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PrintWhen it comes to buying a television, or a living room suit, or a car, we are obsessive creatures, doing everything we possibly can to inform ourselves, ask questions, read reviews, comparison shop, bargain hunt, and so on.
This is our hard-earned money we’re talking about here, and so it wouldn’t serve us well to make an on-the-whim purchase on something that may or may not be the best deal—that may or may not be the best product—that may or may not be the best brand.
Most people in the 21st century walk into a car dealership or a furniture store and know exactly what they want and how much they are willing to spend. The purchase, if there is one, will come on the heels of hours upon hours of discussion and research on top of more discussion and more research.
The smart shoppers are the prepared shoppers. They formulate a plan and then execute it. Those that try to simply “wing it” are in all likelihood impulse buyers, and impulse buyers not only make bad purchasing decisions, but generally they make bad life decisions, too.
So it’s amazing, then, how often sports bettors—even the serious ones, those trying to earn legitimate supplemental income—put themselves in a reactionary position when it comes to the betting line. Ninety-five percent of sports bettors, it seems, have no idea what they are looking for prior to the line being released. As a result, they let the line fool them into making bad wagers and that in turn contributes to them becoming a long-term loser.
One of the reasons why we play our public “Guess The Spread” game during football season is so that readers will hopefully spend a bit of time preparing for the upcoming week’s games. By guessing the spread, and by setting your own line, you are then able to “act” rather than “react,” and if you don’t think there’s an advantage in that, you’re fooling yourself.
The sports bettor has few advantages over the bookmaker, but one of them is undoubtedly the ability to outwork and outprepare, always trying to stay a step ahead. When the lines are out, you want to be prepared rather than surprised.
If you’re prepared, you set yourself up with a great chance to get the best of bad numbers and beat the closing line.
That, in turn, will hopefully benefit you in the long run.
