Meet Premium Crew: Shule
Copa America is one of the biggest and oldest international events and we will have tips for ProTipster Premium users during the tournament, but maybe you are asking who choose these tips? Let's meet with Shule our South American football expert. He lives far from South America but he has a great passion about the football out there. He shared 61 tips with 17% ROI(return of investment) in the last 3 months mostly from South American leagues. It's the right time for trying our Premium service!
What was your first contact with the sports betting world?
Actually, I remember my first contact with a betting world. At a time when I was university student betting shops started “popping-up” on every step. One such was near the bus station where I’d go to university. And when I noticed it, my first thought was “easy money”, as back then I was following really a lot of sports. It wasn’t easy money, but I stuck inside this world.
How long have you been working as a tipster?
As a pro tipster, I work since 2011 when I joined one of the well-known betting portals in Croatia. There I was tipster for the Spanish and the Argentinean football, although occasionally I’d try to give tips from some other leagues too.
What does your typical day involve?
Unlike most of the tipsters who have a background in sports, my profession couldn’t be farther from betting. I work as an in-house lawyer for one company, so basically my day is split between my profession and my passion, sports and betting. I try to obtain as much information as I can, and every day I try to learn something new. I do not watch an excessive amount of sports, but rather try to read a lot, as I think there are much better sports experts out there then I am. So, I try to collect information from experts and then based on this I’m making my own calculations and predictions for games (as sports experts usually are not betting experts).
Which sports are your favourite one? Do you specialize in specific leagues?
I have just one favourite sport and it is football. This love came naturally as my father was a sports journalist and was taking me to the football games since I was like 4 years old. I do specialize for certain leagues, but the reason is simply that I don’t have enough time to follow everything that I want. So, I give picks mostly from some South American leagues. Besides football, whenever I can I try to follow as much sport as I can, from NBA to NFL, handball, rugby, although I’m not expert by any means in those other sports.
How your interest in South American football started?
A long time ago I saw some match involving River Plate of Argentina and simply became interested in this club. Later, I bought Football Manager game and started playing exclusively with Argentinean teams. At that time I also started studying Spanish, so I was reading a sports media from South America, and then I simply started betting on those leagues. I feel that in South America it is still possible to find “old school” football and real passion. Yes, I’m aware that the best football is played in the Champions League and top European tournaments, but South American football still has something to offer.
How do you choose tips for ProTipster Premium members?
As users have probably noticed, unlike some other tipsters, I’m exclusively picking Asian Handicap markets (and some over/under). Usually, my picks are based on the value which I can find in certain matches. I try to be informed about “my leagues” and whenever I find there is value in some match, I write pick.
What would you say is the biggest challenge you face as a tipster?
In my case, it is pressure towards customers. If you are tipster then users assume you know something, and if you know something you’re supposed to give winning tips, right? But, it’s not so simple, as in betting you have wins and losses, so sometimes it can be quite frustrating to deal with this pressure and expectations. Especially if you’re going through a bad run.
What is your staking method? What is your advice for punters?
Staking is my Achilles’ heel. I realized this long time ago, so my method is good old flat betting. Basically, all my bets at ProTipster are for 60 units (with rare exceptions when I go with 40 or 80). And my advice for punters is to stick with flat betting. Yes, maybe they would earn more with some other staking method, but they can lose more too. Also, it is important not to stake too much on one bet. If you, for example, have 200€ bank, don’t put more than 10€ on one bet.
What do you find is the best part of being a tipster, and the worst?
I always have a good feeling when I see that I made a good pick. By good pick, I do not necessarily mean winning one, but one where I was able to find value because to find a value you need skill. The worst part of being tipster? I’d say bad streaks. It is really hard to deal with them because you invest time in a pick, you come up with a pick, and you just keep losing.
Which are the bookies where you bet most?
As I said, I bet on Asian Handicap markets, so I look for bookies which have a good offer on Asian Handicaps. At the moment I bet mostly at Pinnacle, SBOBET, Maxbet (former IBCBET) and BETISN.
Any sports betting book you have read and want to recommend?
In my opinion, betting is not just knowledge about sports, so I’d recommend to our readers to read books and articles on probability theory (for example “Probability Theory” by Robert Ash), statistics, odds calculation etc.
Tell us at the end: who will win Copa America this year?
I will say Brazil although this is against my value philosophy. Simply, I feel they have a very good squad, a good coach and they play at home. Of course, you won’t get much value in betting on Brazil, but you asked me who will win it :)
You can read our detailed Copa America Preview prepared by Shule from here.
