2 seasons ago I got into betting pretty big. I was putting anywhere from a couple hundred to a thousand a weekend up online. Some weekends I made out ahead, other weekends I lost. I was doing a lot of parlaying, however, to boost my odds, and using single game favorites, and O/U to try to cover my initial outlay. In the end.....I was basically breaking even and it got to the point where I hated Sundays. I was watching every game I could, checking wins, pt totals, O/U, how it affected my parlays and straight bet, who was injured, who wasn't, historical trends, home/away, the f-n weather...u name it. I ended up making it a job to pretty much break even and not enjoy the sport.
My advice....just be a casual bettor, in small amounts, unless you can devote the time required to make it a full-time job. I couldn't and broke even and stopped enjoying the sport. Now....I try only to keep track of the phins....