this, we all have our vices and my reasoning (when i explained my underground poker to my gf, friends ect) is this is better than having a drug or prostitue problem like many of my colleagues.
I can only show you how to fold the covers, ultimately you make your own bed.
I have a Bovada account, though it’s mainly for drunken poker playing. My brother bets sports through them though. They offer a lot of prop bets and even next-play bets, which is pretty awesome.
Exactly. The only NFL game worth betting this year (and we are already in Week 6) was the Cowboys vs Titans in Week 2. Cowboys came off an embarassing loss to the 49ers at home. Titans went into KC and crushed them. That Week 2 game was in Tennessee. I knew the Titans would be the favorite and I jumped all over that spread. It was Tennesse favorite by 3.5. To me, Dallas is an 8-8 team and Titans a 4 win team so it was a no brainer that the line was not right. You usually have opportunities like that at the beginning of the year before spreads get too efficient.
my hacksaw undergrad’s basketball team is loosely covered by bookmakers but they;re well known enough that their games are still listed, so the spreads are usually pretty innacurate. I hit 16 of 17 bets in a row in 2012 (not always spread, sometimes just w/l).
other than that ive been way under 50% w/l for bets.
I did get timothy bradley vs pacqiuo. the betting gods were shinning on me for that one