Bull's Sports Betting Journal

I was able to get my entire balance in at SIA last night on three MLB bets (vs Pinnacle).  Two evens at a -4.  Pretty happy with that.  I was really happy when I hit on all three, and busted out of SIA completely.  That was very timely, too, and set me up nicely for this weekend's football lines - fattening up my Pinnacle balance, and leaving me only in two other books (Canbet and Legendz) going into the weekend.

If you are chasing over at SIA, running the lines a half hour before game time is proving to be the best use of time.  Running them at any other time is just about fruitless.  Seems they don't like to adjust as much down the stretch as most other books, so you can find some good discrepancies in lines. 

Hope I can bust out of Legendz this weekend.  I am tired of going through their lines every day and finding nothing.  I don't know why anyone would use them as a book just for straight sportsbetting.  The juice is 10% and the moneyline overround is ridiculous.  Why would you bet 20 cent baseball lines at Legendz when Pinney is selling them for 8 cents?  There's a sucker born every minute?

Good luck this weekend everyone!

Posted by Bullajami at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am spending  a lot of time at Legendz Sports looking for lines, and not finding much.  They only post NFL and NCAAF lines early, and they are just as square as can be.  Painful.  I am hoping to bust out of there soon, but I'll likely just leave it burnt.  When I get excited to find -5 and -6 lines, time to cut bait and run!

I work for Internettexasholdem.com part time, helping to manage some of their content.  Its been busy there lately.  I have also been working on another revision of BullsBetting.com.  Between those two projects I am not searching through lines (or playing poker) anywhere near as much as I used to.  So when I do get a chance to look through some lines I get a bit resentful when they suck!  Arbs should just be jumping off the page at me!  I'll give Legendz Sports until this weekend (and another shot at using that free half-point) but if nothing develops, then I am outta there!

I have been finding a bunch of good opportunities at Canbet (vs Pinnacle).  -1, even and +1 scalps are fairly plentiful.  I've been passing money back and forth between Canbet and Pinney most of this week, trying to bust one way or the other on MLB.  If that doesn't happen by Thursday I'll just cashout from Canbet so that my BR is poised for weekend football opportunities. 

I took my SIA balance down $550 last night on an evens play (vs Pinnacle, of course) on the Pirates/Astros game.  I watched that game with my son - a HUGE Piarates fan - but never told him I was hoping for the Astros to win.  He is bothered but what he sees as disloyalty when I put money against his team.  I've tried to explain that its nothing personal, its all about the numbers, but he does not understand.  I probably wouldn't have either when I was young.

Posted by Bullajami at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Probably an over reaction - calling it "Black Sunday" - but damn!  Things were going great on Saturday.  I went 8 for 11 with getting my money flowing in the proper dirtection.  I was planning my next withdrawal from Pinnacle and re-allocation of BR among sportsbooks when I went 1 for 8 on Sunday.  One for eight!  Thank God for the O/U on the Carolina/TB game!

I lost 3 of those bets on the New England/Denver game.  The New England Moneyline was a hurter - since they were going off at -270/+265.  I also lost both halves O/Us.  The second half I had at evens until I made the first bet, then the Pinnacle line moved to -6 on me before I could get the money in.  Grrrrr!  Double Grrrrr!  I suppose its a small price to pay for dodging the middling I could have taken on the first half.  I took Over 20 and under 19.5.  When I read that line I somehow had it backwards, and was thinking I could have won both at 20.  I realized later that it was the other way around, and I lose the U and push the O at 20.  Thought I was past stupid noobishness, but I guess not.  No harm, though, as the half ended at 10 - 0. 

I had Detroit on a moneyline to win, so that also hurt.  Gotta hate losing those "bet $1750 to win $500" bets when you are trying to bust out at Legendz.  That book may be heading for a burning.  My plan to use the free half point is not going well.  After 3 weeks, I haven't been able to use it for an arb yet.

As the dust settles, it looks like I have 3 books with greater balances than my home book.  Not a great sign for earn rate.  Hopefully I can find some action this week between those books.  That would be nice.  I like a little order and consolidation of my bankroll.  I'll be sorting this out this evening.

Posted by Bullajami at 06:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, it's easy to fall behind with a blog.  Can't believe I haven't posted in a week!

Mrs. Bull is originally from Pittsburgh, and her love for her team is contagious, so we cheer hard for the Steelers at my house.

BetWWTS was offering a fine freeroll on the Steelers for Monday night.  New accounts only were eligible, so I was not.  Apparently they consider me as having an account since I am an affiliate, even though I haven't deposited or bet there before.  Bummer, I miss out on a good deal.  The Steelers had zero offense last night, so I hope anyone who played it hedged it.

I found three NFL arbs on SIA vs Pinnacle on Sunday.  Those lines were just jumping off the page at me.  I was lucky enough to get all my money in at SIA, and went three for three and busted my SIA account.  I did a reload there for Monday night, hoping for another unadvertised stealth bonus, but I didn't get one.  I got a straight even bet on the Steelers at -3 vs Pinnacle, so I took it.  I really didn't expect the Jaguars defense to be so dominating, so I was very happy with that bet.  But, now I have over a grand in SIA again.  Hopefully the NFL lines there will be as good on Sunday as they were last Sunday.

I was so confident in the Steelers winning that I didn't use my free half-point option at Legendz.  My original plan had been to use that account as a home account for Steelers games.  They weren't advertising any bonus, but they were advertising a free half-point on any NFL team all season.  I figured I could use them all season with my free half point to find arbs vs other books where I had a bonus, and I would bust into Legendz.  As it turns out, I have received two bonuses there so far, and with a pending bonus, I want to bust that book.  So, I didn't take the half point on the Steelers last night at Legendz, because I didn't want to win into that book.  Instead I put it on a decent -1 on the Baltimore/Tampa Bay MLB game, but the Orioles won and covered the runline, so now I have a big balance in Legendz also.  Not huge, but bigger than I wanted.  Had I taken the half point on the Steelers I would have busted it out.  Oh well, live and learn.  I should just stick with the game plan, and not let my personal opinions and favorite teams occlude my scalping process.

Both Legendz and SIA MLB lines are fairly square, so I may not get that money into play again until next weekend.  I have some reserve cash that I may use for a reload elsewhere.  Maybe Bodog is ready for me again!

I had mentioned recently pooling my bankroll and going after one of the big bonuses, but instead I withdrew some funds for personal use.  Time to do some re-building before I tromp off to big bonus land.

Posted by Bullajami at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I reloaded at Legendz and looked over the MLB lines last night, but found nothing of interest.  I found a -2 at SIA vs Pinney on the ML for the Padres/Reds game.  SIA has been strange for baseball.  They are fairly square and the lines generally are not too friendly, but just as I am about to give up looking there, all of a sudden there is a line that is just way out of sync with all the others.  Too bad the wagering limit is so low.  When I can only get one bet in for a nickel on any given day, it keeps my money tied up longer than I like.

I got annoyed with poker, so I watched the end of that Padres/Reds game and drank a few of the leftover Coronas from my party this past weekend.  The Padres were up 4-3 in the 8th, but couldn't hang on.  The Reds won it with a solo homer in the bottom of the 11th.  I continue to build vice deplete my roll at SIA.  Bummer.

Back at it tonight.

Posted by Bullajami at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's getting tougher for me to post from my day job desk.  Not because of any network restrictions, but because the pace of activity here is picking up and there's less and less time when I am not engaged by my work.  On top of that my boss dumped a new project into my lap yesterday that is likely to add about 50% to my workload for a while.  Yikes!

I hedged the Mansion promotion on Pittsburgh and cleared $485.  I had a brief scare because I had the game at -5 and at the end it looked possible that it could hit -5 and stop.  Thanks to Joey Porter, that didn't happen, though, and I keep the $485.

I still have money in SIA and Pinney.  I busted out of Legendz on some baseball arbs.  I put $500 in there to exploit the NFL "half point on your favorite team" promotion.  You can get a free half point every week on the team of your choosing this season.  I chose Pittsburgh, but I think it would have been better to choose a team likely to lose a lot of games.  To use the promotion you have to call in your bet, you can't use the internet, but I suspect I should be able to get some decent arb action with a free half point all season.  At least that is my plan.  I found those baseball arbs, though, and now I need to reload before next weekend.  D'oh!

I did two more BetUSA reloads this week and busted both of them, as well.  That's been working out very well for me, and I am happy with that book.  Read somewhere that they plan to change their bonus rules, but its not happening to my account yet. 

I should be in position to try one of the bigger books for a bigger bonus soon.  I need to circle the wagons and figure out where all my money is first, but I think I have enough for a big book run.

Posted by Bullajami at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SIA sent me an e-mail that they had redesigned their site, and I was checking it out.  As long as I had it open, I checked the MLB lines against Pinney - which is usually a waste of time.  Lo and bohold!  There were two dead even lines vs. Pinney where I got to take the dog both times.  The Marlins Moneyline and the ChiSox runline.  I max bet ($550) both.  There was also a -1 on the Indians and I bet $220 on that.

A short time later I was updating my account balances on my spreadsheet.  My bookkeeping has been poor lately, and I wanted to try to tighten it up.  I found $306 at Bodog I didn't know was there.  Undoubtedly the result of a "Two-Drink Minimum" posting night.  Checked the MLB lines and found a 2 point arb on the Marlins vs Pinney, so I took that one, too.

Anibal Sanchez to the rescue.  He pitches a no-hit shut out against the Diamondbacks.  The ChiSox kill the Red Sox, and I get a flood of money coming into Pinnacle.  Yip Yip Yippee!  Cleveland let me down, but c'est la vie.  At least I proved I could lose at SIA, where I had been 8-0 (or rather 0-8) for my picks there.  I am glad I can lose there, as my Steelers hedge bet is there, and I really want the Steelers to win that game.

I tried to log into my BetUSA account last night to check the lines.  I can get into the account, but then I get an error that tells me I don't have permission to see the lines.  I contacted CS via e-mail and they replied that I need to change the settings on my IE 6 browser.  Not terribly helpful since I was using FireFox.

I am not sure how to classify the Bodog bustout money.  Seems unfair to call it sports betting winnings, since I am not sure where it came from or how much was deposited.  I guess I'll have to check Neteller to see when I deposited it and then count the bonus on that deposit at sports betting.  Plus the $6 of Arb money I won.  Then I need to start keeping better records.\

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

But first, the end of August:

I discovered that Mansion $1000 freeroll on the Saturday before I left for Las Vegas.  I saw that it was already getting discussed on poker forums, and figured that this was going to attract a lot of attention.  Presuming this meant the line on the Dolphins was going to get worse over time, I jumped in right away, getting +5/-5 and getting -110 on the Dolphins at SportsInteraction.  Not thrilled about the possibility of a push, but overall I am satisfied with this scalp.

While in San Diego, all I did was a Linesmaker reload.  (You get one every month following a month where you lost money.)  I busted it in one bet.  I'll get another one in September, but they get progressively smaller.

I loaded at LegendzSports to experiment with their "free half point on your favorite NFL team" promotion.  I want to see if I can get some better arb opportunities if I have a free half point to play with.  Strangely I found some small MLB arbs against SportsInteraction (the lines vs Pinnacle were awful), and I played the arbs.  I busted it all into SIA in two bets (I am now 8 for 8 in bets at SIA), so now I have to reload to play with the free half point on NFL.  Heh!  Also of note, Legendz gave me an unadvertised 20% Freeplay on my deposit.  I called CS and asked about it and the CS guy seemed confused as well, but told me it was a 5X rollover on it - so I still have that to do.

On to September:

BetUSA is my bizitch.  (Knock wood).  Finally got around to this one.  I have loaded, and reloaded twice and busted it all out on 4 total bets.  I am running hot there, enough said.  I predict more reloads in the future.

I also did a 10% Island reload.  Busted that in one bet, but the best I could do was -5.  I had forgotten how tough the MLB lines are on Island.  Tough to scalp, anyways.  I should take better notes or go back and read my posts sometime.

Feels good to be busting a few books again.  I had a crummy 6 week run there, and I look forward to getting back into a decent earning pattern.

Posted by Bullajami at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)