Depends....you probably have a 40 hour or more a week job and it pays you X amount of dollars for your hard work. If you put in an hour, two hours, maybe even three a week would you get the same pay?
Gaming is a toughass business but those willing to put in the time/work can win...not guaranteed but otherwise, it's very difficult to win on a regular schedule. Those who think picking winners against the spread is easy are losers and will join the majority of bettors as losers. Might be better to just give your money to a favorite charity.
I love this gaming stuff and spend a lot of time researching games. My goal is just to win more than I lose.
Gaming is a toughass business but those willing to put in the time/work can win...not guaranteed but otherwise, it's very difficult to win on a regular schedule. Those who think picking winners against the spread is easy are losers and will join the majority of bettors as losers. Might be better to just give your money to a favorite charity.
I love this gaming stuff and spend a lot of time researching games. My goal is just to win more than I lose.
It is almost impossible. 
I've done it for 2 years playing almost daily and I lost a total of $3K. To some, that's not bad (I have friends who lost $3K in a day!) I'm down to my last $1K in my original bankroll. But I've done better, since $2K of the $3K I lost was really on just 1 day when I tilted when I was new to the game (I got very bad advice from someone to recover it in whole). So I basically only lost $1K after that. My main concern is really building up myself like a robot and trusting my system. It's when I go out of system that I get killed. I've been telling friends that what I need is an automated link between my model results and the betting website so that I don't need to touch it anymore.
I've done it for 2 years playing almost daily and I lost a total of $3K. To some, that's not bad (I have friends who lost $3K in a day!) I'm down to my last $1K in my original bankroll. But I've done better, since $2K of the $3K I lost was really on just 1 day when I tilted when I was new to the game (I got very bad advice from someone to recover it in whole). So I basically only lost $1K after that. My main concern is really building up myself like a robot and trusting my system. It's when I go out of system that I get killed. I've been telling friends that what I need is an automated link between my model results and the betting website so that I don't need to touch it anymore.
You have some good advices here but no one answer to your "real question"! Probably i will be one more that will not give you the answer you want but will try to give you my opinion and share, a little, personall experience.
I started betting a long time ago (+/- 12 or 13 years ago). In that time i had to place bets watching odds on television and place bets by phone calling to other country. Crazy isnt it?
My first deposit was the equivalent to $300 and after 1 week it growth to +/- $900. In my mind i found a gold mine!
"I was born to bet because i'm smart and have sports knowledge" ....
I believe that almost all people have the same thought at least 1 time in life! How wrong i was.
After 1 month my bank decreases 3 times to zero and i was doing new deposits week after week. And why? The answer is very easy. I had sports knowledge yes i had but i didnt understood the game rules. I had not enought knowledge about the market, didnt had money management rules, didnt understood value concepts, didnt understood a lot of things in this business.
At that time decided to stop betting to study sportsbets. Some people could think thats a silly idea but i know and believe that the people with success understand me and agree with this idea. Sportsbetting is a science and like any other thing in the businees world you need to learn if you want to have success. Read articles, do questions, work hard, "papper bet" and check results.
When newbies comes to me i always say:
What you expect from sportsbetting? Win money or be rich?
The usuall answer is: "both, win money to be rich!"
My answer: One good business needs investment. Do you have money to invest? Do you have time to invest? because you will need at least 1 of the 2 last options.
If you have money try to find good advices, pay for it, and follow it. You pay in any business to earn money why not paying for sportsbet advisors?
If you didnt have money but have time.... study, study and study. One doctor needs to study at least 5 years before start making money..... why sportsbet have to be different? (ok you dont need to be 5 years studing before starts).
Now i go back to my story and to the answer you want:
I had time and money at that time. But money i already knows how can easy i could lose it so need to try the other option. STUDY.
After study hard sportsbets i started "papper betting" do you know what it means? It 's BET on PAPPER. Not with real money.... just recording bets day after day at an excell sheet. At that time i decided to post it at an european forum just to have one seconf archive. I won a lot of papper bets and the good new is that when i lose bets i didnt lost money. My results was consistent and decided to start again with money. And .... big deception.... i lose again. I lose cause i broke the rules again.... big bets to recover fast, broken money management rules, but people that was following my advices wons money..... Oh jezzzzz this is amazing. Time to think again: I lose money and people who follow my advices wons!
New words rules: Discipline, discipline, discipline..... I remember that i repeated this word many and many times in my head. Like the kids i need a punnishment. During a few months i was papper betting again and writing in foruns.... week after week received messages like: Thanks! Nice job! Good call!..... and the true is that i wasnt betting because i had no DISCIPLINE with my money!
To not be boring i will advance with my story and tell you the end.
I started winning money when starts betting with other people money. During a long time worked for many investoitors and all of then wons big money with my soccer selections (just portuguese soccer). Betting with other people money gaves me the discipline i really needed. This was the way i found to have success in sportsbets but it costs me a lot of tme and money. You dont need to follow all my steps. You can just learn from my advice:
Yes, it´s possible to win. What you have to start: Time or money? If you didnt have neither time neither money bet small as an hobby and enjoy sportsbetting!
Now i will say that your real question is not if we are winning or not.... You want to know is HOW TO WIN at Sportsbetting?
Do not expect that someone here will open an account for you, deposit money, place bets, win and send you the money month after month. There are a lot of people doing excellent work for free here but at least you need to read theyr posts and follow them.
Everything comes at price! There are no free lunches!
It's not easy but if you are trying to make a career out of sports betting, you should expect to put in long hours doing research only to find that you were still off and the percentages got you in the end. Then you start all over and try again. You might be able to make a small amount over time but don't hope for the life changing payoff as it won't usually come.
(My apologies if you already know everything below but posting it just in case and for those who many not)
It depends because there are players who bet games randomly, and those who begin the season for a particular sport that they plan to bet on all season long until it's over, and start with a certain amount of money called their "bankroll".
You could begin the season with $1,000, $500, $5,000, $100, or whatever you choose to.
Many bettors believe you should wager the same $ amount on each & every game.
But some of us believe you bet plays according to how sure you feel about each bet in-particular.
With that being said, you have to keep each unit size reasonable.
Each unit you wager should be based on a very small percentage of your bankroll.
Let's make it simple and say you deposit at a sports book and begin football season with $100.
If you want to wager the same amount per each game you bet on, that's fine, but if you want to bet according to strength of your games, meaning how strongly you feel about them, then you need to come up with a tier of amounts, as in "units".
Let's say you like the following 3 games in week 1:
Eagles -3.5 (This is the play you like the most)
Chargers -2.5 (You like this play a lot too, but not as much as the Eagles, and a little bit more than Raiders)
Raiders +8.5 (You like this play but don't feel as good about it as the 2 plays above)
So based on starting the season with your $100, you want to make your wagers in percentages, or called Units.
But they need to be small, reasonable amounts as I said earlier.
So, according to how much you like the games explained above, you would do this FOR EXAMPLE:
3 Units: Eagles +3.5 (3 Units would be 3% of your bankroll/$100)
2 Units: Chargers -2.5 (2 Units being 2% of your bankroll/$100)
1 Unit: Raiders +8.5 (1 Unit as in 1% of your $100 bankroll)
Above is just an example as bettors use different amounts and methods.
You could keep your plays to a 1-3 Unit tier, or 1-5, or whatever you decide.
You just always base everything on your bankroll being 100% and whatever you wager being a percentage of that.
So, things that matter in being successful at sports betting:
*Experience
*Money-Management (as explained above)
*Patience
*If you like a game and feel the odds will change against you, bet it early in the week. If you like it but believe the line will move in your favor, wait a little.
*Shopping around for the best line as you can find up to a 1 point difference at different books.
*Getting the best info, such as on forums like this, from experienced bettors, guys who work and/or have worked in the booking business, who may follow a team, specific games, and may be local to a game which know & hear things before the rest of us do, such as weather, etc.
Hatch has offered some great advice for any rookie starting a gaming career...or wants to have fun playing around with betting. The key I offer any new person is to win more than you lose. What's the best path for that?
Here's where I differ with a veteran like one of my favorite mods here at RX in Hache. Hache and many players like to play games based on units. I after many, many years of trial and losing totally disagree with that approach...it is just a proven loser long term for a novice and most anyone else. Hell, professional gamblers who do this stuff for a living DON'T bet UNITS. Why...they understand the importance of a win and what it means toward their season bankroll.
See it EVERY season...player goes 4-2, 3-1, 5-2 and are losers because of not playing every game the same. Hell, if someone plays one 5unit and three 1unit plays. Why in hell wouldn't a serious bettor just play 8 units on his best play. I finally convinced one of my long time friends to give up the loser unit crap (invented by play sellers) when he went 5-1 in college football and lost juice. He won all five 1 unit games and lost his 5unit play. Won 83% on the day and lost money paying juice. Been there...done that. Never again!
Play as you like.........all these services who sale these picks will love you unit guys...
Here's where I differ with a veteran like one of my favorite mods here at RX in Hache. Hache and many players like to play games based on units. I after many, many years of trial and losing totally disagree with that approach...it is just a proven loser long term for a novice and most anyone else. Hell, professional gamblers who do this stuff for a living DON'T bet UNITS. Why...they understand the importance of a win and what it means toward their season bankroll.
See it EVERY season...player goes 4-2, 3-1, 5-2 and are losers because of not playing every game the same. Hell, if someone plays one 5unit and three 1unit plays. Why in hell wouldn't a serious bettor just play 8 units on his best play. I finally convinced one of my long time friends to give up the loser unit crap (invented by play sellers) when he went 5-1 in college football and lost juice. He won all five 1 unit games and lost his 5unit play. Won 83% on the day and lost money paying juice. Been there...done that. Never again!
Play as you like.........all these services who sale these picks will love you unit guys...
Yes if the wiseguys and sharps can do it why can't we?
Of course you have to decide that now sports betting is your new career or business and treat it as such.
I think with a mini start bank of $25,000 rest of money to live on for 1st year rent , bills, food etc..
NO gambling at anything else just sports.
Ask around in Vegas if you can get with a local sharp and get pointers.
BTW Pause here I am a newbie in sports betting all this info can be read about plus i know some people who lived in Vegas and worked in casinos.
Key of course is Limit your plays per day and stick with a % of Bank many use 2- 3% thats what the sharps stick with never varying from that %
so if you have say $25,000 betting bank your daily amount to wager per day would be either $500 or $750 not a $1 more for the day.
look at it this way 365 days a year win $200 a day = $72800 per year earned ....... so now you can take half of that amount add it to your starting bank of $25,000 now you have $61400 X 2 % = $1228 per day or $1842 per day so now you shoot to make $500 per day on average which would be $182,500.
Win % means nothing when your betting thousands of games per year it's all about money won for the year.
Say like this; you constantly strive to make $300 per day no matter what yur bank is and thats your average;
because some days you make $300 some days you make $500 some days you lose $100 - $200. YOU are making a nice living $109,200 per year every year you sock away 3/4 of that money and after 10 years you might retire with about 2 million earning say 4% interest in a money market account or whatever yields highest % when it comes about yes 4% of 2 million is $80,000 a year but i don't know how they figure interest the formula they use.
OK Guys niters i'm tired monday tomorrow i got work scheduled :niceass:
Of course you have to decide that now sports betting is your new career or business and treat it as such.
I think with a mini start bank of $25,000 rest of money to live on for 1st year rent , bills, food etc..
NO gambling at anything else just sports.
Ask around in Vegas if you can get with a local sharp and get pointers.
BTW Pause here I am a newbie in sports betting all this info can be read about plus i know some people who lived in Vegas and worked in casinos.
Key of course is Limit your plays per day and stick with a % of Bank many use 2- 3% thats what the sharps stick with never varying from that %
so if you have say $25,000 betting bank your daily amount to wager per day would be either $500 or $750 not a $1 more for the day.
look at it this way 365 days a year win $200 a day = $72800 per year earned ....... so now you can take half of that amount add it to your starting bank of $25,000 now you have $61400 X 2 % = $1228 per day or $1842 per day so now you shoot to make $500 per day on average which would be $182,500.
Win % means nothing when your betting thousands of games per year it's all about money won for the year.
Say like this; you constantly strive to make $300 per day no matter what yur bank is and thats your average;
because some days you make $300 some days you make $500 some days you lose $100 - $200. YOU are making a nice living $109,200 per year every year you sock away 3/4 of that money and after 10 years you might retire with about 2 million earning say 4% interest in a money market account or whatever yields highest % when it comes about yes 4% of 2 million is $80,000 a year but i don't know how they figure interest the formula they use.
OK Guys niters i'm tired monday tomorrow i got work scheduled :niceass:
Yes. Everyone's comments are excellent. One of my favorite quotes: "The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night." It also applies to handicapping or any other endeavor in life. Find elements of the game that are are predictive and work on testing and refining an approach that gives accurate weight to those elements while also understanding regression to the norm. So research into meaningful game data, hard work, discipline and wise money management will bear fruit in the long run. There is a lot of information on the web and in these forums. Read and learn from others, so you can apply with discipline whatever system you come up with. Good luck.
Yes. But finding/creating a 'consistent and disciplined system' takes a lot of work. I've been betting college football successfully using my own system for a few years now. But I have yet to find much success in the NFL or NBA. And there is no guarantee that past success is an indicator of future profit.
The key with any betting is to stay disciplined. Don't chase the second half line or make a big bet on the monday night game because you had a bad week. Figure out what your bet size is, and maintain money management at all times. If you lose all your money on one big bet, you won't have any leftover for when you go on a hot streak.
