Every year I am asked for advice regarding filling out your brackets and pools for the NCAAB tournament. Not only is March madness great and presents us with betting opportunities but it also means baseball is about to begin.
After missing out on the tournament last year it will be nice to have it back under slightly different than normal conditions.
Obviously filling out a bracket is a different beast than handicapping individual games of the tournament with point spreads. Next week’s grapevine I will help you with your bracket this week we will deal with the spreads.
It baffles me when ignorant individuals comment about being degenerate betting such events as pre-season NFL or MLB spring training. It is a true indication they have no concept of sports betting. Value is value regardless if there is weakness in a line for the Super Bowl or Detroit vs. Kansas City in a March baseball game. The money is exactly the same.
You are never as hot as you think you are. Your luck is never as bad as you think it is. You are never due to win. Now that we have this out of the way we can get to the crux of the issue. Gamblers think when they get hot they are invulnerable. They think the laws of probability do not apply to them.
We are now nicely into the 2021 betting year. This is a good time to deal with the expectations of this business. Next week we are going to deal with the laws of probability as the topic for the grapevine. For those of you that are new this will introduce you to the nuts and bolts of this business. For long term followers next week’s grapevine will act as a refresher. This week we will continue the topic of the mental aspect of this business.
I am not trying to put a damper on your enthusiasm however the Super Bowl is 1 game the last game of this football year. However regardless of the fact, even if I do bet this game I still just risk 1 unit.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable. One of the hardest aspects of betting sports is dealing with variance. I know most of you have heard this before BUT to emphasize no matter how sharp how good you are at this craft there will inevitably be bad stretches over an extended sample size reminding you to stay humble and adhere to proper money management.
Being a full time sports bettor as long as I have this business has taught me many valuable lessons that I use in life. However the most important characteristic would have to be PATIENCE. This was my major weakness heading into this business and I either had to adapt implement patience as part of my discipline or fail miserably.
Sports betting for a living is often depicted as a roller coaster thrill ride based on big decisions and life changing wins. Nothing could be further from the truth.
So you want to be a serious sports bettor well?
It will teach you money management.
It will force you to control your emotions.
Your patience will be tested over and over again.
You will become an expert on probabilities.
Intuitive reading comprehension (reading between the lines) and research skills will be honed
Many times it will have you question the meaning of life.
So I guess we can all agree sports betting is a very good thing!
The NHL regular season gets underway this week. As is the case with the NBA it will be a unique season given the start date, number of regular season games to be played the division realignment etc. For those of you that have been following me for a while this Grapevine will act as reminder for those of you new please take note. I am not interested in risking money on a 4 on 4 overtime which is basically shinny or even worse a shootout which is nothing more than a glorified skills competition.