Everyone’s an expert when you talk sports gambling; just ask Twitter and your other social media channels. The end result of echo chambers collaborating with know-it-alls is that misconceptions get misconstrued as truths or gospel. Here are eight different concepts where misinformation has shrouded the truth from bettors.
·Pros avoid buying points under any circumstance
The idea of laying extra juice for an additional half point makes handicappers predicating business decisions entirely on math cringe. That doesn’t mean all professional bettors feel the same way about laying extra juice; securing a key number in football or hoops when the situation dictates can further increase your edge. That said, novice bettors should avoid the allure of purchasing points at all costs until they’ve learned how to quantify each numbers worth and their exact edge on a specific market offering. Consistently laying -120 when you’re not doing anything to improve your situation creates negative expectation and erodes your bankroll.
·Pros don’t pay for information
Information is the most coveted commodity in the sports betting world. As long as money earned is greater than money spent, that’s a profitable business decision at last check. It’s not uncommon for groups to sell certain information to others in a free market economy allowing both sides to benefit. Readers, handicappers, runners, analysts all cut into the bottom line, if the largest bettors and groups can offset costs, they will. Just because it’s not for purchase on a website and Stan in Utah can’t access by using his mother’s credit card, doesn’t mean it’s not obtainable for some. No man or woman handicaps every sport effectively on their own; it’s just not possible. If paying for winning intel allows you to make money in a market you otherwise wouldn’t, why not enter into such an arrangement?
·Pros only bet games well before they start
The professional sports bettor’s job is never done. Whether it’s watching a game for a live opportunity, halftime bet, or even a nugget that can be applied in the future there’s nothing passive about a savvy bettor’s viewing experience. With the multitude of betting options currently available there’s no reason not to remain patient waiting for the perfect opportunity and number to pop before pouncing. One other tidbit worth adding is professional bettors don’t follow a timeline when it comes to the minutes, hours, or days before an event’s start to make a wager, it’s all about the number, and where that number is going.
·Pros refuse to lay juice or points
We’re not sure where the betting fable originated, but there’s growing sentiment that professional bettors don’t invest in favorites and refuse to lay juice. These notions couldn’t be further from the truth. Professionals bet numbers; whether those numbers are -7 or -300 it’s fine to have a minus sign by a price if the market differs enough from your true number. Finding an edge means maximizing every angle on the betting board; laying the favorite or money line doesn’t scare pros off the scent.
·Pros don’t play public sides
The idea professional bettors never find themselves on the side of the betting public is rather egregious. Bookmakers dread these rare occurrences since liability on those games exceed their normal appetite for risk. Now, this kind of situation happens a small percentage of the time given overwhelming public positions typically mean a novice handicapper has failed to incorporate vital information into their investment decision. Fading the public has its merits on occasion, but doing it blindly in 2017 is a lazy shortcut.
·Pros don’t bet futures because of high theoretical hold
I’m amazed every time I start a discussion about futures uninformed members of the gambling community call them sucker bets. Regardless of the house advantage a bookmaker builds into his market, a sharp bettor properly shopping prices can still find weakness. Does every future’s market lead to positive expectation? Absolutely not! Can you use the rollover method and score greater returns many times? Absolutely! However, there’s nothing wrong with grabbing 40-1 on a potential outcome when you believe the likelihood of it occurring is closer to 15-1. Each potential outcome might not be priced correctly leading to investing opportunity. The analogy that future markets are the sportsbook’s version of a Big 6 Wheel are laughable because one takes advantage of improperly priced offerings, while the other has a mathematical disadvantage impossible to overcome.
·Pros watch every game
Watching games is great; it allows a bettor to learn a ton about various teams in a league no matter the sport. That said, there are plenty of successful long-term bettors that don’t watch games because they don’t see it as efficient time management. All-22, NFL Replay, and DVR’ing games has cut down on the aforementioned time significantly, but there’s only so many hours in the day – and when you’re betting multiple sports through concurrent seasons thinking you can watch every NFL, CFB, NBA, and NHL game is unrealistic. One of the keys to being a profitable bettor long-term is allocating time to watching games where it provides a quantifiable edge rather than a complete time suck.
Resourse: https://bettheboardpodcast.com/2017/03/09/8-misconceptions-about-professional-sports-bettors/