TL;DR - Video Version: https://youtu.be/JeWyO8YFQng

Flow State, also known as being “in the zone”, is that magical feeling when time fades away and you’re able to perform at an optimal state of consciousness.
It’s a state that’s achieved most frequently when a high level of skill meets a high level of challenge.
Imagine an NBA player sinking consecutive free throw attempts at a pivotal moment of a game. A snowboarder perfectly executing a 720 down a half pipe for a gold medal. A golfer shooting his or her personal best score on the final Sunday of a big tournament.
In gaming, this looks like an FPS player pulling off a massive clutch in a crucial moment of a best of 3 matchup. Or an RTS player orchestrating a symphony of economy management, defense, and offense simultaneously during a heated moment of the tournament grand finals.
In Destiny 2, this could be winning a make or break 1v3 scenario on the 7th game of a trials of osiris card. Or keeping your cool during the final boss of a worlds first raid race.
Kevin Maney, author of several books on achieving maximum performance, says:
“When someone is in a state of flow, that person's brain is not thinking about anything - it's just processing things through chunks at a total instinct level. Athletes in a state of flow describe knowing what will happen just before it does - knowing how a defender will react to a certain move an instant before doing it. Of course, if you know what will happen, you can succeed at doing it, so an athlete in flow has a stand-out game.”
We’ve all felt moments of flow state in our day to day lives. Sometimes you’re working on a project and everything just seems to click. Time fades away and your brain feels like it’s connecting the dots effortlessly.
Most of the research we have today in flow state consciousness stems from the work done by a Hungarian-American Psychologist named Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (let's call him "Dr. C")
In his seminal work titled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, he outlines his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow—a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation.
It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.
The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what they are doing.
One of the core components of his theory is that Flow State is most likely to be achieved when a high level of challenge is matched with a high level of skill.
Take a look at this chart that plots challenge level on the vertical axis vs skill level on the horizontal axis.
His theory states that where you land on this chart determines your experience.
A task that is too easy, combined with a low level of ability or skill will make you bored and apathetic
While a task that is too hard for your current level of skill will make you anxious and stressed.
The sweet spot to achieve flow state is when you have developed a high level of skill and are met with a high level of challenge. This leads to being focused and happy. It’s a magical pre-condition for entering flow state.
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Researchers have been working to prove the existence of this flow state for years and have been working to understand exactly what triggers it.

In a recent paper published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, a team ran an interesting experiment where they tried to trigger flow state intentionally by electrically stimulating a particular area of the brain.
Now I’m not a Psychologist, and won’t pretend to be one. Luckily though, one of my best friends since grade school just happens to have his PhD in Neuropsychology and studies this field professionally, so I have to give a big thanks to him for helping me dig through this topic and putting together this project.
The TL:DR version is that they split up participants into groups to test performance in both Tetris for untrained players and FPS games like CSGO and Battlefield for players with a lot of FPS experience.
Each participant was hooked up to a transcranial direct current stimulation device (or tDCS for short) which was connected to specific areas of the brain.
Participants were then split into a stimulation group and a placebo group, where half of the players received true brain current stimulation and half were only hooked up to the machine and led to believe their brain was being externally stimulated.
Essentially the idea behind the experiment was to see if you could externally influence the brain in order to quiet the frontal areas of the brain - which are typically associated with executive functions such as… planning, adapting, multitasking, monitoring, and working memory in order to allow other regions of the brain to operate more efficiently while playing games.
This executive function is responsible for decision making and planning for tasks like how to make a multi-course meal that has all of the different courses finished at the same time.
Cognitive flexibility is also a part of executive function, in other words, being able to adapt what you're doing in a given scenario.
For example this might be quickly rerouting your driving navigation in your head if you encounter a traffic jam... or going to a different grocery store with a new layout and finding all of the same items that are now in different locations.
This part of our brain is essential for everyday living, and we’d be in big trouble without it. But the idea behind this experiment was that if you could suppress the areas of the brain responsible for this executive function while stimulating the areas of the brain responsible for skill execution, you may be able to more easily enter flow state while tackling challenging activities.
And it WORKED! The results are fascinating.
The study showed that after suppressing neural activity in the prefrontal cortex, and enhancing activity in the parietal lobe, non-gaming participants (in other words, those playing tetris) performed significantly better, completing more Tetris lines than the placebo group.
[All 4 tDCS study graphs: https://imgur.com/a/GSIaEO2 ]
Meanwhile the FPS players showed a small increase in number of kills but it wasn’t a strong enough correlation to be considered statistically significant.
However, the subjective feeling of being in the "flow state" was enhanced for the participants who received electrical brain stimulation in both gaming groups.
So even beyond the actual game performance, the study showed that limiting extraneous activity in brain regions that house these "executive functions", such as maintenance, multitasking, set switching, and working memory, made it easier for people to enter a flow state.
Making flow state more accessible likely also has effects on performance regardless of the activity (in other words, playing a game vs doing anything else that requires skill).
While kill performance wasn't significantly increased in the FPS group, you can imagine other parameters that may be sensitive to flow… things like reaction time, or time required to learn a new strategy, may also be improved.
This is exciting news for performance nerds like myself who want to squeeze out every bit of efficiency possible.... BUT it’s probably not realistic to have electrodes connected to your brain just to improve your gameplay capabilities on a regular basis.
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So the question becomes… how can we trigger flow state more naturally WITHOUT the external brain stimulation?

Dr. Michael Gervais from the flow genome project says that “Getting to that state is incredibly challenging. It’s not like we can just wake up and say, “today im going to be in flow”. It requires a fundamental commitment to embrace risk, matched by the required skills to thrive in those conditions”
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In order to regularly experience flow state, you need to have a growth focused mindset and believe that you have the capacity to improve.
This leads to having a more open mind about receiving accurate criticism and appraisal of your skills, so that you can improve even further.
And with increased skill acquisition, you’re able to take on tougher challenges, leading to higher chances of entering flow state.
This is why dropping your ego is such a critical part of the path to regularly achieving flow state.
You need to become willing to accept feedback to grow your skills and abilities in your field of choice.
It’s clear to see why flow state is so commonly achieved by extreme sports athletes like snowboarders and skiers.
The challenge presented by tackling a double black diamond downslope mixed with a heightened level of adrenaline forces your mind to put all energy into accomplishing the task at hand.
With the high skill required to perform these physical feats, it’s a perfect recipe for achieving flow state.
There’s another relevant concept here illustrated by the Yerkes-Dodson curve:
Graph here: https://imgur.com/a/D3hydPj
The theory is that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (in other words, stress) but only up to a point. When the level of stress becomes too high, performance decreases.
So to decode this a bit...
If a task is too easy and doesn’t stress you out at least a little bit, your performance will be weak.
At the same time though, if the challenge is too strong, you can become too anxious and stressed to perform at a high level.
So to add to our previously mentioned theory from Dr. C relating challenge level to skill level, we also need to keep in mind that increasing challenge to the point where it becomes overly stressful is likely not the best way to maximize our performance.
Because of this connection, I believe that getting comfortable with increased challenge is an essential component of improving your likelihood of entering flow state.
You need to train the mindset of continuous improvement so that you build the confidence to take on more difficult situations, and put in the training time required to grow your skill and meet the challenge. You need to trust yourself and your abilities.
And you earn the ability to trust yourself by doing hard things over a long period of time.
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There are two major psychological triggers that seem to lead to flow state.

The first is having a balanced ratio of high skill to high challenge as we mentioned earlier, and having the right challenge level so that it provides just enough stress to maximize performance.
The other trigger is having complete concentration of the mind. This can be achieved through mindfulness practices like meditation.
It’s no surprise to me that renowned performance expert and author Tim Ferriss mentions in his book Tools of Titans that over 80% of the 100+ high performing individuals featured in the book have a regular meditation practice. This is a collection of some of the most successful people on the planet, who certainly need to enter flow state regularly in order to achieve greatness in their respective fields.
I’ve found in my own life that having a regular morning meditation practice sets the pace for the day and anecdotally seems to help me reach flow state more often especially when working on video projects like this one and playing games.
There are a ton of great smartphone apps these days that are either free or cheap and can help with creating a regular meditation practice. One of my favorites lately is Oak.
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The other major contributor to reaching flow state in my own experience seems to be the ability to completely focus on the task at hand.
When I’m distracted by juggling several projects at once, or have concerns about various business tasks to take care of like paying bills and filing papers, or responding to emails, I find it tremendously more difficult to achieve flow state.
It makes sense when you consider the tDCS experiment described during the initial section of this writeup. If the frontal parts of your brain, the parts that are responsible for planning and executive functions, are taking over control - it’s going to be much more difficult to focus on deep work and skill execution.
I think this is one of the reasons why I find it so difficult to perform well in games when I’m also live streaming on Twitch compared to just playing in my off time.
When your brain is focused on reading the live chat, responding to questions, managing the video and audio production elements of running a live broadcast, and ALSO attempting to perform at a high level in the game, it’s no wonder that game performance is likely to take a hit and you’re rarely going to feel in the zone.
In fact there’s research to back up this claim. There’s analysis indicating that the brain can only process 110 bits of information per second, while decoding speech alone takes 60 bits per second.
Now whether these numbers are accurate or not, it’s easy to understand why the brain would struggle to focus on skillful tasks while also trying to understand someone speaking to you.
Have you ever noticed when you’re driving along a highway listening to music and all the sudden realize you need to find a particular turn off point, you instinctively turn down the volume of whatever you’re listening to?
This can likely be explained by only having a particular amount attentional bandwidth, and needing to shift some energy towards those executive function tasks we mentioned earlier in the frontal parts of the brain.
On the flip side, when you do reach flow state and all of your brain processing power is diverted to the task at hand, you can lose sense of time and perform some incredible feats.
So take care of your responsibilities, homework, chores, and anything else that may stress you out before attempting to play games or sports at a high level, and I bet you’ll perform much better.
If you have a big test coming up, or need to pay bills, or haven’t done homework that’s due soon, it can be a source of stress that takes up space in your subconscious mind and won’t allow you to fully focus on the task at hand.
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One of the biggest obstacles to finding a "groove" on a task, in other words getting into flow, is overthinking.

Certain activities, such as listening to music, podcasts, or videos in the background can help calm the brain regions that otherwise constantly daydream or think too hard about unimportant things.
However background information that includes dialogue can be harder to optimally tune out, because it’s easy to pay too much attention to it.
Studies have shown that by inhibiting activity in a key area of your brain that controls conscious, effortful thought, specifically the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and enhancing activity in an area responsible for sustained attention, people enter "flow" or a groove more easily.
Once this switch happens, it can have a snowball effect, as studies have shown that continued activation of certain brain regions may "turn off" or "turn on" other brain regions that can help or hurt their cause.
In other words, if you begin a task with some focused attention, after a while your brain enters a sort of "sustained attention mode", and enhances activity in other areas that can help keep that focus going.
The same is also true on the other end. If you want to start something but don't put that much effort into it, your brain will continue to engage regions responsible for daydreaming and overthinking.
This is also a good lesson in encouraging yourself to limit checking your phone or other distracting devices while trying to get into flow state because it re-engages the parts of the brain that may lead to daydreaming and drifting off into a two hour long social media binge when you really needed to be focusing on a project with a looming deadline, or spending 100% of your focus on a high stakes game.
So for a bottom line, when you’re trying to get into the flow state for a project, sport or game, spend at least 15-30 minutes without looking at your phone or checking social media and see where it gets you.
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In addition to sharpening your mind directly, it seems that having a healthy routine can also lead to improved performance and likelihood of entering flow state.

Taking time to exercise, get sunlight, meditate, practice mindfulness exercises, and eating healthy nutritious meals can aid your brain in performing optimally.
In FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Dr. C says that
“Happiness does not depend on outside events, but rather on how we interpret them. Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy. Therefore, happiness depends on inner harmony.
The individuals who have inner harmony lead vigorous lives, are open to a variety of experiences, keep on learning until the day they die, and have strong ties and commitments to other people and to the environment in which they live. They enjoy whatever they do, even if tedious or difficult; they are hardly ever bored, and they can take in stride anything that comes their way.”
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So to recap, we have a number of psychological pre-conditions to trigger flow:

1. Willingness to embrace risk and take on increased challenges
2. Ability to match current skill level with the right level of challenge that’s hard enough to make you focused and happy, but not so difficult that it produces anxiety.
3. Commitment and openness to develop skills needed to THRIVE in these areas of increased challenge
4. Developing a growth mindset which leads to accurate appraisal of skill
5. Developing trust in yourself by becoming comfortable with increased challenges. This is progressed by consistently doing hard things over a long period of time.

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In addition to these psychological pre-conditions, there are also environmental flow triggers that seem to assist getting into the flow state.

The first is engagement of multiple sensory streams at once. With more sensory streams present, your brain needs to focus more to make sense of it all. So when you need to make use of sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste all at the same time, you’re more likely to find yourself in the zone.
The second is a rich environment. In other words, finding a lot of novelty, complexity, and unpredictability in your environment. This is one of the reasons that extreme sports like snowboarding that have complex downslopes with lots of obstacles to engage with seem to be so highly connected to getting in flow state.
The third is high consequences. These could be physical, mental, social, or emotional risks. The relationship between high levels of consequence in activities like sports and gaming at professional levels can certainly make getting into a flow state more accessible.
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Some of these environmental triggers are generally outside of our control depending on the task we are focusing on, which is why certain activities like extreme sports seem to have such a high correlation with triggering flow state.
There’s also a range of flow from micro to macro. You can experience some parts of flow state but not all of the characteristics, or you can experience the full blown flow state.
When more flow triggers are present, flow experiences tend to be more full and intense.
If your activity of choice doesn’t tend to embody a large amount of natural flow triggers, you need to focus on maximizing your preconditions to achieve flow state such as developing a high level of skill.
For example in FPS gaming, you can focus on skill development like map awareness, crosshair placement, pre-aiming, aim training, in-game multitasking and game sense to become the most skilled player you can be.
This allows you to take on tougher challenges in the game, and ultimately leads to a higher likelihood of matching high skill with high challenge and entering flow state.
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So with all of this research and new knowledge, what can we take away to make a lasting impact in our lives?

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Here’s my take:
#1 - It’s going to take effort and intention to reach flow state, it won't always happen automatically. It’s a matter of finding the right balance between skill acquisition and picking challenges that are hard enough to stimulate you but not so hard that they create anxiety. For large projects, biting off one chunk at a time may help with this.
#2 - To improve your odds of getting in the zone, do your best to eliminate distractions, at least for a predetermined amount of time (for example 15 to 30 minutes), then repeat as needed. Avoid social media and various notifications as much as possible when trying to get in the flow state. Perhaps even put your devices in Do Not Disturb mode for periods of time when you need maximum focus.
#3 - Try to figure out your own balance between stimulation that can mellow your overactive prefrontal cortex and that which may engage it a bit too much.
Is it music? A podcast? Ocean sounds? Find something that can melt into the background of your attentional awareness, occupying some of it, but without demanding too much of your attention.
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This is the key to mimicking the results of that tDCS study we mentioned at home.
Ultimately, there are no easy answers, and no guarantees, and that's why productivity is hard!
But at least now you have a formula to help you find your own personal recipe for getting in the zone.
If you liked this post, would you mind giving the video version a thumbs up on YT? 🥰https://youtu.be/JeWyO8YFQng

I've been an NBA fan for a long time but started seriously following the past decade.
This season I got league pass and watched or listened to nearly every game. First time I've ever done it in my life. My routine has been watch the game, go to reddit to see comments, rinse and repeat. The narratives slowly formed and it was mostly doubting how good this team is.
"Lakers have an easy schedule", "They couldnt beat great teams" Clippers beats them on Opening day without PG13 so this was used to support the narrative. When December rolled around, Bucks and Clippers beat the Lakers and that narrative became even stronger.
All the while, the Lakers are on top of the Western Conference like that means nothing.
I also listened to podcasts like those from Brian Windhorst and his line is always "The Lakers are great but they are a piece and half away from being contenders" or "Lebron and AD are great but the rest of the squad is worse than all the other contenders" Then he has guests like Tim Bontempts is so into the Kawhi hype train and actually favoring Doc Rivers over Frank Vogel because of that 1 ring back in 2008. Ric Bucher who is also another one. God, there are so many analysts who doubted the Lakers. I bet I can compile an hours worth of lines if I put the time into it.
Anyway, I had to admit, I doubted this team even though I rooted for them hard. When news of Kobe's passing came out, you can see it affected the team badly. On their first game back against Portland, they lost and lots of fans were angry and how they let Kobe down. Like these fans need to tell them that. I felt that was one of the lowest points of the season.
Then that March weekend happened where the Lakers had the Bucks and Clippers. It was on a schedule where I had to wake up in the middle of the night but I had to watch them and I wasn't disappointed! Those games gave me so much hope.
Then the pandemic happened and everything came to halt. There was so much uncertainty and I was sad that all that hard work will be for nothing. I remember some fans were saying they should never have traded for AD and got him the next season for nothing. Seriously.
Then the restart happened and I was hopeful once again. I was sad that Bradley decided to not come to the bubble and I was anxious whether Dwight would join. Im glad that he did.
When the seeding games started, analysts were saying the Lakers offense looked really bad. They were shooting below 20% at times. Coach Vogel was experimenting his lineups and analysts were already crucifying him and saying he has no idea how his rotation is going to look like in the playoffs. At one point, the starting lineup of Lebron-AD-Green-KCP-Javale was the worst lineup in the bubble.
They barely beat the third stringers of Denver where Kuzma hit a buzzer beater 3 on Bol Bol and not even some of the Lakers fans were celebrating that win.
Anyway the Lakers finished the seeding games with a losing record with a lot of uncertainty going into the playoffs. "What's the rotation going to be like?","Third option?".
Lakers were also the only team to not know who their opponents going to be until 2 days before. Blazers, Grizzlies and Suns were all in play just a few days prior.
The way some analysts were talking about the Blazers is like they're this juggernaut. A 4-5th seed masquerading as an 8th seed is what I keep hearing. Then Windhorst saying Lakers are toothless first seeds LOL. Game 1 rolls around and Blazers win. Chuck brings out his broom. Pierce runs his mouth. Then Lakers sweep the rest of the series. Suddenly, Lakers were expected to win this said by the same people who picked them to lose. What?!
Next series WCSF. Rockets. Lakers dont have an answer to this small ball lineup says the media. Game 1 and Rocket win. Harden says something like height doesn't matter if you don't have heart. He's right. So Lakers showed how much heart they have and backdoor sweeps them. This series showed the flexibility of the Lakers lineup. The Lakers small ball lineup has a 6'9" guard with a 6'11" center. Can you imagine that RoCo is the tallest guy of the Rockets in their starting lineup at 6'7"? Got to admit, PJ Tucker played his heart out and gave problems to AD but he was gassed by game 3.
Next series. Clippers. But they haven't finished their business with Denver yet. They were leading the series 3-1 so I was hoping that Denver would extend the series so the Lakers can have more rest. No way Denver comes back from this. These guys must be tired after that Utah series. It became 3-2 then 3-3. Then it became 3-4! I couldn't believe it! The team picked by all these professional analysts to win it all couldn't get to the WCF blowing big lead after big lead.
So anyway. Next series WCF. Denver. Although this team is young, they are uniquely talented and have nearly unmatched resiliency. Not a volume 3PT shooting team but Jokic is a threat on the offensive end in nearly any spot on the court. Hes great against any 1 on 1 coverage because of his range and efficiency. Hes even deadlier when you double him. That time in game 2 where he took over the 4th was a masterpiece but AD showed he can hang with him and that dagger took the life out of Jokic. They were able to steal one in game 3 but this series probably had me the most at the edge of my seat because Denver never gave up. Murray morphed into a super version of himself and was legitimately scaring me everytime he shot the ball. By Game 5 though, they were clearly gassed and Murray wasnt himself.
Next series The Finals. Once again Lakers have their rest and waiting who they will be facing. I was honestly hoping for the Heat matchup-wise as the Lakers were able to beat them twice in the regular season but Miami was a completely different team back then and I just didn't believe this team was great even though they beat the Bucks and Cs in convincing fashion. So the Heat made it.
Game 1 was a massacre and the Heat lose both Bam and Dragic. Narrative suddenly becomes the Lakers will sweep the Heat.
Game 2 rolls around and it was closer and that bit at the end where AD was upset got me worried.
Game 3 happens and the Lakers played the worst 1st quarter this season but they were still in the game. It wasn't meant to be though as Butler had the performance of his life and sealed the game and we got that "You're in trouble" and the smirking rook who has Kuz's sloppy seconds.
Game 4 rolls around and AD was a freakin' wall in the paint. His mere presence terrified anyone who approached the paint and altered so many shots its almost comical.
Game 5 happens and the amount of anxiety I had on this game was so high. I'm actually worried about AD's ankle since he's been hurting it the past few games on a regular basis. When he was limping in the 2nd half, it got me so damn worried. Lebron played his heart out and so did Butler. AD and Lebron combined for 68 and that usually equates a win. In the end, the game came down to a missed 3pt by DG and a flub by Kief. I was so angry after that game that I didn't bother reading the comments but I was damn worried about AD. I knew that if AD wasn't good, Butler would be feasting so I at least monitored that and I was relieved that the injury is not that bad. The fact that they lost wearing the Mamba Jersey irked me but I was thinking back when they lost to Portland on their first game back after Kobe's passing and how they recovered from that.
I was so damn worried about what would happen if they blow the 3-1 lead. I swear we will never hear the end of it. There were so many storylines I wanted to come to fruition with a ring. I am so invested on this team and I couldn't bear them being 1 game away and losing it all. It felt so real for me as they really had trouble with Jimmy and with Duncan Robinson finding his stroke and that Kid who can get hot , it was all up in the air for me.
The night before game 6. I had a dream. It was so vague but it was the visiting team beating the home team 120-20 or something along that. I was so anxious and my heart rate was so high that I decided not to watch the game and just wait for the result.
I couldn't resist and tuned in with 5 minutes left. 20 point lead. I WAS SO RELIEVED! I knew just like everyone else that it was in the bag!
I won't elaborate anymore as this post has become very long but this has been a magical season. I realize now how hard it is to root for a team and to come up short. I'll never make fun of another team because it can feel personal.
That said, I won't forget how special this team is and how they have continually been doubted again and again and how they keep defying expectations. How they protected each other when they were not playing well and never throwing anyone under the bus. How each one of them were written off and how each one rose to become a higher version of themselves in the playoffs to achieve a greater purpose. Be a superstar in your role is the message and this team embodied it during this magical run. Its a truly inspiring team and I won't ever forget them and their journey to #17.

This is part 1 of a 3 part story I recently shared within The Betting Network community. The Betting Network or TBN is a group of sports bettors that all share information with a common goal of winning more bets. I also do weekly lessons, a mentorship program, game previews and just pass along any and all information I’ve gathered over the past 15 plus years, the main goal is to help members improve their overall sports betting IQ and help them avoid the brutal trial and error I had to go through before becoming successful in the sports betting industry.
I decided to share this story because of the feedback I received within The Betting Network, hope you guys enjoy it and also gain something from it.

PART 1/3

Before I get into the good stuff I have to explain what my job entailed at the time. The company I use to work for scraped sports betting information and data off the internet. A lot of pro bettors use “data scrapes” and what it does is it searches the internet 24/7 every second of the day for anything that has the keywords you programmed into the software. Think about how much time and effort this saves. You input “LeBron James Injury” and the second anything related to that is posted anywhere online it will be sent to you and even compiled in an organized fashion. You could put Steph Curry 3pt attempts and it will gather all that info and compile it. Data scrapes are really the only way a person could compile stats and information on entire leagues, it would take the entire season alone if you attempted to input it yourself without a scraper.
One of the most important data scrapers is for injuries and the company I worked for had it set up where it would be constantly searching the internet for injury related news and it would “ping” our computers already formatted so it could be sent out to members and social media. For example, this is what a “ping” would look like - CLE-F [LeBron James] - Calf- Questionable or GSW-G [Steph Curry] - wrist - Doubtful. Our job was to edit any errors and basically just click a button that was linked to send it out on all platforms, members text services, on twitter, everywhere we wanted. Our company's injury scrape was so good that live odds services like Don Best would simply have a scrape on our Twitter account. Pro bettors would just have notifications set for our tweets because we were breaking injury information 10 to 20 seconds before ESPN sometimes. By the way, 10 to 20 seconds is an eternity in the sports betting world. If you couldn’t tell already I’m no computer wiz, but what I believe separated our scrape from many others was how the information was formatted when we got it and how it was streamlined with all the platforms it needed to be sent out to after we got it. In other words, injury news breaks, we get the ping, hit one button and it’s sent. Other people may receive the injury information and have to type out the format and then send it out one by one to twitter or on their website. But like I said I have no fucking clue how it all works all I know is we were considered one of the best for NBA, NFL.
If you want to learn more about how to actually set up a scraper I provided a good intro to scraping link here: ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
http://crowdsourcesyndicate.info/MommyWowMyFirstScraper.html
The MIT Sloan conference is one of the biggest sports analytics conferences in the world. Myself and a few co-workers were sent to the Sloan conference to represent our company. It’s a big 2 day event and everybody from the sports world is there, anyone from sports book operators to NBA head coaches and players. Link below for this years speakers at Sloan ↙️↙️↙️
http://www.sloansportsconference.com/2020-conference/2020-speakers/
Anyone that’s heavily involved in the sports betting industry is usually there because it’s a great way to network with everyone all in one place. My company had a booth there and we would just answer questions, hand out promotional fliers and point out all the famous people we saw. This is where it gets good. While sitting at the booth a guy approaches me and asks: “What do you do”? Me: I’m a data analyst Guy: ok, but what do you do?
I explained to him my job responsibilities adding in a bunch of stuff to make it sound more important because the truth was I sat at a computer for 8hrs a day waiting for pings and answering phone calls where 90% of the callers had the wrong number. He pretended to be interested in the job details and before I could get into what he did or why he was there the convo ended with him asking if I’ll be attending day 2 of the conference. I said yes and he told me he would also be back tomorrow for day 2 and that after the conference tomorrow him and a bunch of guys were going to meet for drinks at the Westin hotel across the street from the conference, “drinks on me” he said while walking away.
The next day after the conference I went across the street to the Westin and they have a restaurant. I see “George” who I met the day before and invited me, he’s sitting at one end of a table that has 2 big tables pushed together making one big table. He waves me over and I sit next to him, there’s about 7 other people there. He tells me to order anything I want, drinks, food whatever and made a point to tell me and everyone there that he’s covering the bill. The Westin is really nice and expensive, not a place I would be going to eat and drink on my own considering I think I was making $16 an hour at this time. I couldn’t help but wonder why he invited me and only me when I had 2 other co-workers. After a couple hours and 4 vodka tonics I found out.
“George” was a professional bettor and was (still is) the head of a nationwide sports betting syndicate. He knew exactly what the company I work for dos and even knew my boss. Once we got into talking about what he does he wasted no time telling me what he wanted to do. He wanted me to notify him and his team about injuries before sending it out to the public, 15 seconds after to be exact. He knew that a majority of sports books used the live odds screen Don Best and that Don Best used our company for breaking injury news and if he was able to get the injury news before Don Best he would be able to beat the line on all the books that copied lines from them.
For example: Your bookie isn’t sitting in front of the computer moving the lines when an injury happens, it’s done automatically. Most local books set up what’s called an auto-mover and this copies the feed from another sports book. Some local books may copy the feed from say pinnacle or 5dimes or any book they feel has strong accurate lines. They can’t set up a direct feed to pinnacle or 5Dimes because established books such as those can detect software. So what they do is set the auto-mover up onto a live odds service like Don Best. Once the line moves on don best all the books that are copying lines will then move their lines.
George had software of his own that allowed him to bet games on thousands of accounts with a few clicks of a button. He explained to me how this would all work - I get the ping - CLE-F [LeBron James] - Rest - Out, I would copy and paste that onto the telegram messenger app and press send, he said sing happy birthday and when finished then I could post it to the world like I normally would. With his automated bet software he could pick off all the books that didn’t move the line yet based on Lebron being OUT. Of course not every single book was reliant on Don Best to move lines, many of the bigger well known offshore books had their own data scrapes and injury software, but more than enough books did rely on Don Best, who relied on my company. So the potential for this was through the roof.
I had some serious thinking to do, as much as I wanted to say yes on the spot my instincts held me back. I told him I had to weigh the pros and cons. After all I basically would be tanking my job duties and going from a committed employee to what seemed like a sneaky spy. It does our company and it’s members no good if I’m sending out information late or at the same time as every other company. Also, without getting too detailed regarding the financial arrangement I felt I needed to counter his offer. The biggest upside for me besides the money was my strong desire to get involved with a real sports betting syndicate but the negotiations quickly let me know that there is a dark side to the industry and I had one foot in.
To Be Continued....
PS I’ll likely share part 2 and 3 in the coming days.

Hey so as stated before, I want to put a disclaimer that if you are an experienced botter, you might not gain anything from this, but I do ask if you have input, feel free to share. This is geared towards the average day one guy who is interested in picking up botting as a hobby, or additional income, with little to zero experience in bots.
Okay so most of us are here because 1) items are becoming more and more harder to cop manual or 2) you have already been reselling, and you’d like to cop multiples or 3) Maybe you just saw Instagram/YouTube or other social media platform and you are intrigued Either way, I hope you gain something from this. First off, there are a lot of misconceptions in the community. Here’s my 2nd disclaimer. This is 100% just my opinion, and what I have learned from my own personal experience. 3rd disclaimer. I will not be mentioning any cook groups and/or proxy companies. This post is in no way, to put down or disrespect any providers/bots/or cook groups. But in my next hour I’d like to prepare information to raise awareness, and to help you not waste as much money, resources, or time I have. I call those learning expenses. Here we go, the things I wish someone would’ve told me 4 months ago. As stated, I am an Active Duty Military Officer of 14 years, with a family. I initially started with 15-20k invested, and kept my investment flowing. I am the owner of Machete rentals, Discord: Palmtreesandmachetes#4612. I hope you all enjoy this.

1. Culture - If you know zero about shoes/streetwear, then you should probably stay away. Just like someone with zero car knowledge wouldn’t become a used car salesman, this is not for you. I have collected for over 14 years/been a reseller on Niketalk/solecollectoebay years before I even attempted to bot. In order to understand the hype/demand behind product, I feel that you must have been a consumer at one point. If you’re already a resellehave knowledge in the culture of sneakers and what the people want, then you are already ahead of the game. If not, you run the risk of collecting bricks, and you’ll spend a lot more time contemplating what you need to bot versus the technical aspects of botting itself. Not saying it’s completely impossible, but you will be well behind the power curve, and run the risk of spending more or picking up a product without any demand.
   
2. Understanding overhead costs - Even as a casual botter, you can easily fetch over $300-$400 plus of overhead fees per month. Some of these are optional but proxies, bot costs(whether renewal fees/rental fees), server costs, cook group renewal fees, one click gmails, snkrs accounts, etc. these things add up quickly, so if you don’t have the capital, I would reassess your current budget. Some of these are optional based upon the type of botting you’re interested in, but more important just be aware that botting is quite expensive and that there is potential to lose money in the beginning.
   
3. Buying a bot- Now you’ve decided hey I want to buy a bot. You have a few options; this is considering you already have a discord account (Facebook/and Reddit should not be a source of information for you). First of all buying isn’t the only option, there is the option to rent in the online marketplace, so try before you buy. Do yourself the due diligence and do your research. There are different types of bots from AIO(All in one ie Cyber, Kodai, Balko, NSB) IO(bots that specialize in one thing/site ie Mekpreme, Velox) Raffle bots (hyper, kicksrafflebot) SNKRS (TSB, BNB, Ghost). Botmart, Tidal, Botbroker.io and Didi marketplace are just a few online options that you have when purchasing a key. I usually use botbroker.io to see current market value/and see past sale history, asks/bids, etc. When dealing with transactions outside Botbroker.io, always use a middleman in order to not get scammed. There are many bots ie that are not authorized for resale(Swft, hyperrafflebot, Whatbot), so by looking for those, or making WTB posts, you are putting a giant target on your back. I know this from personal experience.
   
4. Proxies - Not to be controversial, but if you’ve purchased from 10 different online proxy companies, chances are 1 or 2 , are from the same proxy provider: smartproxy, netnut, AWS, Comcast, Verizon, oxylabs, just to name a few. The proxies you use are one of the most, if not the MOST important aspect of your botting success. Don’t fall into the hype and pay over $20 extra per GB for a name. Understand the difference between residential, DC, DC AIO/ISP, and what sites you should be using them on.
   
5. Gmails - Another extremely important aspect of botting when it comes to Supreme and/or Shopify. Captcha bypass is a thing of the past. Learn about the captcha harvester and how to utilize them correct. Add this to your overhead costs, that you will need a gmail bot (AYCD/ALTX/Kodai essentials) that will help farm your gmails/along with dedicated captcha/DC proxies. Your one clicks will determine the difference between you checking out in seconds versus not checking out at all, so don’t take this lightly. You are now in the NBA, where you are competing against thousands or millions of botters, so every single second counts.
   
6. Cookgroups - Okay now that you have most of your resources, let’s find a cookgroup. Some people say cookgroups are optional. Why should you pay for them? First of all, any good ones are going to be competitive/limited/and almost impossible to get into. But they provide leaks, early links, info, calls, and more. There are some of them that specialize in different things ie lowkey flips, shoes, stocks, bot reselling/restocks, sports betting, or you find one that has it all. My cook group has personally helped me grow as a botter, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. I have also had the opportunity for many groupbuys to include Splashforce, Launcher bot, proxies and more on a weekly basis. Overall you want a good mature community, a great owner, and a comfortable environment so that you are given the opportunity to learn. However with every good thing, there are some bad apples. There are some groups you should stay away from. So ensure to do your research !
   
7. Profiles – Capital one Eno, Privacy, & Citibank are all excellent VCC providers. In order to maximize success ratio on the bigger footsites, YS releases, and avoiding cancellations, educate yourself on jigging profiles, and spend the necessary time to setup a catchall/create accounts, j1gging your addresses/phone numbers correctly to ensure you don’t hit a 100 clip just to get them all cancelled. There are many opinions out there on what information is required to j1g. Botting takes time, and its not just about setting up tasks and clicking go. You will spend hours of preparation ensuring your billing profiles are created/and organized. Microsoft excel is an essential tool. Utilize it.
   
8. Technique – Understand proxy protection, anti-bot, and take the time to research how each bot works. What method do they use to checkout/pass splash etc. What modes are available within the bot, and how do they differ. What delays should I use? The major types of releases you will encounter online is going to be Mesh, Shopify, Footsites, Supreme, & Yeezy Supply. Shopify is by far the most difficult to learn since the way you bot UNDFTD will vary from the way you bot Kith. If available don’t put all your tools in one bag, having a contingency backup is beneficial. Bots will flop. It is the nature of the game, and you will take Ls. Don’t let it discourage you. There are millions of tasks being thrown at sometimes less than a hundred pairs, and even if your technique is perfect, there is also a percentage of luck involved. Variety is key (run a mix of specified delays if your bots support it, run a mix of ISP/DC/residential proxy providers, a mix of fast/safe tasks. Take the time to run every available release you can, even if its just with a test profile. Kith Mondays are an excellent time to test your products/ensure your proxies are working correctly. So ensure that you are using any available opportunity. There’s a misconception that if you buy a 5K bot that you will take 100 stock on every release. Someone with years of experience and great technique, proxies, etc. will outperform you everytime with a cheaper bot. So by paying more money, do not be fooled by expecting to hit 100 pairs in your first drop. It took months to find what proxies, what server, what bots worked for me and what didn’t. Updates are very consistent in the community and things change almost everyday. What is extremely successful today, may not be successful tomorrow, and so on. It’s a fast paced game, and this is not for the weak-hearted. It takes hours of dedication and research, there are no shortcuts. Bots are extremely volatile, I have seen Wrath go from 300-500 to 2k in just a matter of weeks. I have also seen Balko go from 2.2k to 1.1k so be careful. This is why renting is highly preferred.
   
9. Don’t get scammed– I cannot emphasize this enough. Use a middleman if conducting transactions in Botmart/Tidal. If something sounds too good to be true, It most likely is. Whatbot, Hyperrrafflebot, and SWFT are non-resellable. SWFT is available for purchase in Botbroker. The other two you are only going to get if 1) you win a giveaway or 2) Groupbuy. Bot flipping and bot renting are highly profitable. However, I DO NOT Recommend this for a beginner. Focus on getting good at botting. And then look at other avenues of approach, so that your overhead fees can be paid for.
   
10. Closing – By the way buying bots for retail is extremely competitive. I have paid for each bot I own hundreds or thousands over retail. In closing, I’d like to leave you with the top performing bots in each category, this is only MY personal opinion as of current performance: Shopify – Cyber, Balko, Wrath, Kodai, NSB, Sole AIO Footsites – Kodai, Ganesh, Cyber, Whatbot, Wrath, Phantom, Balko Yeezy Supply/Adidas – Wrath, Splashforce, Polaris, Project Destroyer Supreme – Mekpreme, Velox, Cyber, Tohru SNKRS – TSB, BNB, Ghost ( I DO NOT SUGGEST FOR BEGINNERS) Mesh – Mbot, Hawkmesh, Cyber Bestbuy/Walmart/Target/Panini – SWFT AIO, Scottbot, Phantom Shoepalace – Launcher bot, Hayha Raffle – Hyperrafflebot (I DO NOT SUGGEST FOR BEGINNERS) Bot restock tools – Zeny, Fattye ACO Frenzy – Project Frenzy, Mango Frenzy Finishline – Kodai Gmail bot – AYCD, Kodai essentials Hibbettsports – Sole AIO
    

Edit: Unfortunately I’m not able to respond to the overwhelming amount of DMs, shoot me a follow on IG: Pusha_tea or Twitter: Leonardtenorio. If you are interested in more content, I will start doing more in depth bot reviews, lmk in the comments what else you would like to see, but unfortunately I can not provide 1-on-1 support for you all.

With the new CBA approaching, I found myself day dreaming about the PERFECT NFL PLAYOFFS. How could we extract even more fun and excitement out of an already gripping league? How could we extend the playoffs into TWO whole months of nail biting, every touchdown matters football? How could we include EVERY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE to whip up a maximum fervor from sea to shining sea?! Well in my fever dream, I found a way. Welcome to the future of football.
First things first, lets talk about the big changes and highlights.

• All 32 teams makes the playoffs.
• 3 preseason games
• 14 week regular season
• 7 rounds of playoff football
• An additional holiday bye week, right before playoffs.
• The bottom 8 teams compete for the #1 draft pick in The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament, held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Now how does all that work in practice? After several feverish hours scribbling on paper... After digitizing my feverish notes. I can show you...
32 Team 7 Round NFL Playoffs
Awesome right?
Now lets break it down week by week to really get a feel for how the season would shake out in this new format. For the sake of timing, I'll map it out as if the 2019 season was played this way.
Regular Season
Opening weekend remains unchanged, with the first game being played on Thursday, September 5th. The regular season is shortened to 14 games played over 15 weekends. The last game is played on Sunday December 15th. Every team gets 1 bye week. Every team's record will factor into their playoff seeding, but no one is eliminated from the playoffs in the regular season.
League Bye Week
In preparation for a long and arduous playoffs, we give the whole league the week off to rest up, and spend time with their families over the holidays. It's a merry time across the world, as each and every NFL fan still holds out hope that their team can win the super bowl. We watch the NBA and are truly happy one last time. We have achieved the dream of a second bye week.
Round 1 - Opening Weekend
It's Sunday December 29th and every team in the league is playing. 32 teams. 16 games. 16 winners and 16 losers. Teams play other teams in their conference based on their seeding. No one is eliminated today, but if you lose here, you have to win 6 straight games to reach the super bowl
Round 2 - Making the cut
The second round of playoffs is played over two days. Saturday January 4th and Sunday January 5th. The 16 winning teams from round 1 duke it out to enter the elite 8, with winners earning a bye in round 3.
The 16 losing teams duke it out to stay alive. The winning 8 teams survive, while the losing 8 teams are eliminated from Super Bowl competition and relegated to fighting for their chance to play in the Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament.
Round 3 - Elimination Weekend
The weekend of January 11th and 12th is the end of the road for 12 NFL teams. Lose now and you're done for the year.
The elite 8 takes the weekend off with a well earned bye while the other 16 teams in Super Bowl competition duke it out. Winners advance, losers are done for the year.
The 8 winless teams are out of the playoffs, but the fun is just beginning. The 8 teams play each other, with winners advancing to the The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament in Las Vegas. Because these teams are no longer in super bowl competition, we'll be spicing things up with lots of rewards and exciting twists from here on out!
Round 4 - The real tournament begins
Some say if you don't make it to Round 4, you didn't even make the playoffs. From here on out, things get real in a single elimination tournament as the elite 8, freshly rested off their bye, battles the 8 surviving teams. Played over two days on Saturday January 18th & Sunday January 19th. Winners advance. Losers are done for the year.
The 4 teams headed to Las Vegas for the Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament have the weekend off. They head to Vegas early where the NFL has arranged accommodations for all 4 teams to stay at the same hotel. NFL media is on hand to capture all the kooky hijinks.
Round 5 - The competition thins / The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament
The single elimination tournament continues on January 25th and 26th. The eight surviving teams square off. 4 advance. 4 are done for the year.
Meanwhile The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament kicks off in Las Vegas. The four teams play in back to back games at the freshly christened Allegiant Stadium (it was magically completed ahead of schedule in this timeline). Fans from all 4 teams flood the arena for a unique experience where 1 ticket gets you 2 games, plus an exhilarating between game show featuring every washed up musician currently playing a residency in Las Vegas. This years show features Aerosmith, Rod Stewart and Mariah Carey fighting over a single microphone.
The The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament also gives the NFL a unique opportunity to lean into sports betting in a controlled environment. Real time betting odds are integrated into the game as fans at the stadium and at home can gamble and cash in on every play. As an added incentive to players and a nod to fantasy football, individual player stats are rewarded in real time with cold hard cash. Players who score a touchdown even receive a briefcase full of cash in the end zone.
Not surprisingly, ratings for the The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament handily surpass the actual playoffs.
Round 6 - Championship Weekend
It's Saturday February 1st and we start off the weekend in Las Vegas as the The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Bowl kicks off. Joe Burrow is himself in attendance as the Cincinnati Bengals play The Miami Dolphins for the coveted #1 draft pick. At the coin toss the captain of each team hand delivers their teams requested #1 draft pick to Roger Goodell, who then flips the coin himself, a move that immediately sets off wild conspiracy theories on twitter. After the game, the winners pick is revealed and they immediately receive the player of their choice for the #1 draft pick. Joe Burrow runs onto the field and proudly puts on a Miami Dolphins cap, as he joins the team for a night of revelry and debauchery on the Las Vegas strip.
On Sunday February 2nd, the 4 surviving teams in the actual NFL playoffs compete for 2 spots to the super bowl.
Bye / Media / Pro Bowl Week
It's Sunday February 9th and you're at home depot, because you've got a lot of shit to catch up on after 6 weeks of playoffs. Remember to grab flowers on your way home.
The Super Bowl
So there's only one improvement being made to the super bowl, and oh boy are you going to like it. We're moving the Super Bowl to Sunday February 16th on President's Day Weekend. America rejoices as we rightfully get the holiday we truly deserve, and an excuse to go even harder on the super bowl, and a national hangover day. You're welcome America. You're welcome.
​
Edit: Updated to replace my fevered scrawlings with a real diagram!

Hey so as stated before, I want to put a disclaimer that if you are an experienced botter, you might not gain anything from this, but I do ask if you have input, feel free to share. This is geared towards the average day one guy who is interested in picking up botting as a hobby, or additional income, with little to zero experience in bots.
Okay so most of us are here because 1) items are becoming more and more harder to cop manual or 2) you have already been reselling, and you’d like to cop multiples or 3) Maybe you just saw Instagram/YouTube or other social media platform and you are intrigued Either way, I hope you gain something from this. First off, there are a lot of misconceptions in the community. Here’s my 2nd disclaimer. This is 100% just my opinion, and what I have learned from my own personal experience. 3rd disclaimer. I will not be mentioning any cook groups and/or proxy companies. This post is in no way, to put down or disrespect any providers/bots/or cook groups. But in my next hour I’d like to prepare information to raise awareness, and to help you not waste as much money, resources, or time I have. I call those learning expenses. Here we go, the things I wish someone would’ve told me 4 months ago. As stated, I am an Active Duty Military Officer of 14 years, with a family. I initially started with 15-20k invested, and kept my investment flowing. I am the owner of Machete rentals, Discord: Palmtreesandmachetes#4612. I hope you all enjoy this.

1. Culture - If you know zero about shoes/streetwear, then you should probably stay away. Just like someone with zero car knowledge wouldn’t become a used car salesman, this is not for you. I have collected for over 14 years/been a reseller on Niketalk/solecollectoebay years before I even attempted to bot. In order to understand the hype/demand behind product, I feel that you must have been a consumer at one point. If you’re already a resellehave knowledge in the culture of sneakers and what the people want, then you are already ahead of the game. If not, you run the risk of collecting bricks, and you’ll spend a lot more time contemplating what you need to bot versus the technical aspects of botting itself. Not saying it’s completely impossible, but you will be well behind the power curve, and run the risk of spending more or picking up a product without any demand.
   
2. Understanding overhead costs - Even as a casual botter, you can easily fetch over $300-$400 plus of overhead fees per month. Some of these are optional but proxies, bot costs(whether renewal fees/rental fees), server costs, cook group renewal fees, one click gmails, snkrs accounts, etc. these things add up quickly, so if you don’t have the capital, I would reassess your current budget. Some of these are optional based upon the type of botting you’re interested in, but more important just be aware that botting is quite expensive and that there is potential to lose money in the beginning.
   
3. Buying a bot- Now you’ve decided hey I want to buy a bot. You have a few options; this is considering you already have a discord account (Facebook/and Reddit should not be a source of information for you). First of all buying isn’t the only option, there is the option to rent in the online marketplace, so try before you buy. Do yourself the due diligence and do your research. There are different types of bots from AIO(All in one ie Cyber, Kodai, Balko, NSB) IO(bots that specialize in one thing/site ie Mekpreme, Velox) Raffle bots (hyper, kicksrafflebot) SNKRS (TSB, BNB, Ghost). Botmart, Tidal, Botbroker.io and Didi marketplace are just a few online options that you have when purchasing a key. I usually use botbroker.io to see current market value/and see past sale history, asks/bids, etc. When dealing with transactions outside Botbroker.io, always use a middleman in order to not get scammed. There are many bots ie that are not authorized for resale(Swft, hyperrafflebot, Whatbot), so by looking for those, or making WTB posts, you are putting a giant target on your back. I know this from personal experience.
   
4. Proxies - Not to be controversial, but if you’ve purchased from 10 different online proxy companies, chances are 1 or 2 , are from the same proxy provider: smartproxy, netnut, AWS, Comcast, Verizon, oxylabs, just to name a few. The proxies you use are one of the most, if not the MOST important aspect of your botting success. Don’t fall into the hype and pay over $20 extra per GB for a name. Understand the difference between residential, DC, DC AIO/ISP, and what sites you should be using them on.
   
5. Gmails - Another extremely important aspect of botting when it comes to Supreme and/or Shopify. Captcha bypass is a thing of the past. Learn about the captcha harvester and how to utilize them correct. Add this to your overhead costs, that you will need a gmail bot (AYCD/ALTX/Kodai essentials) that will help farm your gmails/along with dedicated captcha/DC proxies. Your one clicks will determine the difference between you checking out in seconds versus not checking out at all, so don’t take this lightly. You are now in the NBA, where you are competing against thousands or millions of botters, so every single second counts.
   
6. Cookgroups - Okay now that you have most of your resources, let’s find a cookgroup. Some people say cookgroups are optional. Why should you pay for them? First of all, any good ones are going to be competitive/limited/and almost impossible to get into. But they provide leaks, early links, info, calls, and more. There are some of them that specialize in different things ie lowkey flips, shoes, stocks, bot reselling/restocks, sports betting, or you find one that has it all. My cook group has personally helped me grow as a botter, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. I have also had the opportunity for many groupbuys to include Splashforce, Launcher bot, proxies and more on a weekly basis. Overall you want a good mature community, a great owner, and a comfortable environment so that you are given the opportunity to learn. However with every good thing, there are some bad apples. There are some groups you should stay away from. So ensure to do your research !
   
7. Profiles – Capital one Eno, Privacy, & Citibank are all excellent VCC providers. In order to maximize success ratio on the bigger footsites, YS releases, and avoiding cancellations, educate yourself on jigging profiles, and spend the necessary time to setup a catchall/create accounts, j1gging your addresses/phone numbers correctly to ensure you don’t hit a 100 clip just to get them all cancelled. There are many opinions out there on what information is required to j1g. Botting takes time, and its not just about setting up tasks and clicking go. You will spend hours of preparation ensuring your billing profiles are created/and organized. Microsoft excel is an essential tool. Utilize it.
   
8. Technique – Understand proxy protection, anti-bot, and take the time to research how each bot works. What method do they use to checkout/pass splash etc. What modes are available within the bot, and how do they differ. What delays should I use? The major types of releases you will encounter online is going to be Mesh, Shopify, Footsites, Supreme, & Yeezy Supply. Shopify is by far the most difficult to learn since the way you bot UNDFTD will vary from the way you bot Kith. If available don’t put all your tools in one bag, having a contingency backup is beneficial. Bots will flop. It is the nature of the game, and you will take Ls. Don’t let it discourage you. There are millions of tasks being thrown at sometimes less than a hundred pairs, and even if your technique is perfect, there is also a percentage of luck involved. Variety is key (run a mix of specified delays if your bots support it, run a mix of ISP/DC/residential proxy providers, a mix of fast/safe tasks. Take the time to run every available release you can, even if its just with a test profile. Kith Mondays are an excellent time to test your products/ensure your proxies are working correctly. So ensure that you are using any available opportunity. There’s a misconception that if you buy a 5K bot that you will take 100 stock on every release. Someone with years of experience and great technique, proxies, etc. will outperform you everytime with a cheaper bot. So by paying more money, do not be fooled by expecting to hit 100 pairs in your first drop. It took months to find what proxies, what server, what bots worked for me and what didn’t. Updates are very consistent in the community and things change almost everyday. What is extremely successful today, may not be successful tomorrow, and so on. It’s a fast paced game, and this is not for the weak-hearted. It takes hours of dedication and research, there are no shortcuts. Bots are extremely volatile, I have seen Wrath go from 300-500 to 2k in just a matter of weeks. I have also seen Balko go from 2.2k to 1.1k so be careful. This is why renting is highly preferred.
   
9. Don’t get scammed– I cannot emphasize this enough. Use a middleman if conducting transactions in Botmart/Tidal. If something sounds too good to be true, It most likely is. Whatbot, Hyperrrafflebot, and SWFT are non-resellable. SWFT is available for purchase in Botbroker. The other two you are only going to get if 1) you win a giveaway or 2) Groupbuy. Bot flipping and bot renting are highly profitable. However, I DO NOT Recommend this for a beginner. Focus on getting good at botting. And then look at other avenues of approach, so that your overhead fees can be paid for.
   
10. Closing – By the way buying bots for retail is extremely competitive. I have paid for each bot I own hundreds or thousands over retail. In closing, I’d like to leave you with the top performing bots in each category, this is only MY personal opinion as of current performance: Shopify – Cyber, Balko, Wrath, Kodai, NSB, Sole AIO Footsites – Kodai, Ganesh, Cyber, Whatbot, Wrath, Phantom, Balko Yeezy Supply/Adidas – Wrath, Splashforce, Polaris, Project Destroyer Supreme – Mekpreme, Velox, Cyber, Tohru SNKRS – TSB, BNB, Ghost ( I DO NOT SUGGEST FOR BEGINNERS) Mesh – Mbot, Hawkmesh, Cyber Bestbuy/Walmart/Target/Panini – SWFT AIO, Scottbot, Phantom Shoepalace – Launcher bot, Hayha Raffle – Hyperrafflebot (I DO NOT SUGGEST FOR BEGINNERS) Bot restock tools – Zeny, Fattye ACO Frenzy – Project Frenzy, Mango Frenzy Finishline – Kodai Gmail bot – AYCD, Kodai essentials Hibbettsports – Sole AIO
    

OVERHEAD COSTS
Just to give you an idea of your monthly Overhead costs if you’re brand new to botting. The amount of data or proxies you use varies from person to person/ this is my personal monthly fee.
Cook group membership (free ones available/ I don’t personally recommend) : $35-$50
DC/ISP- $50-$60
Residential premium 2-4gb - $18-$42
24/7 dedicated Server (optional and/or AWS) - $60-$130
AYCD W/autosolve (optional of not botting shopify and/or supreme) - $18-$35 or lifetime $400-$500 one time fee or Kodai essentials $22.99 a mo.
This doesn’t include any one click gmails/snkrs accounts/raffle gmails/monthly fees for bots, etc.
You are looking at a minimum of $100-$200 every month depending on how many tasks you’re running, releases, how many bots you own, etc. There should be no reason for you to be in multiple cook groups.

I made up some hypothetical trades involving James Harden (and some of their other players if necessary) so the Rockets can start fresh.

Introduction

Before going in further detail, I remember that the Rockets do not own their 2021 1st (traded to OKC in the CP3 deal), so their goal should not be to tank or bottom out in the next season. The future seasons, maybe, but for next season, I'd imagine they would want to stay afloat (and that will make them look like an attractive destination to any 2021 free agents, too).
First, let's take a look at what they have.

• James Harden: The Beard. He is making between $41M and $47M the next 3 seasons through 2023.
• Russell Westbrook: He is making between $41M and $47M the next 3 seasons through 2023.

These are very heavy contracts, and it will probably be hard to match salary for any trade involving them. Nonetheless, the Rockets have other options they can use along them to potentially make trading easier.

• Eric Gordon: He will make between $17M and $21M from now to 2024. He will be 35 at the end of the deal. I don't imagine him as a positive asset on that contract, and Houston will probably want out of his deal if they are not competing.
• Robert Covington: He will make $12M and $13M the next two seasons. Good contract and he's only 29 for now. I don't think he necessarily needs to be traded.
• PJ Tucker: Making $8M next year, expiring after that. Given the cheap contract for a productive player, the Rockets will probably ship him off for assets.

Everyone else is making less than $4M, and the only one of those guys with guarantees beyond 2021 is Danuel House Jr. ($4M in 2022). Most of them aren't really players that I see as part of their future aside from House (age 26) and maybe Hartenstein (age 21). The rest of the guys are either washed (Chandler, Sefolosha, Carroll, Green), scrubs (Caboclo, Clemons, maybe Hartenstein), or at the age when they should seek either more money or a better team (Rivers, BMac), rather than making pennies on a rebuilding team.
Now, what kind of trades can we make?
I already ran through each player's contract. Let's see (what I think) their value is.

• Harden: MVP in his prime. Although he's 30, he looks like he can still play at an MVP level for several more years and can launch a playoff team into contention, or launch a contending team to being clear favorites. Look at the Paul George and Anthony Davis trades, which are recent examples of trading for an MVP-level player: they involved young promising players (SGA, Ball, Ingram, Hart), cap relief (Gallinari), and many draft picks. The Clippers' trade is a little inflated because they were essentially trading for PG + Kawhi, and AD is a few years younger, but I think generally, Harden will command a similar if slightly lessened offer. Other teams will need to include more solely for the purposes of matching salary, but I imagine the Rockets won't want to take back significant salary beyond 2021.
• Westbrook: MVP in his prime, but questions about his play have come about in recent years. He has turned a new leaf in 2020, but will he be able to keep it up as he ages (31 now, 32 for most of next season)? That combined with his MASSIVE contract will make it difficult to trade for him. I see it unlikely that he gets moved easily, and if he does, the offers Houston gets from other teams will not be as strong as what they can get for Harden. I think a team looking to win now would make the move, as trading for Westbrook's huge contract and age would compact this team's timeline quite a bit.
• Gordon: Like I said, I view him as a negative asset considering the length of his contract. It is possible Houston could dump his contract along with Harden, but it would need a lot of salary to match, and salary that expires soon. I don't see him getting traded on his own, either remaining in Houston or being traded in conjunction with someone else. But who knows? Some team desperate for a player like him trying to win now may give Houston an offer.
• Covington: If the Rockets do decide to trade him, I believe he could net a decent micro-haul with several picks. Probably not extremely good picks, but picks nonetheless. Perhaps a combination of an unprotected first and a moderately protected first.
• Tucker: Like I said, he makes not too much money and would be easy to flip at the deadline. They could definitely pick up a 1st from a contender for him. I would hold onto him until the 2021 deadline to see what offers they can get.

The other guys, I don't think they are worth trading except for salary matching purposes.
I won't specifically think about trades for the non-Harden players but it's worth mentioning what the Rockets can do.

Potential Trade Partners for Harden

Let's see who would both want and be able to trade for these players. Teams in interest (well, all of them, but realistic interest) would be contenders or playoff teams. I don't see lottery teams making a huge push to acquire these guys as no one here is that young, but who knows, something could go down. Maybe some lottery teams on the bubble of the playoffs could swing something up, but my concern is that it would gut too much of their team (while surrounding Harden with players that aren't exactly ready to win now). They would also need to have (1) available draft assets, (2) available player assets, and (3) various contracts to be able to salary match. It would be easier for Houston if these large contracts were spread out amongst multiple players (rather than, say, trading for a max to match) since I would guess they want to clear space for the following years, but then again, the other team would also prefer to trade one large contract vs several medium contracts to maintain their depth. It's up to the two teams to find a suitable balance. I'm mostly thinking of James Harden when making up trade ideas, but I may bring up the other guys eventually.
Let's run through the current playoff teams and see what they can do. Also keep in mind that I doubt Houston will want a trade within the west, and if they do, it might take more to get them to trade Harden.

• Lakers: Basically no offer. Their assets are all about 400 miles east of Houston on I-10.
• Clippers: Same, but their assets are about 600 miles north.
• Denver: Here is where it gets interesting. They have several promising young players (especially MPJ) that they can package in a trade and are on the bubble of contention. With a trade centered around Gary "Gary Harris" Harris (and MPJ), the Nuggets pair a Murray/Harden backcourt with Jokic. That would definitely make them contenders.
• Utah: Unless they are willing to give up Mitchell, they have no offer. I would (as Utah) roll the dice on that if I felt that it was worth sacrificing Mitchell's potential for a chance to win in the next couple of years before Harden declines. Most of their core isn't young (only Gobert and Clarkson, aside from Donovan, are under 30 of their main players), which would add pressure to their need to win.
• OKC: OKC has the assets to put together a trade, but will they? It would certainly be interesting as the trade would either involve sending CP3 back to Houston (will Houston want the years left on his deal, even if they get back a lot of picks? they may hardball for SGA in that case) or packaging Adams + Schroeder together to reunite CP3 and Harden, and I don't know if OKC will do that seeing how the pairing didn't result in a championship last time. OKC would be the most interesting one to create scenarios for because of the team and player histories as well as their interesting collection of assets.
• Dallas: Unless Dallas trades KP or Luka (no, they won't), they have basically no way to put together a viable trade. Their picks are in New York and they don't have any other particularly interesting young prospects.
• Memphis: A lot younger than the rest of these teams, a trade for Harden would greatly accelerate their timeline and pressure them to win now. Houston would certainly lobby for one of JJJ or Ja and I think it's a very bad idea for Memphis to even consider trading them.

There are also a couple of lottery teams that will be competing next year. These teams are usually either having a down year due to injuries (Portland, Golden State) or are on the bubble this year (New Orleans). Other teams are probably more focused on an organic rebuild (i.e. not gutting their team for a player that won't make them a contender with the state of their roster).

• Portland: Unless they want to go super small ball, the Blazers would part with CJ McCollum. I doubt Houston would want him given the years on his contract (he is making $36M in 2024) and the fact that he is a #2 option at best. And I don't think a Harden/Lillard swap would even be considered. A trade around Nurkic + Collins + Ariza (for salary matching) would be their best bet, but they would probably trade CJ somewhere else.
• New Orleans: While intriguing, it would be hard to do a trade without one or both of Ball or Ingram. The best offer without them is probably Jrue + Redick + take your pick from their other young players + a lot of picks, both NOLA's and the Lakers'. With enough on the table, Houston might do it.
• Golden State: Their salary books are absurd right now. The most feasible way to get this done is the Warriors pick this year + whatever other picks they want to add + Wiggins + Draymond + Looney for Harden and some salary back (Gordon? Tucker? RoCo?). With Draymond and Wiggins' very large contracts, however, Houston will likely not want to trade with GSW. For GSW, this would be very interesting, with Steph + Klay + Harden being the best trio in the league, but the rest of the roster would be pretty barebones.

Now for the east:

• Milwaukee: Unless Houston wants to be treading water with Bledsoe + Hill + Lopez + whoever else to match salary (while paying Bledsoe and Lopez a combined $31M+ beyond 2021), the Bucks don't have a feasible offer..
• Toronto: If this happened a year ago, Toronto would be very easy to put together a trade for, able to use the expirings for Ibaka + Gasol to match and give Houston tons of cap relief while being able to tack on OG + other non-spicy players. Now, Ibaka and Gasol are free agents and cannot be traded. This makes it a lot harder to trade. Lowry + Norm + OG + whoever could be an offer but it wouldn't beat other offers.
• Boston: I actually made a post about a potential trade with the Celtics yesterday. They have Kemba and Hayward who could both be used to match salary, though I doubt Houston wants Kemba that much unless they plan to trade him right after. Houston will probably hardball for Brown or Tatum unless Boston includes an insane FRP haul (they have MEM and MIL picks this year plus all of their own in the future). With Tatum's recent ascendance, it will be hard for Boston want to trade him. They could include Brown and Hayward (the latter an expiring) to match salaries, plus many picks.
• Miami: They have plenty of expirings for THIS season but as they will be trading for next year, they have basically no one they can match with. They have Iguodala, but aside from him, the only players that are for sure going to be on the books next season are Herro, Bam, Nunn, Robinson, Okpala, Silva, and of course, Jimmy. Miami won't trade Jimmy nor will Houston want to swap Harden for Jimmy. Olynyk has a player option for $12M that he may take. The best offer they could put up is Iguodala + Olynyk + Herro + Bam, which should be able to match salary, but I think Bam is nearly untouchable for Miami. Otherwise, they could do Nunn + Robinson instead of Bam. They could wait until December 15th (or whatever the day it is that you can trade players you sign in the offseason), but that may be too late.
• Indiana: Oladipo + salary match would probably intrigue Houston the most. It's an upgrade for Indiana and gives Houston an All-Star level player (at least, when healthy) in return.
• Philadelphia: Ben Simmons is probably their most enticing trade asset that Houston would be interested in. The resulting lineup would be strong both offensively and defensively, and Houston gets a young building block for their future.
• Orlando: Houston would probably want Isaac in any trade they discuss and maybe Gordon too. Fultz could be used to match salaries and provide another interesting prospect. The resulting trade would probably gut Orlando's core enough that they would barely improve from this trade. I don't imagine them doing very well in the yoffs with a Harden/Vuc core.
• Brooklyn: This one would be interesting. They can center a package around LeVert and Dinwiddie plus salary filler and picks to create perhaps the best big 3 in the NBA while reuniting KD and Harden (if Kyrie goes to Houston and Russ to Brooklyn, that would be hilarious too). I don't think it beats out some of the other offers, but it's something to consider.

I don't think any of the eastern lottery teams would either be able to put together a competitive trade offer (Knicks) or want to part with the players needed to do so (Hawks).
Of all the teams I've discussed, these are the ones that I think would actually be plausible.

• Denver
• Utah
• New Orleans
• Boston
• Miami
• Indiana
• Philadelphia
• Brooklyn

Possible Trades

I'll go one by one on that list of 8 teams above with a possible trade.

Denver

• HOU gets: Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr., Will Barton, Monte Morris, 2020 1st (via HOU), 2022 1st (via DEN), 2024 1st (via DEN), 2026 top 5 protected 1st (via DEN)
• DEN gets: James Harden

Houston gets some building blocks for their future with Harris (25), Porter (21), and Morris (24). Barton is there for salary matching purposes. If Jerami Grant opts into his player option, Denver could instead send him while keeping (or increasing protections on) one of those 1sts.
Denver adds Harden to their core of Murray and Jokic and with this level of star power at the top, they become surefire contenders. Whether they can knock off one of the Lakers or Clippers will remain to be seen, and they will need to find some more depth somewhere, but this increases their chances at a championship for sure.

Utah

• HOU gets: Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley
• UTA gets: James Harden

Mitchell is such a strong asset on his own as a 3rd year All-Star that Utah would not have to give up picks. With most of Utah's core not being too young, this trade pushes them into contention so they can compete for a title. I doubt that Utah would do this trade in all honestly even though on paper, it kind of makes sense (see the above section). It's up to them whether they weigh Donovan's chance to become a future superstar higher than James Harden being a current superstar.
For Houston, they get a star to build around. He may not become as good as Harden was, but it will be interesting either way. Mike Conley is used as salary filler that also happens to expire in the loaded 2021 offseason, in which Houston can pursue a second star to pair with Mitchell to start contending again.

New Orleans

• HOU gets: Lonzo Ball, JJ Redick, Darius Miller, Jaxson Hayes, 2022 1st round pick (via LAL), 2023 1st round pick (via NOP), 2024 1st round pick (via LAL) with the option to defer to 2025, 2026 1st round pick (via NOP)
• NOP gets: James Harden

Houston gets a great young prospect and a decent one. Redick is salary filler but can be used as a trade chip expiring at the 2021 deadline, and Miller is non-guaranteed (pure salary filler). They also get a nice horde of picks to go with that, giving them future assets to go at a rebuild.
New Orleans gets an outstanding core: Zion Williamson, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, and Brandon Ingram that is balanced between veterans and youth. This can be a contender next year if Zion has a 2nd year jump like Luka and Trae. NOLA also can retain Favors, NAW, Melli, Hart, and Moore for some depth. This trade would set them up very well to win a title in the next few years, and personally, this is the one I want to see the most.

Boston

• HOU gets: Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Romeo Langford, 2020 1st (via MEM), 2020 1st (via MIL), 2023 1st (via BOS), 2025 top 5 protected 1st (via BOS).
• BOS gets: James Harden, Eric Gordon

Houston gets a potential star in Brown, an okayish prospect in Romeo, several picks, and significant cap relief through Hayward's expiring, being able to dump Eric Gordon's contract in the process. Note that the financials of this trade are a little tricky because of Jaylen Brown's extension. Using ESPN's trade machine, which accounts for the poison pill provision (basically trading for an extended player increases what their current contract is worth in trade), this trade works as of now, but if the trade is done, say, early next season, when the extension is already going, this may change. Nonetheless, Houston gets a solid haul here.
Boston gets to create a team of Kemba, Harden, Gordon, Tatum, Smart, Theis, and whoever else they can put together, which is a definite contender and could rival the Bucks in next year's east while being able to remain competitive in years beyond as well. Their issue is size, as if Kanter leaves, they are down to Theis and Timelord as their centers, which isn't looking so great for them. Nonetheless, the roster has plenty of talent regardless and is an upgrade over their current team.

Miami

Right now, I cannot put together any trade on ESPN's trade machine that doesn't involve Jimmy Butler. The below assumes Olynyk opts into his player option. If he doesn't, Miami can't realistically trade for Harden.

• HOU gets: Kelly Olynyk, Andre Iguodala, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, 2025 1st round pick (via MIA), 2027 top 3 protected 1st round pick (via MIA)
• MIA gets: James Harden

I'm not really sure if this is good enough to match salary, but I think it's very close if not.
The Rockets get 2021 expirings (Olynyk and Iguodala) plus several intruiging prospects. This gives them a solid core to work with while rebuilding. The 2027 pick is also able to be traded as the trade needs to happen after the draft (falling within the 7 years out rule) as Olynyk needs to opt in.
Miami gets a great core of Butler, Harden, Dragic, Bam, Leonard, Crowder, Haslem, and DJJ to work with (assuming the free agents re-sign, otherwise I might not do this deal as it would gut Miami's team) that can get out of the east and potentially win a championship.
This is one of the teams where trading for Russ works as well.

• HOU gets: Kelly Olynyk, Andre Iguodala, Tyler Herro, Kendrick Nunn, Chris Silva, 2025 1st round pick (via MIA)
• MIA gets: Russell Westbrook

Houston doesn't get the same kind of haul they can get for Harden, but they get Herro and Nunn as a great prospect, cap relief, and a decent pick. Silva and KZ are there to match salary, but they could turn into something decent too. Maybe the Rockets push for Robinson but that might be too much for Westbrook.
Miami has a core of Butler, Westbrook, Dragic, Bam, Leonard, Robinson, Crowder, Haslem, and DJJ which is not as good as it would be with Harden but still great and contending nonetheless.

Indiana

• HOU gets: Victor Oladipo, Doug McDermott, Goga Bitadze, TJ McConnell, 2022 1st round pick (via IND), 2024 top 3 proected 1st round pick (via IND)
• IND gets: James Harden

Houston gets a solid star in Oladipo to begin retooling around, some decent players that are either young or not expensive, and some picks. This will be good for Houston if their goal isn't a full teardown but rather a "retooling while remaining competitive" type thing. I have concerns about Oladipo's play this season (he's been... pretty rusty, I know he came off the injury but still) and it will be right for Houston to be skeptical about making this trade. If Dipo doesn't look better by the yoffs, I would push for more picks/players from Indiana, or rather reworking the trade around Sabonis or Turner.

Philadelphia

• HOU gets: Ben Simmons, Furkan Korkmaz, Matisse Thybulle,
• PHI gets: James Harden

Philadelphia doesn't give up any picks here, Simmons' value and future upside being enough to offset that. Houston gets a potential superstar if Simmons gets a 3-point shot eventually plus some solid young guys to keep as building blocks.
Philadelphia improves greatly on the offensive side by bringing in James Harden as their primary facilitator; the Harden/Richardson/Harris/Horford/Embiid lineup would be more well-rounded than the current one with Ben, and I think they would be a force in the playoffs. I am skeptical about the Sixers' depth after this trade, and if this were to happen in real life, I suspect the team would rather include multiple future 1sts than Korkmaz or Thybulle, so you can do this either way. It just depends on the Sixers' ability to acquire more depth later on.

Brooklyn

• HOU gets: Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dzanan Musa, Rodions Kurucs, Garrett Temple, 2022 1st round pick (via BKN), 2024 1st round pick (via BKN), 2026 1st round pick (via BKN)
• BKN gets: James Harden

Houston gets a potential young star, a great role player, a couple of meh young prospects (salary fillers), and another salary filler plus several picks. LeVert is locked up long term (through 2023) and Dinwiddie has a player option in 2021 which he may decline if he can get a larger contract elsewhere, giving Houston plenty of cap space along with Temple's expiring.
Brooklyn reunites KD and Harden, with Kyrie serving as the Third Eye. If KD comes back even close to what he was, this is a title favorite. This will probably work out better for them than the last time they traded 3 first round picks since the guy they are trading for is actually in his prime instead of washed up.

Conclusion

That's a lot of potential trades! And wow, I spent 3 hours writing this...
Comment below if you can come up with any more plausible trades.

I spend far too much time in this sub—enough that I feel like I've met one guy’s wife—and so much that most of the stories I tell the guys at work involve something my “friend” told me. So, congratulations to everyone in here for becoming my friend, though as it stands, none of you will be receiving invitations to my birthday party.
With all that time spent, the least I can do is provide you degens with a periodic round-up of how fucked up yet simultaneously great this place is. It might provide you with some perspective, it might provide you with a few laughs, but it probably won’t provide you with any helpful gambling advice. Here we go…
Sport of the Week: College Football? Snooker please! The sub’s new favorite sport needs no explanation of the rules to American bettors (it’s just what the Brits call billiards, right?). A snooker god is amongst us and the hype is real. With the recent rise in the sport’s popularity via this sub, I would be surprised if snooker does not move all the way up to at least ESPN 8. My advice: tail, but tail responsibly (with the second half of those instructions being as mandatory as “Drink Responsibly” is to a college student).
POTDOTW: Although it was a loser in the end, The Pick of the Day of the Week was a ballsy one: Washington Generals ML @ Harlem Globetrotters on Monday. Now, my model actually had the Globetrotters winning this one, but sometimes you just can’t argue with logic—and the logic said that the Generals were due for a win. Admittedly, tremendous value in the ML here.
Unfortunately, it didn’t play out that way, and the Globetrotters took yet another W over the Generals. I am not sure who the commissioner of that league is, but you have to think there is some pressure being applied for greater parity. Have you ever heard anyone say “I’m taking my kids to see the Generals this weekend”? I didn’t think so. I hope there is an efficient revenue-sharing model in place.
Capper of the Week: Definitely not “That guy’s wife”. With her red hot start a few weeks ago, I started wondering if she worked in the league office and was tipping off her husband. Following her performance the last couple of weeks, I am wondering if she exists at all, or this guy is just hiding behind a mirage of “his wife”. Her Thanksgiving day picks had me feeling thankful that I don’t tail the picks of a stranger’s wife on Reddit. Her Seahawks pick over the Rams looked good on paper, but she forgot that fading Reddit works 100% of the time, as long as you don't believe in confirmation bias.
I did however try placing a bet on “Redditor to make joke about ‘Riding his wife hard’ YES” in Sunday’s thread, but my book took it off the board before I could submit it. I had planned to parlay it with “Redditor to explain ‘crossing zero in a teaser is bad value’ YES”.
Ask for upvotes and you shall receive …a 7-day ban. Welcome back but also apparently goodbye to "Europe’s best handicapper"! I am starting to wonder if I should move to Europe and attempt to take over his title. Based on what I have heard about his recent record outside of Reddit, the job seems fairly easy. I’m just undecided on where I will disappear to when my record goes south.
“CP forever. CP til’ I die.” Or CP until he drops off the face of the earth. At this point, we can only hope CP is safe and his wife doesn’t have his balls in a vice grip right now.
The Ruling on the Field: I know a lot of people had Patriots -3 this week, which was really a boneheaded play, given how the Patriots have looked recently. I wanted to make a joke at the expense of New England bettors, but Jerome Boger’s crew told me those jokes are out of bounds. I would challenge them on that, but, you know…
Picks? Anybody need picks? Got picks here: If betting on the Spurs against the spread (6-17 ATS this year) hasn’t been an efficient enough method of throwing your cash away, a well-known poster out there (who I will not name) is now selling his previously free picks for the low low price of $129 per week. The only condition he sets is that all bets you place must be 1 unit, conveniently ensuring your subscription will never pay for itself.
Things I didn’t watch: the Anthony Joshua fight. I hope everyone was able to make some bread, but personally, I try to avoid wagering on boxing. It is easily the most rigged sport in the world. Or at least it is until someone ends up on the wrong side of an NBA bet, or Bill Belichick is seen on the telephone near the end of a Patriots game.
Most of you are probably asking: who are you and why are you doing this? The answer is that I have another username I post under but don’t want to mix my profiles. As for why? I don’t really know. I hatched the idea on my commute home from work a few hours ago. My job has zero room for any jokes or humor, so I thought this might be a good release. If you liked it, great. If you didn’t...oh well.

I was always that tall dude that everyone asked if he playee basketball. As a matter of fact i didn't enjoy the game of basketball for most of my life, i just didn't get it. I didn't know how to shoot the ball, how to drive or anything else, i was pathetic. Every summer I was only picked for pick up to set screens and rebound the ball, wasn't good at it either. At the end of 2016 i got sports hernia, for 2.5 years no doctor was willing to perform a surgery. Before that i was training all kinds of sports, and i generally enjoyed them. In 2017 my friend asked me if i wanted to start betting (small amounts, it never got out of control), i started betting on NBA matches, after few months i really started watching games, i loved the way games were played. But one man who inspired me the most is LeBron James. That man is the reason i fell in love with the game of basketball. That summer i started taking basketball more seriously, but i couldn't train hard due to groin injury. I was sad, i felt unfulfilled most of the time, like something huge was missing, like part of me is not alive. In 2018 i practiced during summer, after school started, i practiced my shooting, was trying to find the perfect way to shoot it. I mastered fade away jumpers, step backs. But i was limited. In March 2019, my life has turned around. March 15 a surgery was performed on my groin. The surgery was successful. After recovery i slowly returned to basketball. I was training 4, 5 hours daily. I was hungry, i was on a mission to become the best basketball player i could be. I became really good over the course of past 9 months and basketball became the love of my life. I became a knockdown shooter, i know my ways around the rim, i became really good all around player. On my best days, i feel like i could hoop in the NBA. The goal of this 2020 year is to get in the best shape of my life, to get even better at basketball and by 2024 the goal is the NBA. And i know that if i put it in the sweat, blood and tears into the craft and work even on days i don't feel like working and i stay persistant on the road toward my goal i will succeed and my dream will become the reality.

Opening Day 2020: Crowd Noise Not Included
Last week I was watching an intrasquad game between the Tigers and the Tigers when I heard a song I didn't recognize begin to play when Christin Stewart came to the plate. I still don't know what song it was, but I did stumble across the MLB Walk-Up Music Database.
Opening Day is an incredible day in Detroit, even during a rebuild. Unfortunately, 2020 won't let us have nice things, but I still wanted to put together a playlist to mark the occasion. This year, I decided to use only songs from the MLB Walk-Up Music Database. I didn't expect to find any deep cuts, though there were actually a few (Gangstarr ft. Inspectah Deck - Above the Clouds), but that was alright because Opening Day parties tend to attract a fairly diverse crowd and any playlists for today should prioritize crowd pleasers over indieheads favorites.
Before we get to the tracks, I just want to point out that the database has not been updated to reflect current rosters, so you'll still see Josh Donaldson on the Braves and players that have opted out appear as well.
It's worth noting that I went through the database in alphabetical order by team, so when Archie Bradley and Lewis Brinson both have Jay-Z's Public Service Announcement listed I attributed it to Bradley. This does slightly skew the total number of songs by each team in favor of teams closer to the beginning of the alphabet, but with the exception of a few songs that appeared often there were not as many duplicates as I expected.
This is not every song listed in the database. Nor did I listen to every song in the database. I've got a pretty eclectic taste in music, but a lot of that goes out the window when limiting yourself to a certain catalog of songs. That being said, Latin music is one genre I'll freely admit I'm not altogether too familiar with. When I saw a Latin artist appear over and over, or something like an album cover or track title caught my attention I gave them a listen. You'll definitely find more Latin tracks here (9) than country (0). While I love outlaw and classic country music, you'll find next to none of that in the database and the country I did come across isn't my taste.
My main goal was to make a playlist full of songs that appealed to the widest range of fans. That being said, I did try to keep my opening day crew in mind, and I still had to at least somewhat enjoy the song. Two artists, Post Malone and Travis Scott, appeared quite a bit in the database, but because they don't move the needle for me personally, you won't find them on the playlist. That's not to say that I excluded all trap. I've personally watched Trap Queen get a party started so Erick Fedde's walk-up song makes the cut.
​
I think a great walk-up song is something that gets the crowd excited, is still somewhat unique, and of course appeals to my personal taste. While not necessarily my favorite songs on the playlist, below are my three favorite choices for walk-up songs:

1. Kyle Schwarber: Thuggish Ruggish Bone - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
2. Steven Brault: Come Down - Anderson .Paak
3. Shohei Ohtani: Gettin' It - Too $hort

A few observations and highlights:

Two teams don't have any players' walk-up songs making the cut. With the Red Sox, I could have worked in X Gon' Give It To Ya, or Petty's I Won't Back Down, but early on (Boston being one of the first teams I went through) I didn't feel either really fit the playlist I was going for. In retrospect, both probably work. However, this did open it up for me to include the first of a few cheat songs. Opening Day is too fun to leave a team out, so to make up for the lack of Red Sox tunes, and knowing everybody loves MVP Baseball 2005, I decided to include Tessie by Dropkick Murphys.
Other cheat songs: or *'s

1. Run On by Moby - My original goal was to limit the playlist to a single song for each artist. I didn't make it past Cleveland before I decided to break this rule. So when I got to the White Sox, I already had a J Cole song and a Kanye Song. Luckily, MLB game winner, Ryan Burr, had a great Johnny Cash song, God's Gonna Cut You Down, listed as his walk-up song. Knowing Moby's Run On relies heavily on a sample of this song, I decided to get creative. This was the closest country came to making the playlist.
2. Back Into Time by Nightmares on Wax - This pick is inspired by Steven Matz. Of course he has Steve Miller's original version of Fly Like an Eagle listed. While the original is a great song, I'm choosing to be a bit selfish here and put on my favorite version. Personally I find this one a bit more fun, and I don't care for the outro at the end of Miller's version.
3. Da Rockwilder by Method Man and Redman - Here I got the loosest with my rules. Miguel Sano actually has a Redman deep cut Let Da Monkey Out listed in the database. I would have loved to throw this on, but unfortunately it's unavailable on Spotify. There is a live version, it just doesn't sound great in my opinion. Da Rockwilder is Jim Thome coming off the bench to pinch hit.
4. Bennie and the Jets by Elton John - Ben Zobrist may be the only player to walk up to a song performed by their spouse. No, one of the most versatile players in the league isn't married to Elton John, but rather Julianna Zobrist. Mrs. Zobrist, with Sir Elton's blessing, covers this classic from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I didn't include the cover version for a couple of reasons, the nicest being that her version isn't available on Spotify.
5. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) by Jimi Hendrix - To be fair, James Pazos has the equally great "Voodoo Chile" listed in the database, but no song brought down Comerica Park quite like this spacier, faster version when Joel Zumaya came charging in from the bullpen, and that's the version you'll find here.
6. Welcome to the Show by J Dilla - Sign me to the Astros because I've cheated again. Pete Alonso has a Cody Johnson track listed by the same name, but it doesn't make sense for this playlist and again country music does not get a call up to the show. I love baseball, but I'm a Tigers fan first. We're coming off a 114-loss season; I saw a chance to work in a Detroit connection and you're just going to have to let me have this one.
7. Valley of the Dolls by Santigold - Unfortunately, Yan Gomes' actual pick Brooklyn Go Hard by Jay-Z and Santigold isn't available on Spotify. I've tried to keep the cheating to a minimum, but this playlist is seriously lacking in female voices and if I get a chance to work Santigold into a mix then I'm going to take it.

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Other notable tracks:

1. Vivimo Caro by Jose Reyes - Yep, that Jose Reyes. At first I thought Ketel Marte had to be the only All-Star in baseball walking up to a song recorded by a former batting champ. Nope, Acuña also walks up to a Reyes track. Though he has yet to release a complete album, that didn't stop a slew of players from trying to channel the 4x all-star through their walk-up song.
2. Jalapeño by El Alfa - Gregory Soto and Robinson Cano share the wildest song on this playlist. In fact, it inspired me to install a new Opening Day tradition. Everytime this song comes up at your opening day tailgate do a shot of habanero-infused tequila. Seriously, it's incredibly easy to make and you still have time to get it ready for your socially distanced get together. Take six habaneros and halve them lengthwise. Combine the peppers and a fifth of blanco tequila (Anything is fine, just make sure it's 100% agave - I like Lunazul) in a glass jar and let sit for one hour. Using a funnel, strain the teuila through a fine-mesh sieve back into the bottle.
3. Rest in Peace (Undertaker Theme) by Jim Johnston - Hansel Robles gets my pick for most creative pick. I love the idea of him coming to the plate to the same track the Undertaker uses to enter the ring.
4. Going the Distance (From Rocky) by Bill Conti - Does it slow down the playlist? Absolutely. Does a cut from the Rocky score deserve a spot on this playlist? Again, absolutely. I thought about putting Puff Daddy's Victory here, because it samples the Conti piece, but I've had a lot of fun putting together this playlist and this song only adds to that fun.
5. Above the Clouds by Gang Starr- Pitching in the A.L. last year, Adam Plutko only came to the plate twice, but he wanted everybody in the stands to know he was a hip-hop head. I used to live between two bars in Detroit; one, I now tailgate behind on Opening Day and I used to shoot pool in the other while Gang Starr played on the Jukebox. Easy pick here.
6. Touch the Sky by Kanye West - With five tracks and a feature, Kanye appears the most on this playlist. Once I decided to break the rules, I fully expected Kanye to end up with a little black ink. I'm choosing to highlight Ian Desmond's walk-up song because he had one of the most important responses to all things 2020. I'm only too happy to find a way to work him into the season.
7. Chambea by Bad Bunny - By the time I got to the Cubs, I had already seen the name Bad Bunny pop up a handful of times. It would have been a huge disservice to my former fantasy MVP Javier Baez if I chose to continue skipping over the name Bad Bunny. Additionally, Bad Bunny shows up again because my favorite player, and happiest player in baseball Miguel Cabrera, is also a fan and his song goes in by default. My in-laws are Mexican, and after taking the Triple Crown in flip cup (Wins, flip percentage, "whooos") prima Tina will inevitably start requesting Mexican music. This year, I got you Tina. The best part about having Mexican family is Fiesta Tigres or as I like to call it, Opening Day 2: Boogaloo Eléctrico.
8. Work to Do by The Isley Brothers - Color me surprised, I did not take the Canadian born future hall of famer to be a fan of The Isley Brothers. It's a jam and I've always been a big fan of Votto so this easily makes the mix.
9. Oh No (What You Got) by Justin Timberlake - I wasn't familiar with this song, but that is an unmistakable Timbaland beat and this Justin Turner pick fits well on an Opening Day playlist.
10. Word Up by Cameo - Word Up can be fun, but it's mostly included here because I'll use any excuse to bring up how amazing of a person Curtis Granderson is. He will always be a Tigers favorite, and by all accounts he's well loved by both New York fanbases, surely a rare feat.
11. Ignition Remix by R. Kelly - The argument of separating the man from the music is always interesting. As far as I know, though I haven't followed it that closely, R. Kelly has not been convicted of the sexual crimes which he has been accused. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me. What he's been accused of is fucking disgusting, but for now, this Kyle McGrath pick makes the list. In light of his recent anti-semitic social media posts, this is probably a good time to point out that Ice Cube's Friday also appears on the playlist courtesy of Taijuan Walker.
12. Got to Give it Up (Pt. 1) by Marvin Gaye - If you're having a party and this song isn't on your playlist are you really having a party? Delino DeShields and his teammate Joey Gallo really help this playlist take shape with this track and three others (Pony, No Diggity, Hip Hop Hooray). All four are the exact type of song you want for a crowd pleasing Opening Day playlist.
13. Go Head by Gucci Mane - In my first Detroit loft, my upstairs neighbor would come home, crank up the Gucci Mane and throw coins all over her floomy ceiling. In the mornings she would rip farts so loud they still echo in my ears. This one's for you. Sadly, this was Gordon Beckham's biggest hit in 2019.
14. K.R.I.T. Here by Big K.R.I.T. - I did not expect to see my favorite song of 2019 show up in the database, so this Brian Goodwin selection definitely qualifies as notable for me.
15. Rubber Band Man by T.I. - This was the hardest choice to make; do I choose between the radio edit or the album version with the over one-minute long outro. Where Joe Kelly's pick, Snoop's Lay Low, gets a pass thanks to the rule that states you can never have enough Nate Dogg hooks on a playlist, this outro skit is too long and therefore the radio edit finds its way onto the playlist.
16. Tops Drop by Fat Pat - I don't even have to look it up; if Robbie Grossman didn't grow up in Texas I'll eat my cleat.
17. Down for My Niggaz by C-Murder - When Dalton Pompey steps to the plate at Rogers Centre, I'm going to assume they play the instrumental. No way there is a section of this song that is crowd friendly. Works like magic for me in the Nemo's parking lot.
18. Stone Love by Pepper - Jordan Luplow has two songs listed in the database, this one, and a Wiz Khalifa track. Luplow can come smoke at my tailgate anytime. Likewise, including 311 and Rebelution might blow the cover for some in my crew, but getting blowed is another great American pastime.
19. Icky Thump by White Stripes - In Detroit, Alex Avila walked up to The Black Keys' I Got Mine, so he clearly has an affinity for late 2000s blues rock. Despite his best efforts, it seems Jack White cannot escape being forever tied to his rock rivals from Ohio. Forever a fan favorite, maybe Avila just misses Detroit, so I'm a big fan of the White Stripes pick here.
20. Bridge Burning by Foo Fighters - I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my cousin James who puts together our entire opening day party. He's a huge Foo Fighters fan, so this one is for you cuzzo. Many thanks to Dan Otero.
21. Enter Sandman by Metallica - Thanks to Mariano Rivera, Enter Sandman is forever an iconic baseball song and thus a great song for this playlist. Here it shows up courtesy of Danny Salazar.
22. Brother Louie by Stories - Luis Guillorme gets a ton of credit for picking a song that works in his name. Either that or he's a huge Louis C.K. fan. I bet this one is a lot of fun at Citi Field.
23. We Will Rock You by Queen, Breathe by The Prodigy, Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine - Liam Hendriks walks up to a mashup of these three with some Skrillex added just for fun. Nobody bats a 1.000, but 3/4 ain't bad.

Back of the card stats

In total there are 158 songs ready to soundtrack more than 10 hours of your Opening Day.
I kept the genres simple:

Genre	Number of Songs
Electronic	6
Latin	9
Other	2
R&B	14
Rap	80
Reggae	6
Rock	41

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I've read that some hitters get so in the zone that they really don't pay attention to their walk-up music. Perhaps this explains the greater number of pitchers that appeared in the database. They come to the plate far less, sometimes just a handful of times, and therefore give a lot of thought to their walk-up music.
Least unique songs: These songs that made the playlist roster appeared in the database for multiple players. Players not listed first were excluded from the by position data.

Song	Players
Thunderstruck by AC/DC	Mark Melancon, AJ Minter, Tim Melville, Caleb Smith
Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison	Merrill Kelly, Mark Morrison, Aaron Hicks, Adam Eaton
Going Bad by Meek Mill	Christin Stewart, Brandon Crawford, Patrick Corbin
Chambea by Bad Bunny	Javier Baez, Joe Jiménez, Pablo Sandoval
Fireman by Lil Wayne	Josh James, Kenyan Middleton, Matt Bush
God's Plan by Drake	Amir Garrett, Miguel Rojas, Boog Powell
Jalapeño by El Alfa	Gregory Soto, Robinson Cano, Victor Robles
Cochise by Audioslave	Anthony Swarzak, Zack Weiss, Zack Wheeler: It's a Zack thing.
No Diggity by Blackstreet	Joey Gallo, Adam Eaton
Alive (Nightmare) by Kid Cudi and Ratatat	Peter Lambert, Adam Ottavino
Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers	TJ McFarland, Alex Wood
Vivimo Caro by Jose Reyes	Ketel Marte, Amed Rosario
E.I. by Nelly	Max Muncy, Devin Williams
Attention Span by Rebelution	Rhys Hoskins, Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Middle Child by J. Cole	Max Fried, Jace Fry: If only old Pete Fries were still around.
What's My Name by Snoop Dogg	Scott Alexander, Jay Guerra
Grindin' by Clipse	Jake Cave, Jesse Chavez
'Till I Collapse by Eminem	Sam Howard, Justin Verlander
Public Service Announcement by Jay-Z	Archie Bradley, Lewis Brinson
Shut Up by Trick Daddy	Yonder Alonso, Manny Machado
Yo Le Llego by J Balvin	Yonathan Daza, Orlando Arcia
Humble by Kendrick Lamar	Tyler Olson, Robert Gsellman
Money in the Grave by Drake	Jake Bauers, Robinson Cano
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica	Ryan Tepera, Sean Doolittle
Seven Nation Army by White Stripes	Seunghwan Oh, Stephen Strasburg
Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin	Noah Syndergaard, Will Myers

Opening Day Roster: With only two games on the docket I wanted to add one more. Below are the rosters for the Jukebox Heroes and the Bad Hop Boppers. The Jukebox heroes are made up of players that had my favorite song at each position while the BHP roster has the best remaining player at each position. Naturally, (First base) I had to make the Jukebox Heroes first to at least keep the rosters competitive. This is why you'll find Scherzer on the favorite song roster despite being the best pitcher in the database. Lucky for the home team, I'm an Outkast fan. I also excluded players that weren't regulars, had a negative war, or were now playing in Korea. This is why you won't find Josh Rojas, and Adam Jones patrolling the outfield next to Brian Goodwin. And this is why you won't see Khris Davis penciled in at the DH. In the end, this really helped balance the rosters; especially considering the noticeable drop off in arm talent once Scherzer is removed from the pool. Sneaking Schwarber in behind the dish didn't hurt either. He played one game there in 2019, and I'll use him here to play the first game of 2020.
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Position	Jukebox Heroes	VS	Bad Hop Boppers
P	Max Scherzer		Max Fried
C	Kyle Schwarber		Mitch Garver
1B	Brandon Belt		Pete Alonso
2B	Ryan McMahon		Max Muncy
3B	Josh Donaldson		Miguel Sano
SS	Dansby Swanson		Francisco Lindor
LF	Tommy Pham		Joey Gallo
CF	Delino DeShields		Ketel Marte
RF	Brian Goodwin		Bryce Harper
DH	Justin Turner		Trevor Story

Who you got?
Have a fantastic Opening Day! I can't believe baseball is actually here.