Oookay, did not expect to open this can of worms. I'll make one last post about it and move on.
First, a bit of biographical info. I don't come from money and everything always seems expensive to me. In 2012-13 I went through a family situation (aunt exploited state guardianship laws to force my grandparents out of their home and into a facility, could not afford attorney fees to effectively challenge) that made me realize my broke ass and my loved ones were vulnerable due to lack of funds. Kind of an extended traumatic experience. I figured I would need a few million nest egg to feel safe on this planet. Before that I never cared much for money. I have a good math background and work as a high school math teacher plus had some success as a grappler pre-injury. I was thinking of unorthodox ways to combine skills. MMA betting made sense but I didnt want to be arrogant so for 2 years I just did simulations, no real money risked.
Simulations went well so I made an initial deposit of $5k with 5Dimes. First event I ever bet on was UFC 187(?) Johnson-Cormier. I remember the date clearly: May 23 2015. Sorry if some of thr facts in this post are off but it's almost 1 AM where I live, I'm in bed typing on my phone and can't be bothered to check.
Anyways 1st event I took home $2k. Back then my system was rudimentary. I was on Cormier as a slight fav among other plays. Thought Cormier would win 4/5 times. Although my previous simulations indicated success, playing for real felt different. I might have pussed out if I didn't have such a great first night.
In the subsequent months I realized 5k was not enough of a starting bankroll so I bumped to 18k total deposit. Then it was off to the races.
As the BR grew I expanded to multiple other books. I'm not going to talk about how I handle my money except I use bitcoin and pay my taxes. If you want to learn about how high rollers handle money and evade taxes, pretty much all your questions can be answered via the search function at SBR and Covers. Anyway, I am small fries compared to many.
128k is not that much. These days you often can't even send your kid to a top school for 4 years on that amount. If I quit today I would consider this project a failure.
@Oblivian was important in my making it this far because he argued that anyone who thought he could make it pro betting MMA was delusional. I wanted to prove him wrong. Still trying, love you man.
The main issue you face when you reach this size is limits. Take my 1st book as an example. 5Dimes reduced juice lines are nice except they come with a mickey mouse $100 limit. Betting the limit at 5Dimes is a huge pain in mwny cases as the line won't reset for a while. Other books dont have this issue but you end up moving the line, which is worse in some ways. When that line moves I cry as value evaporates.
Why don't I publicly share my analysis on these fights? Because I understand that I am competing against the public, not the bookie. Freerolling on openers (beating the book) is nice I suppose but are you going to feed a family that way? No. Look I understand there are many betting styles/goals and mine is more extreme. A lot of people would be happy taking home an extra 10k a year arbing openers. I fully support you guys but please also respect my style. I need to lay bigger bets on value plays. Example: I got Dariush -140 over Vick. Dariush should have been -300 there, massive value. Another time I had Means -150 over Sullivan. Absurd line. The bookie doesn't care which side I'm on as long as the take is equal on both sides. So I needed the public Vick or Sullivan money to keep those low low low low prices. Again I am happy to sometimes share info and insight in private with some of the regulars who I feel comfortable with. lf I ever succeed in this thing I have a plan for giving back to those who helped make it a pleasant experience.
End of book.