Winky, do you know of any paid handicapper services you would say are worth the money? I`d like to get your opinion on if ANY paid tout is worth the money. My guess would be YES, if you can find the right service...Personally I have tried a few through the years (just a week here or there) and even worked for a few way back when...NONE HAVE BEEN WORTH IT!
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***first off - david matthews is 100% correct in what he wrote. pay attention there to what he said.
after giving it some though - YES - there are services that are worth paying for. which ones - honestly - i don't know. i do agree with david - and others - that ANYONE saying they hit over 60% is someone to avoid at all costs - but i think we know that. services that claim to hit 80% are lying SOB's - we know it - and so do they.
in calling these services - ONLY TWO (2) gave me what they promised.
the first one might shock people - but it was Jim Feist. he advertised a MNF GOY between NYG/Philly within the last few years. i forget which side he had - but i know when i called in for it - i was GIVEN it.
the second one - and BY FAR the VERY BEST experience i have EVER had was with "doc's sports." it happened last year. i got something in the mail from them saying on a particular friday they would give all callers their GOM - or something like that. i set the letter aside so i could call and see what kind of "run around" they would give me. when that friday came - i couldn't find the letter. i did find it the next wednesday. i figured "WTF" and called them on friday - a week later. i played somewhat dumb. i told them i called in for the free game. they told me that offer was for the previous week - but they would give me one of their top plays anyway. they gave me a pick (and i recall this as clear as a bell - because the experience blew me away) "Utah over Indiana." Utah was about a 15-point fave - and pulled away late to cover. Doc's gave me the pick WITHOUT me having to give them myname or number. the whole call took LESS than 2 minutes - and around 70 seconds at most. BY FAR doc's was the very best service i have ever called and dealt with. i have no idea what their record is over the year(s) but i know the way they treated me (and from what i am told - everyone else) they are someone i'd want to deal with - because they treated me well - and because of that - i'd be more than willing to give them a shot (
http://www.docsports.com)
does that mean i recommend them? well - i recommend dealing with them for they are BY FAR the best service i have ever called trying to "bust." they were 100% upright, honest and a pleasure to deal with. i expected to be treated like manure - but instead was treated first-rate.
i will state here that i have known dave cokin for at least 10-12 years. when he hosted the weeknight radio show on kdwn from 10P-midnite i called in all the time. i got to know dave then. i will never forget one time in 1992 i was in vegas for the ncaa tourney. i was in albertville for the 1992 winter olympics and called dave from there, too (of course cbs paid for the phone bill). when i got to town (vegas) i had to drop something off at the station for donny bader. it was the friday of the tourney and dave was going over the games. he was all alone so he pulled up a chair and told me to put on some headphones and talk with him about the games on the air. i NEVER forgot that moment - just 2 guys talking ncaa hoops with a potentially huge radio audience listening. i will admit i can't be 100% objective when dealing with dave because of this. i know he catches a lot of hell here for being a "Feist" guy - and that he is. i can tell you he has his hot and cold streaks - like they all do. i can also tell you that come season's end - if you play dave's pix you will be up almost every season in every sport. how much - it can vary - but i am fairly certain you will be up (i await railbird's response here - like i await the plague).
when looking for a service to spend money on - DO NOT go for ANYONE who says they hit a percentage you know is B.S. i would also avoid any of the "yellers and screamers" for anyone who has to do so - is covering up the fact the suck.
sadly - this means the only people you can trust - are the one no one ever hears of.
from everything i have heard of, there really is only ONE sports monitoring service you can count on to be honest and reliable - the sports monitor in OK:
http://www.thesportsmonitor.com
take a look here. see who is kicking butt and winning. find out who they are and then get their website and find out more about them. if you decide to call them - NEVER call from a phone you don't want them to call you back on. i say this because when i bust services - i always use a pay phone. this way when i hang up i never have to worry about them calling me back - or selling my number. ONE TIME i made the mistake of calling dan pastorini's 800-number from home - and giving them my number (although they got it anyway - especially when their phone bill came). i got calls from about 50-75 sports services for about the next 3-5 YEARS! i would get calls all the time - especially during football season or the ncaa tourney. FINALLY all this ended about a year or 2 ago - but i went thru HELL for 3-5 years and easily got over 500 calls from services. so if you call one - do it from a pay phone at first (in case people don't know - when you call an 800-number, the business gets something called an "ANI" - which basically gives them your name, address and phone number - and there is NO WAY you can avoid it - for calling an 800-number is the same as calling a 900-number in that the business gets TONS of info on you).
but back to these services. if you see one doing well - and decide you would like to try them out - call them. if they try to do some high pressure sales pitch on you - hang up (this is why calling from a pay phone is great) and forget them. if they treat you like a person - ask if they have a trial rate. if they do - they will tell you. if they are smart - they will work something out for you.
i would try and arrange to get the picks via calling a recorded message. this way they can't "2-side" you (give some people "Team A" and others "Team B" - this way 50% of their clients are happy). if the call is on a recorded message you are getting the same pix as everyone else.
i would also realize that if you are going short term with them - that does NOT guarantee you will win. a service that hits 57% means they hit 4 out of 7 games. this does not mean they hit EXACTLY 4 out of every 7 games. it means they can hit 7 out of 10 one week, and then 1 out of 4 the next - for 8 out of 14 - or 57%. see what i mean.
andy iskoe is someone i know about - and respect. last year he finished 3rd in the hilton contest. not bad - huh. this season he had a stretch where he lost 10 STRAIGHT games in the contest. he went 0-5 for 2 weeks in a row. does this mean he sucks? no - it means he had a bad run - something all cappers go thru. if you were with his picks last season you made a ton of money - so this season he is coming back to normal. when this season is done - add up his combined record - and i sense it will be above 52.38% (break even). yet - if you only played his last year's picks - you'd be way up - while if you play his this year's picks - you hate his guts for he is killing you. but average over 1+ years - you'd be up.
i hope this answers what you wanted to know. if not - lemme know what i missed.
