I appreciate it...First off, I remember hearing something a while back about critical numbers in the spread. Care to explain those?
The only thing I can think of is that you have to find the best number possible. For Instance, Temple opened at 19 point underdogs now they are 13.5. You of course would want Temple +19 instead of +13.5.
If you're just starting out then I suggest you use the "George Costanza" method. Write down all of the teams that you like to cover, and then bet on the other team. Seriously...I guarantee you will make more money that way. Post what teams you like today.
Critical #s in football are 3 and 7, generally. Think how often you hear about Team A winning 20-17 or 27-20. Therefor if you had Team A at -3 or -7 you pushed in both instances, if you had them -3.5/-7.5 you lost both, and obviously -2.5/-6.5 you won both. So if you are liking a favorite and they are at -3.5, you tend to want to wait and see if you can get the line at -3, and then may want to buy the line down to -2.5. You'd do the opposite if you had the underdog. Usually buying half points cost anywhere for .10 to .20 juice. You will find, as minuscule as it sounds, the vig is what kills you. You go 2-2 on the day, betting $100 a pick, you are probably down $20 bucks...
This is what I was referring to. Thanks for the help. What types of things do you guys look for in what you perceive to be a good line? What types of research do you do? Any other specific people you tail or other message boards you follow?
Should have done this last night. Thought GB was an easy cover. Might try this next week for the entire set of games.
3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 17 are all critical numbers. Anytime you have numbers multiples of 3 and 7 it's critical to be a half number lower or higher depending on what side you are on. Also numbers that often decide games I listed as well, you obviously watch a lot of football and stuff so don't over think it, any combination of 3s and 7s added together pretty much makes a critical number. Also, to second what Strictly Piping said, Smart Money by Michael Konik isn't meant to teach you much, it's more of a story, but it does teach you a shit load and really makes you realize a lot of things. You want to get on a site that opens lines early aka Bookmaker.com. They release lines and totals first and that's when you get them for the best "market price" or before anyone else has had time to move these numbers. A line may move up to like 4 points in a matter of minutes so you don't want to lose out on 4 points you could have had, it can make a big difference. Shopping for the best line is also very important. There is a lot of people who know what they're talking about on here so if you keep asking someone will have answers.
"Weighing the Odds in Sports Betting" by King Yao is a great book to read from an intro to gambling perspective.
I'm going to look into all of those books. Thanks guys. I will also post my "George Costanza" picks in a few minutes just to track them. What types of things do you guys look for in what you perceive to be a good line? What types of research do you do? Any other specific people you tail or other message boards you follow?
Denver +7 Lions +14.5 Colts -8 Texans -3.5 Those are who I would take so I guess my opposite picks would be... Titans -7 Packers -14.5 Jags +8 Oakland +3.5
Not sure if you are interested, but CFB is way easier to win at in my opinion when betting. Lines seem to be pretty tight in the NFL and there is so much parity I think it is hard to make a profit. That being said there are tons of people who kill the NFL, many on here, and so what I said means nothing. Good luck on your plays
I would welcome any info on college too. I actually tailed about 90% of your picks yesterday and made about 20 units off of them so thank you. Any advice would be great.