The PUG reconvened on Dec 3. Attendees included cscairns, sean, gblack and scotty. We discussed a possible tagline for WinTheTrophy – "The New Way to Bet Sports." If you haven’t noticed, we don’t have a tagline yet! We received mixed feedback from PUG members via email and via the conference call on the suggested tagline. After clarifying the site’s ultimate product direction, I think most everyone on the conference call agreed that it’s a suitable tagline. However, we’ll continue to discuss the merits of the proposed tagline. And we’re open to any suggestions that you have!

We also discussed a new feature – My Bets Print. This feature, which was suggested very early on by users, will allow you to print-off a copy of all the bets that you’ve placed for a given week. The print-off is useful if you plan to watch games away from your PC (e.g., at the bar) so you can follow how you’re doing.

A huge and well-deserved congrats goes out to myself for winning the Overall Champion Trophy in last week’s competition (Nov 23 to Nov 29). I pretty much demolished everyone who opposed me by accumulating an amazing 4,235 chips on 5 bets. My success was largely due to a near-impossible 7-way NFL parlay that I hit on Sunday. Don’t covet my Trophy!

Congrats to jacktjl for winning his third Overall Champion Trophy in last week’s competition (Nov 16 to Nov 22). He finished the week with 4,208 chips on 11 bets, barely edging out runner-up LordHatton. jacktjl hit a massive 3-way parlay that paid out 1,800 chips and then bet big on the Eagles to beat the Bears – and he was right.

The big winner from two weeks ago, jdavis, had a quiet week, but I expect that we’ll be seeming him near the top this week.

Lots of NFL action on Thursday, don’t forget!

The PUG reconvened on Oct 28. Attendees included cscairns, brian, sean, jdavis LordHatton and coachedent.

Most of the time was spent on reviewing a Bet Week Graph mockup that sean put together. If you recall from the meeting minutes from the last PUG, the Bet Week Graph was a featured suggested by LordHatton. As you’ve probably noticed in your My Profile page, sean has implemented the Bet Week Graph, which I personally think is a fantastic addition to the site.

The next PUG meeting is scheduled for Wed, Nov 25, but that will probably be moved to the following week given Thanksgiving holiday.

Congrats to jdavis for winning the Overall Champion Trophy in last week’s competition (Nov 9 to Nov 15). He set the all-time chips record by accumulating 10,556 on 61 bets. At one point during the week, he peaked at 13,000+ chips! jdavis hit parlay after parlay, including a couple of 8-way parlays. He put on quite a show. I’ll drink whatever he’s drinking!

Congrats to brian for winning the Overall Champion Trophy in last week’s competition (Nov 2 to Nov 8). Despite accumulating a paltry 1,399 chips, he somehow managed to win his fifth Overall Champion Trophy, which will probably be his last if he maintains similar performances. My guess is he won’t be winning this week!

Congrats to last week's Weekly Leaderboard Winner (Oct 26 to Nov 1), coachedent. coachedent accumulated a total of 3,062 chips on 32 bets. He hit an unbelievable 8-way parlay that earned him a total payout of 2,496 chips. No one even came close to catching him last week.

coachedent is a relative newcomer to WTT, but he's obviously a force to be reckoned with. He's one of WTT's savviest bettors, as you can tell by reading his two blog posts – "You, Too, Can Bet Hockey" and "Steady As She Goes Betting Strategy."

We’re currently addressing some issues with last week’s Weekly Leaderboard winner. We hope to announce the winner by tomorrow! Apologies and thanks for your patience.

Hockey is an extremely slippery slope in betting. Rarely can you find yourself making significant gains in hockey betting. But you can have some fun and make some headway with a few guidelines to help focus your betting and make the most of your bets.

Hockey games are tight and predicting them can be a nightmare because there are so many variables:

Officials – if they are calling a tight game, there may be a lot of power plays. This benefits the weaker teams, giving them a chance to hang in there with a more powerful team. Some teams are dynamite 5-on-5 at even strength, but struggle in the penalty kill or on the power play.

Injuries – A definite part of the game, both during the game and prior. More so than any other sport, hockey coaches are extremely guarded about injuries. So many times you will see descriptions as vague as "upper body injury" given to players. There is no way to know for sure how hurt a player is unless you are actually at practice or sit in the room with the doctor.

Back-up goaltenders – A goalie change before the game could change the outcome. There is a big difference between the starter and the backup. Think of a football game where Tom Brady is benched just before the start of the game so that he can get a rest!

Goaltenders in general – A goalie can stand on his head on any given night and steal a game. This X factor is always in play in hockey. One team can completely outplay the other, but if the goalie is hot, there is nothing getting by him.

So do you ignore hockey all together? I can’t! I love the sport. So here are a few helpful guidelines to get you interested in playing some hockey games:

1. Look for situations where a team has played three games in four nights. Or four games in five nights. Particularly, if the team is an East Coast team playing out West or vice versa. I always like to take the home team in those cases. These are "getaway games" for the road team. They are focused on getting home and ending the road trip. Hockey is a grind and that third or fourth game is a nightmare on their legs. They aren’t skating as well and this results in more penalties, which leads to more scoring. Take the home team and bet the over when you find these cases.

2. Speaking of over/unders, this is a very good way to attack hockey games. Many over/unders are set at 5 in hockey, but the number is usually obviously leaning toward one direction or the other. If you follow teams and know your hockey, these numbers seem to jump out. Toronto, for instance, is horrible defensively. I have gone with the over with them in virtually every game this year and have not been disappointed.

3. Go for the wins and favorites. Playing spreads in hockey is a recipe for disaster…unless you bet against the Leafs! Empty net goals and teams adding a late goal by pulling the goalie can wreck point spreads in hockey. Avoid those spreads completely and just side with the winner.

4. Look for back-to-backs and teams coming off rest. There are many cases in the NHL when one team will actually be spending the night in a city while the other team is on the road. I know of a case last year when the Sabres were playing in Chicago and flew back to Buffalo that night, not getting into town until 4 am. The Penguins had the night off and were staying in a hotel in Buffalo. The rested Penguins pasted the Sabres in Buffalo. Additionally, that team playing the back-to-back, will probably start their backup. Again, a huge difference in goals and wins and losses.

So don’t be afraid to take a look at the frozen pond for some interesting action. If you know your teams, you can be successful looking at hockey games.

George Clooney was in a memorable movie called The Perfect Storm. In it, Clooney plays a fisherman who just hauled in a fantastic catch and was poised to return home with tremendous riches. However, he and his crew are notified of an immense storm blocking their passage home. The crew has to decide to wait out the storm and risk losing their catch, or go ahead and risk it through the storm. They go ahead and blindly sail through the worst storm in history and perish. There is something to be said about being conservative and safe. Betting can be an emotional enterprise, especially for those novices. It can also be addictive. But being the smart captain of your betting ship can keep your head above water.

There is great risk in betting the exotics: point spreads, over/unders, parlays, etc. There can be great reward, but the perils of playing those bets as your bread and butter can be extremely risky. I espouse a conservative approach to betting. There are plenty of games out there for you to play that have W’s written all over them. Take this weekend for example:

Florida was a big favorite this weekend against a mediocre Arkansas team. Historically, Florida has a tendency to obliterate over/under numbers as well as point spreads. But this is a team struggling to get receivers open and their quarterback is not quite 100% healthy. Many folks went with the heavily favored Gators to cover the spread. Those people were out some hard earned coin, while I sat back comfortably on my couch with a W.

College is usually the easiest place to find large point spreads and tilted matchups. Take your easy catches and bag a bunch of easy wins. With those winnings, you can come up with some three game parlays to boost your winnings. 10+ point spreads can be found fairly easily each weekend. Pick three big favorite winners and parlay them and bank your easy money.

Building some consistency in what you do will help gain you some much needed confidence as well as coin. This will give you the ability to speculate later and try some dogs and exotics to really boost your winnings. But getting home to port is the key. If you keep taking those chances with longshots and dogs, you will run into the perfect storm and find yourself at the bottom of the ocean.