Professional Sportsbetting

[regnis]

Can you define handicapping? It seems like a silly request, but there is +EV sports betting that covers a variety of things that can be backed up with math and perhaps historical data, I'm a firm believer in that. And then there's handicapping. Handicapping is based on various things. What are those things? Obviously, it depends on the handicapper and the list is long. But perhaps someone can give me the top 5 most important things a handicapper looks for and how those things translate to +EV.

Axel-that is a good and difficult question to answer. My primary handicapping tool in those days was the inside info we received from trainers or others at the particular colleges. Beyond that it was the normal things like matchups, home/ away, some degree of historicals, and just years of experience analyzing games. I was not that much into line movements as we had to publish early in the week.
I am not one to rely on stats that have no reasoning behind them. For example, mickey or smoke or someone has thrown out there some stat about dogs of 3 or less (or something like that). I need a reason for that stat. Otherwise to me it is just a statistical anomaly like heads coming up 70 out of 100 times. That being said, i probably made my biggest scores fading the big 10 in the bowl games and march madness. There is some degree of reason behind that—they are always over rated.

Knowledge and experience were the keys. There was no internet and widely known stats.. you had to make your own. I do agree it is completely different now which is why i stick to horses. Plus, instead of -105, i get much higher odds.

Nowadays, are you beating horses straight up? Do you use computers to aid you in doing so?

I know at one-time horse bettors got back significant rebates and such. I don't know if that's still the case, but if you can't beat the ponies str8 up I have to imagine you can make a significant amount. I haven't ay clue how much time and effort goes into finding a good bet or how often one finds a good bet.

I am too old and too set in my ways to use computerized systems, but there are a great many of the younger handicappers that are using computerized systems and doing it well.
Yes i am highly profitable at it. Enough that for many periods of time i stopped practicing law.now i am doing both as my clients are dying and probate work is very profitable.
Years ago, i studied and read everything about breeding and became somewhat of an expert. I consulted with certain owners when they were acquiring yearlings. That was a huge advantage. But again today, the basics of breeding, at least at the one generation level of the sire, are readily available. I used to trace many generations back to northern dancer as there are various crosses with northern dancer that produce winners.
I have been playing the horses since was 12, and pretty much full time since college. So again, knowledge and experience.
I dont remember which thread i mentioned to ask redietz about my score at kentucky downs 2 years ago. 1.2 million in 5 days. Hard to lose that back at 3 to 5 thousand a day 4 days a week.
Yes— i get pretty good rebates although they keep shrinking them. Much more on the obscure tracks than the name brands. I have about 14,000 on account as of 3-31. It will go up in the summer when we have nore tracks and better racing.