I have been betting on sports, primarily football, for over 25 years. I would like to share some thoughts, as I'm sure many of you can relate.
EARLY YEARS
I'm not going to count the adolescent years, when I would make wagers against my big brother and step father; bartering chores or small denominations, but start off when I began to use a bookie at about 16 years old, laying down 10 dollar bets on every game playable. Of course, I didn't understand the juice, but did understand football, as I had played quarterback and defense end; and was an avid fan. Getting together with friends was fun and watching the games with wild intent, already spending the money I was going to win on a new pair of speakers, or the latest sound. That never seemed to happen, but did manage to hold my own, which maybe prevented a valueable lesson from being learned. Gambling distanced itself in the following years, as I enlisted in the army and never really found a place that took action.
TWENTIES
I got married to my first wife when I was 21 years of age, bought a house with a down payment from every penny I had ever made and started out like any other young American. Betting sports crept back into my life, as my old bookie was just a phone call away. I started taking middle action from friends that bet through me and my wagering started to increase into the 50-100 dollar wager during this period. Simply taking "free" juice, I always cleared about 50 dollars every week, and bets I did make had no vig, as I would take action from others. This led to some problems with the new wife, as I would always have to sneak around to take phone calls at inopportune times, which seemed to infuriate her to no avail. A tragedy struck and our immaturity led to the dissolution, but the small time booking venture really had no baring, however, grief stricken, I cut off my connections to the outside world, all with the exception of my job, because I have always had to work for a living.
THIRTIES
It was a free-for-all during my early 30's. Divorced, plenty of money, women, booze, and betting. My bets really spiked during this time and it was very commonplace to lay down several 500 dollar bets, and not out of the question to call in a dime. Surprisingly, I did fairly well and had some good years during this period. I was a student of the game and fairly knowledgeable of the teams involved. Sure, I took some bad beats, and had some weeks I had to pay up a hefty sum, but overall, was having a good time. I never ever bet on anything except football before, not even one basketball game. By the late part of my thirties, I had traveled the world, fvcked more women than I could count, and drank an ocean of whiskey. It was fun, but before the end of my 30's; all good things must come to an end, and I had remarried and settled back down.
FORTIES
It wasn't until my 40th birthday, in which I found pregame. I started to learn a lot of new tricks. Maybe the first being the RLM angle. It was magical. Simply take the RLM to the bank, there was little thought involved. I started to creep my betting into basketball, hell, follow the RLM and pick up a weekly check - it was easy as pie. Then came the plethora of information, return starter angle, injured star angle, and meeting people with all kinds of information. It seemed to work fairly well and by the time I turned 42, I had all but abandoned any sense of capping things straight and relied on the numbers and the latest buzz. But that didn't last long, as I'm not sure if Vegas got the memo, or information became more readily available to adjust the line. RLM was spotty at best and several weeks I took some really bad beats using that method. On the information front, just when I thought I had an angle, it seemed that vegas already factored in the line and the winnings were just not coming. It took a couple of years to come around and some hefty weekly payouts, but I started thinking is there such a thing as knowing too much? It seemed as if I was playing right into vegas' hands.
2014-2015
I have seen comments do the work and all, but then the selection is always some line move (which has been tanking of late). Personally, I'm done with line moves dictating my choice, I haven't even studied the returning starters or much of the known information out there on the www. I have been reading newspapers, forums and other commentary. I wish everyone here a profitable season, and let's have a good year. My angle is going to be x's and o's and will try not to fall in the same cracks as years past. If I do follow a line move, I will tell you that is the reason and not drum up some bull. Can't go back in time, but I would like to go back in a time where betting on sports was fun, thus profitable in entertainment and in hopes of pocketbook.
If I hear the word value one more time, I think I'm going to scream.
Let's have a great season.