Originally posted on 07/25/2012:

Quote Originally Posted by matt711 View Post
I know
many of the great baseball and wnba cappers, on the forum, no touts. Who is good in the NFL
hey matt, glad u started this thread...

MLB...i'd assume ur "gold standard" list includes LTA, LTP and Dexter...and
WNBA includes Roxxyfish
who ELSE are you satisfied with for MLB and WNBA?

as far as NBA...LTA and Dexter again stand out for me...anyone ELSE you'd mention?
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Some general observations about betting that apply to your own picks...but especially when you're taking them off someone else's shelf.

*In all manner of investing...variance is your enemy (it's nice on the upside...but the negative side is downright dangerous to account survival...particularly when the tendency to "get revenge" aka. "chase" kicks in)...it's why i ignore large spreads between min and max bet sizes, and tend to avoid cappers who recommend them altogether (a tendency to "pound" plays now equals the necessity to "re-deposit" later). The flatter the better for me...i often ignore a good capper's bet-size recommendations altogether (even if they are rather tame)...and play everything flat...same EV over the haul but with MUCH less volatility.

(Along the same lines, seriously investigate betting everything "to win"...it's what the Kelly-Criterion is based on and it is a great reducer of variance over the normal American hybrid betting system of "dogs to risk/faves to win".)

*focus on VALUE rather than Win%...usually means you'll play more under-valued dogs and turn your nose up at the overvalued faves. Over the haul, this is bad for Win%...BUT very good for the bottom line=yield ("total $ netted/total $ risked" or, equivalently "total units netted/total units risked").

If you do this...then, when god smiles on your sharp dog-intensive picks you have a good $ run...but even when your picks go cold...your account is more resistant to the downside cuz your average odds are much better (often positive) going this route. (But to fully take advantage of this "downside shock absorber", you gotta be betting your dogs--as well as your faves--"to win"...see note above.)

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So...paramount in evaluating cappers/yourself is how resistant the account is to downswings when god isn't smiling on the picks. With this mindset you'll see that some guys who've been getting killed Win%-wise are really poised to snap back bigtime. Look for a shitty win% and a surprisingly small-negative on the units.

Take a look at "pacocn" over in MLB and you'll see what I mean...[Overall 143-168 Down 2.71 units] ...avg odds are so positive even a large shortage of wins can't drag the ac down too much. When the win% inevitably moves back toward the long-term average (which often is below 50% but still VERY profitable yield-wise) you're in for a nice flow of gravy. If you stick with your guy, you've got your seat...but if you flit from capper to capper...abandoning a guy cuz he's gone cold...you miss these "golden times". By the time you realize that he's "hot" again and re-jump onboard...you missed it...

It is better to identify good guys...play all the picks as if they were yours (subject to your OWN money-management considerations/unit-size definitions)...and stick with'em thru thick n' thin...than to follow the usual pattern of listening to the "who's hot?" buzz and hopping on late...then get disillusioned and jumping off early...rinse/lather/repeat (with considerably less lather available after each on/off cycle...cuz u're catching only SOME, the tail-end, of the "hotness" you were after...but ALL of the "coldness" till you finally decided to tap out)

You can EASILY lose your shirt toggling on and off among a stable of superb cappers lyk this...cuz they're all hot/cold (aka. subject to positive-variance/negative-variance) waves...and you can NEVER "time" your jumps properly.

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("thinking out loud" session over...don't know if it helped anyone else...but it sure helped to identify/clarify some important issues for me...only thing i didn't mention is that just as dangerous as "Win% fascination"...is falling prey to evaluating cappers/systems on the basis of ABSOLUTE-number-of-units..."wow! A is up 217 units this season... B is only up 23.4"... Knowing the total number of units won is useless, even dangerous knowledge...what you need is "total-units won RELATIVE to the number of units risked" aka. yield...with boring old flat cappers this is a snap, but with varied-units guyz u got a bit o' homework before you know how good or bad they really are)...ok, got carried away again...nuff for now...i promise)
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Anyhow, matt...apart from LTA, LTP, Dex and Roxxyfish...who were the "go to guys" you had short-listed when u started this thread.