Free NFL picks are one of the most controversial elements of the online sports betting industry. Suspicious from the get go (“how come they’re free?”), they do indeed raise a few very interesting questions.
Whose interest is it to provide free value for others, and what could possibly motivate someone to do any free work? (remember that handicapping is, in fact, a very tedious work)
If you analyze the matter more profoundly though, you will find a couple of more or less reasonable answers to the above question. You see, there are NFL handicappers out there trying to make a name for themselves. What better way could they possibly find than to actually show the public what they’re capable of. Telling people how good they are, could also be an efficient way (although I seriously doubt that) but actually showing them the goods, is far better at any rate.
All right, there might be a good reason behind the free picks that you’ll find pretty much all over the internet, but the question remains: is there any value in them?
The answer is: there are valuable free picks out there, but very few of the available ones are such.
If you have some sports betting experience, you’ll know that only the very best of handicappers are able to show long-term wins. Short winning streaks are irrelevant here, because they may be due to luck, just as well. Given that, it is impossible that – with the exception of a few of them - free picks be solid winners.
The question you’ll be faced with is not whether there is value in free picks anymore, but rather how you can locate some that do indeed represent valuable information.
In this sense, you’ll have to browse through different websites offering free NFL picks, and look for good ones within the following guidelines:
- Check the general appearance of the site. Is it professional looking, or does it look like it’s been thrown together in a hurry?
- See who’s doing the actual handicapping. If it is some unknown character claiming to be the god of online sports betting, thing are not looking good. Some sites will present picks by several such unknown handicappers to gain credibility. Try to read between the lines when you happen across a site like that. Some such sites are indeed serious, others are only using this little trick to guide you towards something that serves some hidden interest of theirs. What you end up with in this case, is a scam.
- Check the handicapping methods that the site claims to use. If they’re secretive about these methods, that’s not a good sign. Be aware of what methods professional handicappers use, so that you have a base for comparison.
- The best way to see whether free picks offers by a certain websites are any good, is to actually follow them and match them up against the eventual results. This is not an option for every website you come across, though. You simply won’t have the time to apply this advanced filter to every single website that’s out there. Try to make a preliminary selection using the terms presented above, and if you do come across something that looks trustworthy in every respect, only then invest time in making a more accurate assumption.
At the end of the day, if you look at things this way, you’ll probably conclude that free picks are not exactly free after all: you have to sacrifice a lot of time assessing them, but that’s about the only way to squeeze value out of them.
Remember, once you’ve found a reliable source, you no longer need to double check it every time.
