www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Kinda curoius is anyone in living in the CR soley based on their sports betting wagering.

I have a few buddies that make an awesome living in sports however they like myself are in Vegas.

Thanks

Stein

LOL Most who claim they make a living sports betting in fact do not, though I can allow rare exceptions to all rules. Now many make some good $ selling suckers their picks online and through other venues... The bookmakers are real good and as a general rule you will lose if you play long enough. Same applies with any kind of gambling.

Not strictly true, Express. The people that make money consistently in sportsbetting are usually doing one of a few things.

1) They watch the lines like a hawk, waiting for one of them to make a mistake, then capitalizing on it. Sometimes they have custom software to watch for this and notify them when it happens.

2) They "middle", by betting both sides at different books where there is a large enough difference in the price and/or spread where you can actually cover and exceed the juice. In spreads, it's possible to actually win both sides of the bet and get double your odds. This usually works best with small-time books that don't move their line much and with a bigger book on the other side that moves their line a lot.

3) They have their ear to the ground, listening for any bit of information that gives them an edge. Hopefully, they can get their play in before the books hear about it.

No, you can't win at betting sports just by randomly picking teams, unless there is a method that can be mathematically proven to win. You have to have an edge, and there are only two games in casino that allow you to have an edge if you know what you're doing, Poker and Sportsbook.

I never said it was "strictly true" but allowed for exceptions. But I would say that most who claim to be beating the books are in fact not. Many of the same are selling their picks to the gullible. Yes, there are all sorts of books for sale, websites to join, and strategies. Some seem to pay off in the short term then a new strategy is tried... But the books aren`t in business to get beaten and ever so rarely are they in the long run. With few exceptions, one`s labors can be better invested in other ventures.

But anyway, as to your 3 points:

1) Some books reserve the right to cancel bets when a mistake has been made.

2) Hey you get to pushing around a small time book they are liable to stop taking bets from you or at least set you on a small maximum. As to the latter, all book are prone to do that with sharps.

3) Yes, "hope" is the key word... Good luck out resourcing these gambling entities.

Anyway this thread was posted in the "working and retiring in Costa Rica" section. I`d recommend the poster consider other options than expecting to live the good life there betting on sports.

Express,

I'm not going to say how or why I know what i'm talking about, but I do.

While you are correct in a way, in reality things work a lot differently.

When I say "make mistakes", i am not talking about giant blunders. Books can and will cancel a play if an obvious mistake is made, but what the wise player is looking for is less obvious mistakes and small ones that the books either won't notice or are too small to make a stink over. For instance, maybe it takes them an extra 5 minutes to move their line after the vegas line moves, and you take advantage of that.

Most books don't make their own lines. They subscribe to services that show them the lines for the major books, and they base their line on the current lines of others. This leaves a window of opportunity when lines move to make plays at slower places and gain an advantage.

I said nothing about pushing anyone around. When you middle, you play the opposite sides at different books (sometimes the same book, but they hate that). For the most part, the books don't care because you're going to win one side or the other, and sometimes you'll win at their book, sometimes you'll lose at their book. over time, you will win more than you lose if you're smart.

If you're just trying to make a living, you don't need to win millions or even thousands a week, just a few hundred. You stay under the radar.

Most books are *NOT* that good, and they're *NOT* that connected. They get their information from line services, the same as all the players. It's how they use that information that counts, and in most cases it comes down to your skill versus their skill in handicapping. That's not an "inerant" house edge, though the juice is. You just have to create an even bigger edge with your skill (easier said than done).

It's the same with poker. The house takes a rake, but the players skill is what determines his edge over the long run.

One other thing. It's a common misconception that books set their line based on the odds of winning the game. That's how it starts out, but that's not the way it plays out.

As the day (or week) goes on, they may get a lot of action one side of the game. A big books job is to balance the action, so that they have roughly the same amount of action on both sides, this way regardless of the outcome they make their money off the juice. (it's kind of like living off the interest while not touching the prinicple in a savings account).

When they get a lot of action on one side, they adjust their line to attract action to the other side. This means they know (in theory) 50% of their action will win and 50% will lose, good players will consistently win, bad players consistently lose. So beating a book is something they expect to happen with smart players, but so long as you're not throwing the curve out of whack, it's all in a days work.

Now, some books don't work like that. They gamble on their opinions as much as anyone. And those are the guys that get pissed off when you beat them.

Thanks for the replies.......

However there seems to a be a false notion with a lot of folks that no money can be made from sports betting.

THAT IS FALSE.

I know of plenty of guys who make not only a lving from it but in excess of a 100 grand a year if not more.

In the last few years sports bettors have gotten a lot smarter and you have a New breed out-there looking at sports as a long term investment such as stocks and bonds.

If you have systems in place YOU CAN WIN LONG TERM.

What has happend is that in the last 2 years or so there have been a few guys who have cracked the code in sports betting ESP in NBA AND MLB

The old school thought of betting is being thrown out the window the new advanced player has much more aresnal in his war chest.

The Orignal post was How many guys live in CR of off sports betting.

Thanks

Stein

Hey that is all I needed to know. You authority was just established in that single statement. Enough said. "When E.F. Hutton talks"....



Who can live on "just a few hundred a week"?



Here you are just talking out of your ass. They are part and parcel to a multi-billion dollar industry. Calvin Ayre is in his 40s and working on his second billion and even he minds you making a couple of hundred a week...




It`s not the same with poker. Poker is a play by play skill game where you are competing against other players. Sportbetting you are against a team of experts who set odds and spreads and monitor lines, all while possessing vast backing and resources. Go ahead, keep talking out of your ass here, or better yet, start a website and sell picks to some who may believe you. That`s how most of the self-professed high rollers pay the rent.

No one ever said this. This is just a straw man of your creation as rare circumstances were allowed for, and of course short term wins are frequent.



Yea right, and what do they want to sell you? Reminds me of all the talk of free pu*sy on monger boards and tica after tica left crying at the airport...



It gets better with every line. What website did you read this off of? Or did this come from your buddies after a few beers in a Vegas bar?



There is no cause to shout, but you seem rather convinced so I can hardly imagine the point of your original question. Hey the answer is obvious. "Many, many" are making a living in Costa Rica sportbetting, walking right up to the counter and they don`t even have to wear disguises. And we are talking more than a few hundred a week which no one could monger on anyway. We are talking 100s of 1000s a year. So what are you waiting for? I`ll even give you your first tip for free, take the summer off and stay away from MLB.....

Express,

I know what i'm talking about. Most books are not that good, or that connected. Seriously. Yeah, Cris or Grande are pretty well connected, but I know the guys that move lines at half the books on Don Best. They're just following the crowd, and maybe adding their own opinions to some games.

$500 a week, tax free is $2000 a month. Most people living in CR can live on that pretty easily (that's more than social security pays for most people, and lots of guys live here on that alone). $800 a week is $3200 a month, and very livable.

Once again, to make money in sports betting, you don't have to always win, you just need to win more than you lose. And you don't have to win it all at one book. People that "make a living" off of any kind of wagering do so by not being greedy.

Let's take an example. BOS/LAA game tonight. Let's say Boston is at -165 and the Angels are at +145. Let's say a lot of action comes on Boston and they're lopsided. Well, they might change their odds to LAA +155 in order to get more action on the angels to balance their action.

Now, let's say the Angels win. They pay out to the people that bet on the Angels, and they collect from the people that bet on Boston. If they did their job right, they make money despite paying out and they minimized their risk (they collected as much as they paid plus the juice which they keep). it no longer matters which side wins to them, because either way they're covered and they always make their money.

What that means is that they are always paying out to someone, and they don't care who that someone is, and they're always collecting from someone, and they don't care who that someone is. you can win 55%, 75%, 100% of the time and they don't care because that's how the math works. If they didn't, they'd be putting too much of their money at risk.

Now, again, not every book works that way, but the big ones do, or at least they try to. And again, the line is more about them minimizing their risk than who's going to win the game...

And lots of books go bust.. it happens all the time. They're not as great as you make them out to be.. the medium sized books make their money by finding more squares than sharps, and controlling who they allow to play. Money management is the name of the game more than anything else.

So really, the point is, Yes, you can make money and reliably make a living betting on sports, if you know what you're doing. And no, that doesn't involve "sure fire" bets, it's about a system that works for you.. one that lets you win 55-60% of the time. That's all it takes.

This whole thread is really funny. This is the line the salesmen for sportsbooks use when getting people to make a deposit.

If you know your sports you should have no trouble winning. Ha Ha

First of all you have to win 55 per cent of the time to break even because of the juice.

The fact is that 90 per cent of the players lose all their deposits. Thats right 90 per cent of the players lose everything.

So the fact is that only a sucker would think he could make a living betting on sports.

Of course a few pros do just that, but there are few pros.

I dont understand what the big deal is ?????

There are plenty of players who make a nice living from sports investing all year around.

With all the systems out-there all one has to do is a bit of homework and put that into action.

Myself personally I have nothing to do with any book,I live in vegas their are plenty of casinos to take my action.

I use a few different ones as I know some of the ticket writers fairly well they claim they have plenty of action all day long for seroius sports guys.

Its out there to get you just need to put the time in and research.

No difference from playing poker its all skill and plenty of luck from the gambling Gods.

Anyone who Thinks you Cannot make a living from Sports really doesnt know how the field is played out, or themselves blew their own bankroll from poor picks and poor money mangement.

Stein

Mrstein,

Exactly. There are professional poker players out there who make a lot of money, becuase they look for the suckers. The suckers (almost) always lose, and someone has to be there to lose to, and they strive to be those people.

The same is true of sportsbetting. There are people that can't seem to pick their nose, much less the winning team. Those people always lose. I know one guy that makes a ton of money just betting the opposite of what his square buddy plays. No skill, just doing the opposite.

But let's face it. Even someone who knows sports is going to typically only win 50% of the time, which means they lose to the juice. It's basically a coinflip.

Knowing sports will not make you money. You have to know the numbers, and you have to take advantage of situations that are to your benefit. That's the only way to win at sportsbetting. People that have "systems" that are not based on hard math are losers in the long run.

If you and I decide to bet on a coinflip. I give you $1 for every head, you give me $1 for every tail, there will be times with one of us are ahead of the other, but in the long run it will even out.

If, on the other hand, i start charging $.10 per flip to do the flipping, you will lose in the long run, because you're giving out $1 to make $.90. That's a sportsbook.

If, on the other hand, I start offering other odds, such as I'll pay you $1.20 for every head, and you pay $.70 for every tail, but i also weight the coin so it comes up tails more often... well, there may be the ability to take advantage of that if you know that's it's not precisely in line with the odds.

It's all about the math, anything else is just gambling.

That is correct , win 50% of the time and because of the juice factor , play enough times and you will lose every penny. Simple math.

I guess most people think they are smart enough or know sports enough to beat the system. That is why soon the phones will be ringing off the hook at the sportsbooks. A few people do beat the system and win in the long term but the fact is 90% lose every penny.

Those are pretty long odds to overcome. A +890 dog. Bet 100 to win 890.

Thats ok at those odds.

Simple fact is the ones who know how to play to win WIN.

Most however are squares and have no more knowledge then what the local newspaper tells them.

As I stated before Certain sports have certain system in place to win in the long run.

Example only without getting into too much detail.

MLB When one team plays another from the same league Exmp Yankees vs Redsox and the Yanks drop all 3 games in that series as most MLB games are played within a 3 game series,when the Yanks come back around to play the Redsox again the chances of them losing all 3 in a row for the 2nd time are less then 3% .

With that system alone YOU WIN 97% of the time.

Once again most folks do not play certain sports in a progressive style.

TO play from one game to another as most do is completley Absurd.

It is what it is.....................

Stein