[JayLA]

I'm feeling inspired this morning, work with me here.
I know this thread is ripe for jokes and what not, but see if you can take me serious for a second.

I'm money orientated. I have the respect of major "self-made business men" down here in South Florida and come from a very wealthy, self-made family. I know profit when I see it

I've always loved sports and come from a sporty family. And I have made wagers here and there, even won some of them.
but with a recent raise at work and DIRE needs to make more money...I think I could benefit from learning more about sports betting, not trying to be a master handicapper.
I only know the NFL really well and I've learned the hard way that this league is for chumps. The lines are way too sharp to think you can beat them constantly. You can get lucky, and maybe even be a solid NFL winner but nothing to warrant the time and energy spent on it.

I'm currently cleaning up my email, canceling subscriptions to crap I don't need. Cleaning up my office space, keeping only IMPORTANT records.
I'm waning off all my other hobbies. I'm not going to start making excel sheets and calling them "systems." Especially since I'm clueless as to how computer program systems work, but also because I know I have to learn about the leagues before trying to make a system.

I'm basically directing all my extra time and effort to REALISTICALLY becoming a better sports bettor.

That's the difference here. I'm not trying to waste time RIGHT NOW with eye bleeding stat charts and comparing useless notes.

aside from data mining, learning as much as possible about leagues, teams, coaches, players...rules...weather...all that.

what can I do to become a better sports bettor?

I've ordered highly recommended books. I'm done dreaming about making it big in Vegas.
It's time to start doing the small things, like what?
I know this is all over the place and I'm not sure what I'm asking but I am confident in my ability to make profit.

What areas of study can I delve into to become better at this?

Statistics? Economics?

PS:
I'm having a casual meeting with a brilliant kid who's killing it in a top notch Statistics/Computer honors program this week. We're going to brainstorm how we can link his mathematician mind and my (limited for now) sports knowledge/money management skills/general business sense into a winning partnership.

Good luck everyone, make yours.

[Sam Odom]

Learn a smart and conservative Money Management approach to betting... Without it you can go 60% and still bust out

[milwaukee mike]

you can spend 20,000 hours handicapping over your lifetime and you're still going to go about 50% and lose the juice.

the way to be a winning gambler over the long run is to be on the right side of the juice. that means either joining the dark side and being a bookie, or taking big bonuses.

if you get a 20% bonus with a 3x rollover, you have essentially turned the juice in your favor. if you want to always have the juice on your side, only bet when you are meeting a rollover.

[JayLA]

you can spend 20,000 hours handicapping over your lifetime and you're still going to go about 50% and lose the juice.

the way to be a winning gambler over the long run is to be on the right side of the juice. that means either joining the dark side and being a bookie, or taking big bonuses.

if you get a 20% bonus with a 3x rollover, you have essentially turned the juice in your favor. if you want to always have the juice on your side, only bet when you are meeting a rollover.

Thank you for the response. I read similar ideas in Wong's SSB.
What do you mean by "meeting a rollover."

I appreciate the replies.