Betting lessons from a long-time handicapper
A chat with Mike from RAS about CFB bets he likes and how he got into the industry
With college football season beginning, it seemed like a good time to chat with an expert handicapper to help with your wagers. Michael Riordan works for handicapping service Right Angle Sports, which has been one of the most prominent (and successful) pick-sellers in the sports betting industry over the past few decades.
I spoke with Mike this past week about a few bets he likes this college football season, as well as the first bet he ever placed, some important handicapping lessons and how he got into the sports betting industry.
Enjoy!
1) What was the first bet you placed?
I remember betting a soda on the 1991 Duke-Kansas NCAA basketball Final versus a friend at the Parks and Rec Center at age 11. I picked Kansas and lost. I remember my mom finding out and her being disappointed.
As far as online betting I remember betting on a Red Sox game that lost for maybe $100 at an offshore book at the time. I think I was 18. My parents were still on my debit card and noticed it and were extremely alarmed and confronted me on the situation. I eventually had to change my credit card to my college address in order to hide future gambling activities.
2) When did you know you wanted to be a sports bettor? How did you get into the industry?
I loved sports growing up. I played all sorts of sports through the years. In high school, my focus was on soccer, basketball and football. I am very competitive by nature and when I moved on to college at the University of Richmond I definitely had a void that I needed to fill of some sorts. I was gambling on sports but I didn’t really know what I was doing or what to look for to have an edge. There was a lot of losing before I figured things out.
I stumbled on the old bettingtalk.com message board, which was hosted by Edward Golden at Right Angle Sports. I subbed to the service sometimes and started reading the writeups and learning what to look for to beat the market. I had a very strong appetite to gamble and I loved sports – the idea you could win at this seemed like a dream and one I wanted to explore. I begged Ed to let me intern for free and he eventually let me. I worked for free for about six months before my future wife asked if I was ever going to make any money doing this. So I asked to be paid and that is when I got my first paycheck in the industry.
3) What are a few of the lessons you learned from your early sports betting days until today?
Be careful who you work with – Even the most reliable guys can go bad or just drop off the face of the earth completely. In general, gamblers are honorable people - but the ones that go bad, go very bad. If a figure gets high enough, find a way to reduce it.