I am betting NBA basketball this postseason.....my playoff betting history in basketball hasn't been good, so subsequently I have given myself a very short lease in the postseason, however this season I am doing very, very well....and in no way am I getting a big head over it...I've got one simple indicator that has done very well in the playoffs that has held up which has pumped up my bankroll. If the Celtics manage to win the Eastern conference it will be my second best NBA season ever.
Anyway, cruising through the internet as bettors tend to do, looking for something that might give me an edge....I went into ESPN's Chalk, which is the betting portion of ESPN, as ALL the major media players have hopped on board the betting cascade that has taken over north america. I looked at the betting experts'(?) picks for the NBA playoffs.....statistics galore that three or four of them put out in making a case on their side/total/player player performance picks....and there was a lot of picks!
We chatted briefly about this earlier in the thread, of whether media types can be likened to a pro that makes their living at this putting out their picks, or it is all fun and games and they actually make money by getting paid by ESPN, etc., and they either lose some (or all) of it betting their picks. Or they do as Marc Lawrence does, who doesn't bet his picks at all? Marc Lawrence evidently lives in a house with a six car garage so aside from being a very good marketer, he is astute in knowing his betting prowess doesn't keep him in the money.
In a perfect world, when someone is making picks, their picks record is next to their name, so one can know if they know what they're doing, or not. Over a month or two of picks, one gets the idea if someone is competent at that type of market. Marc Lawrence actually has done this for his personal picks record and those in his stable of handicappers on his site, for which I give him credit. Every single one of them over a month or two in the times I have checked his website have a record of less than 52%, the Mendoza line for bettors.
So today because I had nothing better to do, I checked ESPN's expert picks (and they're free!) for today's games against the results of the games between the Heat/76ers and Suns/Mavericks.
Their results on the day?.....2-7 ATS.
So, I'm going to follow them for the next week, to see if they stay well below that profit/loss line. I've seen how poorly they did for a whole couple of seasons in college football and now I want to see if poor performance also holds up in NBA hoops.......gives you an edge if you know someone is a loser....can get you off of a game if you are on the fence on a game, but your favorite mush is on the same side, or if you have nothing, but want to have a play or two for the day......one just tunes in to see what they like for that day and FADE.