Handicapper, specific to sports betting, refers to someone who does analysis into sporting events in order to provide themselves a benefit over the bookmakers. Pretty much anyone can become a handicapper and, whether you would like to take it on in a professional fashion is up to you. There are both pro and amateur handicappers making bets on different sports every day. The former typically spend hours looking into statistics, figures, and just about anything that might give them a benefit.
Amateur and Professional Sports Bettors
Both amateur and professional sports bettors are regarded as handicappers since they take a lot of time analyzing a game and predicting how it is going to play out. But, this does not indicate that a professional sports handicapper and an amateur handicapper must be treated the same way. The two are different in spite of sharing the term ‘handicapper.’ A professional handicapper is more patient and does not place their bet easily. An amateur will always be in a rush to bet on a game. A professional handicapper, on the other hand, can stay away from the game and instead gather as much information as possible so that they know how and where to place their bets.
Football Handicappers
Sports are seasonal events, with most campaigns lasting 8-9 months a year in professional leagues. Certainly, this is not perfect for handicappers, particularly if betting happens to be their chief source of income. One sport may be enough if there are off-season tournaments available. For example, in football, you can always find international activity afoot after clubs break off for the summer. The World Cup comes every four years but there are also the Euros, which come around every four years too but never the same year as the World Cup. Football handicappers can also get by on pre-season football, leaving them with adequate to bet on while the official club season lies inactive.
You could find very lucrative handicappers in both groups so it is hard to say which group is better but specialists are likely to find more success as they can narrow their focus and give attention to just one or two sports, which leaves them with more time to know everything that goes into them.
Other groups will depend on data scraped by models they have developed themselves. While those are not perfect, many of them are pretty correct most of the time. Yet another group makes their picks based on opinion. This does not mean that they just guess – they still do the research. The difference is they like not to have systems guide their hands.
Every game is different and, though anything can take place once that whistle blows, there are several factors leading up to any game that can give you a better chance of making the correct choice. You may decide to bet on a sport because you enjoy watching it but, once money gets involved, it pays to do your homework.
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