You Can Bet On It

If you bet on sports and are not familiar with Larry Grossman, author of You Can Bet On It, then I would suggest that you Google his name. Larry Grossman is quite renowned in the sports betting industry for his journalistic work.

He was the host of a one of a kind sports betting radio show, You Can Bet On It, which was based in Las Vegas, but broadcast all over the county. Although it's not on the air today, you can still find bits and pieces over the internet.

He's interviewed countless handicappers, authors, and sportsbook directors...he truly is an authority when it comes to the sports betting industry. Most importantly though, he's honest and provides accurate information...unlike some of the folks out there.

I'm not sure how active he is anymore as far as writing and interviewing goes, but this book was originally written in 1984 and then revised again in 2004. Although it may be a little dated, I still think it provides some pretty decent information.

While it's certainly geared for the beginning handicapper, I think most individuals will find some useful information throughout. If nothing else, the interviews and brief biographies towards the end are quite interesting to read.

It covers a lot of information, but doesn't go into a lot of detail...the book more or less briefly goes over some betting concepts, while making a few points along the way. I did like how the chapters and sub-chapters are written by various handicappers and sportsbook directors, as well as Larry.

While none of the information is groundbreaking, it's interesting to see it from another handicappers perspective. While they certainly aren't going to give out their best secrets, you can pickup a few tidbits here and there.

You Can Bet On It starts at how the lines are made and then really jumps around from there covering nuggets on football, baseball, basketball, horseracing, NASCAR, and golf.

So enough of my overview, let's get into what I enjoyed about the book, as well as some helpful information for the novice handicapper.

I enjoyed reading the various essays written by some of the more well known sports handicappers in the industry...although they didn't exactly share much in the way of new information (which is to be expected).

Some pretty sound advice is given throughout the book and it's certainly written in a way so that even the most novice bettors can understand. This definitely isn't a knock on the book though, but rather an explanation of how the book is laid out.

I personally enjoyed the essays written by Mike Lee and Sonny Reizner. I thought both very informative and shared some good data.

Mort Olshan and Andy Iskoe (Run Line Chapter) also share some good information pertaining to both football and baseball, respectively. If you're not familiar with the four individuals just mentioned, then I would highly encourage you to check out there work because a lot can be picked up from the handicapping insights of those individuals.

Although I'm not a big horse racing fan, some pertinent data and ideas are shared within those chapters...I'd also say this is a little more geared towards the intermediate handicapper, so the novice may get a little lost at first.

Finally, the last chapter is a must read. It's basically just brief bio's of some of the most influential individuals in sports betting over the last 50 years. Pretty interesting to see what these guys have contributed and where they came from.

I'm not really sure I disliked anything in the book, however there were sections/chapters that I didn't think offered much benefit and almost felt like filler.

A couple of the sections in chapter 2 didn't do much for me, although that's not to say that a very novice sports bettor might not be able to get something out of the information provided.

With the book being revised in 2004, much of the data was outdated and doesn't hold much value anymore. Pretty good information to know, but nothing that can really be applied to your overall handicapping strategy.

Again though, I wouldn't go as far to say that I disliked anything about You Can Bet On It, but rather thought some of the information given wasn't very pertinent in today's sports betting market.

Overall, I think You Can Bet On It is worth reading. Although there are certainly more informative sports betting books out there, this one is still a pretty good read...for entertainment if nothing else.

While I wouldn't say it's a must purchase book, it's pretty interesting to read the essays from the more well known individuals in the sports betting industry...along with there backgrounds and how they got started.

Obviously, you're not going to get rich or become a sports betting genius overnight from reading the book, but you will learn something. As stated a few times already, it is written for the more novice handicapper, but I feel every handicapper (no matter what level), will find something they enjoy.

You Can Bet On It kind of is what it is...and again, that's not me knocking it. While I wouldn't rate it as a "must read", if you have some free time or are flying, then it's a pretty easy book to get through in a couple hours.

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You Can Bet On It by Larry Grossman

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You Can Bet On It
by Larry Grossman