This is how I started. I was fortunate enough to have relatives who worked Vegas "back in the day". I spent years learning every game from the casino's point if view. I learned how the casino managers turned a profit. I found out the systems that the casino managers hated, and the systems that they loved. I then met the "experts" in the field of Sports Wagering. I was fortunate enough to talk to some of the greats, like Lefty Rosenthal, Jimmy The Greek, and many others. I questoned them to death. I asked everything I could about how you beat the books. I listened. Then I developed my systems. I played very little, or nothing for 5 years. I learned the games that I was best built for, and what games I wanted nothing to do with. All the while, I was working, and making enough money so when I decided to give gaming a serious shot, I had money that I could afford to lose. This took me about 10 years. When I finally started wagering on a regular basis, I started slowly. When I wagered, it was in Vegas. I spent a lot of time at the Stardust, which was the hottest sports book in town back then. I would spend hours in the book, wagering a couple of bucks on a horse, in hopes of running into people who really knew the games. (Baseball, Football, etc...) I refined my interests and decided to concentrate exclusively on Football. I talked to every sharp, tout, ticket writer, and book manager that I could, both at the Stardust, and at Caesars Palace, where I normally stayed. You could say, I earned my degree in football wagering.

What I would tell you is two things. First, it is going to take time, and by time, I mean years, not months, to develop a system, and refine it so you are comfortable with it and it starts returning profits. You must have a ton of patience. You must realize that sometimes, the best wager is no wager at all. You must break yourself of "having to have action" on a televised game. Next, you have to have enough money to be able to survive comfortably if things go wrong. The more you have to worry about losing money, the worse your judgements are going to be. Everyone wants to win, but you must be able to accept the fact that you are going to make sound, solid wagers and lose. That is why they call it Gambling. It takes a lot of self control. One other thing. If you lose a game, you must forget about it. Do not use the excuse that the ref's gave the game away, the HC made a bonehead call, the QB threw a dumb int, or any of the thousands of excuses guys in here will give you when they lose a wager on a game. The bottom line is simple. You lost the wager because you wagered on the wrong team. You have to accept that, or you will drive yourself nuts. A win is a win and a loss is a loss. If your system is sound, you will do well overall. The "Bad" beats and the "Bad" wins even out. You just never remember the wins.