Look alive!
The month of October provides the greatest opportunity for well-rounded sports bettors to beat the house.
Of course, there's a catch.
It's difficult to become a well-rounded sports bettor.
Remember the old Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick when he went ballistic on the local sports media after a rare Sunday loss in 2001?
The rant went something like this:
You guys (Baltimore media members) know everything. On Sundays and Mondays, you're experts when it comes to NFL football. On Tuesdays, you know what's wrong with the NBA basketball team in town. Wednesdays? You can solve the hockey problems of the Capitals. And you're so versatile -- and just for good measure -- you provide hitting tips to Cal Ripken, Jr. on how to improve his swing.
Billick grilled the "DMV" media (D.C.-Maryland-Virginia) to the delight of many coaches and players who felt critical comments from press-box observers were inappropriate and out-of-bounds.
The media got the last laugh, as it so often does, when Billick was relieved of his head coaching duties, never to return to an NFL sideline, after a 5-11 season in 2007.
But Billick's diatribe still rings true today.
The outburst is especially instructive for sports bettors who spread themselves too thin in trying to follow multiple sports which operate simultaneously.
By trying to do it all, many sports bettors do nothing well.
Beware the confident sports betting muse who claims to know everything about every sport, especially if he's trying to sell you advice.
After all, the term "con man" originated in the middle of the 19th century as short for "confidence man."
And here's a sports handicapping truism: The more a handicapper knows about the NBA, the less he knows about the NHL, and vice versa.
It's hard to accurately track two professional sports that run concurrently in the winter and spring.
Besides, you either appreciate international hockey stars competing in a fast-action sport nicknamed "cold steel on ice" or you admire oversized African-American athletes with the ability to run, jump, shoot and dribble on a 50-by-94-foot playing surface of hard wood.
Here are three general tips for sports handicappers who attempt to gamble year-round:
1) Study the market.
There are some gamblers who find reading the market easier than reading the teams.
Some gamblers have won money betting Korean baseball or Chinese basketball without the ability to name a single Asian player.
My single favorite piece of market advice involves limp home favorites in the National Football League.
Beware the NFL home team which opens as a 2.5-point fave, never hits 3 and eventually drops to 2 or 1.5 or 1.
Why?
The house is initially willing to take a limit wager on the home team minus 2.5 points, but the money never appears.
Instead, money pours in on the short underdog, a telltale sign the visiting team is the superior squad.
Taking only 2.5 points in a sport where nearly 15% of the games land on "3" qualifies as a hard wager to make.
And hard wagers to make are often times the right wagers to make.
Bookmakers sometimes invite a wager on the short home favorite.
Don't take the bait.
2) Focus on coaching, no matter the sport.
Coaching involves putting players in the best position to succeed.
Search for games that are won on the pregame chalkboard before the players actually take the field.
We are looking for games that have already been played, if you will.
Sunday games that have been won the previous Wednesday or Thursday, due to superior scouting, game-planning and creative play-calling.
And always value players who act as a coach on the field/court.
There's nothing better than a heady quarterback (Tom Brady) or smart point guard (Sue Bird) who demands the best of every teammate while simultaneously improving the performance of each teammate.
3) Smart beats dumb.
Sports bettors wager on organized football games (NFL and NCAAF) and organized basketball games (NBA and NCAAB).
Yet the goal is to identify DISORGANIZED football teams and DISORGANIZED basketball teams.
Finding teams that play without discipline and betting against them is one way to beat the book.
Shrewd handicappers look to bet against high-turnover, heavily-penalized teams, especially when cast in the favorite's role.
After all, the most-accomplished quarterback in NFL history (the aforementioned TB12) claims 90% of all football games are lost, not won.
WEDNESDAY'S BEST BET....Play UNDER 7.5 runs (-105) in the Cardinals-Dodgers National League wild-card game.
It's Adam Wainwright (age 40) versus Max Scherzer (age 37) in what figures to be an old-school pitching duel.
Both managers will keep a close eye on their pitchers in this suicide game so as not to let one bad inning end the season for these two high-level squads.
Every pitcher on both playoff rosters will be available, if the time calls for it.
Just watched the highlights of Game 2 of the 2019 NLCS when these two veteran pitchers combined for 22 strikeouts (11 apiece) in a 3-1 win for Max's Nationals over Adam's Cards.
Wainwright was dealing with his devastating curveball and Scherzer was grunting and strutting with his unparalleled competitive fire.
First pitch is set for 5:10 p.m. PT.
The month of October provides the greatest opportunity for well-rounded sports bettors to beat the house.
Of course, there's a catch.
It's difficult to become a well-rounded sports bettor.
Remember the old Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick when he went ballistic on the local sports media after a rare Sunday loss in 2001?
The rant went something like this:
You guys (Baltimore media members) know everything. On Sundays and Mondays, you're experts when it comes to NFL football. On Tuesdays, you know what's wrong with the NBA basketball team in town. Wednesdays? You can solve the hockey problems of the Capitals. And you're so versatile -- and just for good measure -- you provide hitting tips to Cal Ripken, Jr. on how to improve his swing.
Billick grilled the "DMV" media (D.C.-Maryland-Virginia) to the delight of many coaches and players who felt critical comments from press-box observers were inappropriate and out-of-bounds.
The media got the last laugh, as it so often does, when Billick was relieved of his head coaching duties, never to return to an NFL sideline, after a 5-11 season in 2007.
But Billick's diatribe still rings true today.
The outburst is especially instructive for sports bettors who spread themselves too thin in trying to follow multiple sports which operate simultaneously.
By trying to do it all, many sports bettors do nothing well.
Beware the confident sports betting muse who claims to know everything about every sport, especially if he's trying to sell you advice.
After all, the term "con man" originated in the middle of the 19th century as short for "confidence man."
And here's a sports handicapping truism: The more a handicapper knows about the NBA, the less he knows about the NHL, and vice versa.
It's hard to accurately track two professional sports that run concurrently in the winter and spring.
Besides, you either appreciate international hockey stars competing in a fast-action sport nicknamed "cold steel on ice" or you admire oversized African-American athletes with the ability to run, jump, shoot and dribble on a 50-by-94-foot playing surface of hard wood.
Here are three general tips for sports handicappers who attempt to gamble year-round:
1) Study the market.
There are some gamblers who find reading the market easier than reading the teams.
Some gamblers have won money betting Korean baseball or Chinese basketball without the ability to name a single Asian player.
My single favorite piece of market advice involves limp home favorites in the National Football League.
Beware the NFL home team which opens as a 2.5-point fave, never hits 3 and eventually drops to 2 or 1.5 or 1.
Why?
The house is initially willing to take a limit wager on the home team minus 2.5 points, but the money never appears.
Instead, money pours in on the short underdog, a telltale sign the visiting team is the superior squad.
Taking only 2.5 points in a sport where nearly 15% of the games land on "3" qualifies as a hard wager to make.
And hard wagers to make are often times the right wagers to make.
Bookmakers sometimes invite a wager on the short home favorite.
Don't take the bait.
2) Focus on coaching, no matter the sport.
Coaching involves putting players in the best position to succeed.
Search for games that are won on the pregame chalkboard before the players actually take the field.
We are looking for games that have already been played, if you will.
Sunday games that have been won the previous Wednesday or Thursday, due to superior scouting, game-planning and creative play-calling.
And always value players who act as a coach on the field/court.
There's nothing better than a heady quarterback (Tom Brady) or smart point guard (Sue Bird) who demands the best of every teammate while simultaneously improving the performance of each teammate.
3) Smart beats dumb.
Sports bettors wager on organized football games (NFL and NCAAF) and organized basketball games (NBA and NCAAB).
Yet the goal is to identify DISORGANIZED football teams and DISORGANIZED basketball teams.
Finding teams that play without discipline and betting against them is one way to beat the book.
Shrewd handicappers look to bet against high-turnover, heavily-penalized teams, especially when cast in the favorite's role.
After all, the most-accomplished quarterback in NFL history (the aforementioned TB12) claims 90% of all football games are lost, not won.
WEDNESDAY'S BEST BET....Play UNDER 7.5 runs (-105) in the Cardinals-Dodgers National League wild-card game.
It's Adam Wainwright (age 40) versus Max Scherzer (age 37) in what figures to be an old-school pitching duel.
Both managers will keep a close eye on their pitchers in this suicide game so as not to let one bad inning end the season for these two high-level squads.
Every pitcher on both playoff rosters will be available, if the time calls for it.
Just watched the highlights of Game 2 of the 2019 NLCS when these two veteran pitchers combined for 22 strikeouts (11 apiece) in a 3-1 win for Max's Nationals over Adam's Cards.
Wainwright was dealing with his devastating curveball and Scherzer was grunting and strutting with his unparalleled competitive fire.
First pitch is set for 5:10 p.m. PT.
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