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"Life's Tough, It's Tougher When You're Stupid"

That's a John Wayne movie line from The Sands of Iwo Jima.  It applies to me this week.

Turns out I DID bust at WagerWeb in one bet....I just didn't bust OUT of WagerWeb.  I screwed up and made the SAME bet at Pinnacle and WagerWeb by mistake.  I took the under on the first half of the Spurs game at both books, and lost both bets.  Down $285 plus $100 of lost bonus opportunity.  Youch! 

Yesterday morning I only checked Pinnacle before I posted here.  I saw I had lost the bet at Pinnacle, and not yet realizing my error, just assumed my money was in WagerWeb.  When I checked yesterday evening, I discovered what I had done.  CURSES!  Ahhhh, well....the cost of doing busines sometimes.  So, learn from my mistake, and be more careful when placing those wagers! 

This is actually not the costliest goof I've ever made.  I once bet a halftime moneyline against the full game money line on a college hoops game. $750 vs $1250.  I realized my mistake about an hour before tipoff.  I called Pinnacle, and asked if I could cancel the bet there, explaining that I meant to bet the whole game.  The CS rep said that she would need to ask management and would get back to me - its not their policy to allow cancellations, etc.  About 10 minutes to game time there was no movement, but I could not wait any longer - I had to take my son to his scout meeting.  I ran him down there and came back to find that my Pinnacle bet had been cancelled about 2 minutes after I left the computer - so now I had only one open bet for $750 on the dog for the full game.  The game had started and it was too late to place the offsetting bet.

With $750 on the line I found that game on the radio.  The underdog was up by 12 at the half (meaning I would have lost the Pinnacle bet that was cancelled!)  They sucked in the third quarter, though and let the favorite back in.  It was neck and neck throughout the 4th quarter.  With 12 seconds to go, it was tied, and my team had the ball to throw in from mid-court.  They set up the shot, but missed!  But, wait....we get an offensive rebound and he puts it in at the buzzer!!!!  I win $1250!!!!  Wait...wait...no...the ref waves off the basket!  The ref saw a push-off on that offensive rebound...No Basket...NO BASKET!!!!  The other team gets a 1-1 free throw with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.  He drains the first one and I lose $750.  A $2,000 turn on my bankroll in about 45 seconds.  GAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

In retrospect, I should have just placed another $2,000 in wagers off-setting on the half time and full game lines.  I would have eaten $100 - $200 in juice, but it would have been preferable to the exposure I ended up with.  I was even more of a noob then, and I panicked and called Pinnacle first.  Once the possible cancellation was hanging out there, I couldn't really make any moves until I found out for sure what Pinnacle was going to do - and once I did, it was too late.  Live and learn.

I'd be $1,000 richer right now if I was more careful when I placed my bets.  Don't let this happen to you!

Posted by Bullajami on May 19, 2006 08:36 AM |

Comments

I think if you arb/whore sportsbooks long enough, you're going to make some goofs like that, no matter how careful.

I've made a few of the variety you mention, as far as simply spazzing and taking both side of the line. Break even on those goofs overall, with one going my way (whee) and the other not (boo).

I've also gotten screwed a few times on the action/listed lines with baseball, which is actually something to be careful with. Some books default to action lines, others to listed lines, and you can screw yourself if you take different ones and there's a last minute pitching change that wipes out the listed line you took on one book, leaving your money actually riding on the result of the action line you took on the other book.

My worst complete spazz was noting in my spreadsheet that I'd busted a 2K balance on one book then going on my merry whoring way. Over a year later I logged back in when that book offered a reload of some sort, only to find that I'd screwed up the accounting and had actually had 4K or so sitting in the account for over a year, as I hadn't actually busted but won there. Doh.

Posted by: ScurvyDog [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 19, 2006 10:34 AM

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