Note: John Wall was excluded from this list because like Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin last year he’s clearly the premier player in college basketball. It goes without saying that he’s a must-watch player as the top prospect the 2010 draft has to offer.
TOP TEN WAYS TO LOSE BETTING SPORTS
Sports bettors don’t go broke because they can’t pick winners, and they don’t go broke because of vigorish… they go broke because they use bad money management.
The concept of the pointspread began over a half century ago and really raised the interest in sports betting. It leveled the playing field; the pointspread became the equalizer. In the 1970s, Bob Martin of the Union Plaza Race and Sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas was the most respected oddsmaker in the gaming industry. A lot of oddsmaking tools used today are credited to Martin.
Bob will not be offering NBA selections until the second week of the season (Monday, November 9), because the teams will be starting to show some form by then.
In Pro Basketball, winning and losing are often not the final criteria in judging a team. When one team plays better in defeat, than another does in winning, you can gain real value by seeing through the misleading results. When handicapping Pro Basketball, some fundamentals and considerations are not just the venue.
Each football season a group of mysterious gentleman leap into the sports spotlight with steam and other nonsense. The speculating public, which is essentially composed of followers, clings to every word they speak, complying and following their every lead. You know the fellows. They are referred to with reverential phrases as: “Who are THEY taking?” or “Who do THEY like?”
The first step each season is to take a painstaking look at the previous season. We focus on all the factors that contributed to a team’s success or failure. There has to be a cause for every effect. We break down the strengths of each team. We study the reasons that might explain why it had the kind of season it did. Team morale and unity, season turning points, the caliber of opposition, how it won and lost are intricately related. Was it outclassed or beaten by breaks?
We all know the NBA playoffs and finals are a whole new season, but there are a few characteristics and statistics that will remain. On the other side, what jumps out is the lower scoring. Its only natural in a playoff situation, a team will slow it down, be more methodical and emphasize defense. Here are some generalities that apply to all NBA games.
Baseball begins and ends with pitching. Because of the number of games and the length of the season, the sport lures as many investors as the others. The structure of odds… no point spread… and the nature of the game however, with the disproportionate emphasis on pitching, baseball must be treated in a different way.
The handicapper must be constantly on the alert to make changes in his handicapping methods and techniques. This process is never complete, odds making, the creation of betting lines, and public knowledge are all in constant change.
In Pro Basketball, winning and losing are often not the final criteria in judging a team. When one team plays better in defeat, than another does in winning, you can gain real value by seeing through the misleading results. When handicapping Pro Basketball, some fundamentals and considerations are not just the venue. Remember the worst team can beat the best team on any given day.
