College football is upon us, resulting in most of us smart sports bettors getting just a bit excited again. As well we should be, because this sport is not only one of the last pure unspoiled games on the planet, but also one of the best value-producing games in all of sports betting. You don’t have overpaid premadonnas mailing it in because they are crying over their latest contract dispute in college football. Every player on the field is giving it an all-out 100% effort, 100% of the time. That makes for some good handicapping opportunities, especially early in the season.

But there are some traps you need to be aware of. Only about 5% of sports bettors actually make money over the course of the season, and I really want you to be one of them. There is nothing like watching the big NCAA football games on your big screen or at your local sports bar knowing that you have the best of it on any given Saturday. Order another beer and watch all the habitual losers tear up their parlay cards or pound the tables in disgust as the sports ticker scrolls under the television, knowing that you are likely on the other side of the game that is killing them.

But hey, if you want to be one of those poor people (quite literally), it’s pretty easy to do. Here are some tips for losing at college football betting.

Don’t do any of these things if you like your bankroll:

• Team A beat Team B and Team B beat Team C earlier in the season. Now Team A is playing Team C, so they are obviously going to slaughter them. Bet heavily on them regardless of the line.

• Lean towards favorites, especially small to medium favorites since they don’t have to win by too much and they are obviously the better teams.

• Take the big underdogs, you know the ones getting 28+ points. Heck you are 4 touchdowns or more ahead when the game starts!

• Get in the habit of betting on the top 5 ranked teams every weekend. It’s good to have the best teams in the country working for you.

• Always bet the Thursday night televised game.

• Don’t worry about about betting against a team’s homecoming game - that has no affect on the outcome of the game.

• When a big favorite was upset on the road last week and now is a significant favorite at home this week, bet against them - obviously they showed they are a lot weaker than everybody thought, and getting those points looks good.

• Bet bigger on your stronger picks and smaller on the ones you like but don’t love.

• Play teasers - those extra points make handicapping a lot easier.

• Definitely don’t open an account at a top betting exchange like Tradesports.com where you can usually finagle better odds and even be the bookie if you want to. Just keep laying -110 against the pointspread at a traditional bookie service and don’t worry about the juice.

Technorati Tags: College football, Ncaa football, Sports betting, Football picks

As the 2008 Presidential election approaches, a smart trader starts looking for positions where he or she can enjoy a nice edge. As of this writing, some of the most outstanding trading opportunities that I have ever seen exist in this market (binary contracts on the November Presidential election). Now many of you are probably not familiar with these particular markets, and that is precisely the reason these opportunities exist. It is largely an undiscovered trading vehicle, resulting in an inefficient market which is extremely profitable to trade. I highly recommend that you get involved in it ASAP.

The first question I probably need to answer is where do you need to open an account so you can bet on …ummm…. I mean trade, the election. The two best markets are:

• Intrade (a division of Tradesports) at www.intrade.com

• Iowa Electronic Markets (run by Iowa University) at http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/

I highly recommend that you open an account at both so you can trade the arbitrage opportunity that I am about to describe, and/or seek out the best contract prices. If you already have a Tradesports account then you automatically have an Intrade account, although you will have to fund it separately. (Your password will be the same and your login name will be your Tradesports login name with a .i after it.)

Now, on to the trade. As of today McCain is a decided underdog at Intrade and about even money at IEM. This is easy money and it doesn’t matter who wins. Fund accounts at both places and buy McCain at Intrade while simultaneously selling him at Iowa. Currently you can buy Mccain for about 38-39 at Intrade and sell him for about 45-46 at IEM. You may have to clean out some bids and offers and sit there with an inside bid for a few days to get everything filled, but these markets are high-volume with a lot of interest so it’s not a problem to do.

For example, let’s say you send a check for $1,000 to each place. At Intrade you will wipe out all the current offers selling Mccain through 38.9 and sit there with the rest of your order at around 38.5. You would also wipe out all the bids through about 44.1 at Iowa and sit there with a sell order for the rest of your money at around 44.5. You will need to check back daily and see if anybody fronted your offers so you can leapfrog them in order to get first fill. With this much gap in price a half-point on either side doesn’t really matter.

That’s the free money trade. Adventurous gamblers may be interested in knowing that Intrade has an incredible accuracy record of predicting the outcomes of political events. That being said, I am more inclined to buy McCain under 40 and take my chances with my speculation money. Personally I could see him winning in the biggest landslide in recent history, so at that price it looks like a great value.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Never let your own personal political affiliations affect your trading decisions in these contracts. It’s bad for business.

Technorati Tags: Presedential election, Binary contracts, Trading, Mccain, Obama

Don’t look now but we are right smack in the middle of pre-season NFL football. Most smart sports bettors avoid wagering on these games like the plague, but for a really savvy player there is value to be found. And it doesn’t require any more inside knowledge than you can find reading the major sports websites and watching Sportscenter. The most important thing is understanding the situation; that is, knowing which teams don’t care about winning the game. That’s the key.

The truth is, most teams do care about winning because it’s good for team morale. So you need to concentrate on finding the relatively few matchups where one team doesn’t care about winning. Ironically, it’s usually one of the better teams that fits this bill. They aren’t too worried about winning all their pre-season games because they already know they are a top NFL team. If their starters have been getting a lot of time in past games and they have been winning, you can look for that team to give their second string a good workout while no longer risking injuries to their starters.

This is especially true as you get to the latter part of the preseason - specifically, right now. Look to fade the juggernauts this week, especially ones that have been winning and have a solid winning lineup with no recent changes. Note that this specifically leaves out the Jets! While it’s never a great idea to bet against Brett Favre when he’s fired up about something, the Jets are out to make a statement in the preseason this year and should not be bet against (that doesn’t necessarily mean to bet on them either).

Another good preseason tip is to lean towards underdogs that are getting a half-point more than a key football number. That means the 3.5, 4.5, 7.5, and 10.5 dogs are generally good candidates to bet on. And it just so happens that the strong teams who no longer care about winning in the preseason will often be favorites by one of those numbers! Nice how this all comes together, huh?

Technorati Tags: Sports, Sports betting, Football, Nfl