[SportsInsights]

SBR gave me the green light to mention the book I just published. I thought the “Handicapper Think Tank” would be the best place to mention the book because it focuses on original betting strategies. This is not a get-rich-quick book with all the answers. The goal of the book to help sports bettors understand risk while explaining unique concepts on how to exploit inefficiency in the sports betting marketplace.

The book can be purchased directly from Amazon.

“Sports Investing: Profiting from Point Spreads -- Finding Value in the Sports Marketplace”

Point spreads, betting line movement, public betting percentages, money management, statistical analysis, and other important topics are studied. The implementation of contrarian investing – and theories such as "Betting against the Public" and "Reverse Line Movement" are developed.

Anyone seeking contrarian value in the sports betting marketplace should read this book. The academic viewpoint will interest everyone from the casual sports bettor trying to improve results - to the professional sports gambler looking for additional angles - to the Wall Street trader researching additional markets to trade.

Regards,
Dan

[Jiggy Fly]

Kool!!

[Justin7]

I ordered a copy... will do a review in a week or so.

[Dave Head]

Can you post the Table of Contents?

[SportsInsights]

Justin7 thanks for purchasing the book. I look forward to reading your review.

As for the table of contents, you can view it on Amazon.com. You can also read the Intro chapter.

[IrishTim]

Does it have anything specific or just general ideas?

[sycoogtit]

I just saw the table of contents and it looks very interesting. I'll probably end up getting this too -- thanks for letting us know about it.

[Dark Horse]

If it does cover cutting edge stuff I'll buy it in a heartbeat, but I'll let Justin be the judge. I hope I'm wrong in kind of expecting a dressed up advertisement.

[the ghost]

Dark Horse--I've had the book for several weeks. It's not bad but your right on it being a dressed up advertisement. I didn't find anything earth shacking in it. It probably is a fairly good addition to the library.

[Raleigh77]

Sports Insights blows, spend the money on Don Best and thank me later.

[sycoogtit]

Look at appendices B and C on Amazon. It shows graphs of SI's performance the last 6 years -- not very impressive.

[Dark Horse]

Dark Horse--I've had the book for several weeks. It's not bad but your right on it being a dressed up advertisement. I didn't find anything earth shacking in it. It probably is a fairly good addition to the library.

It figures. 30 bucks for all of 112 pages is a stretch for a book, but could easily be worth it if the information was sharp. Then I read the opening line. It says 'we are sports gamblers', or something of that nature. And for some reason I'm reading 'we are not sports gamblers, but guys selling a product to sports gamblers.' Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the very first page (at Amazon) then continues to explain that they don't handicap games, or anything else. The only thing that is necessary is to watch lines.

I like watching the lines, but not as much as reading between them. It usually comes back to the same question: If your angle is so incredibly good, why would you sell it to the general public? Watching the lines is important, but it's just one aspect in sports betting. It's not the 'cure-all' from New Orleans. And there could only be one reason to make it sound like that, on page 1...

[Joe Dogs]

I think I'm gonna wait for Justin's opinion before I make a purchase.

[MonkeyF0cker]

The problem with the contrarian approach is that you need to rely on the public to hit at less than 47.62% (assuming -110) long term in order to turn a profit. The likelihood of that is very questionable especially when that strategy almost necessitates betting numbers near or at the close.

[Mr. Peepers]

books are good....

[bookie]

The three Amazon reviews are all 5 stars, but they seem to be written by fellow touts. One guy writes:

I have been a fan of SportsInsights for quite some time. SportsInsights collects interesting data from the sports betting world and teaches contrarian approaches to capture value in sports betting. They sometimes offer book reviews on other good sports books like this one, that I recently enjoyed:
Who Will Win the Big Game? 50 Championship Characteristics - A Psychological & Mathematical Method for Identifying Winning Players, Teams & Coaches

I also liked this book that I learned about from SportsInsights:
The Smart Money: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions

I was very excited to hear that SportsInsights was coming out with its own book and I wasn't disappointed. The book offers everything from background on the sports gambling industry, to a review of the basics, to discussions on the "important stuff" like:

- money management
- a look at contrarian methods like "betting against the public" or following "smart money"
- There are also nice charts that show the performance of some of their methods.

Sports Investing, indeed. This kind of approach can move sports gambling out of the "middle ages" world of gambling and into the 21st century's world of financial engineering. Highly recommended.

Nice charts that show how methods performed! I would put the over-under on the number of stars Justin is going to give it (out of 5) at 1.5.

[Justin7]

The three Amazon reviews are all 5 stars, but they seem to be written by fellow touts. One guy writes:



Nice charts that show how methods performed! I would put the over-under on the number of stars Justin is going to give it (out of 5) at 1.5.

I don't give a book a "1" unless it has absolutely nothing of interest or use. The book has to be utter crap to get a 1. That said, I hope we are pleasantly surprised... But I don't pull punches.

Funny thing about Amazon reviews. The more negative they are, the more the readers (or authors) vote down my reviews.

[IrishTim]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the term "sports investing"? It just seems like you're trying too hard when you say it.

[PatrickBateman]

Look forward to the review as well justin

[donjuan]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the term "sports investing"? It just seems like you're trying too hard when you say it.

Agreed.

[jlgarciaiii22]

You'll never find riches on "Sports Investing" in a book...

If you were hitting your bets you would not have time to write a book! I barely have enough time to handicap, place a wager and tally up the wins and loses.

[skrtelfan]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the term "sports investing"? It just seems like you're trying too hard when you say it.

In my experience, people who claim "I'm not a gambler, I'm an investor" in reference to poker or sports betting or whatever else aren't terribly trustworthy. I don't think I've ever encountered a winning gambler who argued that poker/sports betting/etc isn't gambling because they have an edge.

[Justin7]

In my experience, people who claim "I'm not a gambler, I'm an investor" in reference to poker or sports betting or whatever else aren't terribly trustworthy. I don't think I've ever encountered a winning gambler who argued that poker/sports betting/etc isn't gambling because they have an edge.

I'm not a gambler, I'm an investor (in sports betting). I can make a small earn in poker, but I'm better off flipping burgers if the goal is to make money.

[stacks on deck]

it sounds better to non gamblers i guess.. lol

[ForgetWallStreet]

This thing is worthless to anyone with a clue, and while most of it is harmless, there is enough misleading/outright advice in it that I think it would actually do a complete noob more harm than good.

[Snowball]

nobody that is making enough money blasting the books has any time to write one of their own, or would want to.

[Dark Horse]

nobody that is making enough money blasting the books has any time to write one of their own, or would want to.

Or perhaps you have yet to discover the benefits of writing.

Writing and publishing are two different things.

[TomG]

I read the book for about 45 minutes today and am already two-thirds of the way through it. Here's a tip on finding value in the sports betting book marketplace--don't buy this book.

[ForgetWallStreet]

I read the book for about 45 minutes today and am already two-thirds of the way through it. Here's a tip on finding value in the sports betting book marketplace--don't buy this book.

Meh, the section on why you should flat bet in ALL instances may change your mind.

[Sawyer]

I love reading things about betting, you recommend this book Justy?

[JohnnyC]

Even if you are an advantage gambler you're still a fuking gambler. You're not "short" the yanks, you're "fading" them. Get off the fuking pedestal you're a gambler. You're the same as every other degen except you were born with a few more brain cells to overcome a few % of win expectency. A gambler is a gambler is a gambler, dont try to act otherwise and accept youre fuking life.

[talnted]

anyone read the book yet? im interested in purchasing it.

[ForgetWallStreet]

anyone read the book yet? im interested in purchasing it.

How do you expect to make it through the book when you can't even read this thread?

[TomG]

I'm finished with the book. It's pretty terrible. SportsInsights.com claims to have a lot of proprietary information with their betting percentages, but you sure wouldn't know it from reading the book. Very little new information is presented. I was very disappointed. Read the articles on their website (I actually like their website). Don't waste your money on the book.

One final note, like any marketplace, things change over time. I do not believe it is a coincidence that their betting against the public strategy has done just slightly better than break even the last few years. The internet has raised the average gambling IQ significantly and fading the public relies on a unsophisticated public. Whereas it used to be very profitable blindly fading the public, I question it's success moving forward.

[Justin7]

I've finished it. It's ok for beginners with a lot of good general info. I gave it 3 stars (review should be up at amazon shortly). Mine was the only non 5-star rating, so that usually means it will get scorched on votes. They are trying to sell something, and most pros won't bite (at least for what they're selling in the book). I do like Sportsinsights, and I have a few friends that use it. Just not for ID'ing "smart money".