Betting Talk

waste of time? any 'real' pros?

vigbuster68vigbuster68 Junior Member
edited November 2015 in Sports Betting
Hello all. I'm new here and have a question for everyone. Any insight at all from any of you would be very much appreciated. I've been sports-wagering with a few offshore books for 5 or 6 years now. I started out poorly, but have learned so much through experience and a dedication to handicapping. These last 2-3 years I've probably taken as many withdrawals as made deposits, and these last 2-4 months have been even better as both my consistency and discipline has improved. I really don't care to be the next 'Billy Walters' or anything (if that guy really exists, and isn't just a character invented by the industry to make us all think it's possible lol). Making a few extra thousand-a-month per account down the road doing something I truly enjoy appeals to me greatly however.

My question is this: is it a complete waste-of-time to have such a dream? Does anyone here make-a-living off of sports-wagering? or at least make some decent coin in their spare time? or know someone else who does? I've read several posts in these forums prior to registering, and many make it sound like it's a shady, dishonest world where the books often don't honor payments to winners, and consistent bigger winners have an extremely difficult time getting bets down in Vegas and offshore, as well as to open new accounts. I thought about bet-trading on BetFair, but was put-off by the 60% premium commission I heard they charge their most successful customers now. I so far have and have had accounts with betdsi, bookmaker, and the greek, and would like to open others eventually with 5dimes and pinnacle also. All A+ or A rated books by SBR and most other review sites. I haven't experienced any withdrawal issues yet, but I'm still playing with virtual peanuts. Will this change when-and-if my accounts and the $ involved ever gets much larger? Looking forward to all of your responses. Cheers everyone.

Comments

  • acetotenacetoten Senior Member
    edited November 2015
    I would vote it can be a waste of time, it can break up families, can causes anger issues, can cause emotional distress, can cause extreme highs and lows, hurts the pocketbook at times, can cause lots of lying, can cause people to lose their job, along with many other things I have not mentioned..................and it can cause problems when it takes forever to get paid..................but it does feel good to say I picked that winner, I called that game etc....................... I personally do it for entertainment purposes only...............I say go the poker route , I'm up over the years in poker, but can't say that about ball games............................ I 'd rather lose my money on my bad decision of not checking, raising or folding, then someone else determining it on a missed free throw, a dropped 2 pt conversion, a missed field goal, or a bad call and replay review......either way you go, good luck to ya, that's my 2 cents or actually that's more than 2 cents worth............... I could go on and on, but dinner is ready and wife is lurking, hahahahahahaha
  • Old-TimerOld-Timer Senior Member
    edited November 2015
    I really don't care to be the next 'Billy Walters' or anything (if that guy really exists, and isn't just a character invented by the industry to make us all think it's possible lol).

    This says all I need to know ^^. Do you really think anyone and there are some are going to come here to discuss anything on open forum with a person who IMO doesn't seem know much about "this industry" Did you think of that statement all by yourself.
  • PettimorePettimore Senior Member
    edited November 2015
    It is possible to win at this......trying to find someone that will pay you if you do is difficult
  • HatHat Senior Member
    edited November 2015
    Pettimore wrote: »
    It is possible to win at this......trying to find someone that will pay you if you do is difficult

    Unfortunately no truer words have been spoken
  • chuckhchuckh Senior Member
    edited November 2015
    Hat, OT and others i am sure but i remember and this is going way back but rushing down to local news stand to pick up freshly printed gold sheet, the parlay cards passed around,lines were offered from what was printed out of local newspaper? Gosh showing my age. How times have changed. Just reminiscing.
  • Old-TimerOld-Timer Senior Member
    edited November 2015
    Would hang out and wait for the 9pm EST Daily news on the corner to get the number for the day. The last 3 digits on the handle was your number. I remember playing poker in the club with a bookmaker or two and everytime you won a pot I would call him over and say give me 289 for $2 str8 or if it was a big pot give me $6 Box (They didn't take anything less then a $1 lol) If you won that day in poker you had some really big money going on the number and even if you lost for the day you had serious money on the number.

    You can also play single digits as the game was going on. Add the win price from the 1st, 2nd and third race and the last number was the 1st number. then the 4th, 5th and 6th race was the second number you get the idea. we grew up in great times getting out of town newspapers phone calls were made from weather crazy shit. Thanks for the memories Chuckh
  • Octan21Octan21 Member
    edited November 2015
    Still possible to win. Average advantage is much smaller which means greater fluctuations. Used to make hundreds of bets with 4-6% advantages. Now make thousand of bets with 1-3% advantages.

    Might as well go back to playing blackjack. By the way, really enjoy your stories Old-Timer. I'm pretty sure you were on my list of pit-bosses to avoid. :-)
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