What are some traits of a successful Sports Bettor?

darkhat · 03-02-12, 09:19 PM

money.

mrmarket · 03-02-12, 09:30 PM

I reckon that math knowing got something to do with it.

Grits n' Gravy · 03-02-12, 09:37 PM

-being logical
-have the ability to step back and relax
-not making same mistakes over and over again
-shaking off losing plays

mighty maron · 03-02-12, 10:07 PM

Bankroll management
Even emotional level
Can resist the chase.
Lays off the home team or a sentimental favorite

JohnGalt2341 · 03-02-12, 10:47 PM

Originally posted by Grits n' Gravy

-being logical

I like that you said this... one of the guys I mentioned above used to always tell me "you're too logical". And he meant it as an insult.

JohnGalt2341 · 03-02-12, 10:49 PM

Originally posted by mighty maron

Lays off the home team or a sentimental favorite

I do believe this is huge... both of the guys that I mentioned above had a big problem with this and lost most of their money because of it.

RudyRuetigger · 03-02-12, 10:51 PM

how about i just tell you what i am and take the opposite of each

seaborneq · 03-02-12, 10:55 PM

Discipline, discipline, discipline. It keeps you from chasing bad losses, it keeps you from gambling more than you can afford, and it makes the losses a learning experience.

seaborneq · 03-02-12, 10:56 PM

Good short term memory and great long term memory.

Kindred · 03-02-12, 11:11 PM

learn about gambling in general and it will improve your sports betting. Get used to variance and be non emotional, let logic and logic alone dictate your decisions not emotions about teams or emotions when on losing or winning streaks wanting to bet less or more..logic not emotion. Chasing during losing streaks or getting over confident when winning and upping your bet size too much will destroy your bankroll much faster than bad beats ever could

Also ego seems to be the downfall of many gamblers. Learn from mistakes keep an open mind..you don't know everything no matter how good you think you are there's always room to improve

probettor1 · 03-03-12, 03:19 AM

Discipline, hard work, being logical, money, money management, good memory, be able to step back? that is what you need to pass the board to be a medical doctor. And even having all this 50% will fail the first attempt. In sports betting only 1 % will pass. By this number you might see that being a sports bettor is much harder that becoming a doctor. Discipline and hard work are not enough. Being a professional bettor is as hard as been a world class athlete. You need the genes, you need some luck, excelent coaching, experience, you need hard work and overall all you need to be better that the rest. If you are among the best 50% you might pass a medical board in the first attempt, among the 75% you will pass the medical board in the 1st or 2nd attempt. among 5% of the best not good enough to be a professional bettor, 3% not enough. You need to be in the 1%. The only one I know is billy walter. He has dozens of genius working for him. He could not win by himself. In other words you need to be better that the odds maker. They work in teams, they studied probability and stadistics in the best Universities of the country, they were the best students, they have a lot of experience with all the database available to do so. Your two friends are the 99% of all of us. Even the oddsmakers try to bet and end up losing. Tony stoffo(the former Race and Sportsbook Manager of the Desert Inn Casino in Las Vegas) for example is selling picks in vegas insider and is down in NBA. Record in NBA: 787-805-25 ( 49.4% , -10464) and in MLB is down -7969. Ray monohan has had a bad year as well and used to work doing betting lines too.

probettor1 · 03-03-12, 03:23 AM

If any one here think he is a winner after having a good couple of months please go to my post "The good streak syndrome". There are too many of those here.

baskets · 03-03-12, 03:54 AM

lol, probullshitter at it again.

Optional · 03-03-12, 04:29 AM

Originally posted by mrmarket

I reckon that math knowing got something to do with it.

Agree. And also happy English is not important.

Ernie Mccracken · 03-03-12, 04:56 AM

Imagine playing 1 on 1 against an NBA player with one hand tied behind your back. Or maybe hitting against an MLB pitcher, but using only 1 eye. Could you make an open field tackle against an NFL tailback while hopping on one leg? 99.9% of people on this earth couldn't do any of those just like 99.9% of people cannot beat the books.

Sports betting is similar in that you're not only challenging professionals who earn their living by being the best cappers, but also agreeing to spot them a huge advantage. So how would one accomplish any of the above? Top 5:

1) Talent. Be a math and statistics savant. This takes raw brainpower that most will never have (like running a 4.4 40 that most of us will also never do), but is the domain of the pro capper. Only hamburgers like us bet based on inherently flawed human emotion.

2) Practice. 10,000 hours minimum. Focused, purpose driven practice.

3) Creativity. Being good at math and practicing a lot is useless if you can't find new ways to develop an edge over the books. Books will shut down edges as fast as they discover them, so beating them requires constant adaptation.

4) Tolerance for risk and inevitable variance. The best poker pros go through swings that would drive most of us to blow our brains out. How cool are you going to be after months of losing +EV bets?

5) Money Management. We all know that one.

seaborneq · 03-03-12, 08:09 AM

Originally posted by Ernie Mccracken

Imagine playing 1 on 1 against an NBA player with one hand tied behind your back. Or maybe hitting against an MLB pitcher, but using only 1 eye. Could you make an open field tackle against an NFL tailback while hopping on one leg? 99.9% of people on this earth couldn't do any of those just like 99.9% of people cannot beat the books.

Sports betting is similar in that you're not only challenging professionals who earn their living by being the best cappers, but also agreeing to spot them a huge advantage. So how would one accomplish any of the above? Top 5:

1) Talent. Be a math and statistics savant. This takes raw brainpower that most will never have (like running a 4.4 40 that most of us will also never do), but is the domain of the pro capper. Only hamburgers like us bet based on inherently flawed human emotion.

2) Practice. 10,000 hours minimum. Focused, purpose driven practice.

3) Creativity. Being good at math and practicing a lot is useless if you can't find new ways to develop an edge over the books. Books will shut down edges as fast as they discover them, so beating them requires constant adaptation.

4) Tolerance for risk and inevitable variance. The best poker pros go through swings that would drive most of us to blow our brains out. How cool are you going to be after months of losing +EV bets?

5) Money Management. We all know that one.

Pretty awesome stuff.

smoke a bowl · 03-03-12, 08:11 AM

Being willing to work twice the hours as the avg working stiff.

probettor1 · 03-03-12, 10:32 AM

Baskets I bet your bank account is as empy as you SRB point account. the worst enemy of a bettor is not bad money management. Being reckless has made more millionaires that you can imagine. The worst thing is being blind. I'm not saying that winning is impossible. If you are smart, and as smart as I'm (that is a lot of smartness) you will be able to see that we are as stupid as Billy Walter and we might need some extra help to get to our goal. Otherwise you will be donating you money to the bookies the rest of your life. Baskets I dont even know you but I bet you wont be a pro and I'm 99% sure I'm right.

baskets · 03-03-12, 10:43 AM

Originally posted by probettor1

Baskets I bet your bank account is as empy as you SRB point account. the worst enemy of a bettor is not bad money management. Being reckless has made more millionaires that you can imagine. The worst thing is being blind. I'm not saying that winning is impossible. If you are smart, and as smart as I'm (that is a lot of smartness) you will be able to see that we are as stupid as Billy Walter and we might need some extra help to get to our goal. Otherwise you will be donating you money to the bookies the rest of your life. Baskets I dont even know you but I bet you wont be a pro and I'm 99% sure I'm right.

lol, I have no delusions of being a professional "gambler". not sure whether you're projecting here or what your point is with all your comments in your threads. 99% of gamblers losers and you think this is a ground-breaking development. your comments actually demonstrate a lack of "smartness" rather than "a lot of smartness"

DOMINATER · 03-03-12, 12:45 PM

large bankroll if your bet is 20x ,your bankroll has to be at least two thousand dollars. Must know the ins and outs of game.Must posess a keen memory. learning from past games etc, can not be lazy , research every game you are going to bet.Remember the wager you make there is still a 50 50 chance you can lose, no such thing as a lock, or a game is 100 percent fixed.You can chase after a bus , or a woman. but never chase after a losing day. When you have a bad weekend, don't ever double up on MONDAY NIGHT. In football that is. If I am down 600.dollars and Monday rolls around even if I can afford to double up I won't I bet max if I love the game 60x just because I refuse to develop a bad habit.If I lose for 2 weeks in a row, I will take a break. gambling and the bookies aren't going anywhere. I guess that is having control.

billysink · 03-03-12, 02:54 PM

Fascination with numbers and knowledge enough to make them work

Trust that work implicitly. Win or lose.

Be smart enough to leave one on the board

Patience. patience and more patience. Who says there is a play every day?

probettor1 · 03-03-12, 05:01 PM

Being a pro and make a living out of betting for life is one thing. learn as much as you can and try to make enough money to invest in a more solid bussiness is another thing. The latter can be done by anyone. Just luck and all that has been mentioned here.

zoo youk · 03-03-12, 05:03 PM

know how to ride out the losing streaks (cause they are without a doubt going to happen) without going on tilt and pushing your unit size up and trying to chase it back.

probettor1 · 03-03-12, 05:11 PM

The chances of being a professional bettor are 1%, the chances of having a bussiness that make you millionare are even lower. What is the percent of people who has nothing to start a bussiness and get to be millionaire? Only 1% of the americans are millionaires and most of them come from millionaire families. So self made millionaires account for probably 0.2% of the population. The chances of having a good streak and make a good amount of money are way higher than 1% but most bettors keep betting and lose everything over and over.

seaborneq · 03-03-12, 05:55 PM

This is the smartest thread I have read in a very long time.

birdmanweezy · 03-03-12, 06:15 PM

number one trait is dont bet

secretstash · 03-04-12, 07:10 PM

number one trait is never stiff anyone.. ur word is ALL u ever have

-stash

JohnGalt2341 · 03-04-12, 09:37 PM

Originally posted by Ernie Mccracken

Imagine playing 1 on 1 against an NBA player with one hand tied behind your back. Or maybe hitting against an MLB pitcher, but using only 1 eye. Could you make an open field tackle against an NFL tailback while hopping on one leg? 99.9% of people on this earth couldn't do any of those just like 99.9% of people cannot beat the books.

Sports betting is similar in that you're not only challenging professionals who earn their living by being the best cappers, but also agreeing to spot them a huge advantage. So how would one accomplish any of the above? Top 5:

1) Talent. Be a math and statistics savant. This takes raw brainpower that most will never have (like running a 4.4 40 that most of us will also never do), but is the domain of the pro capper. Only hamburgers like us bet based on inherently flawed human emotion.

2) Practice. 10,000 hours minimum. Focused, purpose driven practice.

3) Creativity. Being good at math and practicing a lot is useless if you can't find new ways to develop an edge over the books. Books will shut down edges as fast as they discover them, so beating them requires constant adaptation.

4) Tolerance for risk and inevitable variance. The best poker pros go through swings that would drive most of us to blow our brains out. How cool are you going to be after months of losing +EV bets?

5) Money Management. We all know that one.

Agreed. I think creativity is highly underrated and completely overlooked by most people. Even in games like Chess... the best of the best are usually the ones that do creative things that nobody has ever seen before. Examples... Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov.

The 10,000 hour rule is also a good one. I have a long way to go but I think my years as a BlackJack Dealer helped me understand streaks and that you don't need a gigantic edge to make a lot of money.

Killer_Demo · 03-04-12, 09:50 PM

Knowing when to stop when your down or up

Ghenghis Kahn · 03-05-12, 02:02 AM

anyone can deal with winning, it's losing that most have hard time with...

i've read somewhere, psychologically, a gambler is way more affected by $100 loss than a $100 winning. that's why people go on tilt and lose all their money. once you figure out how to handle losses, then you can be a winning gambler...

probettor1 · 03-10-12, 10:10 AM

Originally posted by Ghenghis Kahn

anyone can deal with winning, it's losing that most have hard time with...

i've read somewhere, psychologically, a gambler is way more affected by $100 loss than a $100 winning. that's why people go on tilt and lose all their money. once you figure out how to handle losses, then you can be a winning gambler...

"a gambler is way more affected by $100 loss than a $100 winning", I didnt know you have to read to know that. But it is interesting, most people think that is winning what make people hang themself.

TheCentaur · 03-10-12, 10:28 AM

Discipline
Bankroll

Just about every other trait mentioned on here is a derivative of these two

Smoke · 03-10-12, 10:32 AM

Billy Walters... Enough said

probettor1 · 03-10-12, 10:34 AM

[QUOTE=TheCentaur;14074727]Discipline
Bankroll

Just about every other trait mentioned on here is a derivative of these two[/QUOT

how could you know? have you ever been there?