TIPS ABOUT
SPORTS SERVICES
by gary greene

***IMPORTANT TIPS ABOUT SPORTS HANDICAPPERS***
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These section is to teach you some things about the Sports Handicapping Business in general, and also answer some of the questions I get asked the most every week. E-mail me anytime you have a question you are wondering what the answer is as I can usually tell you the TRUTH about what you want to know.

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TIP 1 -- *HANDICAPPERS WHO "HYPE" GAMES AND SELL
MORE THEN ONE SET OF PICKS EACH WEEK*

The most important thing is anyone who uses HYPE to sell picks is 9 times out of 10 scamming you. Any Handicapper who can win and knows he can win, DOES NOT NEED TO HYPE THE PICKS, he can let the winning picks do the talking. If you can win without Hyping your picks, you can steadily build a clientel that will never leave you. Most intelligent bettors who buy Handicappers picks know HYPE is done to get you to believe that specific pick(s) is better then it really is. In reality, almost every pick is the same, and you should never have to pay a Handicapper for his so called "Better Picks". Next, if a Handicapper has more then one set of picks, or worse charges more if he knows you bet more then most guys, then usually I would be super wary of buying picks from them. I mean how do you choose what set of picks to buy each week? For the Handicapper who sells multiple sets of picks each day he is the only real winner most of the time. If he has 5 sets of picks and only one set wins that day, he can honestly pitch on his Website or Radio or TV shows, that the sets of picks he claims won, actually did win. But if you look closely and read between the lines, you can also see he nicely forgot to tell you the sets of picks that DID NOT WIN. This is what is called "Smoke and Mirrors" in the Handicapping Business. I can never fathom how you can take the advice of a Handicapper for some of his picks, but not all of them. Now you are actually Handicapping him and his picks trying to crystal ball the correct set of his picks for that given week. You may have a losing week with the set you buy, and the Handicapper overall may have a winning week when looking at all his picks for that weekend. The moral here is make sure you buy every pick the Handicapper has and if he wins so do you, if he loses so do you. And any Handicapper who sells picks without any "Hype" (aka "Game of Year" or "Lock of the Week" etc.) and sells everyone all his picks for the same price, is usually someone who wins, knows he can win, and doesn't need to fool you with HYPE, just pick winners and keep his clients for life. I will sell this way of selling will lose some clients too...so not the greatest way to sell either. I have lost clients over the years because many Thursday and Monday Nights I pass, (have no pick as I feel the line is solid and the game should fall close to that line), making for no fun to watch them if you don't have a bet on them. There are plenty of people who feel if you Handicap games, you should always be able to make a selection, regardless of the line or the situation surrounding that game. I have said for 17 years, if the game being played on Monday Night Football was being played on Sunday, "Would I have bet it on Sunday with my other picks"???? If the answer is NO ...why am I picking it now?? Just because it's on TV? If you bet like that, you will surely find yourself on the losing end of the betting stick on most years. You CAN NOT BET JUST TO BET (OR BE IN ACTION). You need to make quality bets, not a quantity of them. And most importantly you MUST USE A STRICT MONEY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM all season long, never in my mind betting more then 10%-15% of your bankroll on any one game. This way you won't let a game you really like kill your bankroll is it happens to lose. This way won't help you get rich overnight, but remember the longer you stay in action, the better shot you will have to continue having a chance to beat the house (Bookmakers).
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TIP 2 -- *PHONE / BOILER ROOM OPERATIONS*
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Well folks...this is an important segment and hopefully this section will save me tons of emails and calls...as this is a ? every sports bettor involved with using Handicappers and Handicapping Services wants to know the "real truth". Ok...let's start by saying most Operations who have a Phone Room are usually more on the crooked side. But not all. I will start by disposing the biggest myths out there today... that big name Handicappers give out both sides of a game to ensure a winner the next day. Most people ask me "Does Jim Feist or Wayne Root do this??" Answer--ABSOLUTELY NOT. You have to understand that big name Handicappers don't have to stoop to that level. If your looking at say Jim Feist....Jim owns a big company. He doesn't just own Jim Feist Sportspicks, he owns a company that also owns 7-8 other Handicappers too. So he isn't about giving one caller to Jim Feist Sports Team A and the next Team B (or other side of that particular game). He knows he may love Team A and one of his Handicappers employed by him will possibly love Team B. So basically it's a Win Win for his overall company's bottom line profit. Some bettors buying picks thru his company will win that game and some will lose. Either way (as long isn't a PUSH), Jim cashes in. So don't feel that the Big Name Handicappers are giving out both sides of a certain game, they ARE NOT. OK next tidbit about Phone Operations vs. Boiler Room Phone Operations. In most cases they are both bad, obviously one you will eventually lose your house at. You have to remember though when you call any one of say Jim Feists handicappers, you are calling into a main room to take your calls. What this ensures is once you call one of these 7-8 Handicappers you are really calling all 7 or 8. Why? Because as soon as they get your number and are done with you at one Handicapper's Phone Room, they simply take your name and number and go to the Room right next door, run usually by the same Phone Room Manager for all the Handicappers, and they again call you back with a new sales pitch from another Handciapper under their umbrella. The main thing here is they know who you are already, how much you wager on a game and MOST IMPORTANT they know you are a bettor, no way of getting around that. What this means is in Jim Feists case he now has a second shot at getting money from that particular bettor purchasing Handicappers picks. Then as soon as Handicapper 2 is done getting all they can out of you...back your name and number go to Handicapper #3's phone room. Then when they are finally done with you on all 7-8 Handicappers they will then sell your name on the street, usually to what is know as the "Boiler Phone Room". This is the place you DO NOT WANT YOUR NAME. Usually these phone rooms are not owned by Big name Handicappers. So, hence, they can tell you almost anything, tell you they are on a 30-3 run, or they have "Inside Information" on a specific game, as the name of the Handicapper is usually (almost always) a Handicapper you never heard of or can't really track or trace. These guys are usually like sharks in a bloodtank...they will pester you so bad you will usually have to get your phone number changed. So as you can see, really either situation isn't favorable to you... so once you call a Handicapper, 9 times out of 10 they won't be the last Handicapper to call you and try to sell you Picks (Selections on future games). I always say, check a Handicappers website. Is it a Website or just a Webpage?? (a page offering his picks for sale but nothing else on it to help you as a bettor in anyway). If he has a legitimate WEBSITE and not just a webpage...usually theres a great chance he is legitimate. I spend a ton of money week in and week out putting my Magazine stuff online. You have to make a great deal of money to cover these expenses. So just check...if a Handicapper only has a webpage offering his picks for that day....I WOULD RED FLAG THAT GUY BIGTIME. It's a really tough business the Sports Handicapping business. Do your homework on any Handicapper before you call them. It might just make your future life a lot less stressful. Plus the best tip, if a Phone Room Salesman calls you and tells you he has a "LOCK", "CAN'T LOSE GAME", or my favorite line "INSIDE INFORMATION (usually meaning per say it's a fixed game and they have this special information), then hang right up. The more reputable bigger names won't use the FIXED GAME sales pitch, they found a better way without the bad rap. They simply HYPE the heck out of the game with some kind of "Game of the Year" following it to make it LOOK LIKE THE GAME SIMPLY CAN'T LOSE, this Handicapper has rated it the highest possible rating ever. Remember this folks, the Handicapper does that to SELL THAT PICK and the best way to sell a pick is to make it seem LIKE IT CAN'T LOSE. If it's his "Game of the Year" pick....it basically sends a signal to you ...this game is as good as it gets. Trouble is these games never seem to end. Next week there will be a new game, even better then the previous weeks "Game of the Year" selection he sold you. Worst thing to is if that game does happen to win (only a 50/50 propositon), you can be assured the price of coffee for the next "Game of the Year" just went up. Heres some invaluable tips to remember. (1). Really the biggest HYPED pick any Handicapper sells you is his favorite pick THAT GIVEN DAY. That's all, that day. Tomorrow he will surely have another one, and so on and so on. (2). A real winning Handicapper does not need to HYPE you to buy a pick. I can tell you one thing, you HYPE a big game and lose, 8 out of ten times you lose that client forever. We all know in this world just getting a new client is tough enough, "Why chance losing him so fast if you know you can win for him over the long haul?" Rememeber this: Any guy who can win and knows it, won't delve into HYPING his picks. He simply will win and win and keep you for life. I have never had a client pissed off over a losing pick that I didn't hype up. But 10 years ago when I sold picks with HYPE and lost, no matter I was winning those picks at a 65% clip over the years, all they ever remembered was how "I killed them with the Game of the Year" losing pick. Most people feel if it's your "Game of the Year", IT HAS TO WIN. Well folks no pick ever has to win and once you realize every game you wager on can lose, no matter what information I have or any handicapper has for selecting that certain game. You can't beat this game over the long haul picking and choosing what game to bet your bankroll or a good majority of it. You have a Handicapper telling you "It can't lose" and 8 out of ten times IT WILL SURELY LOSE. My motto is bet all the games the same, occasionally stepping up 1 1/2 times on a game you really like. Don't ever bet more then 10% of your bankroll on any one game, especially when a Phone salesman is telling you "they have INSIDE INFORMATION. Nobody has information on fixed games, so any other information is just info that they researched to help them make that pick on that individual contest, surely not REAL INFORMATION from someone for one of the two teams involved. I am not saying a game here or there won't be fixed, but no handicapper out there will be in on that information, that will usually be one or two players and a guy paying them a lot of money to fix that game. That guy paying isn't going to leak that info out across America to have that game closely watched, and surely none of the players fixing it will go babbling about doing it. Be careful who you deal with, most of these guys on the Phones are well trained and gutless, they would and will take your house if you let them. DO NOT LET THEM. =============================================== TIP 3 --- SPORTS MONITORS - ARE THEY LEGIT??? ...coming very soon.