As you all know, every weekend these days is full of NCAA Football games on Saturday and NFL Games on Sunday. There are so many games and so many bets to choose from. A lot of times, I will sit down for a few hours and really hammer out some analysis for each NCAA game for the entire week. I typically come up with a list of 10-15 games that I like and that I think have value. In the NFL, I might find find 5 games with some value. If I stick to my guns and just bet the games that have value – typically things go pretty well. But that is where the problem lies. I can’t ONLY BET THESE GAMES. So let’s take Sunday for example. I’m having a great day as the 5 games I like for the week are at noon and 3:15 PM. I win a majority of these plays and am in the green for the week, right? Well, not so fast. Sunday Night Football comes on! It’s the Colts at the Cardinals. I have NO IDEA who to bet and can find no true value either way. But, like a fool, I bet the Cardinals anyways just for some action. Same thing on Monday Night Football. I bet the helpless Carolina Panthers JUST BECAUSE it’s the only game on. So I lose those last two bets and end up having a negative NFL betting weekend. If I could only learn to stay away from betting these games that are the only thing on, unless I find value in the bet.

The more I think about this it comes down to this. Are you betting solely to turn a profit? Or are you betting to add that extra enjoyment and incentive to watching sports? If you are in it just to make money – then be careful what you bet and only play the games that have value. Turn the TV off if you know there is a game on that you just hate the line. But if you are betting to get that extra little something out of the games – then enjoy. Keep on picking games and playing the games that are on tv. After all, I sure am way more interested in how Jake Delhomme performs if I have a little money riding on it.

Thoughts?