Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sports Betting Conundrums

February has not been a kind month. I've pretty much been assaulted on all fronts.

Fantasy sports has me winning at one site and losing at another. Horse betting has also been less successful, mostly break even after a solid January.

My sports betting has been horrid for all of 2011. After winning only 50% of my wagers in January, I've fallen off to below 48% for this month. That's not a winning rate by any standards.

Now, my sample size is small enough that I could probably dismiss it as variance, but things are more complex than just running bad.

I could try the infamous "get even" bet, but I am took much of a bankroll nit to get unstuck in one try. I would rather be in the red than busto.

I figured maybe I'd better try to get the best lines for my wagers, to help minimize the losses. In other words, find the least amount of juice for the wagers I want to make.

But being in the good old USA leaves me with the following problems:

Conundrum #1: Getting funds onto the books with the least juice is a GIANT p.i.t.a. There is no way I'm scanning all of my personal info to some unknown entity in another country. And wiring cash to some person in a far away country isn't happening either.

The only betting exchange I can access might have liquidity or cashout issues. Even though it takes about 28 days to deposit by e-check, this site has great lines for all events. However, many punters complain about liquidity for some events and the site's relationship with a slow paying book probably scares off some action.

This leaves me stuck with paying steep juice for wagering, which makes me consider dropping sports betting altogether.

Conundrum #2: I really enjoy sports betting. The whole process of combing the markets for good plays is fun.

While it's the most enjoyable of my three main activities, it's also the least profitable (so far) and the most difficult to pursue as a US resident.

In other words, move to Vegas (not happening) or do something else.

With March madness starting next week, I'll likely drop some more wagers and see how things shake out. But without decent lines to work with, I'll probably concentrate on fantasy baseball and the spring horse racing schedule.

3 comments:

gr8fulmouse said...

Just curious... I use sportsinteraction.com and never had a problem getting money in or out. The lines are screwy sometimes though... interested in your thoughts?

Buffalo66 said...

SIA is known for having great lines on underdogs. It's used by most good line shoppers. They will ban players they call "excessive winners."

Right now they only offer me MG/WU or credit card to deposit. Not my preferred methods.

If you want to shop lines/books, look at: http://odds.sbrforum.com/

gr8fulmouse said...

cool... their eCheck still works for me [unlike PokerStars :-(] I was just wondering your opinion... Thanx!