
Originally Posted by
Sanlmar
I lurk Druff’s picks and rants.
I have been entertained.
He is coy about his tools and process but whatever. He could have deployed some mechanical turks here or elsewhere if he thought the process was sound.
If he genuinely believes his results aren’t variance he should chart his results over time. The result would force him to decide wether his approach and ideas were valuable and ahead of the lines early season. Perhaps the gap narrowed as the season progressed.
You chart the results and trade the chart. Or you can think. Thinking rarely works. Trade what you see.
I'll be honest. Shortly after the NBA season started, I had the urge to start betting it, but I didn't want to throw away $ betting like a fish.
So I came up with a completely different process which I felt had a chance to be +EV, but obviously wanted to put it into practice before betting anything large. (I'm betting money which is semi-meaningful, but nothing which will result in a big win or big loss for the year, no matter what.)
Then it broke out really hot, and I still kinda dismissed it as variance.
Then it hung around as high as 61% over 162 picks, and I thought at that point I really had something. I started talking to people about maybe betting bigger or doing something else with them.
Literally the next day I was greeted with an 0-4 -- none of which were close. It was like a kick in the nuts. I didn't bet bigger on them, fortunately, but decided that this was a wake up call to wait-and-see, even if it was just one bad day (and just my second four-game losing streak of the season).
Then the next day, I almost went 0-3, which was also quite rare. I was saved when an under -- on pace to lose for almost the whole game -- managed to cover by a few points. Then I got blown out the next day on my only pick, to fall to 1-7. I'm 8-6 since then in picks, so the bleeding has ended.
But let's look at the past 22 picks. I'm 9-13, which is bad, but not terrible, even for someone hitting 61% over 162 picks prior to that.
But more disturbing is the way these games have gone down. Of the 9 wins, only three of them were easy (where there was never a sweat). Of the 13 losses, 11 of them were clear for most of the game, with only two (Houston under and the previous day's Portland side) being last-minute screw jobs.
So in 22 picks, I put up only 3 easy winners but 11 easy losers. Ouch.
What about before? I didn't count, but it was mostly the opposite. Many of my wins were of the decisive, little-sweat variety, while many losses were fairly close. Yes, there were some close wins and blowout losses, but up through December 30, the average win margin was definitely far higher than the average loss margin, especially if you removed a few outliers on both ends.
And I think that's just as important to follow as wins and losses. If a game is close the whole way and you win/lose based upon some meaningless points at the end, that says nothing of your skill. It means the books were correct in setting the line, and the ball just fell/didn't fall your way.
Skill in NBA handicapping is most apparent when you're REALLY right fairly often, rather than falling slightly on the side of right. A 1-point win pays the same as a 30-point win, but the handicapper you should follow is the one putting up a lot of decisive wins. Up through December 30, I was that handicapper. Since then, I have not been.
We shall see what happens.