POUNCE - How Not To Lose Your Ass Betting Pro Football: (My 50 Years Betting the NFL)

By Bill Beermann

Pounce is for the millions of people who love the action and challenge of betting pro football—but don’t want to lose, or continue to lose, their ass. In this informative pocket-sized memoir, filled with tips and techniques, the author explains his winning methods, developed over fifty years of betting the NFL...and shares s

• Language: English
• Publisher: William F Beermann
• Release date: Jun 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9780692901359

Bill Beermann

William F. (Bill) Beermann is an entrepreneur and author who merges his passion for business and sports through his writing. A Pittsburgh native, he excelled in sports (baseball, basketball, and volleyball) and went to Davidson College on a basketball scholarship. His business career began in the advertising and graphic design business in New York City. In 1973, he co-founded an international stock photography agency which grew from scratch to become one of the largest agencies in the world. After selling the business, he turned his attention to small business consulting and writing. He also wrote and published, The OWNERS - All NBA, NFL & MLB Team Owners Since 1920: (Who Paid How Much & When). He has three children and resides in Long Island, New York with his Maltese dog, "Gracie." When not writing, he spends time reading, playing golf or bridge, and wagering on pro football. He sits on the Board of Visitors of Davidson College and recently served as Executive Director of the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation in Greenwich, CT.

Book preview

STATS

From a study of 2,668 NFL regular season games from 2002 – 2011 published by Sportingcharts.com. and from other NFL statistics publishers. (fractions rounded)

Average game duration: 3 hrs. 10 mins.

Actual playing time: 11 minutes (Imagine)

Average score: 29-18

Average team possessions: 25

Average turnovers: 13% of possessions

Field goals made: 87%

Average score differential: 11

Most common score: 23-20

Most common total score: 41

Average total score: 43

Touchdowns: 3-1 passing

46% of games decided by 7 or less

24% of games decided by 3 or less

61% of games decided by 11 or less

16% of games land on 3

10% of games land on 7

6% of games land on 6 & 10

5% of games land on 4 &14

5% of games landed ½ point from line

KICK OFF

I have been betting pro football for exactly fifty years. That’s why I decided now was the time to finish this little book which has been ten years in the writing. My first sports bet was placed on the 1968 Super Bowl in which the Packers covered the spread against the Raiders and I won $100. I had thought bookies were a product of fictional movies until I met one in the flesh. He gave me a phone number, a code name to identify myself, and a hearty hand shake. I was hooked.

From a lifetime of losing to a decade of winning… that’s the story I wish to share with you. I am not a professional gambler, have never been one, and this book is not written with that premise in mind.

Pounce is a book for the serious armchair NFL bettor, like me. It is not for the professional gamblers or the Sharps and Whales who are known to bet $5,000-$500,000 per game. Nor is this book for those who bet on sports daily. Their die is cast… down.

There are a lot of How-To books espousing various methods and systems to Beat the Point Spread and win. Some have promised long-term success betting pro football. I’ve read most of the available books on how to handicap the NFL or on how to beat the bookie and win. Some are elaborate in detail with charts and tables covering every angle of how to find an edge and pick winners. Some of the authors are high rollers betting tens of thousands every week. These writer-gamblers-winners all agree on one basic point: There are millions of enthusiastic football bettors and 95% of them lose, year after year. Ironically, it is they who create the opportunity for us to win… their money.

There is no system in existence that will lead to longterm consistent winning when betting pro football, or any other sport for that matter. But that is not to say we cannot win in the short-term. Over the last decade or so, utilizing my Pounce approach, I’m winning a handsome five-figure sum. Most was gained on three of seven-out-of-ten winning years. I certainly did not win every year for ten years. That is impossible. Besides, a handsome five-figure sum over ten years is no big deal to some, but it is to me. And, it’s a helluva lot better than losing that amount.

Over the course of my betting career, I have probably wagered several million dollars in total. Sounds like a lot but really isn’t when one offsets wins from losses. Assuming it was $2 million, and I had won half my bets, I’d have lost $100,000 in juice. A big number, yes, but when divided by 50 years it’s only $2,000/year average. (I’m trying to soften the blow of losing). I then think about investing that $2,000/year with interest compounded and I get sick. In addition, during my losing years, I did not win half or more of my bets as I do now. I dare say, there is nothing about betting pro football that I have not seen and experienced (with money on the line), which is, after all, the best teacher.

I prefer to bet pro football because it provides the ultimate dose of action and the teams play only once a week. I take it seriously because I want to compete and win. I use it as an avocation and recreational pastime. In real life, I’ve been successful in business having built several small businesses from scratch with impressive revenues and strong profits. However, busy as we were, there was always time to call in a few bets, or, since the Internet revolution, place them online.

Not only was I losing with my bookie, I was usually in the bottom 20% of my company’s pro