The gambling world is full of people who just throw down hard earned money without thinking about what they are doing. Are you one of those people who will just go with the flow? If so, you are most likely a losing gambler or you are not winning as much money as you could be. There are three main factors that make up every successful gambler: money management, value and knowledge. This article will take a look at all these of these areas and help you become a sharp gambler.

Money Management

It’s amazing how many people gamble and don’t think, for even one second, about money management. You wouldn’t go on a trip without thinking about what you want to do right? Then why gamble without a goal? When you go on a trip, is your goal to simply go on a trip? Of course it’s not. You at least decide on a destination, time of stay and so forth.

Before you gamble, you should have some goals in mind. Here’s a quick list of a couple goals you want to define.

1.What is your total bankroll for the gambling session?
2.If I am ahead $X, I will leave.
3.If I lose X% of my bankroll, I will leave or I will leave once my bankroll is gone.
4.I will devote most of my time to playing [ insert game ].
5.While playing [ insert game ], my average bet will be around $x.

Defining these five goals will help you keep organized and focused.

Value

The sharp gambler stay way from bets that are for suckers. He or she is only concerned with getting good value. Here’s a list of key bets and activities to stay away from.

1.Slot Machines – The payback percentage is poor.
2.Roulette – Huge house advantage.
3.Proposition bets in Craps.
4.Parlay cards in sports betting that contain a large amount of selections.
5.The insurance bet in Blackjack.
6.The tie bet in Baccarat.
7.Caribbean Stud Poker, which has a large house advantage.
8.Bingo

There’s no law against playing the above items from time to time, but you have to do it in moderation and not make these items part of your main betting activities.

Knowledge
This is one of those factors that separate the long-term winning gamblers from the consistently losing gamblers. If you are going to wager on something, you should know all you can about it. Study the game, learn the tricks and understand everything about it. By being knowledgeable in the game, you will know how to maximize your wagers and your time.
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The Chicago Cubs are on a mini two game winnings streak at the expense of the inept Washington Nationals and is this cause for optimism, or do we throw in the towel for the 98th year on the Cubs.

Yes the story has been told far too many times about the last Chicago Cub’s team to win the World Series in 1908 and most sportsbooks have them at 50-1 to win the October Classic, while their South Side neighbors the White Sox are 3-1 to repeat.

Yesterday things got so bad at Wrigley that a drunken female fan through a ball from the stands, that just missed taking the head off of slumping Jacques Jones.

The Cubbies now invite flame thrower Kerry Wood back to the nest on Thursday and considering that have been without Wood, Mark Prior, Wade Miller and Derrek Lee, for an extended period, 12-22 is not that bad.

Wood seemed to be realizing his potential when he made the All-Star team in 2003, finishing with a majors-best 266 strikeouts and a 14-11 record. But he went just 8-9 in 22 starts in 2004, spending nearly two months on the disabled list.
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I mentioned in this space recently that I thought Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire could be the first to get the axe in the 2006 MLB season, as his team is grossly underachieving.

There were reports of lack of discipline in the clubhouse and on the field last year and it looks like things have gone from bad to worse this year. On Sunday the Twins scored 7 runs in the first inning, to answer the 3 that the White Sox had posted in the top of the frame.

Then the Twins allowed the defending World Series champions to storm back for a 9-7 win and in the process get nailed on a embarrassing triple play in the 6th inning. With Nick Punto on second and Shannon Stewart on first, the Twins Luis Castillo popped up a bunt and a charging Paul Konerko made a shoestring catch.

How in the world could Konerko right himself and throw to first for a double play and then second baseman Tadahito Iguchi fired to Juan Uribe at second for a triple play. The first rule of thumb that a little league player is taught on a sacrifice bunt, is to make sure the ball hits the ground before taking off.

What is heck were Punto and Stewart thinking and why did Gardenhire not sit their butts down on the bench. Sunday’s game was also the first time in AL history that a starting pitcher (Mark Buehrle) allowed 7 runs in the first inning and won a game.
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Now that Scott Kazmir is off to a great start at 5-2 with a 2.94 ERA and Victor Zambrano has just undergone season-ending surgery, it might be a good time to review how Jim Duquette, the Mets GM at the time, broke every single rule of gambling.

NEVER BET MORE THAN YOU CAN AFFORD

When the Mets traded Scott Kazmir, their farm system was almost completely bare. The only true blue-chip pitching prospects at the time were Phil Humber, who has since undergone Tommy John surgery, and Alay Soler, a Cuban defector who just made it to the U.S. this season and is currently pitching at AA. This year the Mets are throwing out such retreads as Jose Lima and Jeremi Gonzalez as they wait for Mike Pelfrey and the next wave of prospects to be ready. Do you think they would rather have sent out Jose Lima – or Scott Kazmir, to try and sweep their arch-rival Braves last week?

NEVER BET WHILE INTOXICATED

Right around the time of the trade in 2004, the Mets had just swept their cross-town rivals, the New York Yankees, in an exciting three-game series. The Mets, who had been dead in this town since 2000, finally had some juice. They were close to first place and back on the back page. Of course, they still had a .500 record and not much talent. But Duquette, drunk on the city’s enthusiasm, wanted to “win now” no matter what the future cost.
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