[Joe Dogs]

Theres allot of sharp posters here......I was curious to know how you went about
becoming a profitable gambler,self taught,hanging with other sharps?

How long did it take you to realize that you could beat this thing and show
a long term profit?

[sharpcat]

12 years of gambling but did not really start to see any consistent profits till the last 3 years, so roughly 9 years in the apprenticeship program .

Self taught by reading countless books, studying lines, trends, mathematics, and of course sports for countless hours for years!!!! and most importantly learning how to manage my bankroll, only betting when I have value and staying far away from sucker bets.

[Jive]

Trial & error, tracking everything I possibly could (from my end, like which bets were profitable long-term, which teams blew for me, etc), and reading as much info as I could, but assuming everything I read was crap until I verified it myself.

[Yi]

12 years of gambling but did not really start to see any consistent profits till the last 3 years, so roughly 9 years in the apprenticeship program .

Self taught by reading countless books, studying lines, trends, mathematics, and of course sports for countless hours for years!!!! and most importantly learning how to manage my bankroll, only betting when I have value and staying far away from sucker bets.

What a great post. I have been a losing player for most of life until I started managing my bankroll and paying close attention to the lists of things mentioned in SharpCat's quote.

I would also suggest digging up Ganchrow's threads from this Forum and read them atleast 10x.

[mminkovski]

started 10 yrs ago, making profits after 6th but still do some very very stupid things

[Peeig]

You can scour this and a few other forums and blogs and pick up enough to bet profitably.............I didn't start betting until I felt I understood enough to make +EV bets

[Joe Dogs]

Thanks for feedback guys.....much appreciated

[Joe Dogs]

Sharpcat

Can you name any books that you consider to have gambling merit....Gonna buy 5 copies of Justin 7 book.....Yeah,Im sucking up.

[floridagolfer]

12 years of gambling but did not really start to see any consistent profits till the last 3 years, so roughly 9 years in the apprenticeship program .

Self taught by reading countless books, studying lines, trends, mathematics, and of course sports for countless hours for years!!!! and most importantly learning how to manage my bankroll, only betting when I have value and staying far away from sucker bets.

Everyone ought to cut out that last sentence and put it in a place where you can see it every day. Too many people play games just to have action, and not enough people have sufficient patience to play only when they see something in their favor.

[sharpcat]

Sharpcat

Can you name any books that you consider to have gambling merit....Gonna buy 5 copies of Justin 7 book.....Yeah,Im sucking up.

Weighing the odds in sports betting- by King Yao

Sharp sports betting- Stanford Wong

2 of the best books I have read no doubt!!!

Looking forward to Justin7's book I have not read any sports betting books that cover data mining and building databases and Justin7 is extremely knowledgeable in this field.

Sports betting is not just about being good at picking winners it is about finding the right bets to make. These books will teach you about all of the different strategies of betting that will allow you to have many weapons to use in your arsenal. Nobody is going to give you a winning strategy that is up to you to use your brain and find ways to put your knowledge to use.

It would not hurt to brush up on some algebra and learn about statistics and mathematical probabilities either.

[Joe Dogs]

Thanks Sharpcat.

[Dark Horse]

There is no manual. You have to write your own. At this point you have no idea how extremely knowledgeable the linesmakers and some of the bookmakers are. And that's probably a good thing. Initial enthusiasm is crucial for 'takeoff'. Just respect the fact that you're going to immediately be in the same waters as experts who have lived and breathed this stuff for many years.

If you're serious, approach it as a six year college education; first three years to learn and master the basics, second three years to identify improvements in game and probability theory. Do everything you would do in college. Write papers, study, research, experiment, take breaks.

But ask yourself first if you have demonstrated an understanding of success principles in at least one other field. This is not the field where you want to learn those principles. You already have to know them. There are no teachers here guiding you along. You have to be the student as well as the teacher.

Forums can play an important role, as long as you hang out with the right people. 'If you want to be an artist, hang out with artists; if you want to be a writer, hang out with writers'. Even if only one out of every hundred here knows their business, that is still worth it.

[coversports]

I believe that Sports Betting entails responsible gambling.. And it is really great that most of you here are using reading materials, this is a bright strategy. Does anyone here tried consulting a Sports Analyst?

Have a great day.. More wins to you all..

[Joe Dogs]

Thanks for reply DH

[roasthawg]

Self taught... trial and error. Obsessing on it until I found something that worked.

[Joe Dogs]

Thanks rosthawg.

[yellowman]

Career loser...pretty much ran headfirst into every pitfall out there. I can't cap for shit, poor money management, you name it. One day on my daily lunchtime walk, I thought about some number, event probabilities and how they interact. I came back from lunch, crunched some number and lo and behold found some systems that are mathematically feasible. Since then, I really can't lose long term as I have the numbers on my side. It feels like I am the house now...I might lose some short term, but long term I ALWAYS have the advantage. Hard to even call it gambling now...

[TheLock]

Sharp post DarkHorse

[suicidekings]

Theres allot of sharp posters here......I was curious to know how you went about
becoming a profitable gambler,self taught,hanging with other sharps?

How long did it take you to realize that you could beat this thing and show
a long term profit?

Years of casual wagering that was lacking in the fundamentals (quantitative approach with good money management). Since then, two years of experimenting with a stats-based approach in several sports with steady improvement in results. To accelerate my progress I decided in October to focus just on one sport (NBA), which I feel was really helpful. It's been an experimental year with smaller unit size and testing out different approaches. The goal is to be able to go into the 2010/11 NBA season with a larger bankroll and methods from this year and build on that success.

[Joe Dogs]

Good stuff guys.......Thanks for feedback.

[ozrob]

Most sports bettors have some idea of what works for them, but screw themselves with poor money management. Have a money management plan and stick to it.

My advice is to use a small bankroll for a few seasons as a hobby and see if you can turn that into a profit before you plunge headfirst into anything with a large bankroll. There are too many ways to lose money and only a few to make it.

[ljump12]

Sharpcat

Can you name any books that you consider to have gambling merit....Gonna buy 5 copies of Justin 7 book.....Yeah,Im sucking up.

Reminiscenses of a stock operator

[statnerds]

wow, started gambling 15 years ago or so. i am only good at nfl and never really thought about making it a long term thing, but after doubling my BR every year 3 straight years on nfl (and spending it on dumb shit, like big screens and sectional sofas) i got an idea. if i am good at football, there must be people that also excel at one given sport. that is when i sought out forums and you can find bunches of people that have one sport down and just win consistently. i don't trust anyone that says they can cap and win at every sport. i never thought of it as a year round endeavor, but it is.

most importantly, learn, learn and then learn some more. in order to do this you must get rid of any ego you may have and never be afraid to ask questions. hang around forums long enough and you will figure out who knows their shit and who is just full of shit. and if people are willing to share info on how to improve, take every chance you can to pick their brain. i've pm'ed Justin several times already and the guy has answered every time and been cool about it.

learn the math about +EV and also anything you can do to reduce the house edge.

[Joe Dogs]

statnerds