John Lindheimer is the Sportsbook Manager for Harrah’s Hoosier Park and has decades of experience as a bookmaker and professional bettor.
He has plenty of insights to share on the Sports Predictor podcast:
- How betting and bookmaking comes quite naturally to John
- What he learned from working with some bookmaking legends
- His numbers-based approach to football contests
- The only way to overcome the bookmakers 11/10 edge
- Why edge multiplied by volume is the most important equation
Press the play button above or listen at Spotify. The Sports Predictor Podcast will soon be available anywhere you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Overcast | Pocket Casts | Breaker | Castbox | RadioPublic
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John Lindheimer: “I ended up going down to Costa Rica. I got invited to work down there and I was actually down there for 10 years working in the Sportsbooks down there. And that really sharpened me up and learned how to keep track of these lines. You’d be on the phone and we’d have four different sports going on and we had our boss yelling out changes and, and I learned how to keep track of all these changes while I’m on the phone with somebody and make sure we don’t get a double or triple popped. When these moves came in I learned, learned what a move was and about moves. And, and when big bets came in that weren’t moves and how those were treated. And I really learned that it’s more important who’s making the bet as opposed to how much the bet was. And I’ve seen us move NFL games off of like $20,000 bets and other guys will call in and bet $100,000 on it and they don’t even move the line.”
John also wanted to add his views on a few things that weren’t actually discussed on the podcast –
“When I traded professionally, most of my plays were on totals and props, with little on actual sides. Props and totals are where most of the edges are found. Moves come in on sides, but bookmakers forget to adjust the 1st halves, quarter lines, or some of the props, perhaps, and I’d scavenge them up. When you bet like that, it’s a constant battle to get new outs because most books don’t like taking a bunch of sharp action on props, and they quickly lose their sense of humor about paying you.”
“Sometimes you win without an edge, and other times you can lose or tread water with an edge. When losing, it’s often extremely difficult to figure out if you are losing because of the distribution of results for the sample size that played out, but you do have an edge, and therefore should continue to sally forth…or, you think you have an edge, but don’t. In the latter, you will continue to get punished until you realize your method is not an edge for the particular wagers in question.”
“Parlays…they are a powerful tool when you have an edge in each selection, because parlays up your volume. Also, when a joint limits your action, you can send in parlays as a means to up your volume. I’ve snuck many edges past the noses of bookmakers under the cloak of parlays, which many mistakenly dismiss as a “square” type of wager.”
