WHEN LADY LUCK TURNS TO ICEHow to survive losing streaks...///Two primary things are ever-present threats to your sports betting career, bad luck is one of those two things, and faulty money management is the other, and one of those two things happens to pros just as often as it does to everybody else.Bad luck.F Sportbetting legend Sonny Reizner told me he once lived through a 3-year losing streak. It was some 34 months between 'peaks' in his bankroll. He said it cost him his house and his kid's college fund.
F Las Vegas celebrity handicapper Tony Diamond once gave out 27 straight NBA losers on his Las Vegas radio show. A University of Nevada mathematics professor figured the odds against going 0-27 to be well into 7 figures.
F In Week 15 of the 1985 NFL season I went 0-13 on Sunday. The odds against doing that are roughly the same as being dealt a cold straight flush in 5-card stud. (More than 60,000 to one.)
F In Las Vegas, my brother, R.J., and I once went from the Stardust Sportbook to Treasure Island's sportbook and found an 8 1/2-point favorite at the Stardust was only a 3-point favorite on Treasure Island's snazzy new tote board! We naturally decided to go for a "middle," We pooled all our money into two giant bets and R.J. hurried back to the Stardust to take the 8.5 points while I got in line to lay the 3 points at Treasure Island.(*See below for an explanation of "middles.") I laid the bet and checked the ticket.....It read, "Kansas -9." Not "-3."To make a long story short, one of those little red lightbulbs on Treasure Island's glitzy new tote board was burned out. What was supposed to be a "9" on the board appeared to be a "3."The ticket writer offered to give my money back, but since my brother had already left to take the 8 1/2 points, I left the bet as-is, figuring to get out of the mess by losing only one vigorish charge.Then, to pour salt into the wound, the game ended with the only pointspread that could really hurt us. The favorite won by precisely 9 points. We pushed one side and lost the other, and, brother, we lost a bundle......There are enough stories about "bad beats" in Las Vegas to fill many volumes of books, that's for sure. You can't hope to ever overcome the disappointment that comes with them, but in order to be a pro you must have a good handle on how you react to them. I could tell more horror stories than you want to hear about bad beats and pure ol' Bad Luck, but the point is, if you bet on sports - or gamble in any way - sooner or later you're gonna meet Mr. Bad Luck, and it's gonna be sooner rather than later.You definitely will have losing streaks, and if you ignore that fact, if you refuse to acknowledge that circumstance, if you think you can somehow avoid losing streaks, you're suffering from denial syndrome - you're kidding yourself - and you'd better re-think your decision to gamble in the first place. Your ability to handle losing streaks is most definitely one of the things that will determine your degree of success as a sports bettor. |
| One Sunday, my brother R.J. and I were watching NFL games on the big screens at Caesar's Palace when all of a sudden a man in the crowd jumped to his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs, "penetrate! .penetrate penetrate penetrate!," and headed for the exit. He went on to yell at the TV screen showing the Patriots-Jets' game, "YOU penetrating LOSERS! YOU COULDN'T BEAT MY penetrating GRANDMOTHER! penetrate YOU!.....penetrate YOU!" The New England Patriots had just scored to cover the spread and seal the game. The guy had obviously bet on the New York Jets. He went on to storm out of the casino, throwing a couple more "penetrate OFFS!" and "GO penetrate YOURSELF'S!" to the security guards who descended to follow him out. |
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this man.
Originally Posted by Sam Odom
