by ChrisJP

Would you walk a mile for a …. ˝ pt in the NFL? In the olden days, before the advent of Sports betting online, I had my paper route. I would check out the lines in the Sports Books at many of the casinos in Las Vegas. I’d have to run around and it was quite time consuming. To most this would be a real pain.

Not me! It’s hard enough to get an edge in this field. The handicappers are good, real good. But getting an extra point, or even half a point, here or there can have a huge effect on your bankroll. And I like $$$$.

Let me give you an example. Many years ago, in about 1990, I was looking at an over/under in a certain NFL contest. Both teams had tremendous offenses and porous defenses. Now usually the over/under in an NFL game is between 35 and 45. Not always, but most of them. Very, very few are ever over 50.

Now this particular line opened 49.5 on Monday at the Stardust in Las Vegas. A very high line indeed. But the bettors just kept hammering the over. Boom, boom, boom.
By Wednesday it was 51 in most places. And it didn’t stop. 52 by Friday night. 53 during the day on Saturday.

On Saturday evening I happened into the old Frontier Sportsbook. Back when it was an independent book. I was looking at the lines and low and behold: the over/under on this game was 54.5. Wow. That is huge. Plus a game can land on 54 because that is not a rare combination of points. I made my largest wager of the week:

“Give me the max on the under.” I said to the nice lady who was the ticket writer.
“You can have up to a nickel, sir.” A nickel is a bet of $550 to win $500. “Give me a nickel on the under please.” That paper sure looked nice to me. I mean if the public, in all their illogical glory, was all over the over, then I want to be with the Bookies on the under.

On Sunday I was over at the Barbary Coast, my old spot to watch the games. I knew a lot of people there. We sweated the games from 10am Pacfic Time until the last game that evening.

My game was on. This was a big bet for me. We got late into the 4th quarter and the score was 30 to 17. Pretty much of a blow out. The losing team had the ball late and was driving. Some other bettors had the under at 53.5, but no one had under 54.5.

Would they score that last touchdown?
WHAT, ME WORRY? I didn’t care. With about 20 seconds remaining in the game: Touchdown! Final score: 30-24.

I probably was the only person in town who won that day with the under. And I couldn’t have been more pleased.

Yes, remember to shop around for the most attractive line. Once in a while it makes a HUGE difference.

Mr. P

ChrisJP is a professional sports bettor living in Las Vegas.  Over the past 4 decades he has also been an engineer, a blackjack card counter and has  played in the WSOP 7-stud event.  He is a regular poster in the forums at at Internettexasholdem.com