When Betting Sports, Leave the Action Outside

You see it all the time... You go to the sports book in Vegas (the home of betting sports) and there are crowds of men watching 15 TV screens at once. They're clutching handfuls of tickets from betting sports of all kinds... football, basketball, hockey, college and pro... all betting on these games at the same time.

They're cheering one screen and screaming at the next. It's a raucus atmosphere and can't be matched anywhere else for the true sports fan. These gamblers all have one thing in common: They're there for the "ACTION".

I remember the last time I was in Vegas with my "Band of Betting Brothers" and the afternoon college games had just finished. We're on our way our to our traditional Lawry's Prime Rib dinner and one of the guys stops me on the way out the door and says, "Larry, give me a pick in the late Hawaii game, I gotta have some action during dinner."

This mindset of always needing to have some money "working" on one game or another is the epitome of the rush a gambler gets from betting sports. Unfortunately, it's another sample of the behaviors the casino owners are counting on from the gamblers in their fine hotels.

It makes no sense. The sooner a gambler starts to look at a bet on sports as an investment rather than a gamble, he will become a bettor instead of a gmabler... a better bettor at that!

You need discipline, but the way to minimize risk and maximize earnings when betting sports is to analyze the games, find your top one, two or three plays, and play those games ONLY. If you play a whole slate of 15 to 20 games, what are the odds you're going to come out ahead? Also, if you do lose, you will probably lose big.

The better way to approach it is to consolidate your wagers into a small number of games, bet the same amount for each bet (remember, each bet is a 50/50 proposition, there are no odds so you don't do yourself any favors by weighting your bets across multiple games), and wait for the results happy that you have enough "action" for the day.

Odds are, you will either hit 2 out of 3 picks, or lose 2 out of 3 picks. This is a reasonable expectation and will keep you in the game longer... which is what you want in the long run, isn't it?

Lawrence O'Connor is an avid sports fan, blogger and podcaster. His Betting Sports blog and podcast is updated daily with advice & picks.