Many times people get stuck on betting on just one or two sports. They might utilize a handicapping service to make their picks or do it on their own, but too many times they do so to focus on the NFL or college basketball or some combination of sports as they negate all others. They want nothing to do with wagering on other sports.
Although it may be difficult to handicap a range of sports on your own, if you’re going with a pick service it’s a good idea to use as many different betting platforms (a.k.a. “sports) as possible. Why? There’s a lot of good reason to expand your horizons and to wager on various sports and all of them concern money and profits.
First of all, no pick service is always right and every service will have some off times when their picks won’t pan out. But most will see solid runs in one or two sports when they are having a tough time in another. Plus, there are some under bet sports, such as the NHL and MLB, that offer great value. Because they aren’t as popular as the NFL and college football and even basketball, these sports will give the bettor a distinct advantage.
It’s funny but some bettors will simply refuse to play certain sports for the oddest reasons. Maybe they don’t like hockey or don’t follow the NBA closely, but if they’re able to garner pro picks that are solid then why shouldn’t they take advantage of them no matter what sport it may be? A good sports bet is a good sports bet and the results are always the same.
A handicapping service may see their NBA picks lose 3 betting units in one month while their NHL offerings end up at +27 and MLB at +19. If all you’re willing to wager on is the NBA, you’d be down, but take advantage of their NHL and MLB picks and you’d be at +43. Which would you rather be: -3 or +43?
By the way, sometimes sports bettors will elect to hire a pick service for a short time, such as a week or two, or for a special event such as March Madness. For that short time or for that specific event, the pick service may actually put up losing numbers. Does that make them a bad bet? Not really.
If that happens to you, please be aware that if you’re dealing with a reputable handicapping service that you may have simply utilized their services during one of those times when they were going through a bad spell. This happens to everyone in the business. Chalk it up to the basic premise that nobody is perfect and also to the fact that everyone goes through dry periods.
The best pick services can show you positive results over the course of an entire season or year. Anyone can have a hot week or two and any one can have a cold week or two, but the best of the best see those even out as they achieve an overall success rate from somewhere between 53% and 57%. That means that over the course of a year there will be times when they are hitting 75% or even 85% of their picks and other times they will be correct on 40% or 45%. It all evens out, or should, to a winning percentage of around 55%.
When going with a service, there are a few things that you need to consider. Look for services that have experts focusing in their respective sports and that can provide you with picks from more than just one or two sports. They will have a tendency to know where the smart money is at all times.
Of course, all sports bettors need to keep their activity in perspective. Even if you do diversify, you will still run into times when your picks don’t pan out. Don’t panic, don’t wildly increase your bets and don’t give up. Reassess, reconfigure the way you do things and bet responsibly. Eventually, your luck and picks will turn around.
There’s one other thing to consider as far as pick services are concerned. Maybe you’re a great NFL handicapper and perhaps you’re even solid on the NBA. Perhaps you don’t need anyone to help you with those two sports. That’s great. You should save your cash and not hire a service. But, remember, that diversifying what sports you bet on can really help improve your profits.
So why not subscribe to a service that offers MLB, college basketball and football and NHL picks? That way, you’re still doing what you do best and you’ve subcontracted work out to sports betting experts who can help you utilize the betting power of other sports.
The down and dirty on sports betting is you want to make the most out of each and every opportunity and that means opening yourself up to other opportunities to wager on value-based lines, spreads and over/unders. Give yourself every advantage to win each and every day. As a sports handicapper, you won’t regret it and neither will your bank account.
