Last night, on Chad Millman’s Behind the Bets podcast for ESPN, Krackman gave a tremendous amount of helpful, useful insight into himself and into basics of sports betting. He touched on everything from money management, to chasing, to the number of bets one should make when they have an edge, to the best ways to take advantage of books when betting the NFL.
I talked to Krack after the interview and told him I planned to capture and transcribe some of the highlights, because bettors LOVE to get advice and gain insight from a giant in the field like Krackman. So to make sure some of these key points don’t get overlooked, not only should you give the entire 18 minute interview a listen HERE, check out the quotes below:
On knowing when to pull up on bets for the baseball season rather than throw good money after bad
“I like to be in the kind of thing where I’m winning easily and when I lose, I just get nipped. So when its “Over 9″ and it lands on 8, I say “OK”, I know there were a lot of runs and hits and men on base. But I didn’t see that right now with our bets…. so I know its time to pull up.”
On “fugazi” touts
“They just are out there to rob the public, they are marketing people. I know there are some legitimate ones out there, yes, but for the most part, 99% of them are out there to steal peoples money and nothing else.”
On money management and chasing
“The worst thing for most people… even the people who know what they’re doing, for the most part, lose, because because they don’t know how to take a loss. So you can take a $1,200 or $1,500 loss in a day. But if you have $3,000 more, you say ‘let me keep going’. Its just the human element, their nature, is to chase to get even for that day, that hour, that minute. Instead of saying ‘tomorrow’s another day’. For the last 20 years I have bankroll management and money management skills, where I know how much I have to bet per game based on percentage of bankroll and in the end I know that I’m going to be successful keeping to that model.”
On percentage of bankroll per bet
“Less than 1% but really 1-2% is a good model for people… 5% on something with a huge edge I guess is OK but I say more like 1-2%”
On total bankroll on the line per day
“5-6 years ago, I put 20% of my total bankroll on the line on some days, but you know you’re not going to lose it all in one day even if its a bad day.”
On number of games to bet for the day: few or many?
“When you’re younger, you think to yourself and know that a gamblers ruin is to bet a lot of games. However, as a professional, the more games you bet with an advantage is actually the bigger advantage to yourself. So any given Saturday with multiple sports crossing over, I’ll have 30, 40, 50 pieces in action. You can’t overcome that unless you’re betting with an edge or an advantage. And when I’m betting that many games, sure I’ll have 10-20% on the line on the day as a whole.”
On using Twitter to find an advantage
“Twitter becomes an important tool to use. There are a lot of tweets where you can read about strategies and personnel moves. Its very important to have Twitter. Especially during preseason, to find out who is playing, who is not.”
On what he bets in the NFL
“I’ll bet more preseason sides than I will NFL [regular season] sides. Now, I do bet NFL totals. But 2nd half plays in the NFL I’ll have probably 10 times the volume than I will on NFL sides for the full game.”
On why he bets so much on NFL second halves
“Its a unique line. They put up a line, CRIS or Olympic, and everyone copies off of it. There’s no linemakers making up a line. Now you have a line the put up in a matter of seconds based on a mathematical formula, rather than looking at the actual per game situation, players, and other areas. Not just the number based on the opening spread and the score. No one is ironing it out all week, its just a line that comes out and you have 10 minutes to bet it.”
On in-game NFL betting
“In game wagering is very important. But its almost impossible for me to bet in game in Vegas. Stations has it but threw me out for winning, they don’t want anyone with a pulse betting in game situations. Cantor and William Hill has it. But if you’re a square, betting $25, $50, $100, you’re welcome to bet it, and you can have fun with it. But if you’re anyone with a pulse and know what you’re doing, aside from Cantor, they don’t want you. And the delay that they put you on, they’re working with a 5-7 second delay with a radio feed compared to the feed you’re watching the game on. It’s tough to make any money if you’re trying to bet big amounts of money.”
