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How did you start betting and gambling
- Thread starter malati
- Start date
CoachTony_Bets
Value Hunter
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2024
- Messages
- 72
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- 6
I got into betting in kind of a roundabout way actually. When I was playing college football back in the late 90s we obviously weren't allowed to bet on sports, that would have gotten us kicked off the team immediately. But I was always fascinated by the point spreads and how accurate they usually were. Like we'd be 7 point favorites against some team and we'd win by exactly 6 or 8 points and I'd think man whoever sets these lines really knows what they're doing.
After college I played semi-pro for a couple years and that's when I really started paying attention to betting more seriously. I wasn't betting myself yet but I had teammates who were and they'd talk about spreads and totals and I started realizing that my understanding of the game from a coaching perspective gave me insights that casual bettors probably didn't have. Like I could watch film and see when an offensive line was getting dominated or when a defense had no answer for a particular scheme, and that kind of analysis seemed more valuable than just looking at who won and lost.
My first actual bet was in 2005, I was 29 years old and had just started coaching high school football. It was a Sunday Night Football game, Steelers versus Bengals if I remember right. I put $50 on the Steelers minus 3 and they won by 10. I was hooked immediately not because I won but because I felt like I understood why the bet won. It wasn't just luck, the matchup made sense and I had identified something that made the Steelers the right side.
For the first few years I was a complete amateur though, no different than any other recreational bettor. I'd bet games based on my gut feeling or because I liked a team's running game or whatever. I wasn't tracking my bets, I wasn't managing my bankroll properly, I was just winging it. I probably lost a couple thousand dollars over those first three or four years but I was treating it as entertainment so I didn't really care that much.
The turning point for me was around 2010 when I started actually tracking every bet I made in a spreadsheet. Once I saw the numbers in black and white I realized I was down about $3,200 over the previous two years. That was a wake up call. I started reading books about sports betting, learning about concepts like expected value and closing line value and proper bankroll management. I joined some forums and started learning from guys who had been doing this for decades.
What really helped me was applying my coaching knowledge more systematically. Instead of just watching games and having opinions, I started breaking down matchups the same way I would if I was game planning against an opponent. Offensive and defensive line matchups, coaching tendencies in specific situations, how teams perform in different weather conditions, rest and travel factors, all the stuff that I understood from coaching but hadn't been applying to my betting in a structured way.
I also learned the hard way about emotional betting. There were multiple times where I'd bet on my college team or bet against a rival team that I hated and those bets almost always lost money. It took me years to accept that you can't let your emotions influence your betting decisions. Now I have a rule that I don't bet on any game involving teams I have strong feelings about, either positive or negative. It's just too hard to be objective.
The other big lesson was learning to be selective. In my early years I was betting 10 or 15 games every weekend because I wanted action on everything. Now I might bet 3 or 4 games per week and only when I genuinely believe I have an edge. It's not as exciting but it's way more profitable. Most losing bettors are betting too many games, they're essentially paying the vig over and over on bets where they have no real advantage.
I've been betting seriously now for about 15 years and I'm profitable over that time span but it's not like I'm making a living from it. I clear maybe $8,000 to $12,000 per year depending on how the season goes, which is nice supplemental income but nothing life changing. My bankroll is around $25,000 and I bet 2% units, so I'm betting $500 per game typically. That feels comfortable for me given my income from coaching and I can handle the variance without it affecting my life.
The biggest piece of advice I'd give to anyone starting out is to treat the first year or two as your learning period. Don't bet big, don't expect to win, just focus on tracking everything and learning what works and what doesn't. Most people lose money when they start betting and that's fine as long as you're learning from it. The people who get in trouble are the ones who keep making the same mistakes over and over without ever analyzing what they're doing wrong. Track every bet, calculate your ROI, figure out where your edge is if you have one, and be brutally honest with yourself about whether you're actually good at this or just getting lucky in the short term.
Also be prepared for the psychological side of it to be harder than you expect. Losing streaks are inevitable and they're brutal mentally even when you're doing everything right. I've had stretches where I lost 12 of 15 bets despite making what I still believe were good decisions based on solid analysis. That's just variance and you have to be able to handle it without tilting or changing your entire approach. Most people can't handle that psychological pressure and that's why they fail at sports betting even if they have decent handicapping skills.
Anyway that's my journey with betting. Started casual, lost money for years, got serious about it, developed a process, and now I'm consistently profitable but not getting rich. For me that's the sweet spot where it's rewarding both intellectually and financially but it's not creating stress in my life. I love the challenge of trying to outsmart the market and when I win a bet because my analysis was right it feels great. But I also have realistic expectations about what's possible and I'm not relying on this income for anything important. That's probably the healthiest way to approach sports betting for most people.
After college I played semi-pro for a couple years and that's when I really started paying attention to betting more seriously. I wasn't betting myself yet but I had teammates who were and they'd talk about spreads and totals and I started realizing that my understanding of the game from a coaching perspective gave me insights that casual bettors probably didn't have. Like I could watch film and see when an offensive line was getting dominated or when a defense had no answer for a particular scheme, and that kind of analysis seemed more valuable than just looking at who won and lost.
My first actual bet was in 2005, I was 29 years old and had just started coaching high school football. It was a Sunday Night Football game, Steelers versus Bengals if I remember right. I put $50 on the Steelers minus 3 and they won by 10. I was hooked immediately not because I won but because I felt like I understood why the bet won. It wasn't just luck, the matchup made sense and I had identified something that made the Steelers the right side.
For the first few years I was a complete amateur though, no different than any other recreational bettor. I'd bet games based on my gut feeling or because I liked a team's running game or whatever. I wasn't tracking my bets, I wasn't managing my bankroll properly, I was just winging it. I probably lost a couple thousand dollars over those first three or four years but I was treating it as entertainment so I didn't really care that much.
The turning point for me was around 2010 when I started actually tracking every bet I made in a spreadsheet. Once I saw the numbers in black and white I realized I was down about $3,200 over the previous two years. That was a wake up call. I started reading books about sports betting, learning about concepts like expected value and closing line value and proper bankroll management. I joined some forums and started learning from guys who had been doing this for decades.
What really helped me was applying my coaching knowledge more systematically. Instead of just watching games and having opinions, I started breaking down matchups the same way I would if I was game planning against an opponent. Offensive and defensive line matchups, coaching tendencies in specific situations, how teams perform in different weather conditions, rest and travel factors, all the stuff that I understood from coaching but hadn't been applying to my betting in a structured way.
I also learned the hard way about emotional betting. There were multiple times where I'd bet on my college team or bet against a rival team that I hated and those bets almost always lost money. It took me years to accept that you can't let your emotions influence your betting decisions. Now I have a rule that I don't bet on any game involving teams I have strong feelings about, either positive or negative. It's just too hard to be objective.
The other big lesson was learning to be selective. In my early years I was betting 10 or 15 games every weekend because I wanted action on everything. Now I might bet 3 or 4 games per week and only when I genuinely believe I have an edge. It's not as exciting but it's way more profitable. Most losing bettors are betting too many games, they're essentially paying the vig over and over on bets where they have no real advantage.
I've been betting seriously now for about 15 years and I'm profitable over that time span but it's not like I'm making a living from it. I clear maybe $8,000 to $12,000 per year depending on how the season goes, which is nice supplemental income but nothing life changing. My bankroll is around $25,000 and I bet 2% units, so I'm betting $500 per game typically. That feels comfortable for me given my income from coaching and I can handle the variance without it affecting my life.
The biggest piece of advice I'd give to anyone starting out is to treat the first year or two as your learning period. Don't bet big, don't expect to win, just focus on tracking everything and learning what works and what doesn't. Most people lose money when they start betting and that's fine as long as you're learning from it. The people who get in trouble are the ones who keep making the same mistakes over and over without ever analyzing what they're doing wrong. Track every bet, calculate your ROI, figure out where your edge is if you have one, and be brutally honest with yourself about whether you're actually good at this or just getting lucky in the short term.
Also be prepared for the psychological side of it to be harder than you expect. Losing streaks are inevitable and they're brutal mentally even when you're doing everything right. I've had stretches where I lost 12 of 15 bets despite making what I still believe were good decisions based on solid analysis. That's just variance and you have to be able to handle it without tilting or changing your entire approach. Most people can't handle that psychological pressure and that's why they fail at sports betting even if they have decent handicapping skills.
Anyway that's my journey with betting. Started casual, lost money for years, got serious about it, developed a process, and now I'm consistently profitable but not getting rich. For me that's the sweet spot where it's rewarding both intellectually and financially but it's not creating stress in my life. I love the challenge of trying to outsmart the market and when I win a bet because my analysis was right it feels great. But I also have realistic expectations about what's possible and I'm not relying on this income for anything important. That's probably the healthiest way to approach sports betting for most people.