betting fish

[gabe]

i really know nothing about sports betting, anyone have any good resources for beginners? what about a place just to learn all the basics I need to be a good gambler?

[jmontis]

I don't really know, but I did bet on 5 NBA games last season, and won 4 of my bets. How?

1. I would research the teams stats and trends for at least an hour.
2. Find other betters who seemed successful and were making large bets on teams and find out why they picked them.
3. Sports betting forums are great, learn to cut through the bullshit/bias and you find some great reasons to bet on a given team.

[eeeee]

I just learned a bit myself this spring/summer. I'm doing some baseball this season, and after a sporadic start, have been placing small bets daily for about three weeks, breaking even.

I found online basics at some of the sportsbetting sites - how to read the odds, glossary of betting type and terms, etc.
There's good stat info for research on Fox Sports site, with nice branching for past records, recent performance, etc.
I've found some decent tips on 2+2 sports forum and coversexperts.com. And some 2+2 amatuers are enthusiastic about sharing their insights and methods -- maybe not authoratative, but insightful.
It's nice to compare odds, and if you dig a little you can find side-by-side odds comparisons at fastodds and a couple others.
Consistently, the best odds offered are at SportingBet. A couple of my advisors really like Bodog. And Bet365 has had some promotions offered lately. All sites you can reach after you sign up at FTR for poker.

And everyone has their own method, so ask around.

[ttanaka]

When you say best odds offered at SportingBet, do you mean they have less juice?

[ensign_lee]

I think he means that they pay out better when you win.

(What's juice?)

[ttanaka]

Juice is the house's take - kinda like the rake in poker.

Usually, you bet $110 to win a $100. However, some sportsbooks have less juice so you may be able to bet $105 to win $100.

[worldbeater03]

If your looking for information to help you with sports betting, here are some tools I've been using for a couple years. Scoresandodds.com has a ton of stats, not to mention they compare between two teams along with historical betting information to help come up with power ratings. You can also watch how the lines move from the time the line comes out til game time. Very important for a sports bettor.

The other site I spend alot of time at is six3.us. The guys here work as a team and if they give out picks, they give reasons behind why they take them.

You have to use your gut after that. There are a couple of things that can help though.

Shop around for a line. Lines are always moving. If you like a line say Indy -3. Watch it. Check and see how the line move, maybe you can catch it come down a half point or more at a different sportsbook. Handicappers are usually on the money so that half a point a lot of times is the diff between a win or a loss.

One more thing, make a consistent bet. If your gonna bet $25 a game or $100 a game, bet the same on every bet. Don't make a huge bet on one game, and a small bet on another. If you don't like a game as much as the other, don't bet it, because inevitably you will win the little bet and lose the big.

[eeeee]

When you say best odds offered at SportingBet, do you mean they have less juice?

I think he means that they pay out better when you win.

(What's juice?)

If I remember, Sportingbet claims they are never more than a dime of juice -- if you were allowed to bet both the favorite and the underdog, you would still lose money on a small spread in the odds -- the juice.

Intertops, for instance has "even money" games listed as Dodgers -110 Mets -110. Win a dollar bet, get 1.90. Bet a dollar on both sides, only one team wins, you get $1.90 back. SportingBet would probably have Dodgers -105 Mets -105.

[DaNutsInYoEye]

i really know nothing about sports betting, anyone have any good resources for beginners? what about a place just to learn all the basics I need to be a good gambler?

Gabe, plug this leak before you even get started. I've done some sports betting and can honestly say I've come out ahead, but I don't do it anymore. Don't be an action junky. It's the easiest way to lose you money.