There are many famous movie lines; many that I have quoted over the years. One of my favorites is: That’s the Discipline. Do you know what movie that’s from? One of my favorites… I’ll give you a second to think about it. Anyways, speaking of discipline… that is THE hardest part of betting on sports.
First thing… sticking to your standard unit of play. Bottom line, don’t back up the truck on what you think is a sure thing. I’d like to get to a point where I have “star” plays… like 1 star= 1 unit, etc, but even that… I’ve noticed over the past 7 months that the games I’m the surest on, are typically games that I will lose; games that I feel good about, but are not “lead pipe locks” usually do a lot better. So… upping my units on a more confident play may not be the best strategy. Picking a comfortable unit play and sticking close to that on a game in game out basis, I think, is the way to go. When I was trying to build my bankroll back up from $3, my unit was $1; once I hit $20, I bumped my unit to $2. I still haven’t made the next level to bump my units again; I have played $5 per preseason game, which has turned out OK since I’ve went 3-1 thus far. Obviously, I’d like to build my bankroll to a point where my unit is a substantial dollar amount. Then, when I increase my bankroll 8x, like I have at this point from $3 to $24, I’ll make some real money… patience.
Discipline comes into play when determining the number of games to play each night. All nights are not created equal, but in general, less is more. This past Friday, I kind of went a little crazy and put my whole bankroll on the line spread across a bunch of games; I took a hit. Stick to a small number of games if possible. 3 or less sounds reasonable. Heck, there may be nights when you play nothing; I know, I know… hard to believe that, but, if nothing fits your plays, then… The boosts that I get help dictate this too; sometimes that may not even be smart. Boost or not, a loss is a loss, so… Still, if I like 1 game and I have 1 boost, then it works… if it hits of course. Then there’s the “no sweat” plays, where you get a bonus bet back… again, don’t feel like you HAVE to do it just because of that. It’s a constant test.
Dealing with the losses is hard too. Obviously, you’re going to lose about half the time, if you’re lucky. If you can win just more than half the time, then you can slowly nudge ahead. So… chalk up the losses… it’s like that DB that gets burned the play before; forget it and move on… and don’t move on by chasing something, move on by going through the same decision process. Balance Daniel-Son…
No, “that’s the discipline” is not from Karate Kid, although that is one of my favorite movies. It’s from Heat… when DeNiro is telling Val Kilmer what it takes to survive in the thing they do; when you spot the heat coming around the corner… Love that movie. OK, let’s keep bumping it up… Good luck!
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