Basketball Handicapping Bets

Male: I'm Austin Miller and I’m a player and you're watching the Players Network.

Chet Coppack: Those are the football pre-game shows are waste of time. We’re the only one dedicated to building your bank roll. So sit back and enjoy, here comes your winning edge.

Michelle Nunes: Hi, I’m Michele, Ms. Hooters International of 2006 and now to your host, Mr. Chet Coppack.

Chet Coppack: The name is “Harvard” Hollis Barnhart. He walks with his swagger in justifiable show. During the course of his adult life, he’s done with the so called expert say, “You cannot not do, just take in Las Vegas and he’s lowered the boom.” Whether it's golf, whether it's poker, whether it's betting football, the NBA, whatever the case maybe, “Harvard” Hollis Barnhart is a classic wise guy. Does that mean he’s below sea level, does that mean he’s a subterranean? No. Very simple, he’s a very educated man, a very bright man who recognizes that there are froyalties in Las Vegas. Froyalty is the below average, the points per player, a good poker player to capitalize.

Anytime I have the opportunity to sit with “Harvard” Hollis Barnhart, its part of the educational because this is a man who once again has taken the Vegas system and says “You know what? I’m going to blow that under the water”.

There are casinos that cringe when this man walks into the ball park and you could take that right to the bank. I want to talk about exotic bets, the classic wager where laying 11 against 10. Let's talk about the exotics, dance floor is wide open, you are master of exotic bets.

Hollis Barnhart: Well, Chet you know you can't just depend on laying 11 to 10 and make a straight bet. A lot of times you have to adjust your way betting and the first thing I look at is money laying bets. Now, money laying bets is where you don’t have any points. So if I want to take an underdog and let's say that underdog is — or the favor is favored by six and I think they're going to win straight up. Why would I want to lay six points and put up a $100.00 or a $110.00 to win a 100 when I could put up a $100.00 now to win $200.00 because I want to take the money laying. It's just winning the game straight up.

You can do this in any sport, baseball is probably the most prevalent one but I do make a lot of wagers on the money laying, taking the underdogs straight up and winning a lot of extra money just in football.

Chet Coppack: What's the level of confidence you’ve got to have before “Harvard” Hollis Barnhart will bet the money laying?

Hollis Barnhart: Well, usually I stick to anything that’s plus three, plus four all the way up to plus six, sometimes a plus seven. And I’m usually putting up say, for every thousand dollars you put up on a plus seven when you go get back approximately $2500.00.

Chet Coppack: Alright. Talk to me about the total. You over run it. What are the key factors for a guy who’s becoming the points for a player? To really understand because the total can confuse you, you can look awfully attractive. You could reach up and bite your right knee right in the booty.

Hollis Barnhart: Well, the first thing you have to do is break down the difference between passing teams and running teams. For instance, if I have two running teams going to immediately going to look for the under by how passing teams going, I’m going to look for the over. The other thing when you're betting the totals is weather. Weather is one of the most important things that you can consider. Now, Chet, what would you think would be more important when we’re dealing with weather? You're from Chicago would you think that snow would impact the game, rain, extreme cold?

Chet Coppack: Wind, wind.

Hollis Barnhart: You're exactly right. Wind is probably the number one thing and probably the, say that no one every checks but you have to check the wind. It’ll affect field goals, it’ll affect play calling. It’ll affect pass patterns and things like that. Another thing we want to move to is half time bets. We’ll say you're stuck a little bit on a half time. Have you ever made a half time wager?

Chet Coppack: Sure.

Hollis Barnhart: Okay. What you want to do on the second half and that’s when you usually make your bet at the second half. The line is usually cut in half; they're usually going to shade the line to the team that is behind. But the key thing there is you want to look at the last minute to two minutes of the first half and see who has the momentum before you make your half time wager. You also want to look for teams with younger players, maybe faster players that are playing on astro turf versus the slow field.

You want to look for weather and see if they're going to be playing down and holding a lead.

Chet Coppack: Now, you told me years ago regarding baseball that when you’re betting a total on a ball game. You’ll want to know what umpire is behind the home plate because some umpires will have a narrowed strike soon. Some umpires will have a very wide, very — hoping to strike soon. I mean, pick it up from there but I mean did the home plate umpire play a definitive role on what you do with the total on baseball.

Hollis Barnhart: Well, the umpire is the thing that the pitchers like about home played umpires is they're always consistent. If they have a small strike zone the batters are going to win, will just sit back on it and wait and that game is going to go over. If a guy has a wide strike zone, everything that they don’t swing at is going to be called a ball and when they do hit something that’s high and outside, it's not going to be very solid. There’s going to be a lot of ground outs or a loose pop flies and that game usually goes under.

But the main thing is the consistency of the umpire is probably the most prevalent thing when betting totals and betting any sport it would be in baseball. The last thing I’d like to talk to at football always about buying these half points. You could buy a half a point on almost any number you want instead of like 11 to 10, you’re like 12 to 10.

The only key number out there and you want to buy a key numbers on six, seven, 10 and 14. So if you have a spread that’s minus 14, if you like the dog, you can get 14 and a half, if you like the favorite, you’re only laying 13 and a half. But you have to lay a dollar and twenty to win a dollar. The only key number out there in the NFL is laying it on the minus three. They're not going to let you go from a minus three to a minus two and half or a minus three to minus three and a half without you paying the price.

Well, they charge an extra 10% on that so you’re now laying a dollar thirty to win a dollar. It should be worth about an extra $0.03, they're charging an extra $0.10 so I would advice against that and just do a lot of study and a lot of handicapping and you don’t have to worry about the half a point or shop around.

Chet Coppack: “Harvard” Hollis Barnhart, once again the man is an education about how to beat the wise guys in Las Vegas. Why? Because Harvard has been doing it for 30 plus years, again, you don’t become a point’s board player overnight. You sit at the knee of a man like Hollis Barnhart because he understands the complexities of beating Las Vegas.

It's a system that can be beaten and beaten by you but only if you have the expertise of someone like a Hollis Barnhart. “Harvard” Hollis Barnhart in Vegas, again, when he walks in a casino, walks in the sports book, the people shutter, they shiver. He’s “Harvard” Hollis Barnhart.