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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Betting 101 - Do your homework

Just as there is no fountain of youth, there is no secret betting system that is an easy path to riches.

STUDY - Understand the sport that you are betting on
Success in gambling is directly related to study.

You should understand the sport and league that you are betting on - and have access to basic statistics and team news if you seriously thing that you can beat the bookmakers lines.

They have put in time, resources and committment in setting an accurate price - so you have to at least have the basic sports knowledge in place to spot a soft line.

SEARCH - Check reliable sites for information
However, you're unwilling to commit to excessive hours of study, then at least become a student of the markets and take advantage of what happens, even if you don't know why it's happening.

As a good example I've regularly seen the Pinnacle Sports Sharp Report on places like The Sports Bookie Blog which often report which side of a game sharp players are on in line moves.

By my reckoning - simply following their advice on these price movements provided a winning 31-15-1 record since we started checking them out this years - and that's an impressive return for a simple piece of websurfing.

SELECT - Always get the best price
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it repeat my mantra once more ALWAYS OBTAIN THE BEST AVAILABLE PRICE.

For those Sports Bettors outside the US, PinnacleSports.com still offers -104 (1.96) lines on NFL sides which saves players up to 60% of the "juice" other books charge with traditional -110 (1.90) pricing.

They have a similar over-round on their asian handicap prices in European football, regularly offering odds of 1.96 on each side - and should be a preferred destination for most handicap punters.

Put simply, you have to win close to 53% of bets to break even with -110 (1.90) , while at odds of -104 (1.96) you only need to win 51% of your plays to break even.

NOTE
Pinnacle Sportbetting's recent decision to voluntarily exit the American market brings the importance of this maxim sharply into focus for US residents.

The vacuum that Pinnacle Sports leaves is a hard one for any book to fill and the number of questions on the betting forums is a reflection of this.

If you are outside the US then you have a huge advantage and you SHOULD be using PinnacleSports.com for your American sports bets and Asian Handicap bets.

If you are NOT - then you are LOSING MONEY !

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