[frankthetank]

I would say lifetime I am up about $250K. This year is one of my slowest and I am probably up only $6K. I never bet baseball or hockey and sty away from NBA most of the time. NCAA football and baskets are money makers. Especially bowl games for me..

[SRBI]

I would say lifetime I am up about $250K. This year is one of my slowest and I am probably up only $6K. I never bet baseball or hockey and sty away from NBA most of the time. NCAA football and baskets are money makers. Especially bowl games for me..

[xu2x3t]

I would say lifetime I am up about $250K. This year is one of my slowest and I am probably up only $6K. I never bet baseball or hockey and sty away from NBA most of the time. NCAA football and baskets are money makers. Especially bowl games for me..

[Nuggz]

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.

THIS.

Thread over.

[Michaelmakesit]

im up $1.32

[pstaff1989]

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.

thanks man! the logic behind my flat betting is that I only need to hit around 53% winning rate to make a profit. If you start wagering $110 dollars every game and you go 4-0, your up $400 (after the juice). If you all the sudden decide a game is a "sure winner" and you put $330 in it and lose, you end up going 4-1 but only making $70 dollars. Betting a flat amount will ensure that going slightly over .500 will get you profits.

[vassman86]

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.

Well put. Experience is key. And speaking from my own experience, rushing into things will kill your bankroll. Take your time, know your limits, and bet small. Most amateur bettors are in it to make a quick buck. That's their downfall. Think of it this way: if betting on sports were so easy, why isn't everyone rich? Why isn't everyone flying a private jet to their private island? Because it's not. You NEED experience, and if you're going to learn, might as well start small to avoid harming yourself. To profit in this business, you need the experience.