[Cactus Jack]

I got too loose (rookie mistake) with the $500 I left in my account. 3 dumb bets on SEC tournament winner and a dumb bet on Calipari in the postseason vs Oakland. But still finished up $1700+ for the season. Put $1000 in daughter's tuition account and using the rest for 2 days at Keeneland this meet which will cover room meals gas and tickets + any betting losses. No complaints, looking forward to football season.

I don't do sports books because I've never heard of one going broke but follow lines closely because I think it can keep you informed on what to expect from games. From all I've read, futures are some of the worst plays in terms of odds and I think that most who try to play professionally stay as far away from those as possible.

I have heard of a strategy where someone takes a team that's possibly good enough to win but probably won't with fairly high futures odds (usually someone who'll end up a #1-3 seed and in the +2500 to +4000 range) right after a big regular season loss and then fades them throughout the tournament by playing the underdog moneyline and hoping they get upset early.

The guy who told me about that strategy had locked $100 on 2018 Virginia to win the NCAA at +3200 right after a loss to someone like UNC or Duke and felt good about them eventually getting the #1 overall seed. He planned to fade them beginning with game two because a #16 had never beaten a #1. That didn't work out well. In general the hope in doing that is that you put a small moneyline bet on a large underdog who ends up pulling off a huge upset. Kentucky/St. Peter's would be a good example.

That strategy also seems like an easy way to end up with a Purdue, Creighton, or Tennessee that will advance to the Final Four but can't win, in which case you've just lost most of your future and some juice along the way when they come into the Elite Eight and Final Four as underdogs or 1.5 point favorites.

That's because every a$$hole with $100 in a checking account is betting 20 games a week. 1 person, especially an old(er) person, can absolutely win money betting picking his spots. I agree, futures and parlays are for suckers.

Edit: I also have two local bookies who are friends. They never fail to pay and also never lose in any 365 day period. Simple math. I only use the online books for the bonuses.

Picking spots and the hit and run strategy seems like it could work in the short term if you are lucky, but my understanding was that most places, even those that are fully legal, will literally shut down your account due to "inactivity". If you are up, you'll probably get most of what you are ahead (maybe minus some transaction fees), but from what I've heard Vegas is really the only place that wouldn't shut down the average person who wants to place under 10 bets a year, especially if those are large successful bets.