GAMBLING GUIDE

5 Betting Tips: From one gambler to another

5 Betting Tips: From one gambler to another
Vegas has caught on to how the defending champs score runs. Harry How/Getty Images

As One Shining Moment plays for the last time in our heads for the season, we look to other sports to fulfill our degenerate needs for action. Here are 5 random thoughts that can help you along your gambling ventures.

1) Betting Baseball

When wagering on Baseball, things work a little different than in other sports. Lineups are not released until closer to the first pitch making it harder to take advantage of "early" lines. Taking certain things into factors such as umpires, pitching rotations, ballparks, and teams giving players days off are all things to keep an eye on. Baseball has a ton of variables; you must stay on top of it to be successful.

2) Baseball Home Field Advantage?

When betting sports, we put a tremendous amount of emphasis on Home Field advantage. Especially in the NFL, where playing at home is usually worth 3 points to the handicap, but when betting on the MLB, playing at home may not play as much of an impact.

                                                              Sportsrefernce.com


As you can see, in the regular season, Baseball carries the least amount of advantage of playing as the home team, while the NBA leads the way where teams hosting win 59.9% of the time.

In the postseason, however, things change, and the NFL takes the front, and home teams win 64.7% of the time.

3) Hottest MLB team to start the season

The season has just begun, and the journey is long-drawn, the Hottest teams thus far:

Runline Records
Minnesota 4-0-0    
Seattle       4-0-0
Tampa Bay    4-1-0
Houston    4-1-0
Colorado    3-1-0
Washington    3-1-0
NY Mets    3-1-0
Pittsburgh    3-1-0
Toronto    4-2-0

Best Over-Under Records
Atlanta    2-0-2
Arizona    3-1-0
Colorado    3-1-0
San Diego   3-1-0
Seattle       3-1-0
Pittsburgh   3-1-0
As of 10:41 PM 4/3

The Hometown Defending Champion Astros (feels great to say that) have come out scorching hot as expected. The Astros are 5-1 vs. the Runline, and straight up. When the Astros win, they do it in fashion and cover the run line by an average of 1.7 runs.

The Over/Under in Astros games are 3-3 thus far, and much has to do with the inflated totals books are setting as traps knowing the public has caught on to this team's bats. A better strategy could be to bet Houston's Team totals separately, as they have scored 6+ in their last four games.

4) Rockets Playoff Run Update


A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on what the best strategy to profit on the Rockets down the stretch is. At the time, you could get the Rockets in the +180/+210 range. Earlier this week, Bovada tweeted that for the first time all season, the Warriors weren't favored to win the title by themselves. Both Houston, and Golden State now sit at +120 giving merit to the mechanical parlay strategy I spoke about. If and when these two giants collide in the Western Conference Finals, the odds you get by rolling over the initial amount round by round will profit substantially higher odds than the current +120.

5) Poker tip of the week

A problematic situation you can catch yourself in on a poker table can be that of falling victim to an over-aggressive player. When playing vs. one of these table bullies you must:

A) Play position carefully, ideally you want to be sitting behind them, being you would like them to act first.

B) When involved in hands with the "hyper raiser," try and find yourself raising more often, rather than calling the villain's hands. To stop an aggressive player, you must take command of the hand when the time is right. When executed correctly, a good old fashion check-raise can be enough to get the bully off your back. Play the game, don't let the game play you.

For any question or comments reach me @JerryBoKnowz on twitter.

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Welcome to Houston, Nick! Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.

Nick Chubb didn’t expect to be a Houston Texan. At least, not until he got the call on a quiet Saturday at home and was on a flight the next day. It happened fast — too fast, even, for the four-time Pro Bowler to fully process what it all meant. But now that he’s here, it’s clear this wasn’t a random landing spot. This was a calculated leap, one Chubb had been quietly considering from afar.

The reasons he chose Houston speak volumes not only about where Chubb is in his own career, but where the Texans are as a franchise.

For one, Chubb saw what the rest of the league saw the last two seasons: a young team turning the corner. He admired the Texans from a distance — the culture shift under head coach DeMeco Ryans, the explosive rise of C.J. Stroud, and the physical tone set by players like Joe Mixon. That identity clicked with Chubb. He’d been a fan of Ryans for years, and once he got in the building, everything aligned.

“I came here and saw a bunch of guys who like to work and not talk,” Chubb said. “And I realized I'm a perfect fit.”

As for his health, Chubb isn’t running from the injuries that cost him parts of the past two seasons, he’s owning them. But now, he says, they’re behind him. After a full offseason of training the way he always has — hitting his speed and strength benchmarks — Chubb says he’s feeling the best he has in years. He’s quick to remind people that bouncing back from major injuries, especially the one he suffered in 2023, is rarely a one-year journey. It takes time. He’s given it time.

Then there’s his fit with Mixon. The two aren’t just stylistic complements, they go way back. Same recruiting class, same reputation for running hard, same respect for each other’s games. Chubb remembers dreading matchups against the Bengals in Cleveland, worrying Mixon would take over the game. Now, he sees the opportunity in pairing up. “It’ll be us kinda doing that back-to-back against other defenses,” he said.

He’s also well aware of what C.J. Stroud brings to the table. Chubb watched Stroud nearly dismantle Georgia in the College Football Playoff. Then he saw it again, up close, when Stroud lit up the Browns in the postseason. “He torched us again,” Chubb said. Now, he gets to run alongside him, not against him.

Stroud made a point to welcome Chubb, exchanging numbers and offering support. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s the kind of leadership that helped sell Chubb on the Texans as more than just a good football fit — it’s a good locker room fit, too.

It appears the decision to come to Houston wasn’t part of some master plan. But in retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Chubb is a player with a no-nonsense work ethic, recovering from adversity, looking to write the next chapter of a career that’s far from over. And the Texans? They’re a team on the rise, built around guys who want to do the same.

You can watch the full interview in the video below.

And for those wondering how Joe Mixon feels about Nick Chubb, check out this video from last season. Let's just say he's a fan.


*ChatGPT assisted.

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