[LarryF]

After a year doing this seriously, I am even. I will make money moving forward though!

[bernie74]

After 6 month of arbitrage and bonus abritrage , i make more 3k .

[brettels]

2-3 years of betting and the biggest win i have had is $3,000...had to risk $5,000 for it. all in all i would say im down about $16,000. I think i will be retiring this year if i don't return double what i have lost. i wont be risking that much either, how will i do it? with extremely high multi odds.

[Automat]

i dun handicap matches mineself....

i merely look for soccer handicappers who are verified and have at least 70%hit rate to qualify and subscribe to them
total picks per mth average 30 or more from all of the add together as high probability picks dun come out frequently , most of the time i will get 20+hits or there about...

to calculate profit u take

( picks won x (odds / 2) - picks lost ) x amount bet

[TheDood]

$27k profit in a "good" weekend in vegas using Chili, and Pokers picks...

I'm definitely in the ++, but I was pretty wasted that weekend, and wouldn't risk that much sober... I'm only a $100 per unit better now, and on my way up. I'm above the black into the green. lol

[diaboliquesaint]

If I could stick to college football and hoops and maybe a few nba and nfl bets then I'd have quite a lot of profit but unfortunately, like many others, I can't help betting on other random stuff and can't help but play the late games even if I should stay away. I think degenerate would be the word!

[andywend]

Situationnation,
At least once per week, a "newbie" asks exactly the same question and the responses are always of the same nature (like the responses that appear in this thread). People talk about money management, tailing the right handicapper, etc and none of those things will result in consistent profits.

Here are a few tips that differ greatly from what most people think:

1. NEVER pay for picks regardless of what the "tout" claims his record to be. Its tough enough to make money gambing let alone having to win enough to cover the costs of the tout.

2. If your primary goal is to make money gambling as opposed to a form of entertainment, FORGET about risking serious money on individual games before they begin. The vast majority of sporting events are extremely well handicapped and the lines being offered are as close to accurate as they can possibly be (there are exceptions to this like last years arena football, high school sports, etc). If you happen to have specific knowledge of a particular team in a sport that is not closely followed, you can stumble upon lines that are inaccurate of which you can take advantage. However, this is highly unlikely if you are just getting into betting on sports.

3. Open up an account at a site that offers "in-running" wagering. Most of the major sites offer it including Bookmaker, Pinnacle, Greek, 5 Dimes, etc. Even better would be to open up an account at Matchbook where you can place wagers directly against other people. The reason why in-running wagering offers far better wagering opportunities is because far less detail goes into the betting lines as they have to be made quickly "on the fly". If you know what you're doing, you can beat the oddsmakers consistently.

HOWEVER, its important to note that if you're inexperienced, going this route can lead to much faster losses than traditional game wagering as any handicapping mistakes you make are magnified betting in this manner.

4. Concentrate on betting on events that are NOT widely followed as the chances of line errors are far greater than betting on events like the NFL, NBA and MLB. Some of my biggest scores have been betting on events like American Idol, political elections and the Oscars. Many gamblers talk negatively about betting on things like American Idol and when I hear that, I know they are losing gamblers.

5. Betting on futures such as divisional winners, regular season over under win bets and even bets on pennants, championships can be very profitable as well. However, betting on season long events requires a larger bankroll.

There are no shortcuts when it comes to making money betting on sports and all of the systems floating out there are totally worthless. Forget about giving your money away to handicapping touts who promise all sorts of things but rarely, if ever deliver.

If you are the kind of bettor that needs to use the services of a handicapping service, there is only one out there that I would recommend and that is a site called Right Angle Sports. Their long term record is very good and the best thing about their service is that the line moves a good deal on every pick they recommend. For example, if they select betting the over on a basketball game that is currently sitting at say 139. Within a few minutes after their pick is released, that line will move several points in the direction they pick. If you subscribe to their service and are able to wager on the line they post, you can come right back and bet the other side at several points higher and set yourself up with a nice middle opportunity with very little risk.

I'm going to guess this post probably confused you more than anything else but hopefully you get some use out of it.

Good luck.

[Audi]

Great reply Andywend. Appreciate the perspective.

[cactuslv]

i always lose bigggg

[JOHON8]

So far I'm doing pretty good. The key is to find a situation where you have the edge over the bookmaker.

You will NEVER make anything worth your time betting American sports on a regular basis like most people are doing. There is absolutely no edge in the long run unless you have no life, and even then you don't make enough money to cover the time you spent doing it.

So remember, find your edge, otherwise save your money, you'd make more that way.

[TheDood]

I took that SBR pomo that was $12, and it's now almost to $200.... I'll get my pro-status on SBR forums, without spending 1 cent of my own money. lol

Check my winnings today.
http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/sports-pro...ml#post7435231


I'm not a capper, I just do my research, and make smart (risky) choices, just like any business man does.

EDIT: It's a hobby, not a living...

[Czu81]

Thanks the advices mrmarket and andywend..
I'm fighting for a breakeven......but it's a hobby for me (serious one LOL)

[actionjunkee]

THANK YOU everyone. this helps me be realistic.

i have now realized that WE'RE ALL LOSERS (haha- not in life, but on the bottom line; we're all down units). and learned not to EXPECT to win, but just have fun and hope to stay afloat... wow. or better yet, just gamble against my friends! no juice there.

i just posted a question in the newbie forum, about this kind of stuff, feel free to go read and answer... but i am happy to let go any notion of being a 'pro sports better' someday (in 10 years, after losing a hundred thousand $ first).

so yeah, everybody, please dont buy into the hype. just have fun watching football and knowing that even though your team won, they didnt cover, and you lost a 40 hours' pay over it... woo!

[ok now what]

In my experience, those doing the best are talking the least. . .

[Jive]

I've been doing this for about 15 years. I lost thousands of dollars every year for the first 7 or 8 years, until I finally woke up and realized one simple rule: Wager the way you want, and don't give a crap what anyone else thinks, says, what their mathematical formulas suggest, or the rest. You will have a specific style and specific areas that work for you; you just have to find them.

It is a long process. I always suggest people start off with the tiniest of bets, like $5 units and stick with it for a least a year, then maybe bump up after that slightly. You need to have EXPERIENCE before you start playing for real money. Experience with variance, experience with dealing with screw jobs, experience watching line movement, experience with money management, experience chasing your losses and betting too much when hot so you can see why this never works....

So get in the game, take your time, and LEARN. Take at the absolute minimum 2 years to study and practice. View it as school, where you invest your time and money before going out into the real world to make real money. And then realize that you aren't going to make as much money as you think you will right away! It really is a long process for almost everyone.

And back to a previous point--read as much as you can on forums like this, but for information only. If you begin to give a crap what people think of your picks or your style, you are dead. I almost never post picks in here because I know the people who think they are experts would ridicule the way I do things and I would be too tempted to waste time responding to them. But I have a system that works, and for the last 7+ years it has brought me enough money to where it is well worth the time I put in. I wouldn't be able to quit my day job and I certainly will never be able to do this as a full-time gig, but it CAN be profitable. And if you can have a profitable hobby, you have hit gold.

[pedro803]

Yes, great thread for the Newbie forum everyone, and Jive thanks for the encouragement, I am studying very slowly but haven't placed real bets yet, I need to get up to speed with my database management before I can begin to really study, Best of luck to everyone!

[qwerty11]

Enough to have a nice bonus for christmas

[alw6589]

seems crazy how people that boast good money management can have a 60-65% win ratio and be down money, is that purely from juice and luck? (or lack thereof)

[peacebyinches]

seems crazy how people that boast good money management can have a 60-65% win ratio and be down money, is that purely from juice and luck? (or lack thereof)

If you have that kind of win % on even odds sports events with 9.1% vigorish (a line listed as -110), then you should be swimming in the money even with less than stellar money management. Winning percentage is one of the stupidest conceptions that handicappers/gamblers promote so frequently, I mean, if I have a 95% winning percentage just from betting on the moneylines for games like Ohio State vs. "Middle Alaska State University of Anchorage" but I only am getting 2 dollars from 500 dollar bets each time, does it really mean anything?? Grading your handicapping performance is all about units + or - playas.

Thats what it comes down to really, being a smart bettor that doesn't chase losses or constantly plays ridiculous parlays with huge amounts of their bankroll etc etc... But no matter how disciplined you plan on being, it really takes effort to not fall into all of the typical traps.

But why are you listening to advice from me? I just blew $75 bucks on video poker cause I was frustrated with some recent picks (but mostly I was just bored haha).

To answer the original question though, I really have done a bad job of keeping track of my finances (both gambling wins/losses and just generally in life) but I would guess I'm about even (probably a little bit of profit, but not enough to go out and buy ferraris and mansions... *sigh* if only...)

gl

[alw6589]

any chance you post your picks anywhere?

[SRBI]

How much do you guys make LOSE betting?

Enough to make a living, some good spending money, or nothing at all?

Figures would be nice.

Fixed - as is the case for 99% of members of this forum - keep that in mind before you 'delve' into this business.

[SRBI]

I've been doing this for about 15 years. I lost thousands of dollars every year for the first 7 or 8 years, until I finally woke up and realized one simple rule: Wager the way you want, and don't give a crap what anyone else thinks, says, what their mathematical formulas suggest, or the rest. You will have a specific style and specific areas that work for you; you just have to find them.

It is a long process. I always suggest people start off with the tiniest of bets, like $5 units and stick with it for a least a year, then maybe bump up after that slightly. You need to have EXPERIENCE before you start playing for real money. Experience with variance, experience with dealing with screw jobs, experience watching line movement, experience with money management, experience chasing your losses and betting too much when hot so you can see why this never works....

So get in the game, take your time, and LEARN. Take at the absolute minimum 2 years to study and practice. View it as school, where you invest your time and money before going out into the real world to make real money. And then realize that you aren't going to make as much money as you think you will right away! It really is a long process for almost everyone.

And back to a previous point--read as much as you can on forums like this, but for information only. If you begin to give a crap what people think of your picks or your style, you are dead. I almost never post picks in here because I know the people who think they are experts would ridicule the way I do things and I would be too tempted to waste time responding to them. But I have a system that works, and for the last 7+ years it has brought me enough money to where it is well worth the time I put in. I wouldn't be able to quit my day job and I certainly will never be able to do this as a full-time gig, but it CAN be profitable. And if you can have a profitable hobby, you have hit gold.

And read this - post deserves a nomination - great job with that write-up, Jive.

[Shelton]

nothin i get points for doing this and then convert that to cash

[Resler]

I know this is really a losing endeavor. With juice the odds of winning long term are stacked against you. I am addicted to the idea and feeling that I can outsmart the books. When I make a big play and it happens just like it played out in my mind before the game, the feeling is amazing. Although I am up considerable amount this year, (started with 300 when the NFL season started and it is now 3400) I did it with risky bets laying the whole bankroll on the line or a vast majority of it. This will end in a disaster and I feel like I have already braced myself for that, but so far it's been a hell of a run.

[flocko76]

i need more discipline . I'd probably be even if I stopped playing parlays and putting all my money on 1 game. but its really fun to win a 4 team parlay.

[alw6589]

thanks for the info, definitely gonna stick to points for a while

[pstaff1989]

im at the end of my 3rd month.

month 1: -50 units
month 2: +1 unit
month 3: +50 units

I am up 1 unit after 3 months, but I have learned a lot in that amount of time. My first month I chased like crazy, had no money management, didn't know about fading anyone or anything. Month two i learned about trends, looking for good value with lines, and public betting percentages. Month 3, which is this month, I am killing it. I developed a unit system, I flat bet, I only bet the over/under of games (much more so the under) and things are starting to come together for me. keep in mind I put in about 3-4 hours each day, @ 7 days a week, @ 4 weeks, @ 3 months is about 294 hours, and I am up $10 hahahha. But I am an accounting major and I go to college currently, so I have time to spend on this. just be prepared to read a lot, don't bet too much on any one game, and if you go slow and steady, you might be up a 100, or 150 units at the end of the year!

[actionjunkee]

pstaff1989-- that was awesome. like super encouraging (for fellow 'floaters' like me, ha). those are the kind of hours i put in, and how i started too! i did it for about 6 weeks, with no success, then quit cold-turkey, then just started again a week ago. fun stuff, but SO time consuming, considering its for no profit! (i feel like i've been doing well, but actually down 12 units in one week...)

but thanks. i'll keep my chin up. i may try more flat betting (whats the logic there?), and i'm really liking this find an edge/fade the public stuff.

[brettels]

anyone who claims to make money betting on sports as there career is full of shit

[masontnk]

yeah i think the better question is how much do we lose on here

[pedro803]

How much do you guys make doing this?

Usually, I make once per day, but it varies depending on diet and exercize, I also find that coffee in the morning helps to keep me regular!

[bachngocduong]

cash out big and deposit big here anyway i don't remember

[Nuggz]

Breaking even is winning. Cashing bonuses for profits can keep you in the positive and you still get the entertainment from the action. But don't get discouraged...profit is very possible if you put the work in, but don't underestimate the entertainment value of it all if you love sports like most of us. People lose hundreds 'entertaining' themselves at casinos every day.

[riskyProps]

Yes it is! Breaking even is winning! However the juice makes you lose even if you win only half the games you bet. But i'll take that thank losing more than half!

[katstale]

I will be kind since this is newbie area. No real player is going to answer this in an open forum. For the record, the other question that gets asked on here once a week/month is "who is a professional?" No real professional is going to answer that one either. In a year of reading between the lines--you will get some idea as to answers.