for all newbies, stop before you end up like me

Man oh man, not sure if your warning us or looking to fix your many problems.  To say you CANT make money is absolutely incorrect.  How can you expect to win with the ways you are doing it though??  If you continue the same trends your always gonna lose no matter if you start with 200, 200k, or 2 million.  Listen I am no expert but I have a pretty good idea of how this all works.  I am only in my 3rd year and 29 years old so take it for what its worth.  My first 2 years I also lost even hitting a decent percentage of bets.  I didnt understand money management and the understanding of the Unit.  I myself only bet on football and played a very high number of teasers.  I have learned and practiced a much better game this year and Ive made up all the money I lost last two years.  Maybe it was luck I am not gonna act like that is not possible.  But I do know with practicing the fundamentels it would take about 45 straight losses to lose my bankroll.  Thats damn near impossible.  Its actually very simple and has already been mentioned. So I am not even gonna explain, I'll just quote it in a few.  The question you must ask yourself is can you hit 54%???  If so there is hope, if not you wont win.  But if you can then there is absolutely you cant win long term.   Its just practing the basics of money management and you clearly do not do so.  Anyways MONEY MANAGEMENT is by far the most important key to success. 

This is solid, but I would say if you have 200k then no reason to exceed 2% on any bet, and that will help you play more games.  Establishing the proper Unit is key.  Good Luck

too late bud...already sold my kids to scientific experiments and put it all on the Niners 

If you lost 200k on gambling you have a problem BIG TIME, you most likely thought I can turn this 200k to 1million. etc... I did that in my early stages of gambling, obviously not to those amounts. I remember being up 6k in my 20's and tried to double it. BIG MISTAKE and lost it all. Was told by family and friends to take it and invest it , never listened.

Word of advice, bet with your head, not over it..

I thought I could turn a $400 Christmas bonus into 5k. I'll be smart and bet over 2 weekends..

. This sounds like a duck tale.....hope you cope with your problem...

You can do fantasy football, streak for the cash on espn, and streak survivor on here just to give yourself action.  In my experience, once you are away from betting for a little while, you get used to not betting and it feels good and a lot less stressful. BOL on your journey.

If you really lost 200k, you have  a serious problem..... money management.  IF  you had even a slight idea of what this phrase means you would not be broke and would be sitting a mountain of cash.  Instead you piss it all away and then want to say that it is impossible to make money gambling.  Figure out how to manage money and treat it like a business.  You would not be gambling in the first place if there wasn't a chance of success.

Down 200K....I'll say what many guys on here forgot to say to you...Thanks for your post. 

Ok losers its time to find a thread where theres winners,cause thousands of people make money sports investing everyday find a winner an ride with em'dumb behind!! sorry for everybodys pain an suffering but theres such thing as money management an finding winning picks no excuse for losing 200k!!!!

I may not bet a lot like most people on here but I agree that saying u can't win ever is not true. This is what I do:
1. My bankroll every year is my loose change. I have a huge jar that when its cashed it comes out to about anywhere between $800-$1500 depending on how much of it is pennies.
2. I only bet a sport I'm confident in, in this case is football. I've tried baseball and hoops but failed.
3. My one unit is $50. Once I lose my roll I stop. Don't chase, it won't work. I've been gambling since I was 18 years old, I'm now 32. I have only had 3 losing seasons thru those years. I can even remember the exact amounts I lost...$400, 240, and 160. Those amounts are not past the roll but taken from the roll so I still had what was left from the roll when all was said and done.
4. I put my bets in with confidence that way I don't lose time with family. I place my bets in waves according to time windows of the games in Hawaii it's usually 7:00, 10:00, 1:00, than the late games. How much I put on the latter windows depends how the morning games went or how confident I am. Confidence in your plays prevents u from checking scores all day. I barely check my phone til I know the games about done to place my next wagers.
5. Follow a set of game rules, for example: if u like an under try the first half under because of college OT rules (learned from JimmytheFreak), vice versa...or if u see a blowout and complete mismatch like Alabama vs Hawaii, lay some on Bama TT over first half or game total over first half because they should blow them out fast and ease up second half, and etc.
6. Don't spend ANYTHING u make until the season is over.

I'm not saying u should get back into gambling or anything like that, just seems u did it with no discipline. Hope u get back in shape dawg and good luck!

7. I also have logged every year and every wager in notebooks I still have from when I was 18 so I can honestly tell u I am making money not losing. But like I said my roll and size of unit is nothing in comparison to others on this site but I'm realistic. The money I make can be anywhere from $400 to $5000 after a year of college football, but its money I didn't have and I disputes it after season to kids accounts, bill payments, and wife gifts which is where my loose change would have gone anyway. That's it.

**dispurse

***disperse

I did this as well, college football only & had the first winning year in 5 years. No more betting on some bs soccer game at 6 am on a tuesday morning. I flat bet for the most part as well that way no matter what happens I live to see another day if things blow up in my face.

In my early days, I once had to work out an installment payment plan with my bookie.

I made the biggest mistake you can make in gambling.  I had a bad Saturday, chased on Sunday, and tried to win it all back on Monday Night Football.  My book even tried to talk me out of making that MNF bet, but he let me make it.  LESSON LEARNED

Hang tough friend.  Sometimes it takes things like that in life to really wake a person up.  I'm only typing this because I have a best friend who led a similar betting style...  The best thing to do is straight up cold turkey stop, but i realize it isn't that easy. 

My friend was a farmer in Wisconsin that couldn't stop betting..... Before he knew it he lost the farm that was just inherited to him as well as his wife and little girl.  It was a tragic situation but I tried to be there for him every way I could.  He was able to quick cold turkey after about 3 years of hard gambling(the guy would put a grand on a cricket game if there was a line) and turned his life around completely.  Just know that your not the only one out there with these kind of issues and stay as tough as ya can.  Life is about decisions imo and you can always start today!!  Take care man and I wish ya truly the best as I'm sure all of us gamblers do.

This post is sort of a wake up call to all gamblers, successful or not.  I don't know why some of you bash this person who has made a mistake, confessed it, and warns others about it.  Is it because you are so smart and perfect that it can never happen to you?  Unless you've walked in his shoes it is not easy to imagine.  I've seen this way too many times with gambling, alcohol, drugs, etc.

Thanks for the post.  Good luck brother.

I hope you can quit. Good luck.

Sorry to hear.

There's two problems with most gamblers.

1) Way too much volume of bets.

2) Betting on mainstream sports.

How about studying something like tennis or MMA that's more niche and gives you greater edge? There's perfect information in all these major sports that makes the market too efficient for the majority to make money. I.e., in football you HAVE to list an injury. Do you think you HAVE to list an injury in an individual sport? darn no. That's of course just one example. Another reason to bet niche sports like fights is you can actually watch ALL tape. Who the darn is gonna watch the last 16 games the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens just played to decide if Broncos are worth a -9 spread? It's a hell of a lot easier to watch the last 4 fights two fighters have had...

You are an addict, to gambling, its ok, say it, confess it. Its just like any other addiction.  We've all been addicted to something, someone, in our lives.  You are in a spiritual battle my friend, we all are.  Its a fact, whether we admit it or not.  Just as there are physical laws, there are spiritual laws.  So, where is your heart?  What's in your heart?  What do you really want to fill your heart with?  Really, if tomorrow was your last day, what would you spend the next 24 hours doing...  and know this, that when that time is up, you will stand face to face with God himself.  One last parlay for everything you have?  Would you find the person you always wanted to tell them you loved them, no matter what it takes, and get it done?  Do the thing you always wanted to do, the number one thing on your bucket list?  You don't know it but, you have been given a great gift.  You are in the place right now where you never thought you would be, so low, so deep, you know in your heart you can't pull this off alone, within your own strength, own resources. You lost a lot of money, and that hurt, and you think it can never go away, no matter what you do.  You can't chase it away with a big win.  You can't forget it, chase it from your mind with a job, or something else.  Time won't heal it, I know.   Before I tell you what you should do, let me post this too.   

Paul told the Romans...   So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. (addictions are sin) ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

I have seen angels of light, and angels of darkness, myself. I could tell you things that would make your hair stand up, and scare the you know what right out of you.  Just know this... All those dudes you read about in the bible you just like you and me, real people, had addictions, and had sin raging in their bodies and minds and hearts. Everybody thinks they can do it on their own, but no one can.  What Jesus did was kick the crap of of satan, defeat him, so you and I don't to.  Jesus did it, so we don't have to, IF WE PLACE OUR COMPLETE TRUST IN HIM TO DO IT . In your own way (you don't need anyone or anything to help you do this, and really, no one can do it for you), just ask Jesus to fight this thing for you, kick the crap out of it, get it out of you. Ask Him to TAKE THE DESIRE AWAY.  Don't care what people will think or say, just do it. But don't fool him or yourself, this is the real deal, but it has to be real and all the way or nothing.  If you ask Him, really ask, totally, He will take the pain away, you will not be addicted to it anymore, and He will fill that void created by the addiction with peace, love, joy, etc. etc, all the things of light, not darkness. So many people say Christianity doesn't work.  Its works for those with true and complete faith, but so many of us hold back, and don;t admit it. 

What am I doing in this forum saying this?  I bet a little here and there, like an investment.  I lived an MLB life for a generation, so I know that sport, just like I know stocks, and investments in business.  I invest my time in those who I think are a good bet, just like laying it all out there, in this post to help you, when I know many in this forum who read this will think about mocking the heck out of me, etc, etc.  and the haters will want to roll me.  But it is also a spiritual law that the Word of God does not return void.  Yep, that's right, and no one can change that. 

Trust Jesus, you may not ever get another chance, like this.  And then maybe you should go back and focus and fill your heart with what made you the initial 200K?  heh?  I live a balanced life, not controlled by anything other than my faith and my Relationship with God.  If anything gets in the way of that, where I am controlled by something other than my Relationship with Him, I quit it immediately, because I know I can't handle it.  We are all different, but we all need to know who we are, what we can handle and what we can't. Like a little drink.  Even Paul drank wine, but not to excess.  He did a lot of things, but never to excess or to an addiction. In fact, he was obsessed and addicted to killing Christians before he became one.  God slammed him big time, and said enough!  The rest is history.  Jesus said it isn't the rich or the good that need healing, it is the sick, the suffering. There are a lot of sick and suffering gambling addicts in this site.  An addiction to gambling is sin, its darkness, its destructive, it kills the spirit if not the body. It is like money.  It isn't the money that is evil, it is the love of it, the addiction to get it, keep it, have more,  if that love is greater than the Love you have for God, and yourself, and others.   The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. 

So, what should you do?  Don't take advice from people that don't love you.  God loves you, and there's got to be others who love you, seek them out.  Your gift is, you are in a place where you can find the truth of why we are here.  Trust Jesus, with all of your heart, mind, and soul, ask him to help you, right now, for real, no BS, and the rest will amaze you.  GBY      

damn man, I think its stating the obvious that u r an addict. def quit, and talk to someone, no doubt

200k.. thanks for your post and I wish you well... hopefully years from now you can look back and laugh about how awful the whole thing was.. I commend Yesterdays post #49.. I agree and feel this is the only answer..