A question to the forum cappers:

[914-capper]

For the last year and a half, I have compiled a tremendous amout of reading material, and video footage pertaining to the field of sports handicapping. 90% of my video footage consists of college basketball, and college football.

My line of employment (self) is extreme, and hectic; court appearances is guaranteed and I no longer enjoy the challenge that I once faced. Believe me.......I want out!

I believe in my capping abilities, and possess all the necessary attributes like keeping my emotions in check, money management, and not chasing late games to make up for early day defeats. I will admit though, my bankroll is not the greatest. I dont live a flash-filled life either.

Can someone "REALLY" earn $40-60,000 a year being a sports capper?

 

[yyz]

First off, welcome to the board.

To answer your question, you cannot be expected to make that kind of coin without a very hefty bank, or a shitload of balls and luck!

You are asking to make a profit of $1000 a week. That is assuming you wager every week. Since you have stated that you look at NCAA hoops and pig, I will take it that you will be doing those sports.

That gives you 7 months out of the year. Now, you need about $1,750 a week to get you to your goal.

Now we would need to know your "style". Would you wager a dime a game, and hope to get two or three more winners than losers over each weeks time? Would you bet 20 games a night, at $200-$500, and hope your capping brings you a decent "grind"?

Without knowing more. it is not easy to say what you would need to start with to make a stab at 50k

You said that your bankroll was "not the geratest". That most likely means that you should not be shooting for $50,000.

To make that kind of haul, I would think you would need a minimun of a half million dollars. More like 800 to a million.

Plus.........the work you ned to put in is far worse than what you are doing now.

Good luck, if you choose this way to go!

 

[914-capper]

Thanks for the reply.

Been following this site as well as a few others for several years now and I learn more each day. You guys are fantastic!

I realy dont have a particular betting style, or dollar amount. Most of my wagers are small but on occasion, I will pull the trigger and roll the dice. A wager could be from $250-500.

I am very selective on what team I wager with and most are west coast affiliated though I live in NY.

To get an idea, in college basketball I follow teams like Wisk-Milw, and Ill-Chic from the Horizon, SJSU, and Hawaii from the WAC, New-Orleans, and NM-State from the Sunbelt, Oakland from the Mid-Cont conference, Portland, San Francisco, and San Diego from the WCC, and teams from the Big Sky like Montana State, and Idaho State. I find "true" value in the lines posted pertaining to teams like those mentioned.

The work put in, in my opinion, would be very enjoyable. Its something I have considered for two years now.

 

[S-Love]

at an average of 375 per wager you'd need +100 units to achieve $37,500- achievable but extremely difficult. I'd say you need to be a dime player at least to make a living betting sports, but you'd need a BR of 75-100K minimum. And even then if you're making 40-50 units of profit, you're still only clearing 40-50K, which isn't too much money depending on where you live.

 

[djv]

It can help to have a wife with a job for the down times and to keep up the health insurance. Remember all parts of reguler life need attention. To start with you better have a bank to cover all pay outs other then gambling losses. With out it your already behind.

 

[buddy]

A few questions,

1. How long have you been SERIOUSLY sportsbetting?

2. How meticulous is your record keeping?

3. Do you have a verifiable, winning track record?

4. Are you comfortable and confident with your method of money management?

5. How many betting strategies do you use?

6. Do you know how to lose? (This is a very important question.)

7. What kind of handicapper are you? Fundamental, Technical, etc.?

8. Do you have one particular angle that you depend on more than any other?

9. Are you disciplined? Can you look at a 50 game college basketball card and say, "I pass".

10. Are you patient? Do you know what kind of matchup you're looking for and why?

 

[914-capper]

Buddy:

Excellent questions. I appreciate it, it gave me something to seriously ponder.

Allow me to answer them as best as I can.

I have been wagering seriously since the beginning of the 00/01 college football season right through the 01/02 college basketball season with Butler-14 over Radford as my first wager and losing with Portland +11.5 over SF Dons on 2/23/02. I did "ok" in rounds 1, and 2 in the NCAA tourny, as well as the NIT. I need to continue my "education" on pro football and basketball, as well as baseball.

My "record keeping" needs improvement. No lie in that.

I wager the same amount on all games, and like I mentioned in my first post, I dont chase late games to make up for early day defeats. I have "PASSED" on cards a number of times. If I dont see a certain match-up that caught my eye, then I sit back on the side-lines.

I employ both fundamental and technical analysis when it comes to selecting a side. I also rely "HEAVILY" on "VIDEO" which in my opinion, is the most important element in capping sporting match-ups. I have over 300 games in my library. In my opinion, video gives you great in-sight into the mind of a coach.........both offensively, and defensively. As far as a favorite betting angle, hmmmmmmmm. I tend to favor turn-over margines.

 

[BobbyBlueChip]

Capper,

I tend to agree with yyz when it comes to the money that you would need to start this endeavor and with buddy when it comes to record-keeping. No job is worth being miserable over but relying on handicapping to put food on the table also seems like a sure path to misery.

But I just wanted to touch on one subject in your last post.

I have long thought that a sure-fire way to win at a high winning percentage would be to analyze turnovers, not margin as you stated, but finding a way to grade turnovers as to their likelihood of happening again. As an example, if a quarterback is continually throwing into double-coverage, is looking at his primary target, a punter takes a two-step before he drops or a runner gets the rep that he is a fumbler and is getting arm tackled consistently, then there should be an expectation that these turnovers will continue until problems are fixed. However, balls that are thrown on hail-marys or fumbles that are a result of a big hit should probably not be expected to continue should be ?discounted? in analyzing a game. It?s been said many times that turnovers are the most important aspect in winning a game and it is just as important to cover a spread. You have a team that is dominating on both sides of the ball, but they will not be dominating on the scoreboard if they are down by more than two turnovers. It?s the most frustrating part of handicapping match-ups and being right in everything that you predicted to happen and still being on the losing side due to a couple of bad bounces.

The problem with proving my theory is that it would take so much time to view the games of the teams that you are handicapping to give each turnover a subjective score relative to its predictive value and the hardware that you would need to tape the games would be costly. So for now I only can employ this on the teams that happen to both be on TV the week before they play each other.

 

[914-capper]

BB-Chip:

Excellent response.

As far as bankroll is concerned, I know several individuals who have built a sizable betting account from almost pennies. One happens to be a very close friend of mine who is married with one child. His wife is very supportive of his capping endeavor. I would tend to say.......he is very fortunate! LOL!

Several men I know are "dime" players who started out wagering a few hundread a game and now they routinely fly into Vegas a number of times per month.

Luck, or a result of great capping?

 

[yyz]

914,

You still should have a decent bank. Certainly, there are exceptions who will be able to start small, and go big.

You can handicap your nuts off, be right on every situation, and have a blocked punt cost you your money. Happens every week. I would love for you to keep us posted on how you are doing with this, though. I will cheer for anyone who can tough this life out, and make it.

Good luck!