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Interview with the professional player Josué Ramos

Interview with the professional player Josué Ramos
In this interview, Josué talks about his career, about his retirement, the difficulties of working with little and a lot of money and his books and he also offers important advice for those who want to achieve success in sports betting.
by Academia   |   comments 0
Monday, November 4 2019

Writing a story about a winning career, full of ups and downs, is always exciting, but when we meet the person involved and have had the pleasure of following the whole story closely, that emotion becomes indescribable.
 
Perhaps many of those who are entering the world of trading or betting do not know the aforementioned professional, but surely there is no one in the world of sports betting who has not heard the name Josué Ramos.
 
Currently a contributor of the Online Betting Academy, Betfair and other companies, investor, entrepreneur, psychologist and writer, Josué has a promising career in several niches of sports betting, from real bets to marketing and planning. In addition to all of the above, he currently holds the position of director at ABAESP (Brazilian Sports Betting Association).
 
His career in sports betting began in 2010, after a car accident left him in a wheelchair. At first, he had problems and faced many difficulties, because he didn't have enough resources to make a living and even starved at this stage. He had little support from the closest people and because he came from a poor family, he had no resources to invest in sports betting, so he had to make many sacrifices to reach the level of banking he currently has.
 
As if the lack of money was not enough, anxiety and depression were other denser obstacles he had to face. In addition, in 2014 he was hospitalized in a hurry with severe pancreatitis and was hospitalized for more than 3 months, in serious condition. An important detail is that the pancreatitis was attributed to the high levels of stress he had been experiencing.
 
Despite the difficulties, his work was recognized in international forums and job offers continued to arrive. In order to increase his bank, the sacrifices forced Joshua to avoid withdrawing money, which eventually forced him to look for other ways to get an income. Then, he became a tipster and was found by an investor in mid-2012. His career as a tipster took off. He worked with a group of renowned investors (unions) and retired from the tipster area in 2018, after a year of absurd profits.
 
 
His career advanced in the content area with partnerships with large companies in the field, such as Racing.UK, SBC, Betadvisor, Tipstersplace and later with Brazilian sites, such as Bet 10, Betting FC, until closing a lasting and successful partnership with the Portuguese group Lean Waves, known for the Online Betting Academies website network, and later with Betfair. He also works in marketing aimed at bookmakers and companies in the sector, as well as being a very aggressive player and a visionary investor.
 
And it is exactly because of his career as a tipster that we will begin, but for that, Joshua himself will comment on this. An important detail, this interview was conducted as a conversation and lasted for hours, but I think that what you are about to read here is something that will interest those who want to be professionals in sports betting.
 
Interview:
 
How did bets come into your life?
 
I will summarize this as best I can. I had an accident and I thought I would never walk again. I decided to do something I liked (not betting), which was writing. So, I tried to be a writer, but I needed an income to support myself while trying to write something. Then, one day, Junior Rodriguês introduced me to sports betting and since that fateful day of 2010 I am still in this world.
 
Is sports betting your only source of income?
If not, what are the other sources?
 
Bets are not my only source of income, but they are the main source. However, it is the most unstable source. The other sources come from partnerships with various companies in the field, coordinating teams, working in marketing, working on content, etc.
 
Are you a trader or a punter?
 
I started by being a punter, but I saw that I wouldn't earn much money that way, because math was against the player. So, I became a trader later in 2010. I gathered a nice bank that way and then returned to the tipster markets. I still practice both styles.
 
Which markets do you work with?
 
Soccer and horse racing, but I work a little with the NBA and the NFL. I discovered in these years that live (live) is where you earn more money. So, the more markets I can cover, the more profitability I can extract.
 
What were the biggest difficulties you had to face at the beginning of your career?
 
Surely the lack of money, depression, anxiety and the deadly stab, which is the lack of support and loneliness. But don't make the same mistakes I did. I thought that if I succeeded one day, it would all end. And one thing I learned is that at the top you are also alone. Success in something that requires sacrifice. In my case, I was alone for a long time, as if my own company was enough. And loneliness is dangerous, it makes you self-centred, you get manias, your essence changes, because it remains in the presence of humanity and in its absence you change. I almost had to die in a hospital to understand that. And the process of change was difficult, since you need to readjust to let people re-enter your life.
 
Have you suffered any prejudice regarding your activities?
 
Yes, of course, every day. There is always a different rumour. They said I was a loan shark, a drug dealer. They compare me with an addict. They say I don't work, they belittle what I do. Every day I deal with someone who tries to degrade my trade. That is, it is not enough to have been born ugly, I still have to deal with other people who make up stories about my life, without even knowing me. But I confess that it is fun to laugh at these litanies. Usually, when they ask me what I do for a living, I talk about all the other activities, I avoid talking about bets. It takes a lot of work to explain it.
 
In the sports betting medium you are a controversial figure. Do you have anything to say about it?
 
I do not sell myself, I am honest, I am not an expert in spreading lies or tolerating falsehoods. Many figures in this field are not what they say they are and, when they speak, it is evident to those who know this world of bets that they are charlatans. I always faced those people and I was honest with my audiences. I got tired of fighting online, trying to explain concepts to those who don't want to listen. It is not worth stressing about it.
 
You retired from the tipster market in 2018, why?
 
Most do not know this, but the tipster market is very intense, there is a lot of pressure. I had ups and downs in this market and I planned to achieve a financial strength that would give me the basis to become an investor. That is, to have other tipsters turning the money I invest. My plan ended in 2020, however, I managed to break some records in 2018, I got millions of euros in profits for a specific group of investors, I got a great return and I was able to go beyond the financial goal that I had set in 2017, in just 2 years, when the idea was to do it in 4 seasons.
 
That made me decide to leave this market and focus on another job, to focus on my books and mainly on my personal life. Make no mistake, to get a considerable return you have to make sacrifices. But I ended up making too many sacrifices and now I need to live a little more.
 
In 2018 alone, you made millions. Adding up each year as a tipster, can we say that you are a sports betting millionaire?
 
This is relative. Investment money is not equity. And one thing that everyone needs to understand: when you are an investor, you have an unstable financial life. So, you need to create stability. The biggest mistake made by those who have won a large amount is to think that money is infinite. Money should not be treated as something to spend, it should be invested in something that can guarantee you a more stable return.
 
The first step is to avoid everything that is superficial. I learned this with someone here from the Online Betting Academy, Pedro Sardinha, an entrepreneur who knows the value of money very well.
 
I prefer to always be creating new investments. The idea is to keep the money working for me, and not vice versa. It does not matter if the performance is small or slow, it will be possible to remain stable. In addition, as a general rule, do not put all the eggs in the same basket, you should always have other sources of income, even if they yield little, since the law of small numbers will work in your favour.
 
In addition, the investment universe is full of surprises, of ups and downs. Sometimes I lose a lot, sometimes I win, but that's how it works and you must make a good management of these applications so that you have a margin of error. Let me give you a basic example. Say you have, for example, one million and find an initial investment of that amount. You may think that you can invest in that. But since it is only an initial investment, you will probably have to spend much more until you can extract profitability. I learned that in the worst way possible.
 
My goal is not to be rich, nor do I know what that really means, it's just to achieve a stability that is adequate for my living standards and gradually increase it, while helping the people around me. Even because the most important things in life are not linked to anything financial.
 
You always say that being a tipster and having your own bank are very different things. What are these differences?
 
As a tipster the pressure is different. You have rules to work that are not yours, adaptation is required, you respect a hierarchy, you have someone who supports you and you have an emotional distance from money, no matter how much you don't realize it. Managing this is completely different.
 
With your own bank you have an absurd psychological and emotional commitment. Your losses are extremely painful. You are very affected by the phase you live. You understand that if you make mistakes the money at stake is yours. Managing this means keeping an absurd amount of bets, because we don't have the same financial conditions as a union of several billionaires. Things are much more complicated. Try for yourself to grow a bank, plan the growth, make sacrifices to keep that bank growing. It's very complicated.
 
And even if you exceed one million in funds, you will realize that mathematics is still against you and forces you to be more aggressive, extracting the greatest value when you find that discrepancy. This learning process is not easy. Tipsters usually like to bet before the start of the game, they bet early, in small competitions. This way it is very difficult to earn a lot of money. If you put one of these tipsters in a live market to work with betting volume, they will have the barrier of +90% of null EV (Expected Value), they will have few lucrative patterns to work with and will have sharks that will adjust the market all the time. Therefore, long-term profitability will not be easy. I speak from my own experience, when I made the transition from the pre-event to live. The difference is absurd.
 
Now you are one of the leading punter and trader experts in live markets, can you talk a little about the details of this market?
 
The funny thing is that, when I started working with this group of investors that I was referring to, nobody operated focused in live, I was a pioneer on this with them. Now, there is not so much difference between punters and traders, the mathematical issue is the same. The mismatch. The differences are in risk exposure, that is, the way we work with the risk. This difference is only between traders and punters, but live, live markets have particularities such as the market efficiency, which will always quickly adjust any mismatch (value). We have the herd effect and we have zero EV +90% of the time, that is, many things are against the player. The positive side is that we also have an asset, the control of something that "gives life" to the odds and bets, the control of the information.
 
 
Therefore, we must understand that during the live game we are not there to place bets that go according to what we believe for the game, we are there to apply an information control strategy. The information is translated into probabilities, odds. We always need to be in control. This makes us create a strategy to approach a game. Then, in each predicted scenario, according to live market patterns, we act in a certain way, already stipulated, within a long-term study that demonstrates that this movement is profitable. And so we discover the secret of sports betting. It doesn't matter if you're a punter or a trader, you're looking for a mismatch in the same way, because the math is the same, but many don't even realize it.
 
The important thing is aggressiveness, we won't go anywhere without it, but you can't confuse being aggressive with being an idiot.
 
You are one of the most important horse racing specialists in the world, with a higher profitability than the big names of this market, such as Hugh Taylor. Can you talk a little about past and current seasons?
 
Hugh Taylor is a monster in horse racing. My last seasons have been excellent. I had more than 2018 profit units in 2018, but 2019 has been terrible. It is the worst year I have ever faced. I am still trying to adjust the old standards to the new conditions of the tracks. I think that at some point I will be able to adapt it, but this adjustment has been complicated. However, I think I will be able to adjust it until December. It is a deadline that I gave myself to study all the new patterns found, since the odds are increasingly levelled. It shows that those who define the odds in this area have learned a lot. Nothing I can't face.
 
How is your football season?
 
The season remains very stable, with good profitability and large traded volume. This is the first time that, at the same time, I am an investor and I manage the work of some tipsters, which has been very rewarding. An excellent team.
 
How is the progress of your book?
 
I am working hard to meet deadlines. The content is excellent and with a great didactical approach. All the theories have already been introduced in this first volume. I managed to fit everything like a puzzle. I think people will enjoy it, because their minds will be blown away several times and several secrets about how to make a profit will be revealed.
 
 
Do you have plans for a course?
 
Sure. I think the didactics will be very fluid. My experience in psychology can eventually contribute to this. But the main thing is that I will teach strategies, something I like. I am very excited about that.
 
How can you work on so many projects at once?
 
I can't! That's why I'm always late. I am organized, but I give priority to some things and I have a set time to complete something, but I always finish things, this is a "gift" that I have, to delay everything.
 
Do you think that having studied psychology gave you some advantage in this market?
 
I don't know if it gave me an advantage, but it helped me a lot to understand the concepts about decision making and our emotional participation in those decisions. In addition to helping me a lot in the development of some theories.
 
What is more difficult, to work with a lot or with little money?
 
Either way we will have great difficulties ahead. And one thing that many people say is that nothing changes with the amount of money, because you get the same benefit in ROI with a lot or with little money. I tell you they are wrong. It changes everything. Working with high Stakes requires an absurd control of the information, of your emotional side, as well as the timing, the right time to enter the market. It's complicated, but the more money, the greater the complications. The problem of having little money is that you end up giving in to immediacy, to anxiety.
 
You also play poker, do you want to pursue a career in this area?

I have dedicated myself to evolve more and more in live competitions, since I am not a professional in the area, I can dedicate myself only to live events, despite having many expenses with accommodation, travel. I play poker because it's a passion for me, it's just that, but that doesn't mean there isn't a technique or a lot of study behind it, I'm an investor, my survival criteria is to get a return on all the investments I make.
 
You have said a few times that almost nobody knows the greatest players. Is it true?
 
Yes. Why would someone who has a great profit with bets want to appear? Unless you need more income, right? In my case, for example, I come from a difficult life and I had to change in many ways. That's why I have this exposure, otherwise, nobody would know about my existence. One of these days I had dinner with one of the biggest players in Brazil, based on a profitability criteria. I will call him "A". I will not say his name, because he does not like the exposure. The guy is a very nice person, he reserved for us the VIP area of a renowned restaurant to be able to bet and eat quietly. In addition to being bright in his entries, you must have bet a small fortune while we ate dinner. His friends wanted to bet and they kept sending him text messages: they must also have bet a lot of money. What I mean is that most of these players will not be known to the general public. And they are very interesting people, with a great baggage of knowledge.
 
Where can people find your work and get in touch with you?
 
Through the Online Betting Academy Brazil, through articles, live videos, videos. On YouTube channels, on Betfair, on the Betfair blog, on the unofficial Betfair YouTube channel, of Melsports. In my Telegram, in the Academy Telegram, on Instagram. And in the future I will have some live videos every week, talking about bets, but before returning to that life I need to finish my book.
 
 
And how is your personal life? Do you follow the ostentatious recipe of some other people of this area?
 
I hate ostentation. It has nothing to do with me. I was angry at the first title you gave to this story, but I will not interfere with your work to optimize SEO (laughs). I like camping, contemplating a starry sky, going for a walk with my dog, roasting marshmallows in the fire, taking the road, bathing in a waterfall, watching a good movie, all this is cheap. I only go to parties if I have my friends by me. I lead a very quiet life. Life is free, but there are people who like to pay to live. I prefer to stay away from people like that.
 
Do you have any personal projects for the future?
 
I have some things in mind, apart from what I mentioned about the game, something about books and courses. I have the social question about psychology and I plan to launch some projects in the future, aimed at children and adolescents, but it is something that I need to organize very well before starting it. Today I participate in some things, but I am not as involved as I wanted.
 
Can you tell me at least 3 vital secrets of sports betting?
 
Sure: Aggression, information and risk control.
 
If you had to give advice on sports bets trading, what would it be?
 
Exposure control, timing of entry, notice pattern-based mismatches, outline an action strategy according to possible scenarios.
 
Do you think there is a secret key to success in sports betting?
 
I think so. I would say it is the PROFILE. Know exactly who you are. Know yourself. Since only after knowing your limits, your reactions, can you organize rules and define more aggressive behaviours and strategies. If you don't know what your reaction will be, you can end up as many end up, losing everything. The emotional and psychological side is the most important thing and should be known to control impulsivity. No person is equal to the other. What suits me is not convenient for you and unfortunately it works like this. That is why some succeed and others do not. There is no use on focusing on the mentality and not knowing who you are. That's another funny thing, mentality used in a common sense. It seems like a disaster to me. I see a lot of people talking about this. The universe of coaching has absorbed it. The biggest problem is that they really don't understand how it works. We have several lines within psychology and we all realize that the process of change is difficult. I worry too much about that. I see that people seek success in an era of immediacy. Today this quest for glory seems to me a sect, in which everyone repeats what those who have succeeded tell them. And they ignore some key points, such as analysing the mistakes made by those who did not achieve what they were looking for, remembering that failure is only a transitory state. Even so, what happens if they achieve what they want and that does not make them happy? You need to know how to pick your battles.
 
I think people should seek happiness, organize their minds to do a good job and maintain a balance in their lives. I think that success comes from this balance, from this sum, but I keep saying that it is necessary to know each other in order to rebuild oneself.
 
What advice would you give to someone who is starting in sports betting and has read this article?
 
Forget all those who tell you that this market is easy. Learn about your player profile, understand your emotional and psychological limits to evolve. Learn to be aggressive. Aggression is vital for you to grow. Learn to identify value by simplifying pattern reading. Know how to tell apart Null EV from the rest, because when there is no Null EV, there will be value elsewhere.
 
Understand that bank management serves to avoid bankruptcy, not so you can make a profit (I heard it from a great player and it is impossible not to agree with that). Therefore, you must configure a more aggressive management, according to your profile, otherwise you will not leave the same place. When I refer to management, I mean it in a large scale, even your strategy must be aggressive. Create rules of conduct regarding your investments. Create qualitative objectives and don't focus on achieving quantitative goals. Remember that the volume of money should always be optimized, that is, you should rotate as much money as possible in the most controlled way possible, which means that you must resort to a good volume of bets. This idea is within a theory of resource optimization.
 
Well, I think that if you can understand what has been said, you are on the right track.

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josué ramos, punter, tipster, trader