Wagering on parlays in any sport has always been something I have highly advised against with my clients. However there is a huge difference when it comes to a betting system and professionally handicapped selections. I have sometimes pounded my head up against the wall trying to get the novice to comprehend the difference between the two.

Simply put, a betting system is arrived at by exposing a slight vulnerability in what a bookmaker allows us to do. These systems on most occasions are created and applied by mathematical calculations with no regards to the teams involved or conditions of the game itself. Contrarily handicapped selections are the result of factors such as weather, past performance, injuries, trends, and statistics just to name a few.

College football especially early in the season gives us an opportunity to exercise a successful betting system. This is what I call my 33 percent parlay system. It involves wagering on a pair of two team parlays in the same game. You may also be advised to open two separate accounts at the same sportsbook. In the majority of cases a single sportsbook will not allow you to wager two separate parlays in the same game. So to utilize this successful system you have to have more than one wagering source. (Continued..)

I have on numerous occasions discussed the difference between an angle and a trend. Without beating the subject to death a trend applies to a specific team in all situations. An angle applies to all teams in all situations.

One of my favorite angles that I have used with a high degree of success comes in college football. It involves any home favorite of 10 or more, that is coming off an away straight up win as an underdog of 10 or more, and is playing an opponent playing with revenge.

Since the 1980 season the home favorite in this situation is an incredible 30-6 (83.3 percent) ATS. This specific situation came up four times in the 2007 season. The home favorite covered three of the four times. In fact if you were to have placed your wager early enough you would have avoided the only loss.

On Nov. 24, 2007, Western Michigan opened as a favorite of 11 1/2 and closed at a 14-point chalk. The Broncos then proceeded to win the game 16-3 and failing to ‘cover’ the closing line.

Below is a table showing each of these 36 situations, on what date they took place, the line, and the ATS result: (Continued..)

It still amazes me when I read or hear game analysis. It’s apparent the vast majority of amateur handicappers just don’t get it.

Long details on what one thinks will happen in a game, analysis on who the players are on both sides of the ball, and listing players who are out as a result of injury or suspension. Using these factors to predict who will cover a pointspread are utterly ridiculous. This business of sports wagering and professional handicapping comes down to one factor that outweighs all the rest: beating the number.

Thus, the first order of business to address, as it applies to this subject, is to consider the gentlemen who set the lines in Las Vegas, the offshore casinos in the Caribbean, or any licensed sportsbook anywhere in the world. These experienced individuals are among the sharpest and highly skilled professionals as you will find in any business across the globe. They leave no stone unturned, no factor disregarded, and no conditions ignored in their calculations when setting the lines on each and every game on the board.

Factors such as injuries, suspensions, weather, coaching, history, etc. have already been calculated into to every line. So in essence, they have already done most of the homework for you. Show me an individual that looks at a pointspread on a game and thinks they have uncovered an advantage by something the linesmakers have missed, and I’ll show you someone who will lose a lot of money over the long term.

When explaining all this to a client or an individual who aspires to be a successful professional sports handicapper, the questions asked are predictable. So let me answer some of the most common ones.

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