Bull's Sports Betting Journal

I busted out of Island on Sunday, but it was the last bets to meet rollover, too.  I don't think that counts as a bustout.  I think you have to bust it before meeting rollover for it to count.  Think Hoyle has a rule for this?

I busted Island into BetJamaica.  I am also trying to bust Bodog into BetJM.  I have met 40% of the rollover already, though, and my Bodog balance is higher than when I started, so I suspect I won't be busting out of there either.  But here's hoping!

What a difference not using Pinnacle makes.  I found some do-able lines using BetJM as the home book, but nothing real juicy.  I found one at -3, and the rest were -4 or -5.  Plus I spent significantly MORE TIME hunting those up.  I would go through that list several times and not find anything worth putting money on.  It was not a happy time, and this rarely happens to me at Pinnacle.  I'm getting back into Pinney ASAP. 

Part of the problem is Island, though.  They run 20 cent MLB moneylines, and that makes it harder to find a decent offset.  I think they are going on the shelf for a while.  Maybe I'll check their NFL lines later this year.  For now, though, betting MLB there is too painful.

Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 04:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One more bet at BetJamaica, and of course, I win it at BetJamaica.  I finished that quest having 2 of 9 bets made break the way I wanted them to.  I damn near busted my whole stake out of Pinney. 

So now I have just under $5K in BetJamaica, and given my banking snafus there, it may be a few days before I can get it out.  Maybe not, though.  I really don't know, having never cashed out of BetJM before.  I am also not sure if I will be able to deposit for a reload bonus there next time.  Guess I'll be finding that out, too!

I have quite a wad in Neteller.  I suppose I could just deposit someplace else for a bonus and then bet against BetJM instead of Pinney for a change.  Maybe scare them at Pinney that I'm not going to reload.  Think I could get a bonus out of Pinney if I did that?  Dare to dream, eh?

I checked my web stats yesterday, and this blog is considerably more popular than the last time I checked web stats.  That means new people are here - and I mused in yesterday's post about how my whining about winning bets I was making was probably confusing to new readers here.  So, I have decided that some basic info on sports betting "Bull style" might be in order.

For starters, "betting Bull style" was NOT invented by me.  As much as I'd love to take credit for being ever so clever, I am just a practitioner of scalping - and that's been around for a long long time.  What is "scalping"?  You've probably heard the term used in conjunction with tickets to a ball game or concert:  the scalper buys the tickets at a low price and tries to resell them at a higher price.  Scalping is roughly the same thing in sports betting, except that the wagering lines are written in such a way that it is not inherently obvious.  In essence, I am buying a bet from one book and selling it to another book for a profit.  Here is a simple example of how that might work:

The Steelers are playing the Browns.  Your buddy Tim is a die-hard Browns fan.  He is willing to bet even money any amount that the Browns are going to win.  Dave is a Steelers fan, and he is offering you 2-1 odds for $10 (bet $10, win $20) that the Steelers will win.  How can you use this to guarantee a profit?

Take Dave's bet.  You now have $10 on the Browns that pays $20 if the Browns win.

Bet Tim $15 that the Steelers will win. You now have $15 on the Steelers to win $15.

Now, no matter which team wins, you will be $5 ahead.  If the Steelers win, you lose your $10 to Dave, but win $15 from Tim.  (You sold Dave's bet to Tim for a $5 profit.)  If the Browns win, you lose your $15 to Tim, but you've won $20 from Dave.  (You've sold Tim's bet to Dave for a $5 profit.)

You'll never find an example that clean (or profitable) between internet sportsbooks.  The math you'll need to employ to scalp online is more complex, and the profit margins are smaller.  But it can be done.

Enter the bonus.  Many online sportsbooks will offer you a deposit bonus that immediately goes into your account.  With the added presence of the bonus, it is now possible to sell your bet from one book to another at a small loss and still be profitable.  In my basic example, you probably wouldn't mind selling Tim's bet to Dave for a $2 loss, if Jerry was giving you $5 to do it.  You take a loss on the sale, but make $3 profit overall.  The addition of bonuses makes scalping much easier.

So why all my whining about BetJamaica?  I was hoping to sell my BetJamaica bets to Pinnacle.  I was hoping this because the bonus chasing would go faster, and because I was hoping to avoid cash out hassles from BetJamaica.  Having no control over the outcome of the events, I ended up selling my Pinnacle bets to Betjamaica.  I still made money on the deal, but now I have to figure out the cashout process from BetJamaica, etc.

If this type thing interest you, then keep reading here, on the website proper (www.bullsbetting.com) and in the forum, where a lot of good information is available to help you learn the ins and outs of scalping.  It can be quite profitable.

Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Sung to the tune "Rawhide")

Churning, churning, churning! get that bankroll churning!  Damn my backside's burning! Rollover!

Pick a dog!  You've no luck!  Dogs prevail - cash is stuck!  You're bound to make rollover!

Watch the game!  Rub my eyes!  Pound my fists!  Smack my thighs! - with a big healthy dose of rollover!

As you may have guessed, Lady Luck gave me another golden shower last night, and I won both my bets at BetJM - exactly what I was trying NOT to do.  (You know, I'll bet reading that statement confuses the hell out of anyone on their first visit here!)  I am 2 - 6 on my bets there on this reload chase.  I am about $300 short of rollover, and hope to meet it tonight.  I went through those lines many times last night, and could only find 2 bets I was willing to take.  Every other game hung at -7 or higher.  Not usual.  The upside is that I am looking to keep about $235 of the $250 in bonus, so at least I have that going. 

I finally remembered to cash out at The Greek.  There is a minimum 30 days from deposit to cashout, or you gotta pay $15.  After that you only get one free withdrawal per month with Neteller.  Some small blemishes on an otherwise good experience with a sportsbook.

I did a few more bonus reviews and added them to the website last night.  I hope people are able to use them.  It's fast enough to fill one out now that the templates are set up, but the set up was time consuming.  And if you ever find an error on one, please let me know ASAP!

Posted by Bullajami at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Maybe I should go into my archives so I can review my posts in May and see how many times I busted out of a bonus chase right away - because it sure isn't happening lately! 

I went 2-1 at BetJM last night, making me 4-2 overall on that chase, and certainly rollover bound.  I should be able to finish it off tonight.  Finding decent opportunities between Pinney and books with dime moneylines isn't terribly challenging. 

This book I found called "YouWager" interests me.  As does ABCIslands.  They both offer a rebate on money lost.  The initial bonuses are OK, but that added incentive of a kicker bonus for losing intrigues me greatly.  I'm gonna have to give them a try, I think.  It'd even be worth it to overplay them to make it to bust out.

I did another small Bodog reload and busted it in one bet last night.  I had this notion that I would deposit, win a couple bets at blackjack, and then bet it out in the sportsbook.  While this did work for me this one time, I started a thread on it at ITH (off-topic) and was shown that in the long term, this method is less profitable than just depositing and betting sports.  It was an interesting concept and discussion, I thought.

I need to do some consolidating once I finish off this BetJM reload.  I have too much money scattered about the internet.  Not good.  I need to get it all back into Pinney and Neteller, and then choose my next option.  Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have written before about the SNAFU I have with BetJM - when I made my initial deposit there I made it to my affiliate account.  I didn't even realize I had or needed a separate player account, but I did.  I found that out when I deposited and had to call for the bonus.  They fixed that for me, and everything was OK until I went to reload into my player account, and received a notice that I can't use Neteller to deposit to my player account because it was associated with my affiliate account. 

I tried to fix this yesterday, but customer sevice can't seem to get it together and switch my Neteller to my player account.  Instead, they have decided that I should deposit to my affiliate account and they will move the money to my player account, and then credit the bonus.  I did that yesterday, and true to their word, they moved it over and gave me a bonus - 20% instead of the 10% I was expecting.  I considered being a boy scout and calling them to see if they wanted it back...for about 5 seconds.  Then I put it all in play.  Only one of my three bets went my way, so I'll be putting it all in play again tonight.  (Assuming I can find the lines.)

Linesmaker paid me on Sunday - which I didn't expect.  They had told me previously that they don't process payouts over the weekend, but I got mine.  Wish I had known - I could have made a few more bets over the weekend If I'd known I had that cash available.  Neteller usually sends me an e-mail notification, and I didn't get one from them, either, so it was a stealth payout.  That's fine, I'll take it!

Posted by Bullajami at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday night went 0 for 3 at Linesmaker, meaning that of the 4 bets I placed at Linesmaker since reloading, I won all of them at Linesmaker.  I put in for a withdrawal, having met WR, but Linesmaker doesn't process withdrawals over the weekend, so I will get it today (Monday).  That's a bit annoying, but I still like Linesmaker overall.  They now have unlimited free withdrawals to Neteller (used to be only 4 free per month).  I just wish they would have more reloads.  They only have frequent reloads if you're a net loser there, and I am not.  I can still use the Thursday reloads, but BetJamaica is looking like a better net deal.

Speaking of them, I was going to reload there, but the never-ending SNAFU with my accounts there continues.  My neteller account is tied to my affiliate account at BetJM.  I can't use it to deposit to my player account.  I suppose I will have to call and get this straightened out, but its just been a big hassle for me to make wagers there.  Ugh!

I found a 5 point arb on Saturday looking through the alternate runlines at Wagerweb and Pinney.  Unfortunately the betting limit on them is $500 at Wagerweb.

I also took down a small reload at Bodog.

I have affiliate applications at a couple of books that look promising, so hopefully I will have some fresh meat to post shortly.  Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I didn't even realize I had made a mistake until after the game was over and my account balances made no sense.  I am glad, as the game in question went into extra innings, and I would have been a wreck watching it.

Question:  How do you make $988 on a sportsbet?

Answer: Bet $1000 on the O/U of 9 @+125, and then accidentally take the Blue Jays to win the game @ -127 for $1255.  Then have the Blue Jays win 5 - 4. 

Don't try this at home kids, I am a professional.  

In other news...

Unfortunately, the Pirates are hotter than I'd like lately.  My efforts to bust Linesmaker in one bet were scuttled - not the first bet on the Pirates that I have had go the wrong way lately.  I do like Linesmaker more and more every time i use them, though.  Their lines are posted early, Their MLB moneylines are a dime spread, and i can always find 2, 3 and 4 point spreads between them and Pinney.  I got all my money at Linesmaker in play again first thing this morning.  I love when I can do that, and catch some of the afternoon games.  Win or lose, I meet my WR in about 36 hour there.  That's pretty cool, even if i don't bust out.

Posted by Bullajami at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Bullajami at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fortunately I had good lines last night - a 1 point arb and a -2 line.  I went 1-1, though, and I have $1150 in my account and $800 left in rollover.  Ordinarily I would still shoot for a bustout, but I am interested in collecting data for my website sportsbook bonus reviews on how fast they can cash me out, so I will just bet the minimum.  That will also give me a chance to see if I can reload if I have made a withdrawal.  Some sites don't allow that.

I also decided to do a $500, 7% Linesmaker reload.  They do them on Thursdays, and their morning lines are usually good.  Of course, this morning was a little thin, but I got it all in on a -3 spread, so if it busts, its a fast $30 for me.

Crap!  I am late for a staff meeting!  Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't you hate it when you're one bet away from busting a book, and then you start to win?  I sure do.  It's darn irritating.  What's especially irritating is that I would have busted it if I had bet the max on my first two bets.  Instead I went with $500 bets, and now I am doodling around looking at having to make the rollover on this thing.  Grrrr.

The MLB moneylines at The Greek are 20 cents, by the way.  I wrote yesterday that I thought they were dime lines, but they are 20 cents.  Amazingly, with The Greek at 20 cents, and Pinnacle at 8 cents, I couldn't find anything decent this morning.  I am finding that the early morning lines are very square, but later in the day there are some good ones to use.

My balance is now greater than my initial D+B, and I am at about 45% complete on the rollover.  I am shifting to splitting any small loss between the books., as it seems more likely now that I will have to meet rollover and cash out.

WagerWeb sent me an e-mail yestaerday stating that they were consolidating my player account and my affiliate account.  My player balance was transferred to my affiliate account, according to the e-mail.  I log into my affiliate account and the balance is $0.  I sent them an e-mail this morning asking where is my money.  Hopefully they will have some good info for me later today.  I have enjoyed WagerWeb, and enjoyed promoting them.  I really hope that doesn't change.  Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My bonus and an apologetic e-mail from The Greek were waiting for me when I got home yesterday, so all is forgiven.  I found two 4 point lines and jumped on them.  Then I commenced to work on the website for a few hours.  A web geek would probably be faster, but as I'm not one, it took me a few hours to get done what I did!

My son, Dawg, has become a diehard Pittsburgh fan.  The lovely Mrs Bull is from Pittsburgh, and although Dawg was not born there, he has adopted it as his hometown.  He cannot get enough Steelers and Pirates stuff of late.  We figured out how to get the Pirates game on our digital cable setup last night.  I had money on that game, and I had Pittsburgh at Pinnacle, so I was rooting for the Pirates, too.  When I found a good stopping point on my web work, I joined Dawg at the TV.  It was the eighth inning and it was tied, 1 - 1. 

The Pirates pitcher worked himself out of a hole, thanks to an awesome play at the plate on a ball hit deep to right field.  Then the Pirates took advantage of the Rockies awful relief staff in the bottom of the inning to go up 3 - 1, and that's where it ended.  We ate Nutty Buddies and our team won, so Dawg and I were happy.

I also had the U in the O/U for the Orioles game, and that went into Pinney as well.  The last game of the night had a few minutes before start time, and when I checked the line again it was at 3 points difference, so I jumped on it.  Unfortunately, after I got my bet in at The Greek, the Pinnacle line moved 4 points against me, but I had to take it to cover, anyways.  I went to bed and got up this morning to find that had gone toward The Greek.  I am sitting on $825 left to bust at The Greek.  The wagering limit there is high, so I can get it all in on my next bet.  The lines were posted this morning, but there was nothing even close, so I am waiting.  If I am not mistaken, I think that The Greek has 20 cent Moneylines on MLB in the morning, but they switch to dime lines later in the day.  I swear I was looking at dime lines yesterday evening, but they were all 20 cents this morning.  I have a mental note to check that this evening.

I like the software interface for The Greek.  It's design makes it harder to screw up inputting a bet - and that's good for me!  So far, so good.  I expect to use this book again.

Posted by Bullajami at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I busted the Island Casino Sportsbook 20% reload on Saturday (finally).  I shouldn't be complaing, I guess, but I had high expectations of busting it very soon after I deposited when I went 4-for-4 on the first day.  Unfortunately, I started winning some of it back, and "churning isn't earning" as I say.  It's done now, though, and I pocketed about $385 of the $500 reload money.  I took a poor line on the Tigers-Royals game just to make it very likely I would bust that last bet.

Shifted some cash around on Sunday and then put $1200 into The Greek first thing this morning.  They are running a 21% to $250 first deposit bonus with 4X deposit only terms.  The deal with them is that you deposit, then you have to call or e-mail for the bonus to be applied.  I deposited and then called, but was on hold for 15 minutes listening to some Indian woman tell me every 20 seconds that my call was important and to stay on the line.  That was annoying - their MLB lines for today were already posted, and there were some promising opportunities.  It was 0530 this morning, so I will give them some slack.  I sent them an e-mail asking for the bonus, and if they credit it before I get home from work, all will be forgiven.  If not, I'll start to rant.

There is still some math modeling to be done in perfecting my chasing methods.  Right now I will take up to a 6 point difference in lines on MLB for a chase.  (More if it's the last bet that can bust me and I can get a big underdog on my busting book.) Right now I will take all the loss on the book that gets me busted out - typically Pinnacle.  Say I have -106 at Pinnacle and +100 at XXXSports.  I'll put $500 at XXXSports to win $500.  I'll put $500 on Pinnacle to win $472, taking a $28 loss if I bust it over to Pinnacle, but no loss if I am just meeting rollover at XXXSports.

I think this is a good method for balancing the earn rate.  If I bust fast, I bust a bit less.  If I don't bust, but instead meet rollover, I earn a bit more.  The problem I am having is when I have a 5X or higher rollover requirement.  My chase at Island (7X) highlighted this.  I busted $,2000 the first day and lost about $75 of the $500 bonus.  I still had $1,000 to bust out of Island.  Then I won a few at Island.  I found myself needing to "re-bust" about $1,000 that I had already  taken a small loss on.  If I take another small loss on it, I am still OK, but I would not even be half done with the rollover, and I could end up needing to bust that money a third or even fourth time before I was done.  I could see that the small losses could start to add up.  Fortunately, this didn't happen, but the problem presented itself and I would like to figure out the BEST way to proceed under those circumstances.  I haven't yet - which is why I say I need more math modeling.

More to think about.  Suggestions are welcome!

Posted by Bullajami at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As a boy I was a diehard Reds fan.  I grew up in Ohio during the time of The Big Red Machine, and I can still list all the starters by position for the mid-seventies team.

That has absolutely nothing to do with sports betting and bonus chasing, though, and I have bet for AND against the Reds many times this season based on market conditions.  And every time I have, the Reds have done exactly the opposite of what I want, and send my money humping off in a direction I'd prefer it not go.  Grrrrrr!

Until last night.  The Reds finally won when they were supposed to , and my money transferred nicely from Island to Pinnacle as desired.  I still have some money left in Island - about $620 since the Cubs' batters awakened for the first time this season last Sunday against the heavily favored brewers.

That leads me to some more thinking, though.  My betting limit at Island is $500.  What's the best way to bust out $620 under those conditions?  It has to be at least two bets,  Should they be $310 each, or $500 and $120?  I suppose I will have to let the lines dictate.  If I get something delicious, I should max out the bet, if not, I should probably hedge and split the bets evenly.  This requires more thought, and possibly a forum post!

Shoeshine notified me that Nine.com has changed their bonus to be play credits and not a cash bonus.  If anyone else finds any changes or outright errors on my website, please let me know ASAP.  Thanks!

Posted by Bullajami at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am glad the all-star break is over and I can get back to betting the MLB games again.  I have some serious busting out to do!  I could have used that time to bet on some other sports, I guess, but I just took the time off and haven't made a bet since Sunday.

I have been thinking about gnoming sportsbooks - and the ethics of it.  "Gnoming" being a term for creating multiple accounts at a site under different names so that one can take advantage of the bonuses more than once.  I can't quite decide if it's ethical - or if the risk is worth it.

I have gnomed a few poker sites.  I started creating accounts in Mrs Bull's name quite some time ago in order to avoid being recognized.  When I play as "Bullajami" at Party Poker (etc.) I inevitably have someone at the table give me a friendly, "Bull, I really enjoy your posts at ITH" or some such thing.  While it is just good friendly stuff, I started to notice that it can cause the action to dry up.  I started creating accounts using new names - and different at each site so that people don't get 11,000 Poker Tracker hands on me.  At the largest sites I have even created some gnome accounts so that I could change my name.  I have always availed myself of the bonus opportunites for new accounts when I have gnomed, but I have never chased two bonuses at one site in the same month.  I just don't think it's ethical.  I realize other players don't have a problem with it, but I do.  MamaBull raised me to be a boy scout, I guess.

Sportsbooks seem different to me, though.  I see less of an ethical dilemma with gnoming them - especially the ones I have busted out of, as they have (presumably) made a tidy profit at the expense of some other sportsbook.  It seems reasonable that I should give that other sportsbook (likely Pinnacle in my case) an opportunity to win their money back.  Or, in the case of a book where I had to meet rollover and cash out, it gives them an opportunity to win some money back if I set up a gnome account and play there.

Not that I am freaking Robin Hood or anything.  I will clearly profit if I do this. 

There seems to be more risk in gnoming sportsbooks, too.  A poker site would likely cash me out and tell me to never come back.  A sportsbook is more likely to keep all the money, or maybe just keep everything except my initial deposit.  That could be VERY costly.  My perception is that the risk is higher.

I am still contemplating the issue.  I have plenty of books to chase with great bonuses and reloads right now, so it isn't an issue, but it may become a bigger issue in the future if the bonuses at good books start to dry up.  Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was in Pittsburgh from 28 June to 06 July, and I bet on sports every day I was there.  I did a Linesmaker reload, and was able to bust it out, although  did it just as I was meeting rollover, so it took a while.  I also hit some Arbs between Pinnacle and WagerWeb.  Those alternate MLB lines are a thing of beauty.

Right now I am chasing the 20% Island reload.  I popped $2500 in for $500 reload, forgetting my own rule that I need the (in this case $21K) rollover requirement stashed at another book.  Islad limits me to $500 bets, so it was going to take 6 wagers minimum to bust this.  I went 4 for 4 on Saturday's bets, I only found one good bet on Sunday, but the Cubs clobbered the Brewers, and my dream of a rapid bustout before the all-star break was crushed.  Boo friggity hoo.

I am just as busy as can be.  I have several ideas for improving my website's support to sportsbook chasers that I want to act upon, but there's never any time lately.  Between my day job, website upkeep, my ITH job and the recently increasing demands from my family for time, I may have to quit sleeping to get it all done  .  (Speaking of my day job- I suppose I should get to it!)

Posted by Bullajami at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)