A Whittle bit of luck
Using tips and tricks from provincial Pro-line champ for playoff picks is your safest bet
Craig Whittle has been playing Pro-line for close to 20 years and while he can’t say for certain how much he’s won on the Atlantic Lottery Corp. sports betting game, big wins like a recent $188,343.75 payout and a score of other in excess of $10,000 have put him well in the black.
Last week, Craig Whittle came close to another big ProLine win.
He picked four NHL playoff games to go to overtime — which they did — but missed out on a hefty payout when the two baseball games he added to a conservative $5 ticket finished with a greater spread than he predicted.
Having won well over $210,000 already this year — including his Atlantic Lottery Corp. record win of $188,343.75 in late February — it might be hard to feel bad that the province’s unofficial Pro-line champion hasn’t collected any substantial wins lately.
That is, of course, if you don’t consider $1,200 on two wins a substantial payout.
“I haven’t really been hooking anything big,” says Whittle, originally from Placentia but now calling St. John’s home. “Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing with the $400 and the $800. In the playoffs I play it safer to be honest with you. I don’t take the big gamble.”
When it comes to betting on post-season action, Whittle says strategy has to change because the upsets, which yield larger payouts, rarely come through.
“Everybody’s bringing it,” he says. “You’re not going to get those crazy upsets in the playoffs. If it does happen, it’s generally, in Pro-line terms, the tie more than the outright win.”
That’s not to say there aren’t upsets in the playoffs, they happen all the time, they just don’t always result in a payday for betters. The unpredictability of a playoff game, even in a series that features a No. 8 seed taking on a No. 1 — makes for a more challenging prediction.
“With playoffs they might win the series, but you might not win betting on it because they might only be nipping it out in overtime or by one or two points in basketball,” Whittle explains.
“Even though it’s a big upset, it’s a very hard one to pick to win on a Pro-line.”
Unless, of course, a team is dominating.
“That’s the perfect time to pick a team, if they get two or three wins in a row, most time they’ll carry four or five out of it.”
There’s also the danger of picking with your heart over your head — lusting for the money versus loving to see your team win.
Whittle makes every effort to avoid picking his favourite teams.
“If I pick them to win, they lose and if pick them to lose, they win. I find it harder to pick on my favourite teams. Like the Blue Jays, kills me every time, and the Raptors,” he laments.
“Maybe I’m more pissed then when they lose. I’m like ‘bastards should have won.’”
Once the playoff well dries up in June, Whittle will turn his betting attention to soccer and baseball, the sport he’s had the most luck on over the years.
More often than not, he’s picking the visiting team and he’s picking the upset.
“I’ll usually pick the road team in baseball because if they go to extra innings, the road team can score more than one and it won’t be over, whereas if the home team scores one it’s over.
“What’s the likelihood of the home team getting up with a man on and hitting a home run in the bottom of any extra innings?”
He also advises not to always pick the team with a better starting pitcher, suggesting that once he’s relieved, anything can happen.
“And usually, even with the real good pitchers, every five or six games they have a letdown game, no matter how good they are,” “That was my strategy with baseball and I’ve done well with it.”
How well? February’s record payout was certainly his largest, and it was followed by a $13,000 payout a week later, but there are other sizeable winnings that weren’t publicized, and a fair number of them north of $10,000.
Whittle can’t say for certain how much he’s won on baseball and other sports over the years, but it’s a comfortable amount.
“I haven’t kept track over 20 years, let’s face it, but there’s no doubt I’m up a lot of money.”