One thing that has always sort of bothered me about my current betting set up is the square action I give at Pinnacles price. I have a deal with someone/something where I can book anything at Pinnacles price for pretty much any amount. It's always good to have access to a sharp book for the 'hard' side of arbs and scalps. It's a good deal for me but an even better one for the guy booking my Pinnacle bets. I am almost always trying to lose any bet I place at Pinny's price (because I almost always have the opposite side for bigger at a soft site. This would be the 'soft' side of the arb).
This arrangement has worked fine for years and years. But I am constantly giving this guy money and once I saw the promos and deals I get from square books, it occurred to me that I should be getting something back from the Pinny side. Since that is not going to happen, however, I started thinking about ways to get down at even better prices. But who has better sharp prices than Pinnacle? No one, really, or so I thought. But then I noticed something called 'NoVig' having the best prices on all the odds screens. I could tell from their lines that they were an exchange and I had always assumed those were illegal ever since Matchbook closed to the US. I clicked through to them one day and saw that they were an exchange and were perfectly legal in my state! I had no idea. How did that news possibly not reach me?
Well anyway, to make a long story short, I opened an account on NoVig. And let me tell you something. I have not had as much fun or gotten better prices betting in maybe a decade. I used to use Matchbook way back in the day and I forgot how awesome exchanges are. You can't believe the prices I am getting! I almost always make markets instead of taking them and I get nice fat arbs all day. I used to pat myself on the back for beating the close by a few cents, but lately I am smashing it. Consistently, too.
Something about NoVig feels perfect for me, too. There's enough liquidity that you can get down a decent amount, but there's also not so many people on there that everything is razor sharp, 1 cent lines. There's room enough to get in there on both sides of most games. If you're betting under $1k a game, there's more than enough to eat on there.
This is another one of those things that I can't believe I wasn't already using. I almost can't even describe how fitting an exchange is for me and the way I bet, especially these days. I really am a trader at heart. I can't wait to use this for NFL. And I don't have to worry about cover or getting limited or anything.
So I have replaced my 'hard arb side' book where I am trying to lose with one where I am not only paying way less juice, but one where I actually expect to make a profit. I've already doubled my balance on there in less than two weeks.
I will probably do another post down the line more about using an exchange, tips and tricks and the way I make it work for me. But for now I just wanted to give a little update in case anyone else out there didn't know about these guys. I gotta say, I can't remember ever seeing a single ad for NoVig and I'm positive I would have noticed.
That's it for me today, just a quick update. I have been betting way more since getting this account though so expect some more betting posts soon. Bye for now!
