College Football Betting: Finding the Right Spot
By Loot, NCAA Football Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
Selectivity in college football wagering is an actual weapon we have in our arsenals. There are dozens or even hundreds of propositions we see weekly. How selective we are is a major determinant in how we fare against the house. This is a unique facet of sports betting, but only if we fully utilize it to our advantage.
In many forms of gambling, we aren't as easily able to isolate situations as well as we can in sports betting and more specifically—college football betting, where there are dozens upon dozens of games to bet. In college pigskin betting, we can just sit back and wait for the best spots. Other forms of gaming have that same dynamic, but not quite to the same extent as sports betting. When you sit down to play blackjack, you're playing every hand. If you sit at a slot machine, you're in for every roll. This form of betting allows you sit back and watch. When the moment is right, then you can pounce.
A problem many college football bettors run into is when they use wagering to fulfill their need for action. In something that requires patience, being action-oriented can be a major problem. Not that you have to sit by as weeks go by looking for the ideal spot--that's not the ticket either. It's just that when you bet on sports, you need to have one goal in mind--to win. Not to have fun. Though make no mistake, winning is fun.
The bottom line is that you have to choose where you stand in college football betting. And the choice is binding and you can't be both. Either you're a recreational player, you know, a guy who likes to have a little fun with sports betting. Or you're the calculating betting man who is trying to do this seriously. If you see yourself falling into the latter category, having fun is not what drives you. It may be a pleasant byproduct, but it's not your guiding light.
Now let's address being overly-selective or only betting "sure things." Those things can also be harmful to your bankroll. There is no such thing as the perfect spot in sports betting. There are certainly going to be excellent spots. You just can't afford to lay back and wait for the absolute ideal situation because then you won't be betting enough to make progress. Being selective does not mean constantly refraining from betting.
There are some college football bettors who are actually quite selective. They do a lot of the things that the best in the business do. They wait and try to isolate the best spots. It's just that when they do--it's always heavy chalk--big favorites. They latched onto the idea of selectivity and took it too far, trying to completely insulate themselves from risk, which can't really be done in sports betting.
We have to wrap our heads around the fact that losing is a part of college football betting--the cost of doing business. Trying to circumvent that is futile. There are definite things you can do to make it happen less, but don't think you can eliminate it completely. A lot of guys try by taking ridiculous odds on what they perceive to be can't-miss bets. Like they lay 30-1 on the Miami Hurricanes to beat Florida Atlantic. Or they bet on the best college team at home against a lousy team on the money line. Or they unload their bankroll taking a 9/1 favorite on the money line. They're going to win their share of bets and might even look good for a while doing it. Then along comes that one or two bad losses and next thing you know--they're no longer members of the wagering population.
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We just need to make sure we have a far-ranging vision of the future. In order to secure the success of that vision, we need to remember the marathon that is college football betting. We're not golfers behind by 4 strokes who need to start hitting par-5 greens in 2 shots and gunning for flag-sticks. We watch sports so much that maybe the competitive nature of it rubs off on us. We're not in a competition with college football betting.
A good rule of thumb is to wait for a wager where our opinion is in line with great value. Then, we pull the trigger on a bet. There is a side that we like and the odds are better than we thought we would be getting. Unless those things line up for us, we wait for a better spot.
