Sharp Sports Betting also apply to soccer? (n00b question)

[TimsterToo]

I've been reading up in this forum and am convinced that Sharp Sports Betting and King Yao's Weighing the Odds are the two books that are generally perceived as mandatory.

I have one quick question, it was mentioned a couple of times that Sharp Sports Betting is written with mainly NFL betting and some Baseball and Basketball in mind and I want to bet purely on soccer and MMA. Are the books just as applicable or would you recommend other literature?

On a side note, I really don't have a clue how to get started and would be very grateful if anyone into European soccer betting would give me the very first babysteps I need to take. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[dj_mercury]

Have not read the books you are mentioning.

For the second part of your question here are some little advice, I think the first thing you have to ask yourself is if there is a league where you may have a theoretical edge over the books thanks to your own knowlege, research, better estimations and so on. Usually the answer would be your local leagues at the beginning, the Eredivisie and maybe (even better since you are a local) the second Holland division.
Then after choosing the leagues you want to follow take the fixture of the coming round and try to figure out your own estimations of the matches by including in them Home - Away form (actual, past and likely one), h2h, team news, general team strength, form and other factors that you think are important for that event. Then compare them with the odds made by the books and where you see more than a sensible difference place a bet. At the start I would advise you to stick with virtual flat stake bets, as you need time to work on estimations, then when you feel you are improving you can start to take different sized bets depending on the ammount of edge you think you have over the books odds. Check what happens and evaluate if you can be a profitable soccer punter on the long run.

For the practical side I would suggest you to learn using the Asian handicap odds, books margin are lower and the limits are higher than on 1x2 books. When you get a feeling with them, you will appreciate the advantage of this 2 way betting on soccer. And for stupid advice that are never enough to repeat: make only single bet, do not chace losses, learn to manage your bankroll and bankers exist only for beginners.
Hope it helps.

[TimsterToo]

Hi DJ,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I don't know anything about odds etc yet. I'm looking at the numbers on Pinnacle and I don't have a clue what they mean but there's plenty of info out there so that should be ok. My plan is to stick to the top 4 eredivisie clubs and take that very serious.

Moneywise I'm fine. I'm going to bet 2$ per bet and slowly build a bankroll. I'm in no rush and I can loose every bet the whole season and not care about it. It's a minor part of my pokerbankroll that I'm using for that. My main goal for this season is to get to grips with the basics of sportsbetting and learn how to do handicapping myself. I'm probably going to spend 10 times as much on soccer magazines and the two books about sportsbetting then I'll be able to make when I win every bet [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[bevo_stevo]

I've only read the Wong book (the KY book is backordered) and I don't think that there is a lot that will help you in that book.

I don't know of a really good book for soccer handicapping so I can't help you there (maybe I'll write one [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]).

I would definitely poke around on Internet message boards a bit. I remember reading something from an "alleged" English bookie that basically mentioned that they don't rely too much on statistics to create lines. Also, soccer doesn't have the same statistical rigor that a lot of American sports have, so handicapping a soccer match is much different than handicapping an MLB game.

I guess if I was going to start handicapping soccer seriously I would spend a lot of time reading from work that people have already done (right now I'm booking up pretty heavily for the NBA season). I borrow and steal pretty liberally from other peoples work, and I encourage you to do the same. Even books that are primarily targeted at coaches might help you quite a bit.

Anywho, I guess the bottom line is to do a lot of research prior to making any bets, and make sure you remain emotionally detached during the decision making process. Once you've accomplished those two things then you've come a long way as a sports bettor.

[TimsterToo]

Interesting post. I was just ordering the two books on Amazon but I'll hold of for a while.

I guess I can do some more reading up on the internet for a week or two before starting to order a stack of books [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[trixtrix]

while "sharp sportsbetting" might not help you specifically in regards to mma handicapping, it will help you to learn the framework/mindset of approaching sportsbetting as a whole analytically

in other words, while the book will not give you the tools to handicap those two specific sports; for a beginner, it will lead you down the avenues that will eventually allow you to build your own tools if you're determined enough..

also, the chapters on poisson dist. is a good start if you ever become interested in modeling mma/boxing totals..

[bevo_stevo]

The problem with SSB is that it concentrates entirely too much on American Football. About half the book focuses on bets that are very specific to the NFL, and the other half of the book can be summed up in a few words: public money, money management (Kelly criterion), how to place a bet (urm ..), poisson estimates, binomial distributions, and significance testing (if a tout is 4-0 are they an uber genious?)

In other words, I'll mail you mine if you can figure out how to get it to you with less than five bucks of my employers money. If not, just look that stuff up on Wikipedia.

[TimsterToo]

Also a very good point. I decided to take one for the team and have ordered both books. In future I'll be equipped to inform the next newbie on wether this was a good idea or not if you bet soccer.

As a bit of an outsider I've also ordered "The Football Betting Science" by Gary Christie which is 100% about betting on soccer.

The three of them should keep me occupied for a while [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[New001]

I've had some decent success betting soccer, and I started it immediately after reading SSB. Maybe the book itself didn't cover the sport, but there are some very important concepts in there that are great for soccer bettors. Don't want to give too much away. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[King Yao]

I'm pretty much in agreement with the other posts. While I think my book and Stanford's book are both good for you from a general betting perspective, there is nothing specifically for futbol. But from a general sports betting perspective, I'd say the first 7 chapters in my book is applicable, and three other chapters near the end of the book too.

Aren't there a couple of solid books on soccer betting published in the UK? I thought there was but I may be wrong. I didn't read them carefully since it is tough for me to get into European soccer in the U.S.