99.82% of bettors losers, WHAT?

[DoggieStyle]

SlamDunk,

What about it? 500 out of 10,000 sports bettors are winners?

DOESN'T THAT SEEM HIGH?

[This message has been edited by DoggieStyle (edited 09-09-2000).]

[Ronbets]

Let's not forget, JDM's prerequisite here was betting more than 5 days per week. To back up my contention, we are eliminating the 'weekend warriors', recreational TV amd parlay card player. Serious players, pros, scalper/middlers, and let's not forget the degenerates, are in the trenches daily opposite the BMs. Of this lot, 5 - 7% will manage a decent living.

[SLAM DUNK]

Doggie, I am asking the question, because I have no clue. To me making money over a season(NBA) is automatic. So 500 out of 10,000 seems low. I work harder than most at it, but I do not think making a profit should be a hard goal for many to accomplish.

[Jeff]

Not sure where you come with - "but I do not think making a profit should be a hard goal for many to accomplish."

Did you start out a winner? How long have you been at it? Did you always have the discipline?

There's people out there that can pick in the 58% range, and STILL lose.

You have to understand the "gambling" mentality of the average person. Again, POST UP is the key word. Their mentality is no different than the guy who goes to the casino with xxx dollars, and tells himself, this is what he can afford to lose today.

They get behind, they chase. They bet parlays. They double up. They let it ride. etc.etc.etc.

There's more stories out there, of players who won astronomical amounts of money, and then blew it all, than there are stories of players who won astronomical amounts, and walked away. They CAN'T walk away.

We're splitting hairs about the exact number. I don't know what it is, and I'm not sure if Johnny is using actual numbers, or if he just threw that out there, but the number is high.

[morgan131]

I believe it.

[TrendSetter]

Jeff's right, big winners can't walk away. I'm in the army and while stationed in Germany and Korea I saw it. They have slot machines at the clubs, bowling alleys, and some hotels. I watched many times when someone hits big they would pick up all their money and say, "that's it, I quit", and cash in. In about 1/2 an hour they'd be right back and say, "I'm just going to try $5 more". They'd lose that and keep playing until they put it all back and more.

[This message has been edited by TrendSetter (edited 09-09-2000).]

[Trisha]

If that number (99.82%) is correct, and one assumes that there have been 1000 people (to make the numbers easy) posting in this forum at one time or another, you can conclude that only one or two of them (us) are long-term winners. While I realize that the original statement included other qualifications, the most notable being the inclusion of those betting 4+ days per week, that eliminate many posters, the fact is - the VAST majority of information we are getting in this forum is being posted by LOSERS! Just thought I'd throw that out to give everyone a little slap in the face with reality.

Before I get labeled as nothing more than a junior member basher and run out of here after my first post, let me explain myself. To borrow the overused phrase "long-time listener, first-time caller" from talk radio, would make me a "long-time reader, first-time poster" here at Bettorsworld. I have been thoroughly entertained and informed during the past months as a silent participant and can only assume that it will continue long into the future. I really believe that this forum is one of the best mediums available to gather usable information regarding sports betting. That being said, I have to remind myself from time to time that posters here - whether novices, administrators, whales, squares, or "experts" - are predominantly LOSERS in their actual betting practices. If there is anything I've learned over the years in this game it's that there is a BIG difference between KNOWING how to bet successfully and actually DOING it. Am I one of those elite 0.18% of bettors out there? Probably not. Do I aspire to be? ABSOLUTELY!

Keep up the good work, all.


Peace,

Trisha

[SLAM DUNK]

Jeff, I spent most of my gambling career, betting horses, so the transition into sports was a fairly easy one. You think winning money against a 4.5% take is hard, try it against a 15-25% take(depending on the pool), in which horses go from being a 40 claimer to a 5 claimer between races unbeknownst to you the capper. At least if Kobe Bryant has a sore elbow, I will know about it. Also at least with sports you get to lock in your price. Nothing worse than betting a horse at 9-5 with a minute to post, and seeing him dip to 7-5. You end up stuck with a bet you do not even want. While I fully understand Trendsetters points in regards to gambling in situations that it is impossible to win over the long run(eg slot machines, craps....), it seems to me that in a game of skill in which the player is fully able to dictate whether he bets with an edge or not, that more 5% would be successful. Hey I am the same way. If I send a $100 to a on line casino, I most likely will tap it out. There is little chance I will win, I will eventually get bored(since I cannot make myself win) and will eventually lose control and tap out. But with sports betting
I am in complete control. I know whether edge is significant enough or not. I realize that if there is no plays today there are 10 games tomorrow.

[Ronbets]

Trisha,

Nice firster intro post. If you come here to learn Marketing 101, Johnny DeMarco is your man.

I don't buy those %s and I guarantee you the IRS doesn't either. You have my word though, I won't ask them.

[Trisha]

I agree that the number 99.82% is simply ridiculous. To be able to peg something as esoteric as this down to the hundredth of a percentage point is quite simply impossible. DeMarco's point, however, is well taken - it is a VERY tough business from this side of the betting window. The single factor that separates the few winners from the sea of losers is discipline. Slam Dunk is right on when mentioning boredom - most bettors at some point, whether winning or losing, get bored and bet too big on days and/or sports where they have no edge and ultimately tap out. The tremendous discipline that it takes for someone to bet sports and win consistently, (to say nothing of betting to put food on the table, pay the rent, and send the kids to college) is beyond comprehension for most. I have the utmost respect for anyone who is able to accomplish that feat. Whether they number exactly 0.18% is irrelevant.

I'm not saying anything that most of you don't already know, but I think it is beneficial to be reminded every now and then. I know it helps me.

Peace,

Trisha

[sportshobby]

Trish, your comments are welcome. As far as this board, don't forget that there are boomakers, scalpers, casual and professional players and posting. And I would imagine that the players that post here are well above the average public.

So don't assume we're all losers.

[reno]

Slam Dunk, when future historians who specialize in epidemiology look back at our current epoch, they will undoubtedly conclude that the the worst epidemic afflicting late 20th-century and early 21st-century civilization was not AIDS; it was "squaritis." When 99+% of all sportsbettors are losers afflicted with this disease, what you have is an epidemic of the first magnitude.

If I were mls, a respected BW contributor who is also physician, I would attempt to do for squares what Salk did for polio: discover a vaccine that protects sportsbetters against the disease. And judging from Railbird's testimony, the secret ingredient for the vaccine might very well be found in wheatgrass.

In the meantime, while mls and other physicians sworn to the Hippocratic oath search feverishly for a cure, your Save the Squares Foundation can serve as a stopgap measure. And I'm sure that Johnny D., always the consummate public servant, will be glad to tell the world, via his 150+ nationwide scorephones, that for sportsbettors suffering from "squaritis," your foundation represents salvation.

[bigtimehoops]

auspice,

In reference to your paradise casino comments, I will point out that your absolutely clueless. First of all the only people that saw totals 4 to 5 points higher and 20, 30 points higher in baseball were the ones buying that #. You wanna know how many people beat PC on a consistent basis..........ONE....and he was scalping, middling in the days when he was beating us to the number. And you weren't him.


BTH

[auspice]

to bigtimehoops

[auspice]

to bigtimehoops

look moron....read my post over again. You can read can't you? I never said I middled them.
I was using a line service out of Vegas at the time and their lines were consistently off in all the sports. and I don't want your infantile imput that I'm such a square that I only bet favorites. hardly....

use your pea brain for something other than bashing someone for awhile. What would happen today if a sportsbook put out basketball numbers to squares that were 4 or 5 points different.....or baseball numbers that were .30 different all day long? There'd be so many beards all over them they'd be gone. wake-up....look around!!
do you see the paradise casino anywhere today? when you make your calls tomorrow for the football, will the paradise be one of your calls? no I guess not....I guess the 18 guys out of 10,000 just destroyed them. but then....ahhh.....what's the point....yes you are all knowing....I bow to your supreme knowledge.....soon you will be the master of all you survey my lord...