How did you decide to start capping sports?

[TheNJKid]

I'm new here and thought i would take a minute to say hi and ask the above mentioned question. I thought it might just be a conversation starter and I was quite curious how long people have been doing this and why/how did you start.Did you have a mentor how taught you the business, etc...?
I hope that you are all well.

[ZoomVT]

this is my first year doing this seriously. I did NFL and soccer for a couple of years just casually. Its my first year on all other sports...

[skippy]

Originally Posted by TheNJKid

I'm new here and thought i would take a minute to say hi and ask the above mentioned question. I thought it might just be a conversation starter and I was quite curious how long people have been doing this and why/how did you start.Did you have a mentor how taught you the business, etc...?
I hope that you are all well.

Welcome to CM Kid.....even though you aren't as new (2006) as you claim to be.....LOL

I had no mentor......everything is self-taught.....basically, learn from mistakes and never repeat them.

Always been interested in sports so betting on sports is not dependent solely on luck as much as in Powerball or any other games of chance. It is more dependent on knowledge.

So if you have a vast knowledge of sports.....then you should have a better than average chance of winning.

Good Luck.

[captaincapper]

I've been betting on sports for about five years and have made plenty of mistakes along the way, for me it's been a kind of trial and effort approach. I'm no expert but here's some of the mistakes I've made along the way, that should be avoided:

Don't fall in love with favorites
Don't stagger your bets
Don't chase your bets
Don't bet just to get action
Don't be a homer
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A LOCK
Don't fall in love with trends, most of the trends out there are based on sample sizes that are too small to have any predictive value:
Exceptions (here's the trends that have seemed to weather the test of time)
In the NFL:
- totals set at 37 or less tend to go over in the long run
- totals set at 51 or more tend to go under in the long run
- home dogs given 7 or more points tend to cover in the long run
- dogs seem to cover more often than favorites
A lot of times favorites are over-valued and their lines are inflated
Touts are full of shit, there are a few good ones out there but they are few and far between (don't pay for picks)
Don't expect to hit more than 58% of your picks long-term (anyone who says
that they hit 65% long term is a liar, unless they're only betting a few games
a year, in which case they would make more money if they bet more games
and won at a lower winning percentage)
Learn BANKROLL MANAGEMENT
Find a low juice book
Use more than one book and shop lines
Don't bet over 6% of your bankroll on any one game
Learn how to set your own lines using power ratings (Gold Sheet) and
compare those to the published lines to see which side of the bet has the
most value and also to spot bad lines.
Always check the weather report in NFL and baseball
Bet favorites early in the week, as the lines tend to rise, and underdogs closer to game time in order to get the most value
Buy the hook off of the key number 7 in football when applicable
If your taking Team X at -7.5 buy the half point to -7
If your taking Team Y at +6.5 but the half point to +7

Try to learn as much as you can, there's a lot of good advice out there along with a lot of bad. If you're just starting out I'd go slow and small at first until you discover a methodology that works for you. Again, it's a lot of trial and error. Good luck

[johnny1212]

When I was a little kid I can remember my grandfather taking bets from the neighborhood. I've been around sports betting a long time. I always read a lot of books on handicapping and became a degenerate at 21 (he he)

[ZoomVT]

very soloid advice from captaicapper above. I have stumbled upon some of those rocks; yet i still havent learned my lesson completely. Hopefully i will soon.

[Chris46139]

The first game I ever bet on was the Raiders/Bucs SB to go over. I was always the one with all the games on every Sunday and everyone would come over to watch the games they bet on. I waited a few years because I know how my personality is and that I would be hooked and I was right. We were all hammered watching the SB and I loved the over in that game and bet on it and thats how I got started, basically peer pressure, lol. It has been trial and error, you learn from your mistakes(no mentor or anything for me), but listen to a lot of the guys that have been here for a while, you can pick up good tips and learn from our mistakes before you make them on your own.