College Football Betting: Signs That You Are Making Solid Wagers
By Loot, NCAA Football Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
There are some signs that you are doing the right thing in your college football wagering. Doing these things won't automatically cast you into the role of “winner,” necessarily, but will at least show that you are on the right track. By doing some of these things, you at least give yourself a fighting chance to make it in the wild and wooly world of college football betting.
Look at the kinds of bets you are making. Are you making mostly straight bets, where the bookie commission is relatively low? Or are you making more extravagant bets where you are lured in with the potential of hefty payouts? If you find yourself making an abundance of parlays and teasers, you are probably getting swallowed up with the vig. As sports-betters, we are all subject to juice. Just make sure you're taking little sips and not chugging it down like Mean Joe Greene.
A great sign is when you show the ability to stick to a plan. We all set out betting on college football Saturday with a certain course of action in mind. The problem is that most of us can't adhere to the script when faced with adversity. When losing, some bettors can get a little sideways and forget their plan. Even if you are losing, showing the ability to keep your cool and stick to a plan is a good sign that you can turn it around and get on the right track. If you start plundering down a bad road at the slightest provocation, this might not be for you. You're never more than a bad head-rush away from devastating your bankroll.
Examine the wagers you place. Are you betting underdogs? You should be. Your underdog wagers should meet or exceed the number of wagers you place on favorites. It shows you are getting good value and not suckered into following public opinion. The public loves the favorites. That means if you bet a disproportional amount of favorites, you are likely getting the short-end of the value-stick over the long term.
In an overall sense, underdogs are often not as respected as they should be, while the favorite is often a bigger favorite than it should be. That's not a rule. It's just that in totality, that's how it works. And that means if you are betting a large majority of favorites, you are probably making it very hard on yourself.
Are all your wagers on games that will be on TV? On a given day, there are dozens of games upon which you can wager. If you find yourself always betting on TV games, you might be betting more for entertainment than trying to make this a profitable enterprise. You should always be looking for the best wagers to place, regardless of how much the general public wants to see the game.
When you see guys betting on only the big games, they are more interested in using wagering as a way to shadow their fan experience–to enhance their levels of fun as they follow college football. Obviously, we should be paying closer attention to trying to actually win money. When you find yourself betting on the lesser-match-ups, as opposed to the television darling games, that shows you are at least geared to trying to find the wagers where you have an edge.
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A good sign can also be when you don't bet. A lot of bettors fall into a certain way of thinking where they feel if they don't find something to bet, they aren't doing their jobs. But if you fail to find a wager where the edge is up to your hopefully-high level of standards, not betting is probably the best move. It shows you might have the patience to make it.
It feels especially good to win a bet when you were able to develop original insight and then actually had enough heart to execute the wager. Sometimes, we feel we stumbled upon an original way of perceiving something that lies in direct contrast with what the rest of the college football betting world is thinking. A good bettor is confident enough in himself to act on it, while others will end up figuring they're wrong because no one else seems to think the same way they do. Creating original thoughts are all fine and dandy. To take it to the next level, however, simply having those thoughts is not enough. We have to actually act on them from time to time or it does us no good.