Pro Bettor Inquiry...

[willyback]

I'm far from a sharp bettor, but I always wanted to know the answer to this question from those of you who are.

How much money (on average) would a player have to earn to trigger a sport book's limit collars?

Would a sports book ever allow a player to win over an extended period of time without limit collars if the winnings were within a reasonable/manageable payout range per week, month, and/or year?

[FourLengthsClear]

For most books it really isn't related to how much you win. Your account could be negative but if you consistently bet on what is perceived as the 'right side', you can expect to be limited.

[mmaed]

how can you be in the negative if you are betting on the right side? Not being a smartass btw.

[John Dough]

how can you be in the negative if you are betting on the right side? Not being a smartass btw.

Easy example, you could bet HEADS +110 on a fair coin flip 20 times in a row and go 0-20, but you still had a good bet every time. Same thing can happen with +EV sports bets.

[FourLengthsClear]

how can you be in the negative if you are betting on the right side? Not being a smartass btw.

Variance.

It doesn't have to be as dramatic as John Dough's example above but if your are betting with an average edge of say 3 or 4%, it is entirely possible to be behind after 200 or 300 bets.

I used to hit all sorts of stale lines at Bet Phoenix back in the day but was substantially down for a good 6 or 7 months before it turned around for me.

[Maniac]

Beating line moves as well is another thing that will get you flagged - so if you were to bet Memphis +5 earlier tonight and the line ended up at +4 by game time and you did that sort of thing on a regular basis then they will be more likely to limit you.

Of course beating line moves doesnt necessarily mean that you would win those bets, so you could beat a few line moves, lose a few bets and sometimes still find yourself limited due to that style of betting...even if your account is in the negative.

If you are just a bettor who is winning, but not necessarily beating moves or taking best price every time then in a lot of cases you will probably be ok as they wouldnt consider you to be doing anything too sharp and therefore they would expect your fortunes to change around and that you would probably lose it back over the long term.

[willyback]

Thanks for everybody's input. It's much appreciated.