Rutgers. Freakin' Rutgers
From the start yesterday didn't have the look of a winning day for me, losing something like 3 of my first 4 regular plays, but it could have been a tolerable day had I not finally bought into the Rutgers hype. All week long I had resisted betting Rutgers because I thought they were overrated, even after beating Louisville. Yesterday afternoon, though, emotion carried me away and I made three bets on the Scarlet Knights for a total of four units…and lost them all.
Buncha overhyped New Jersey goombas. Couldn't even put up 21 points (that was a double-unit bet I lost) an a Cincinnati team that is NOT good.
Thankfully a couple of late Pac-10 winners (USC and UCLA) and a handful of winning bets on the Hawaii game bailed me out a bit, but I still took a big hit Saturday. Because of that I'm going to bet very carefully in the NFL today. I've made three plays on morning games, and I'll wait to see how those are looking before deciding whether or not to bet the afternoon games. If I get hit early, I may not take any additional action.
11/19 ACTION
Morning games
Falcons at Ravens, Over 20.5 1H, $52.50/$50
Bills at Texans (-3), $50/$52.50
Steelers (-4) at Browns, $55/$50
Morning games, second-half bets
Bears (-3 2H) at Jets, $125/$100
Redskins at Buccaneers (-3 2H), $50.50/$50
Afternoon games
Colts (-1) at Cowboys, $50/$50
Colts at Cowboys, Over 48.5, $54.50/$50
Afternoon games, second-half bets
Colts (PK) at Cowboys, $50/$57
Colts at Cowboys, Over 23.5 2H, $57/$50
Colts (Over 12.5 2H) at Cowboys, $72.50/$50
Evening
Chargers (+3) at Broncos, $223/$200.89
Evening game, second-half bet
None yet
I've actually got a bit more of a budget than the record on this site reflects. I had won a small World Series bet a few weeks back, and I've hit a couple of college basketball winners, so there's about $70 more in my accounts than shows up here. I'm not going to make any corrections, though, as that's close enough when keeping track of football-only plays.
See the Glossary/FAQ page for definitions of terms and numbers.
Nov 23, 2006, 8:20am
Just curious…
You publish your overall record, but that includes what I consider "exotic" bets, e.g. Over/Under, points in a Half, etc.
Are you ahead overall in traditional straight-up college football bets where you either give or take the points?
I would guess that you are ahead but I can't tell.
Nov 23, 2006, 1:11pm
I stuck all the results in a spreadsheet so I could sort things around. You're right, I would have fared much better had I laid off the non-standard bets. First- and second-half bets especially have hurt me. It would probably be a wise idea to stop making those, except in cases where I'm hedging to preserve a bet that's already likely won.
It's easy to forget all the time when second-half bets have hurt, but it's so easy to remember the few times when making them saves you. Next time I'm about to make a second-half play, I need to think back to this post.
Here's how my record would look without parlays, teasers, quarter or half bets, or the like:
Pointspreads and Over/Unders only:
84-87-5
Pointspreads only:
69-69-5
Pointspreads only, college only:
47-42-2