Friday, March 25, 2011

Platinum Sports Investing Blog - Friday

FRIDAY RANT

I might have to start making this a "I'm mad as hell and
I'm not going to take it anymore" Friday rant page.

Has everyone completely lost their mind?

It's not too often lately that I have time to comb the
forums to see what the level of insanity is these days but
not being able to sleep sometimes (numbers keep floating
through my head...MLB T-6 days) I decided to take a few
minutes to see what people were coming up with and I'll tell
you I nearly threw up!

6 GAME CHASES? ARE YOU F**KING KIDDING ME? (Pardon my french)

Do you have any idea the level of stupidity a 6 game chase
represents? I mean...lets get right to the meat of it. A
six game chase looks real cool for the guy in the forum who
can say "My record in MLB 2011 was 150-1." Yea and the problem
is that the "1" loss just wiped out the entire years worth of CASH?

Don't you think if "chasing" were the answer that a guy like
Billy Walters would have been doing that long ago? Oh wait,
Billy Walters sucks right....he only wins 58% of the time.

So then it hit me. The reason people chase is because they've been
given this completely skewed idea of the reality of gambling
and sports investors no longer understand that it's ok to lose
a game every now and then. Losing is part of investing and as
a matter of fact it's usually how you deal with your losses that
will determine if you fail or succeed.

It's unfortunate but a lot of this mentality of lying or let's say
"spinning reality" can be directly attributed to JM. You guys all
know who that is? In case you don't or aren't aware...JM didn't hang
the moon in the sky. He didn't invent any of the things he's
sold....he stole them and made a lot of money. People were using
and making a lot of money on the NBA (east / west) program
and the (sweep chase) in MLB for at least 4 years prior to his
bastardizing of the whole thing but the reason I bring this up
is because no matter how good you think your chase is.....It's
unfortunately going to end bloody.

In the summer of 2008 the MLB "sweep chase" had 7 losses. That's
right 7 losses. After the 7th loss a real class act like JM
decided to come up with a filter and then magically erase those
7 losses but I was on the other end of the phone with grown men
who were in tears and that's no bullshit. People who had built
$100,000 bankrolls were down to 5 or 6k asking me...begging me
to help them find a way to get their money back.

Let's take John Hedgepath for example. Seems to be a nice guy,
wants his people to win and even went back to doing it for free
but in the past week he had 4, count em...4 ..3 game chase losses
and I don't know everything about his program but a few of my members
get his stuff and he was playing some pretty steep moneylines
so 4 chase losses is complete disaster.

Then there was an acquaintance of mine who was up a cool 2 million
at the Hilton last summer going into September 1st. Was playing a
4 game chase and guess what? Had 3 losses in September and by the 27th
of September had ZERO dollars. From 2 MILLION to ZERO. One day
he boasted to me that he can bet ANYTHING he wants at the Hilton....
to which my reply was "You must be a huge loser." Sportsbooks don't
let winners bet whatever they want but they'll give a "chaser" a
free pass because they know....if you have enough rope...you'll
hang yourself.

Think about that.....2 MILLION DOLLARS lost in 27 days chasing.

The reality is that 97% of the people who follow these various chases
online don't even have the bankroll to bet game 2 let alone 3, 4, 5, or 6.
They just like the comradery of putting their 2 cents in on the thread
and cheering on the guy who has less money than them claiming to be
a millionaire from their 6 game chase.

IF YOU CHASE YOU'LL LOSE. Maybe not today...maybe not tomorrow or next month
but it will ALWAYS get you in the end.

Again, I ask....If chasing were so good don't you think the single most
feared guy in the entire sports wagering world (Billy Walters) would
be doing it? He's not. Anyone who puts out 10, 20, 30 or more units
on a game to get their losses and profit 1 unit is INSANE.

So back to my point. We as sports investors have completely forgot how
to lose and it's not all your fault. If you're new to all this and the
only thing you ever hear is that....JM is 1 million wins no losses and
he put the moon on it's axis and some other guy is 120 wins and no losses on
his 15 game chase...you start to believe and start to think that
winning 58% of your games overall is no good.

Every day you probably get an email from some guy who says he went
6-0 yesterday and he "guarantees" to do the same today.....so as
bettors you're flooded with this idea that these things are the norm
when the truth is they just don't exist.

In all my research, and believe me I do probably more than any, I've
only found 2 bets...EVER that hit 70% + for entire seasons. My Top 10 group
plays these wagers but even they are NICHE bets that only 1 or 2 sportsbooks
will even consistently give you a line on. There is a reason that
the Vegas books wouldn't allow you to make these wagers.

So as sports investors let's challenge ourselves to be above the
bullshit and look at reality. In order to win you need two things.

1. YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO MANAGE YOUR MONEY
2. YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO PICK A FEW WINNERS.

There is a reason that picking games in 2nd and that's because it's the
2nd most important part of the equasion. If you can't manage your money
you're toast anyway so picking winners won't matter.

This brings me to the Labourchere. 3 years ago when I suggested to
a few people on covers that they should look at the Labourchere as a
solid way to manage their money, I had no idea that it would change the
entire culture of sports wagering. Of anything that I've ever done
I'm probably most proud of that because it made people who were stone
cold chasers actually think that there might be another way.

Over the years I've tried to adjust and research and modify the basic
principles of the labourchere to always make it's uses better for sports
investors. But just like chasers, labourchere people have sometimes
lost their mind (and bankroll) completely unnecessarily.

THE LABOURCHERE IS A MONEY MANAGEMENT TOOL!!! IT'S A GUIDELINE...not
an exact thing to follow. Everyone wants to sports invest like
a group of robots. They want a perfect system and a money management
method where they don't have to think......and again....it doesn't exist.

To use the labourchere most effectively you need a few things.

1. Your base wager needs to be at about 1% of your bankroll.
2. A system OR the ability to pick games that aren't super streaky.
3. Ideally you're playing with odds of less than -130

Those are the IDEAL conditions but certainly the labourchere can apply
to nearly every situation.

PLEASE pay attention. I also would now recommend that you set BET SIZE
LIMITS. This is important. I always thought of it as kind of common
sense but reading the emails I get...it's anything but that.

You should limit your wager size to 2 or 3 times your base wager. Period.

Let me give you an example.....Let's say you are using the labourchere and
your first 4 wagers are losses so your lines would look like....


10-10-10-10
10-10-10-10-20
10-10-10-10-20-30
10-10-10-10-20-30-40

If your base wager is about 1% of your bankroll you'll still be fine but if you run into a cold streak.....stretch you line out if you need to.....you could do this.....

10-10-10-10
10-10-10-10-20
10-10-10-10-15-15-20
10-10-10-10-15-15-20-30
10-10-10-10-15-15-20-20-20-30

Notice that after the 3rd loss instead of putting a
30 on the end of the line I split it into 2 "15's"

Now I will inevitably get the email from someone complaining
that by stretching the lines its going to take longer for you to
recover your losses.

SO WHAT!

I'm in it for the LONG HAUL. So what if this season I make 50 units
in NBA instead of 75. Guess what? You would have never made the 75
units anyway because 1 bad streak would have broke your bankroll.

In the long run nothing matters if you
hit a bad run with whatever system you use and you bust
out your bankroll....you'll never make the hot streak
if you're out so remember....there is flexibility in the labourchere..
it's a GUIDELINE.

The best example for me using labourchere is NHL. This season
the NHL program that I posted on this blog last year is up somewhere
around 60 units at this point and the irony is that our overall
win % is somewhere in the mid 40's. Say that back to yourself...
those of you who are so caught up on "what's your record?" If I said
"our program is real solid...we hit 44% winners this year" Not so
inspiring until you see that we're up 60 units on that.

People email me all the time and they ask ..."What's your record" and
they're always surprised to get the response of
"I don't know and don't care" but I can tell you we are up
nearly 60 units in NHL and 35 ish in NBA so we are closing
in on 100 + units for these two sports. In my mind, that's what
matters. If I'm a $20 player...how much MONEY would I make with
your program.

So as we move towards MLB 2011 I challenge those of you who follow
this blog to think outside the box. If you have to chase go
2 game max on the chase.......Use common sense and protect your
bankroll. STOP THE INSANITY!

Forget about what people say their record is. MLB brings out the worst
of those types of people. You'll see that Handicapper Joe Blow has a
30-15 record in MLB and you think that's great until you get his plays
and realize that he's playing -230 favs and 30-15 is actually DOWN 5 units.
Be smarter than that! Realize the only record that matters is
your bank statement. Do you have more this month than last?

Everyone have a great weekend and soon I'll figure out what I'm
going to post on here for MLB 2011


To Your Success,

Tod Wilkinson

Friday, March 18, 2011

Platinum Sports Investing Blog - Friday

Hello Everyone,


I'm sorry we've been so silent on the blog but we're kind of in
between. NBA and NHL are winding their regular seasons down and
MLB has yet to start. For MLB there will be something here...I just
haven't decided what as I'm experimenting with a lot of different angles.

Today I come to you seeking your input. As many of you know I'm working
with a computer programmer who is building a Labourchere calculator. It's
very exciting.

Some of the best things that it should be able to do is for your research.
Let's say you want to test and see if you played the NBA East / West system and didn't
buy any points...how would you come out using the Labourchere. With this calculator
you can enter in a whole seasons worth of data and it will tell you if you would
have made money or not using the labourchere.

Also, for those of you who may be confused by the entire labourchere idea...
this calculator will do all the work for you.....enter your starting numbers for
your lines (up to 3 lines) ..then simply enter the results each day and your
labourchere calculater will tell you what to bet.

One NOTE about the labourchere....please please please remember that its a money
management guideline. You don't have to follow it to the "T" be flexible...everyone
spends so much time looking for automatic or robotic (non thinking) methods for sports
betting......USE YOUR BRAINS!

For example...you're a small player and you have a line of: 10-10-10-10 so your base
wager is $20. Let's suppose you lose your first 4 bets so your line technically would
change like this.

10-10-10-10-20
10-10-10-10-20-30
10-10-10-10-20-30-40
10-10-10-10-20-30-40-50

In this case you've already lost $140 and you're already betting 3 times your base wager.
THATS TOO MUCH. The Labourchere gets a bad rap sometimes because I swear people that use
it all go get a frontal lobotomy and don't THINK.

Those of you who are PSIC members or part of various other programs will notice that I now put
what I call CEILINGS on my labourchere wagers. I TRY NOT TO EXCEED 2 times my base wager...
so let me give you an example of how I might make my line using the above 4 consecutive loss scenario.....

10-10-10-10-20
10-10-10-10-20-30
10-10-10-10-20-20-20-30
10-10-10-10-20-20-20-20-20-30

Now I know what people are going to say.....you've stretched the lines out and now it's
going to take more time to clear them......SO WHAT! IF YOU'RE IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL
AND YOU HAVE A GOOD SYSTEM YOU'RE USING THE ONLY WAY YOU WON'T SUCCEED IS IF YOU BLOW OUT
YOUR BANKROLL. Think Think Think...use your brain....So this NBA season you make 70 units
instead of 100 because you stretched your lines...big deal..for most of you ...it would have
been ZERO units because you'd have out bet your bankroll. Stretch your lines, chop numbers in half....do whatever you need to do to STAY IN THE GAME.

Ok, so now you know....the labourchere is a TOOL to use to benefit yourself. so now I need to hear from you......

While this labourchere calculator is in the final stages of development we want to hear from you what type of functions or things would you like it to be able to do.

I appreciate all input so don't hesitate to shoot me an email as we are trying to have it available for MLB 2011.


To Your Success,

Tod Wilkinson