Line Grading Policy
(as of 5/15/2015)
Pregame.com’s goal is to make its grading lines representative of the real market … to allow a pick follower to be confident that his record following a Pro’s picks would be at least as good as any record promoted.
There will be 6 Grading Books (all available on the Pregame.com screen):
(3 online books)
Pinnacle
The Greek
Sportsbook.ag
(3 Vegas books)
Westgate
William Hill
Southpoint
All 6 books are large operations with many players – with Pinnacle being perhaps the most respected online book; and with Westgate perhaps the most respected book in Vegas. I purposely excluded Bovada because of complaints about them providing to odds screens a “square” line which is not bettable for many. I purposely excluded BetOnline because of complaints about their world openers being extremely soft.
I feel strongly this is an extremely fair and representative group of sportsbooks.
When making any pick, Pros must use a line available through at least HALF the books which are bettable at the time the pick is entered into the system – with a minimum of 2 books no matter what.
So …
If all 6 books have line on the game, line used most be available through at least 3.
If 5 books bettable, available at least 3.
If 4 books bettable, available at least 2.
If 3 books bettable, available at least 2.
If 2 books bettable, available at least 2.
If 1 book bettable, pick not allowed being made.
Why a minimum of 2? Because one book could have a whacky line for whatever reason, but two books will not. This also prevents a soft opener from being exploited.
Also note that only two of the 6 books are clearly square (William Hill and Sportsbook.ag), so to get to the 3 books that will typically be required, at least one non-square book will have to have the line too.
So, when isn’t a book bettable?
* Before they open a number on a game (the screen too would be blank).
* If the book is in Vegas, and is physically closed (though number is still on the screen).
Good news is Southpoint is effectively open all night!
That leaves William Hill and Westgate as books that close.
It is very safe to say these two books are open till 10 pm Pacific Time and reopen at 8 am Pacific Time. The assumption moving forward is that neither of these books are considered bettable between those hours.
Overall, these changes make the strictest grading system of any major picks selling site even stricter. A system that allows for maximum confidence that your record following a Pro’s picks would be at least as good as any record promoted.
Keep in mind that most pick followers will not be able to bet at the Vegas books … the point of this collection of 6 books is not that a follower would play at all 6, but rather that these Pregame Grading Books are representative of the overall market – and if the number is available at half of these books, it will be available most the time to anyone with at least a few outs. Most importantly, with those few outs you will get a better number more often than you’ll be forced to take a worse number – insuring in the long-run that your personal results will be at least as good as the promoted records.