I didn't read any article on the front page about him? Maybe I missed it. Sagarin will draw many different opinions probably but to me personally his stuff is almost useless for any serious gambler. Even a novice can generate more accurate ratings to be used for point spreads then what he uses.
http://www.kiva.net/~jsagarin/sports/sports.html
http://www.kiva.net/~jsagarin/sports/sports.html
Bullets, I want to add this about Sag and his rankings --> he's not a bum! LOL. Rereading what I wrote maybe it came off too harsh. I know the NCAA takes into account his computer stuff when determining the BCS. It's a small part but it is in the formula somewhere. In fact I talk via IM's almost every day with a capper and he uses the Sag ratings. I am not sure exactly what he does or how he uses them but he takes the time to go through them daily, this guy being a fairly seasoned capper too. I think he uses it as some sort of a starting point and perhaps goes from there? Can't really say and don't want to speculate but have to believe he is getting some use from them.
I think a better way of expressing my opinion is to say that to solely use his rankings as the primary way of handicapping games is a mistake. If a capper can use them as part of the big picture than perhaps there is some value in them somewhere. Too often people dimiss other avenues to cap games because they don't use them themselves and that is probably a mistake. All this just my opinion anyway. Hope this clarifies it a little more, good luck man with your action.
I think a better way of expressing my opinion is to say that to solely use his rankings as the primary way of handicapping games is a mistake. If a capper can use them as part of the big picture than perhaps there is some value in them somewhere. Too often people dimiss other avenues to cap games because they don't use them themselves and that is probably a mistake. All this just my opinion anyway. Hope this clarifies it a little more, good luck man with your action.
Have used them in past (sad to admit, alot in sports I didn't want to cap) and are probably one of the best power ratings around. But like McIrish said they are a good starting point,or something to use if you don't have ANY opionion on a tv game you want to bet for some small action. Still probably no better than a coin flip in the long run (IMO).
a couple years ago, i used sagarin ratings after the first half of conf play for the rest of year. I just took the spread and compared it to sag's spread, and if it was 4 or more pts off(maybe i did 5 or 6) than I bet it. It was profitable, I missed some days sure, but I remember 2 huge saturdays
Power ratings aren't of any value for just comparing ratings and spreads, that is silly. I use his ratings all the time for other purposes. His ratings are extremely valuable for gauging strength of schedule, a huge factor lazy handicappers don't want to bother with. They pay big dividends in college sports since obviously the skew can be huge. Just as valuable is using the ratings to isolate a run of games a team is playing. You hear it all the time, Team A has won 6 in a row. Well if they played lots of patsies that isn't saying much. So use them or other ratings like Gold Sheet correctly and they are very valuable. Try to use them like a lazy man just comparing spreads without doing more analysis and you probably will end up 50/50 as mentioned.
