You can win money wagering just like any of the handicappers that tout their shiny records versus the spread and attempt to convince the public that their opinions, their analysis is worth your hard earned money. I am of the belief that these guys don’t know any more than the rest of us, they just have a few factors working in their favor. Namely, they have the time and the resources to scour through all the data they feel is relevant. They aren’t bogged down with the other aspects of life that the rest of the working public is and they can make decisions without the cumbersome emotions and other luggage that most people drag with them. While you are at your desk trying to sneak a peak at the lines for this weekend’s game, or hiding your gambling from your wife, the handicappers are free to think, and their minds are not clouded with all the irrelevant BS that most people allow to creep into their thought process. Their minds are free and their spirits are free. These same guys watch tapes of games and identify matchups that catch you by surprise when you se it on the field. The handicappers are not caught by surprise because they did get a chance to watch that game that you didn’t.

I also am of the belief that as human beings we are prone to highs and lows and that as hot as any one of us can get, we can just as easily find ourselves on the opposite type of streak, the ones that make us doubt we could ever pick a winner in a game ever again. I am a believer in processes, and in being thorough. By putting my opinions and analysis on the web I forced myself to make sure I had a routine to follow that would, at the very least, put out new content for every Thurs, Sat, Sun and Mon football games. The rules of internet marketing aided me in developing my process of game analysis. And you know what? I as right. I became routinely better with the information I took in, with being dicsipined on who and how I tiered my games. I also began to notice trends. I live on the East Coast, and the teams I am exposed to the most play in either the Big East, the ACC, the SEC or the Big 10 and in that order. Rarely did I end up wagering on teams in the other conferences because how could I make a decision about a team that I hadn’t seen play? To do so break a cardinal rule of wagering. When you begin to bet on teams you haven’t seen play, you have turned into a guesser. By guessing you have effectively taken all rational thought, statistical anaylis and your own knowledge of the sport out of the equation and reduced it to a game of roulette.

I discovered a few years ago that I acheived the same high watching a game I had money on regardless of the amount of money. The only difference between wagering an amount that would hurt my wallet and wagering something nominal was the sick feeling I had in my stomach the entire time a game was in doubt. This is turn would lead me to make poor decisions after a loss, as I not only had a desire to win my money back, I had a need. If the next game didn’t cover, how was I going to pay my rent?

The online books, just like sportsbooks in Vegas, make you front your money before you can wager. This institutes some level of discipline, even if it is being instituted from above, not from within.

Before I go any further, let me stress and highlight one of the most important strategies you can incorporate into your betting life: Do not overextend yourself financially. What I have today was not achieved with a hot streak, but rather it was achieved through dedicaiton, persistence, trial and error and ultimately a focus that was honed in on processes not results. It is better to have a little and stay in the game then to have nothing and have to watch from the sidelines.