Bet on Moneyline

Well folks, here we are. It's August 13 as I write this, and the start of the official NFL season is but a mere four weeks away. If you're like millions of Americans, you're probably counting the days until the season starts for two reasons. One, you want to see if your team is finally going to make a playoff run (my team is the Lions, so playoff football isn't something I'm really concerned about), and two, you can't wait to start losing your shirt betting on football.
Getting buried by betting on football has been a long established American tradition; so much so that it has almost become a rite of passage into adulthood. You can go to college, get a job, and find a beautiful wife-but you really haven't come of age until you've really lost your ass betting the foots. For me this came in the fall of '95, a gambling year that began with a series of small losses through September and October, and culminated in two whopping losses in November; one on the Texas-Texas A&M game, and one on the Alabama-Auburn game. When the dust had settled I was stuck for far more money than I could possibly raise, and was forced to install skylights through the winter in order to pay off a man named 'Kool-Aid' who lived in Saginaw.
Does this story sound familiar? For many of you, it probably does. Hopefully, however, we can finally put the years of constant losing behind you, for this year we're going to do what we can to finally get you out of the red when it comes to betting the NFL. Obviously I can't guarantee you a winning season-nobody can. But I can show you how to identify the kinds of bets that professional gamblers make-and don't make-every Sunday.
Before we start, there are a couple things we need to cover. First, understand that beating the NFL--- or any sport, for that matter-is the result of the the accumulation of small edges. There is NO SUCH THING as a handicapper who hits over 60% on his plays. This beast does NOT exist. In the coming months your radio is going to be flooded with ads from an array of idiots promising you 'lock' games and 'can't miss' parlays. Do not, my friends, be fooled. None of these guys are winners-they are just dart throwers who have a knack for marketing. If you want to beat the foots you have to realize that you're going to be making bets that carry a 2-4% return on your money. That's it. Nothing more. Before you make your first bet, promise yourself that you will not, under any circumstances, send money to some clown who promises to have inside information on the Raiders/Dolphins tilt this Monday. Beating the game is hard enough-if you're kicking out money to touts, it's almost impossible.
Second, much of the trick to beating the NFL comes from smart betting, not handicapping. The prevailing belief amongst novice sports bettors is that all successful sports bettors have monstrous data bases, and thousands of spread sheets, through which they process and interpret game stats and other relevant information. True, there are many successful sports bettors who do this-however, it's not a requisite for success. By learning to spot profitable bets, and bet combos, you can show a tidy profit at the end of the year without crunching a single number.