This "beating the book to the number" thing is about the same thing as the "middling at the same shop"......
It's up to the books to post the number....people assume that jumping the number from, say that 3.5 to, say 4 or 4.5 is really that much of an advantage.....
And yes, I know some of you are thinking, as I have myself that getting beat by the hook sucks and it always helps to place your wager at the best possible price that reflects your position on the game....
There is a huge assumtion here that the steam is always right.....whatever the number moves to you still have to be on the correct side of the number to collect....
One of the only advantages I had with my local guy was that I could bet Saturday or Sunday games when he opened up for the Thursday nighter, he never moved many if any weekend numbers on Thursday night....if they moved 2 or 3 points offshore between Monday and Thursday I could still get them at basically the original price.....
Bottom line I still had to pick the correct side regardless if the point or 2 points was in my favor or not....
Playing steam doesn't do you any good if you snatch the favorite up at 3.5 before it moves to 4 or 4.5, only to watch the dog win the game outright....