MLB Betting: Choosing Advice Wisely
By Loot, Major League Baseball Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
When we begin betting baseball, our ears perk up when the topic is discussed. The challenge for the betting man is to determine what is worth listening to and what is not. Listening to the wrong people can contaminate our analysis, while sometimes we shouldn’t hesitate to take truly relevant information to heart.
The people we hear most are the ones we should really be ignoring. That means the guys on radio, TV, and the Internet. These guys are trying to fill time. In addition, none of the talking heads that you see on ESPN, for example, are tailoring their analysis for the guy betting on games. Talking baseball and talking baseball wagering are really two different things.
Some of the analysts have good information. Where the problem begins for us is how these guys feel they have to take a stand. Use them for information, not opinion. Let Peter Gammons go make a living on baseball wagering, then we can start taking his words to heart. We live in an era where reporting has changed. It’s not the act of relaying facts anymore. All forms of media have seen the act of forming opinions and judgments bleed into their reporting. It's often times biased and lacking objectivity.
In other words, if a reporter tells us a player is nursing a tender elbow, take it at face value. Don’t take to heart what the reporter says about how that will affect the result of a game or a team’s overall success. Rely on yourself to break down the information. We are the ones who should be processing the information. At no time during your wagering should you bet on something by virtue of what some guy said on TV. Listening to Chris Berman or Kenny Mayne never got anyone anywhere in the world of baseball wagering.
Then we have the people in our everyday lives trying to pollute our ears. Sports is something in this world that forces people to take a stand. As gamblers, we want to take stands when we place a wager, but we try to remain flexible leading up to that point. We keep an open mind. We know that in a 162-game season, anything can happen on a given day. In MLB, you can only be so sure of something.
That contradicts the mentality of the general fan, where everything is more black-and-white. Avoid water-cooler baseball talk unless your co-worker happens to be a betting whiz, which is unlikely. Don’t make bets on the basis of what some guy at the bar said. The only advice you should take to heart is from people who are looking at baseball along the same lines as you. You might be a fan, but when wagering, you want to look at it differently.
Even when you run into people who bet on baseball, exercise caution. We’ve all had experiences where some guy at the sportsbook leads us astray or some poster on an online forum poisons our mind. In a brick-and-mortar book, you will get cornered if not careful and get an earful from someone who might not be what you would call a winner.
Those who truly know are the quietest ones. The big-mouth with B.O. at the book with a mustard stain on his shirt might not be the guiding light to follow. If someone really successful is trying to pull your coat, that’s one thing. But those guys aren’t usually at the book giving out their picks for kicks. The guy telling you about the best picks of the day is very likely just a regular Joe looking to chat up someone.
That’s fine, but stick to your own guns. Anyone who ever made it in baseball wagering was largely self-reliant. They didn’t get their picks from shysters with hotlines claiming 90% winners. They didn’t count on Sportscenter to get their lowdown. They listened selectively to the right people and depended mostly on themselves for the necessary insight and analysis.
Try to focus only on the voices that can actually help you. Online or in person, there are indeed people whose insights can lend more thoughtfulness to your wagers. They might hip you to a really good bet that you hadn’t considered or force you to reconsider a wager you were about to place. And that’s something that happens sporadically. For the most part, your success is going to come down to whether you personally have the chops for this. It’s on you.
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