Betting Pitfalls - An Open Discussion!

With the excitement of Pro Football only days away I have already seen (heard) why some bettors don't have a chance of making it past the first few weeks of the NFL season. An example is this past monday, while grabbing a bite to eat at a sportsbar down the street I listened in on three guys talking about week one of the NFL season. The conversation went something like this:

Guy 1: How about the Cowboy game?
Guy 2: I love Atlanta, i'm gonna POUND them!
Guy 1: Yeah but Dallas has Parcells!
Guy 3: Hey isn't Vick on Atlanta?
Guy 2: Yeah he is but he's injured but they should still beat the Cowboys!
Guy 1: Yeah your probably right, Atlanta looks like a good play!
Guy 2: Like I said, POUND THEM BABY!
Guy 3: Whats the spread?
Guy 2: Not sure!
Guy 1: I think the Falcons are favored.

This was more or less the conversation I heard and believe me it continued on with a few more games, it was pretty entertaining but also sad that these guys are talking about betting pay cheques or to coin a phrase "Putting everything I have on them" on games in week one of the season, where is money management? It's not to say that bettor's like this represent everyone but sadly some bettors do get sucked in by the excitement of a new season. Patience is a virtue as a bettor and chasing losses or straying away from money management when on a winning streak can also be harmful.

Chasing Losses

Do not increase your bets or bet on more games in order to make up losses. You will lose bets. You will experience losing streaks as well as winning streaks. You must stay disciplined. By chasing losses all you do is put your bankroll at risk.

Winning Streaks

Do not increase your bets or bet on more games because you are on a winning streak and can't lose. You can and will lose. The natural temptation when you have a great week, is to start doubling your bet amounts and the number of games you are betting on. Do not do it. You must stay disciplined.

Now I know that many might have a different view on money Management when on a winning streak so I welcome any opinions whatsoever.

By the way, on a side note. I gave the guys at the bar the URL for the site, then had never heard of it but did say they would check it out. Hope they see this post.

GL to all this football season.

Thanks again for an informative post. I should know better by now but still like reading things like this so I feel better about my own square ways.


And thanks for dropping the link off too. If they register we'll have to send you an RX t-shirt.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by HateTheRiverCard:
With the excitement of Pro Football only days away I have already seen (heard) why some bettors don't have a chance of making it past the first few weeks of the NFL season. An example is this past monday, while grabbing a bite to eat at a sportsbar down the street I listened in on three guys talking about week one of the NFL season. The conversation went something like this:

Guy 1: How about the Cowboy game?
Guy 2: I love Atlanta, i'm gonna POUND them!
Guy 1: Yeah but Dallas has Parcells!
Guy 3: Hey isn't Vick on Atlanta?
Guy 2: Yeah he is but he's injured but they should still beat the Cowboys!
Guy 1: Yeah your probably right, Atlanta looks like a good play!
Guy 2: Like I said, POUND THEM BABY!
Guy 3: Whats the spread?
Guy 2: Not sure!
Guy 1: I think the Falcons are favored.

This was more or less the conversation I heard and believe me it continued on with a few more games, it was pretty entertaining but also sad that these guys are talking about betting pay cheques or to coin a phrase "Putting everything I have on them" on games in week one of the season, where is money management? It's not to say that bettor's like this represent everyone but sadly some bettors do get sucked in by the excitement of a new season. Patience is a virtue as a bettor and chasing losses or straying away from money management when on a winning streak can also be harmful.

_Chasing Losses_

Do not increase your bets or bet on more games in order to make up losses. You will lose bets. You will experience losing streaks as well as winning streaks. You must stay disciplined. By chasing losses all you do is put your bankroll at risk.

_Winning Streaks_

Do not increase your bets or bet on more games because you are on a winning streak and can't lose. You can and will lose. The natural temptation when you have a great week, is to start doubling your bet amounts and the number of games you are betting on. Do not do it. You must stay disciplined.

Now I know that many might have a different view on money Management when on a winning streak so I welcome any opinions whatsoever.

By the way, on a side note. I gave the guys at the bar the URL for the site, then had never heard of it but did say they would check it out. Hope they see this post.

GL to all this football season.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


hatetheriver..very solid post...great read!

Good stuff I agree. No matter how often you read this stuff you can still get off the track easy enough.

One thing though, and I know this used to happen to me. I'd get on a winning streak and actually start cutting back in anticipation of the streak ending and being happy enough with a small increase in bankroll.

I seemed back then to be too concerned with finishing the day in the black. This led to cutting back and chasing.

I have been flat betting sides/totals only for quite some time now and it works for me. I need to bet this way to not fall off the wagon of proper money management. It is more important to NOT finish way in the red rather than to finish a little in the black on any given day. Each bet in a day is a separate entity placed with no regard to the one or ones before it on that day or the earlier results of that day.

Way too many times in the past, I would see that I won as many as 20 out of 30 days and be DOWN for the month. If this is happening to you, you are chasing and cutting back to protect each given day. You'll look at your monthly ledger and see maybe three terrible days which you lost far more than on any given winning day. You chased and lost. Some of the small profit days you see in your ledger you chased and won. But that day's profit is small!

Nothing worse than having your wife ask you,

"Honey how are we doing?" and you say "well baby if we win this one we're up a dollar."

"But honey how much are we down if we lose?"

"Don't worry baby we ain't going to lose."

"Yeah, but if we do. How much?"

"Aw well, not even a whole dime."

This is really elementary stuff so please don't anybody flame me for it. But it might help a newbie or two in not having to painfully go through this all to common scenario.

Bet only a few games per week and you will be fine. Most clowns bet toooooo many games and you cannot win that way!!!!!!

Few is better!!!!!