Episode 59

Andrew Pace [00:00:00]:

You guys just heard firsthand from a guy who just hit 6 figures in betting how frustrating it was to have 6 x ed his bankroll.

Shane Mercer [00:00:08]:

It was terrible. Yeah. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Behind the Lines, the only podcast purifying the sports betting industry. You wanna see what we're all about on the inside and and have a look at inplayLIVE? We've got that promo code for you 'BEHINDTHELINES', all caps. And remember to like, download, subscribe, follow us on all the socials @inplayLIVE. I'm your host, Shane Mercer. That guy over there, Andrew Pace. On today's show, big news in the latency conversation.

Shane Mercer [00:00:48]:

We're seeing some major developments there. We have another sports book that has bit the dust at least in one jurisdiction, and it doesn't look promising for its future. Hayes, you're gonna turn the tables on me and ask some hard hitting questions. Stay tuned for that in just a few minutes. I think I'm tough. I'm tough. I think everybody will enjoy that. But, Pace, let's start off with this big news from Amazon.

Shane Mercer [00:01:09]:

Kind of a a bit of a leak here, so we're not getting anything official. But The Athletic is reporting the NBA and Amazon Prime Video have the framework of a deal that will make the streaming service one of the main homes for the league's game. So it's expected that the Prime Video package will include regular season and postseason games. Perhaps even the conference finals is is kind of being hinted at in this, report. They're they're reporting that the final contract would be for an entire decade, and that would be beginning in the 2025, 26 season. So not the season that will start in the upcoming fall, but the following fall. And, nobody is commenting on it. Amazon's not commenting.

Shane Mercer [00:01:56]:

The NBA isn't commenting. ESPN isn't commenting on it, but, The Athletic is reporting all of these details. So, if true, pace game changer?

Andrew Pace [00:02:09]:

Honestly, Shane, it's like, I just look at it as what I've expected for so long. Like, in 2018, I was kind of really excited about this whole, like, you know, having really good low latency feeds that Amazon was talking about. We we kinda saw them with football this year. So, game changer, yes, from the standpoint of it finally happening. But, yeah, I mean, give me low latency feeds for basketball. I'm I'm I'm a very happy camper. I think, many of our viewers would be in the same boat.

Shane Mercer [00:02:41]:

I'm questioning how low NBA game because, you know, I think you'd probably agree. It's probably the sport that has the highest latency because of the speed, you know, at at at which it's played. And and, you know, most of the broadcast that we have are often, you know, several seconds behind, 30 seconds, maybe even a minute behind on on some broadcast, which is, you know, higher than I think any other sport.

Andrew Pace [00:03:08]:

Well well, since you brought up latency, one of the latency discussions that's been on the show quite a bit has been YouTube TV. And, obviously, they came out with their lower latency, product, which has been phenomenal, but it is still latent. And if you bought NBA League Pass on YouTube TV for the season that just passed, You were about 8 to 10 seconds behind the sportsbooks updating, which was the best I have probably ever seen for basketball. But I know that same feed is typically, about 5 or 6 seconds behind a really good broadcast that I have, for other sports. And the reason why it was a good feed is because it was coming directly from the stadium. So if you bought NBA league pass, anyone that has ever done that knows, you know, you get the half time shows and, like, you don't go to commercial and things like that. So you get all sorts of, you know, crazy viewing experiences, throughout the throughout the league, when you have the games up on league pass, but it is coming directly from the stadium without a lot of the the filler stuff. So directly from the stadium with the YouTube TV latency ended up still being a great feed.

Andrew Pace [00:04:20]:

If we take that same approach with Amazon, I think it's gonna be fantastic. So I I am very excited for it. I I hope they get it and they get the whole product so that they can produce it for us the way that they intend to. Because a lot of the things that we have seen is, like, Apple gets baseball just on Friday nights, and that'll probably segue you into the next thing that you're gonna bring up about Amazon. Right?

Shane Mercer [00:04:45]:

Well yeah. Exactly. And I wanna talk about that, this idea of of it sort of all being in one place. And I I hate to burst your bubble here, PACE, but I don't think that that's what's going to happen.

Andrew Pace [00:04:54]:

Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:04:55]:

You know, it it seems like that's in fact, it's gonna be the reverse of that. And so, using hockey as an example here. So, Amazon Prime Video struck a deal with the NHL, and it is going to have, Monday night games, at least in Canada. And I'm not sure if they'll be in the US as well. But this is a 2 year deal, with with not a lot of the details exposed, but, Amazon is saying that it's reached a deal with the n h NHL and Rogers Communications, which is, the current rights holder here in Canada. And, it'll have, Amazon Prime Monday night hockey, and it'll stream all regular season. And this would be for the upcoming season, so that would be this fall, the 2024, 25 season, and the 2020 5, 26 NHL season. So this is a 2 year deal, but it's just for those Monday night games.

Shane Mercer [00:05:53]:

And Right. For anybody who's who's maybe not familiar with what sort of, the sports broadcasting landscape kinda looks like in Canada, but, Rogers actually, purchased, all the NHL rights. This was back in 2013, and it was a massive deal at the time, $5,200,000,000, over the course of 10 years. So they locked it up. Actually, it was more than 10 years. I it was, I think, 12 years because it was 2013, and and the deal, ends in the, 2025, 26 season. So at that point, Rodgers will have to decide whether it wants to to re up, and I have a feeling like they probably won't. And I think the leagues, in this case, the NHL, but I think the supplies more broadly across the leagues is what we're starting to see now is that in the past, a big deal with a big broadcaster that spanned a decade was kind of the way to go because it locked things up for a long time.

Shane Mercer [00:06:48]:

You didn't have to revisit negotiations, and, you knew what you were getting and and what was expected, and you were able to sort of plan around that for a long period of time. But it sounds like now with all of these streaming services out there, Amazon, Apple, YouTube, and and, you know, the the list kinda goes on, is that, the streamers wanna get just a piece of that pie, and the leagues only wanna hand each streamer a piece of that pie because now they're not beholden to to sort of one person, and they're able to kind of pit the streamers against each other. And Right. And it benefits the streamers because they don't really wanna offer every game. They just wanna offer a few games to rope you in so that you have to subscribe to to their to their service.

Andrew Pace [00:07:37]:

And then you get all their other things.

Shane Mercer [00:07:39]:

And then you get all their other things too. Exactly. So, it's it's an interesting kind of way that it's that it's unfolding, but, I I just don't think that that's to the benefit of of sports fans.

Andrew Pace [00:07:52]:

Right. Well, from the standpoint of of getting it all with the NBA, if they offer league pass there, that'll probably be a great product if they're the ones that offer that. I know you can get it on a whole different series of of channels and things, but that that would be a positive thing. For the hockey specifically, Monday night is a really slow hockey night during the regular season, so I'm not opposed to Amazon having that. I think that's only a positive thing because I know that they do offer great feeds. And, for people that are in the states going, oh, only in Canada, well, you can just flip on a VPN and and use it. And I know the feeds in the US for hockey are terrible. Like, we have better feeds for hockey in Canada than than the guys in the States do for the most part.

Andrew Pace [00:08:33]:

So there there are options there, and maybe the regular season will will like, the scheduling will change a little bit where they actually load Mondays up a little bit more, with hockey. But I think that typically speaking in the fall, you don't wanna compete with Monday night football, and then Tuesdays end up being a big hockey night. So I don't know. We'll see. The end of the day, I I think it is positive. When you get a great product that's being offered on one night that's not being offered on others, that people really enjoy, usually, there will be, you know, some sort of demand for that that grows where you go, I really wish that you guys had, you know, the Thursdays and the Tuesdays or all the NHL or all the NBA or or whatever the case. So I think it's positive.

Shane Mercer [00:09:16]:

Yeah. Yeah. Over overall positive, and we'll have to see how it all plays out. We also, you know, have that, that that big conglomeration of of sports broadcasters that wanna come together to create some sort of sports super stream that we covered, here on the show, a couple of months ago. So we'll we'll see how it all sort of plays out over time.

Andrew Pace [00:09:34]:

the Roga of streaming.

Shane Mercer [00:09:36]:

Yeah. Yeah. It basically that's essentially what it was. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, on that topic of of Rogo, let's move on to our next, topic here. We've got a sports book that is folding up shop. Now this wouldn't be one that's in in in that ROGA conversation.

Shane Mercer [00:09:53]:

And for anybody who hasn't followed that, we're talking about, the Responsible Online Gaming Association, which is the sort of conglomerate of, of, big sportsbooks that say they're they're interested in your, responsible sports betting. But, anyway, I'm off on a tangent here. We've got this, sportsbook PlayUp that, announced it's leaving New Jersey. So another one biting the dust here. This, book actually had its license temporarily revoked last July, and it's kind of had a a bit of a a spotty history, shall we say. But, you know, Pace, your take on this.

Andrew Pace [00:10:29]:

Well, we've we've with the lens we have at inplayLIVE, we've seen, you know, guys like Gosu, you know, that are in Tennessee. A guy pulled the one of their really shady books that's licensed there pulled the pulled the bet back saying, the integrity of the game So So we've just voided your bet rather than paying you out. And, you know, some of the play ups and maybe some smaller books like that that have some really shady practices that that did get a license that they're just not gonna get away with with that kind of stuff in a regulated market. And I do think this is a good spot. And I think we could do a whole episode on this, Shane, but just some of the some of the battles that I've had getting paid. I think this is a good spot to bring this up. If you're a member of inplayLIVE and you're having a hard time getting paid by a sports book, use us as a resource. If you're not a member of inplayLIVE, we do have in our free tools section on the inplayLIVE website, kind of like a a template of who to contact and how to contact them.

Andrew Pace [00:11:37]:

But oftentimes, going to the regular later doesn't necessarily bear fruit. There are lawyers and and other methods that you can use to get your money. There's different, online services that you can reach out to. So I would just say, if you have had issues relating to getting your money from some of these shady books, never hesitate to drop a comment below or or send us a DM on Instagram or something like that. You can also join our free Discord channel, which allows access to then, you know, some some people like myself and Shane where you could you could drop us a note and say, hey. I had this issue, and that allows us to to to kinda give lend you a hand, with some of the challenges that you've had. Now with that, again, we're in this kinda same territory where this play up is much smaller than WinBet or Fox Bet. Right? And they have done some shady stuff, you know, license revoked, all that kind of stuff.

Andrew Pace [00:12:35]:

Am I surprised? No. But, you know, is that a a a place for people in New Jersey to have made some money off of that's now, a door that's been closed and kind of the industry heading towards this, this Rogaine, Roga, you know, sort of sharing information and and and these these guys leaving and and all the other ones coming together. Yeah. The this is a a product of people trying to get in on the betting gold rush and now seeing the challenges of actually being able to operate, where, again, you know, you're you're against why would someone not play at FanDuel, MGM, DraftKings, or 365? The answer would be, well, because they need to get their action somewhere. So you get a lot of the winning winning players that go over to a place like PlayUp, and it makes it pretty hard to survive.

Shane Mercer [00:13:24]:

Yeah. Yeah. And I you know, we we'd really dove into that conversation when we had the guys from Powerplay, on the show sort of talk you know, making that point to them like, hey, guys. You know, most of the people in Ontario that are gonna end up at your sports book are are guys like like us. You know? You know, it's gonna be hard for you to get the people who are playing on 365, to join you, and, you know, they kind of acknowledge that as a as a challenge. So, you know, that that that's a that is always going to be one of the big challenges for these smaller books, which makes you think, hey. Maybe maybe your model, your soft book model isn't, the way to go Even though it's worked, you know, maybe in other places around the world, the world's changing. It's changing very quickly, very fast.

Shane Mercer [00:14:01]:

Right.

Andrew Pace [00:14:01]:

Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

Shane Mercer [00:14:03]:

Alright. Well, Pace, you had some questions for me?

Andrew Pace [00:14:08]:

Well, so we have some exciting news on Behind the Lines here, this week. And usually, Shane's asking me questions, but we're gonna kinda flip things around a little bit here today. So I guess we'll just start by giving you a huge congrats, and why don't you tell us what, milestone you recently accomplished?

Shane Mercer [00:14:27]:

So I recently passed the $100,000 in profit mark. This would have been about 5 weeks ago, from this recording, a very sort of exciting time, a very busy time of the inplayLIVE and sports betting season. And, Yeah. It was, it was really exciting. And, you know, I was sharing this sort of off the record with you on a regular basis, but it was great to kind of pass it. And, I'll just give you guys a bit of an update. So, I joined in PlayLive in July 2022 with a starting bankroll of $1200. And I have now, currently sitting at, a $107,833.95 in profits made since joining inplayLIVE.

Shane Mercer [00:15:15]:

So very, very proud of that, and just couldn't be more thankful and grateful, to to Upace and Raj and and Sabrina and the entire team at inplayLIVE, for for 1, you know, bringing me in, but also allowing me to kind of be part of the of the company's journey and and understanding it. And, because that's been such a big part of my success over over the past year and a half, almost 2 years.

Andrew Pace [00:15:42]:

Yeah. So I think I think number 1, I just wanna say 2 things. Bang. Let's let's fucking go, man. Like and then number 2, like, huge congrats. I mean, there's the monetary element of succeeding in the community that you really can't ignore. But, obviously, there's so much more to the monetary when it comes to all of this. There's there's a lot that went into that success that, I like to say that money is a is a result, but it's not the purpose.

Andrew Pace [00:16:12]:

Right? So, a lot of people enter a venture. Like, a really good example of that would be, like, putting money into into stocks. Typically, your your goal there is money, and you could argue that with inplayLIVE. You're like, okay. My goal is money. But money really is a result. And I'm sure that, you know, we'll you've you've learned a lot along the way. But yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:16:36]:

So Shane, I mean, you said July of 2022, $1200.

Shane Mercer [00:16:41]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:16:42]:

So why don't you, like, kinda give us just like a quick background of before inplayLIVE, like what led you to actually join? And then maybe just like, you know, those first few months and and what it was like from a profitability standpoint and and how that sort of the first part of your journey sort of unfolded there.

Shane Mercer [00:16:58]:

Yeah. So, you know, first, actually, you came across, the the ads on Facebook, the inplayLIVE ads that I'm sure everybody's familiar with and pays, you know, probably, some of your, your earliest ads. But, coming across them in in, towards the end of the summer 2021, the beginning of the football season, actually, 2021.

Andrew Pace [00:17:17]:

Oh, sorry. So a year previous.

Shane Mercer [00:17:18]:

A year previous. Yeah. Yeah. I sat on and played live for years. Yeah. Before I actually joined. Yeah, man. Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:17:24]:

I I sat on it, and I actually emailed you at the time too. And I was like, hey. Is this for real? Or I said something like that. Like, are, you know, are you you know, but you actually responded to me. Oh, no. I think here's what I asked. I was looking for an exit for my job at the time, and I think I asked you, PACE. I sent you an email, and I said, hey.

Shane Mercer [00:17:39]:

Can you really quit your job? You know, betting on sports, Something like that. And and you actually won. You responded. You responded really quickly, which which right off the bat, you know, to me, landed some credibility here because, it wasn't like a Instagram message or Facebook message. This was an email. And, you responded pretty quickly and you said, stack a bunch of cash then quit your job. I was like, right, that's a that's a real legit response and a responsible response. And, I thought, okay.

Shane Mercer [00:18:07]:

And then I looked more into it, and I realized how much time, it was gonna take up. And I didn't have that time Wow. At that moment. I looked at it and I thought to myself, wow. This sounds like a lot. This is a big investment in terms of a time commitment, and I don't have it. And so, fast forward then, to July 2022. So I ended up leaving that job that I was at and and looking to get out of.

Shane Mercer [00:18:29]:

I got into another job, and that job didn't work out. I got laid off from that job, right at the end of June 2022. And at that moment, I said to myself, okay. I'm gonna take the summer off. I was in a very fortunate position to be able to do that and sort of say that with, you know, with my family and, talk to my wife about it, and we decided, okay. We'll take July August off, and then I'll hit the ground running, look for a job after that. And I thought to myself, though, very shortly, like, maybe only a day or 2 after getting laid off, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna have a ton of time. I should probably go revisit this inplayLIVE thing, and let me take a look at that. I have the time now.

Andrew Pace [00:19:03]:

Can I stop you there, Shane? This is it's really interesting if you just look at perspective and how people's mindsets work and how they shift over time. But you reference big investment, and we just entered this where, like, finances is what we 100,000 in success. Like, it's it's all money, monetary. Right? But your investment you were referencing wasn't money. Your investment that you're referencing is time. Yeah. Right? And that's such a great way to look at it. Ugh.

Andrew Pace [00:19:33]:

Right? You took this approach of like, jeez. Okay. I I did some research on what it is that I wanna go do. There is this huge investment that isn't the financial side of it. It's the it's it's you have a family. You have a job. It's it's your 9 to 5. It's your time.

Andrew Pace [00:19:48]:

It's your 24 hours within a day. And that was the investment that you made because you just said you started with $1200. You didn't start with a 120,000 and turn it into 220,000. Right?

Shane Mercer [00:19:58]:

No.

Andrew Pace [00:19:58]:

So I just wanted to point that out. That's that's really cool that that was the way that you approached it.

Shane Mercer [00:20:02]:

Yeah. Yeah. And that that was, you know, that was the barrier. And then once that barrier was kind of removed, then I thought, oh, I've got time. You know, I I jumped right in. Right. And I think that was a big part of it too is I didn't sort of, you know, just put my toe in and look around or anything. I said, no.

Shane Mercer [00:20:19]:

Like, I'm gonna I'm in this. Let's jump in, have a look. I started, you know, I started off in the regular members, but I very quickly joined pro. And that was after connecting with, one of the group's, current coaches. And I don't think he was a coach at the time, but, he he certainly helped coach me at the time. But a big shout out to Mark Pendleton, who also yeah. He really lended a lot of, credibility to inplayLIVE at that time. He set aside time to chat with me over the phone and, you know, let me pick his brain for an hour over the phone, like, randomly.

Shane Mercer [00:20:51]:

And here's a guy too. You know, I didn't know where he was from, but got to know him. And it turns out, oh, he's he's living, you know, not too far from where I grew up. And, you know, there was also that sort of connection of, like, oh, this is somebody from, you know, from where I'm from, you know, who's had all of this success and and, is making himself available to me to just chat. You know? And it sort of, spoke about the power of the community that, that that you built to your pace. And, that was one of the the things that, I think really kind of, reeled me into inplayLIVE after I had, you know, signed up, after I had already signed up. It's what it's what really sort of kept me in for those next few months after that first month is is that sense of community and what you built in terms of that I found very impressive. And, I I thought that there was something here.

Andrew Pace [00:21:41]:

Guys like you, Shane. It's guys like you that make it impressive. Right? Because if you're a guy that's doing research to join, you find out it's legitimate, you know that the investment isn't necessarily the financial, which, of course, the financial is a part of it. It's the time. And then someone that's like minded like yourself reached out to you to help you. It gives you the opportunity to now, of course, do the same. Like, that's an incredible story. Right? And, like, when I hear that, I think to myself, like, jeez.

Andrew Pace [00:22:09]:

Like, I really am not you know, I didn't have a lot to do with that. That's the power of the people inside of it that that have that have really got you started. Right? At this point, you're not even really started. These are the people that are just kind of giving you some advice and Yeah. You know, getting you going. Anyways, yeah, keep going.

Shane Mercer [00:22:26]:

Well, you know, and it's funny when you say say that too because, you know, they got me started and and gave me advice. Some of the best advice I probably got was in that first, you know, couple months there and from a guy like Mark and and a few others. But, you know, I'm also laid off at the top. Right? You gotta put that in perspective. I I don't have a job. I don't have a source of income, and I wanna make some money. Alright? I'm really I'm willing to put in the time, but I wanna make some money, and I need it now. Right? I don't want it.

Shane Mercer [00:22:50]:

You know? There there's a there's a feeling of urgency there. And, and I think that's probably true for a lot of people when they first join is that there's this this sense of of urgency. You need the money. You need it now, and and you want it all right away.

Andrew Pace [00:23:05]:

And Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:23:06]:

You know, I think Mark apparently helped sort of put things in perspective for me.

Andrew Pace [00:23:12]:

Haha settle down Shane.

Shane Mercer [00:23:14]:

Yeah. Basically basically, you know, it's not gonna come right away. You've got a you've got a steep learning curve ahead. I don't care how much you've bet on sports in the past. I don't care what success you've had betting on sports in the past. You've got a big learning curve ahead. Yeah. And and then was he ever right? Like, I'm, you know, I'm somebody who has bet on sports for a long, long time before inplayLIVE and had some major success.

Shane Mercer [00:23:39]:

I had a $26,000 hit off of a $20 bet in when I was, in my mid, twenties, and, that that was massive. And I and I've had success since then, you know, doing some of those old things that that I did before inplayLIVE. But, you know, never never to this extent. And so Right. I was sort of somebody who thought, yeah. I know sports. I know sports betting. You know? Like, I, you know, like, oh, this will be easy for me, but it wasn't.

Shane Mercer [00:24:07]:

It was hard, man. It was hard. And Right. Yeah. Those those first 6 months were really challenging.

Andrew Pace [00:24:14]:

Okay. So the do do you know approximately, like, how you did in those first 6 months?

Shane Mercer [00:24:20]:

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, July 2022 to, say, December, the end of the year, 2022, I did you know, it's like I said, starting with $1200, and I grew my bankroll to about $6,000 in that in that amount of time. And, you know, we're talking

Andrew Pace [00:24:36]:

I gotta I gotta stop you again, Shane. Like, k. So I laugh at that immediately as I hear it because, you know, really tough time, you know, struggling all this stuff, and then you nearly 6 x your starting bankroll. And, like, I look at that, and I sometimes, again, going back to, like, the investment discussion from a financial standpoint, you look at ROI and you go, okay. This is a guy who's putting a lot of time into something. So from, like, a time standpoint, you could go drive Uber and make more than that $5. No problem. Like, no problem.

Andrew Pace [00:25:13]:

You can make that in in in a month easily, driving Uber. So, like, you could look at that in a lot of different ways. Right? And I know that I've had members reach out to me in the past. They maybe started with, like, $200 or $500. Even recently, I've had this this got brought up to me and they're they, you know, maybe they made $5 in in the end of a day. They're like, well, why I could have been out driving Uber. I could have been out, you know, doing this or that. But from an investment standpoint, when that ROI and that scalability starts happening, this is where obviously you can you can start compounding.

Andrew Pace [00:25:42]:

And I guess the message here is you guys just heard firsthand from a guy who just hit 6 figures in betting how frustrating it was to have 6 x ed his bankroll.

Shane Mercer [00:25:52]:

It was terrible. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:25:55]:

But you know what I mean? Because you and that's where, again, you bring in this element of time.

Shane Mercer [00:26:01]:

Yes.

Andrew Pace [00:26:01]:

So the initial time investment is really what it's all about from the standpoint of not getting the ROI on your time

Shane Mercer [00:26:09]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:26:09]:

But getting the ROI on the actual investment and initial investment. That's where when now scalability comes into the conversation, things can be really go to the next level at this stage. So, anyways, $6,000, you're super frustrated.

Shane Mercer [00:26:24]:

I am I am super frustrated. I I get that. I you know, looking back at these, you say, yeah. Hey. Your 6x, that's huge. You know, that's amazing. You know? But try telling that to my wife during that time. Right.

Andrew Pace [00:26:37]:

Right. Okay. So keep going. Right. Where do we where do we go from here?

Shane Mercer [00:26:40]:

So, you know, we're at the end of December now, and and you'll remember this to pace November being a very, very tough month, November 2022 being a very, very tough month. And that was important, I think, for me in my journey just because I was able to watch you, and not just you, but some of the other pros as well go through that and see how you handle that. And while I'm also, you know, losing with you at in those in those moments, I'm not losing anywhere near the amount that you guys are losing. You know, and I'm able to sort of be like, well, thank god that's not me. You know? But, anyway, you know, we get towards the end of the year there, and I'm thinking to myself, okay. This is, like, you know, again, this has been tough. I put in a lot of time. I haven't made the kind of money I was hoping to make, but but there's something here because, hey.

Shane Mercer [00:27:30]:

I have made money betting on sports, which is something most people don't do, especially when they're doing it at the frequency that that we do it. We're talking daily, right, or near daily.

Andrew Pace [00:27:41]:

Yeah. The probability of you losing goes up the more that you wager.

Shane Mercer [00:27:44]:

Exactly. The more frequent.

Andrew Pace [00:27:46]:

Something that has negative expected value. Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:27:48]:

Exactly. Right? And so it it's becoming very clear that, well, you know, you have made money. You haven't lost money, and and they're you're you're obviously learning. And that was the other thing too. I had a ton of bad habits too when I first joined thinking that I know more. Right? And thinking that, oh, I know what I'm doing here. Right? Again, it takes a long time to break that down. Right? Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:28:06]:

To to kinda get rid of these bad habits, and I I'm still working on it. I still have a few bad habits, but not nearly as many as I did then. But, anyway so I started thinking to myself, what am I gonna do here? I need to I I need to be better. I need to do something more. And how am I going to do that? And, Randy came out at the time. Randy, who we've had on the show. Randy, Stewart for all of you who are who are like, who's Randy? We've had Randy on the show in the past. Great guy.

Shane Mercer [00:28:30]:

1 of, the pros at inplayLIVE. And, big shout out to Randy for his middling course. Randy is an all star middler. And if you don't know what middling is, join inplayLIVE. We'll teach you all about it. You can watch Randy's course. But I he came out with his course around that time, and I thought myself, wow. I'm gonna dig into middling this way in January.

Shane Mercer [00:28:49]:

That's sort of where my head was at at the end of the year there. And, January came around, and I was doing a little bit of that, but then I started to see value somewhere else. And that was in women's college basketball, and that ended up taking more of my attention away from middling, and I never I I I didn't end up doing a lot of middling, and I started focusing in on this on this one particular sport and one particular strategy, that is part of the, Imply live masterclass as well. And, you know, it it's the kind of thing that some of the pros were calling, and it sort of tipped me off to it. But once I looked at it and I looked at it a bit more closely, I thought to myself, wow. I can I can do this on my own? I don't need Right. You know, I I can I can do this on my own? I know I can do it, and I just started doing it regularly. And, you know, that doesn't mean that I wasn't participating in the streams.

Shane Mercer [00:29:42]:

It doesn't mean that I wasn't, following along to the conversations in the Discord and everything else. I was still totally engrossed in all of that, But I was I was doing this thing over here too and focusing on that sort of while leveraging the streams and and, you know, letting letting you guys look at hockey and look at football and all of that and and sort of able to kind of layer those things in while I was sort of doing this main thing over here. And, yeah, that that really took off for me. And, oh, man. Out of that out of that amount I told you, they're a 108,000 or a 107,000 dollars. I think about 40 to 50 of grand of that was made in that early 2023 year. It was between January Yeah. And say, the end of March.

Shane Mercer [00:30:35]:

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Say say even mid January because, you know, when I was first starting off with that too, I started small. Right? I still had a small. I was being very conservative with it. For sure. As I saw the success just roll, I just kept ramping it up, ramping it up, ramping it up.

Shane Mercer [00:30:49]:

And yeah. So so during that that run of about, you know, call it call it 8 weeks or 10 weeks, something like that. Yeah. I did about 40 to $50,000 during that run. Wow. And then that was that was what I was able to be like, hey, Zoe. That's my wife. Check it out.

Shane Mercer [00:31:06]:

This is paying off.

Andrew Pace [00:31:08]:

You know, so there's something interesting in this discussion, and I think it's a really powerful lesson for a lot of people that are are, you know, listening, obviously. Success takes time. It takes learning. It takes discipline. You showed during that time frame, so the first 1000 to 6,000, that you could succeed, that you could handle a losing run. You went through a significant one. You went through it with us. Then a couple months after that, you took an approach where you said, okay.

Andrew Pace [00:31:38]:

I have this new angle that I'm gonna be looking at. And one of them you dove into that you didn't necessarily love, that we know in the community other people live for.

Shane Mercer [00:31:47]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:31:47]:

Right? And it just didn't happen to be something that you, you know, that just fell in into your lap in your system and what it is that you're doing. But something else did.

Shane Mercer [00:31:58]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:31:58]:

And, what's incredible about it is that whether it's the 1000 to 6000 or now the 6000 to 50,000 in a shorter time frame, it's that transition of learning and growing, not risking significant money that would have negatively impacted your family and your finances, like, again, starting with $1,000. Obviously, risking time, but that was what you were willing to do to to put in. But then taking ownership where you transitioned from being a follower to being someone who is utilizing the things that we're maybe teaching and finding which ones are best fitted for you in your journey and really owning that and taking that to the next level. So for anyone listening, I think the lesson there is so powerful. Right? This learning curve and this frustration at a 1000 to 6000 is that time commitment. And I I'm sure Shane to this day, you're still learning because I know I know I'd, like, never stop. So that never stops.

Shane Mercer [00:33:06]:

No.

Andrew Pace [00:33:07]:

But that's like this inherent, like, good habit that you've built where you go, okay. In this following stage, yes, I'm doing well, and, yes, I'm making money, and the time commitment's not worth it. Right now, if you think through a narrow lens where you go, this is not worth it. But what is it worth long term to me now to have gone through all of that and develop those skills? And then, like I said, taking that ownership where you're going, okay. I'm using these guys for these things right now. Let them be experts at those. Let them be the people that are worried about those things that I will follow them on when, where, how, and why the time permits for me to to to do so. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:33:47]:

But I am becoming an expert and an owner in this particular field

Shane Mercer [00:33:51]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:33:51]:

That I'm now gonna use to propel my bankroll. And now in theory, people could come to you where you could be the Mark Pendleton of that moment and go, hey. Yeah. This is what I did, and and these are the expectations that, you know, you should have and and this, that, and the other. And, you know, that might mean for a lot of people, the best advice is to only listen to and follow us for a certain period of time so that you can kind of take your training wheels off and and do some of the things on your own.

Shane Mercer [00:34:22]:

Yeah. I mean, that that's that's a great way to put it that, you know, if you and, you know, pace of I think if for anybody out there that's listening, I think if, if you're early on, if you can just shed that ego really quickly and just boot it and just say, you know what? I might be bet I I might know a lot about football, and I've been betting on football my whole life. You know? But, you know, if you can just sort of let that go and just say to yourself, you know what? Maybe I'm not as good at this as I think I am. I'm just gonna follow pace. Just I'm only going to follow pace's calls or pace and Kenny's calls or, you know, a couple of pros that maybe you've tracked for a couple of weeks, something along those lines, and you just say, I'm just going to do that. I think you'll will very quickly, 1, learn a lot more about this sport that you think you're an expert in, and and realize that you're not. And, you'll limit a lot of, your your your downside variance, by by limiting the number of people that you choose to tail. I think that that's an important thing when people first come in because I pace, I remember when I you know, in that first 6 months, especially early on, you know, I joined in July, so there wasn't a lot of sports going on.

Shane Mercer [00:35:42]:

It was just baseball mainly. But but let's let's fast forward a couple months to, say, September when things start to ramp up a little bit. September October. Right? You got football in. Now we got football, baseball, playoff baseball, NBA's rolling in, NHL's rolling in, and college football. Pesach, I know you're a huge, fan of, and and you're you're right into it. And, I was just trying to tell everything all the time. Right? If I had the time to be at the desk and bet on sports, I was there, and I was tailing every call.

Shane Mercer [00:36:09]:

I was tailing every pregame call being made. And and big shout out to Schroeder and, and to Viceroy Tim, a couple of guys, Viceroy calling our our UFC stuff. Awesome. Schroeder's awesome with the pregame calls, and they've got great track records. You know? But when you start trying to tell everybody all the time, you really open yourself up to to to downside variance everywhere. And and that was something I had to sort of learn how to manage myself.

Andrew Pace [00:36:37]:

But I think if you take that a step further too, Shane, one of the things with this industry is this whole FOMO. You know, you can't miss out. You kinda just touched on that. But you also might start wagering a bunch of other people's bets as well. Like, a buddy might say something to you and you take that too, or, like, someone that's not a pro in the group that's, like, just firing picks out. Like, we see a lot of guys that will come and go that that don't, you know, kinda drop their ego, and they're just firing their picks out and a bunch of people take them because they won, like, 2 in a row at one point. They only see the wins. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:37:07]:

They didn't see the losses. And you end up taking all these bets rather than owning everything and taking responsibility and staying in your lane and, you know, doing what works for you. Yeah. So that that's definitely something that's, that's really important. So it sounds like you almost graduated from feeling like you have to be in on all of these different things to going like, hey. I'm gonna be working from this time to this time for these reasons. Yeah. Right?

Shane Mercer [00:37:34]:

And if those other things you know, if Pace has a great hockey call during that time when I'm already working, then cool. I'll tell that hockey call. You know? But I am gonna be focusing on on this over here, and that's my primary focus. And and that's kind of yeah. That that was kind of my approach at that time, and that was kind of my approach again, this past season as well, in in a lot of ways. But it didn't quite go exactly as I as I had planned.

Andrew Pace [00:38:01]:

Yeah. So what you okay. So you kinda hit 50,000. I think we're kind of

Shane Mercer [00:38:04]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:38:05]:

We're kind of into we're into April of 2023 now. So Exactly. Walk us through the next 50 g's.

Shane Mercer [00:38:10]:

Well, then this is this was almost harder. I would say this was harder, which is strange because usually it's not. Right? I think a lot of people find it easier. But I also there's gonna be a lot to touch on here, Pysz, because we're gonna get into the conversation around scalability and bankroll. And my approach, I I took a very deliberate approach back at this time that I knew I was limiting my scalability, and we can kind of get into that a little bit, if you want. But just to give you just to give you sort of a a a quick sort of Kohl's notes of the past year, I didn't do a whole lot of profit from April to, say, September, in that time frame. Did, you know, did did fairly well with playoffs, NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, but then, you know, tried to do a lot of baseball stuff that that didn't work out, stuff that I had, some successes when I first joined inplayLIVE. But the the amount of time put into this one particular strategy and and the ROI, made it pretty clear that it wasn't worth it.

Shane Mercer [00:39:16]:

You know, and and, also trying to apply some of the same strategies that I used for women's college basketball on other basketball around the world. Not a good idea. Don't do that. You you know?

Andrew Pace [00:39:30]:

I love it.

Shane Mercer [00:39:31]:

Right? Like, I think there's probably a lot of people who go through these things. Right? When you find something works off, it worked over here. Why can't it work over here? Or maybe I can find a way to make it work over here. But, you know, at that point, you know, you're it's like a square peg into a round hole. Right? It's is not gonna fit. And I

Andrew Pace [00:39:45]:

love I love hearing these stories of people that, they go like, you this is, again, this journey of following, then graduating, then taking ownership, and then where the ownership takes you that, like, is like a whack a mole back banging you back going, like, you know, where there are lessons that I've learned myself, but I could tell you about those lessons and you would learn something from me, but you don't learn them Yeah. Yeah. Until you live them.

Shane Mercer [00:40:13]:

You gotta I yeah. Exactly. And, you know, if you if you can learn from other people's mistakes and really, you know, take the lesson to heart, then good on you. Kudos to you. It's very easy to say that you can do that. It's a whole other thing to actually do it. Right. I'm a I'm the kind of person I just have to learn the hard way for the lesson to actually stick, and, yeah, it can be frustrating at times.

Shane Mercer [00:40:37]:

So, anyway, that that's kinda how the summer went. But, also, we have to mix into this pace. We launched this podcast as well during some of that period. And, to to say that this podcast, you know, is is, you know, sort of ancillary to my success would would be a complete understatement. It is fundamental and foundational, I think, in a lot of ways too, because, you know, we get so many people on here, and I get to talk to you on a regular basis, and I get to talk to some of the other pros on a regular basis and talk about the industry as a whole and just be immersed in it. So, I don't want I don't want to, downplay that side of things. And, I'm really happy and proud of what we're doing here, on the podcast. So, you know, that that leads us through the summer, and I come in I come to Vancouver for the retreat.

Shane Mercer [00:41:20]:

I meet you. I meet a bunch of the other pros, and, you know, we we hang out, have a great time. That would that was really awesome and celebrate the success of the previous year. That was super cool. And, you know, meet a guy like Mark Pendleton in person and a few of the other guys that, I've, sort of formed a bit of a group with, guys that, you know, I could bounce ideas off of and bounce things off of through the through the year and just collaborate with. Great to just meet people in person at that event. And, you know, you leave that feeling renewed and refreshed and ready to sort of take on a new sports year beginning in September.

Andrew Pace [00:41:51]:

Yeah. Totally. Yep.

Shane Mercer [00:41:53]:

You know, that that was pretty awesome. And, yeah. And so I had a, the other thing too is now I've got a year under my belt at inplayLIVE, and I've got a a vision. I've got a clear vision of what my sports year looks like now. Right? Whereas before, I was sort of just sort of finding my way through it and kinda bouncing around. Now I've got a plan. But things don't always go according to plan, do they?

Andrew Pace [00:42:17]:

No. I mean, you kind of actually alluded to that with the previous baseball season. You know, you referenced a strategy that was working that maybe wasn't the next season. And it's so easy mentally to be like, oh, I'm so excited for this now and do all the same things and then think they're just you think they're just gonna work forever. They they don't necessary it doesn't necessarily work that way.

Shane Mercer [00:42:35]:

It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. And, so, anyway, football, though, was a real bright spot in that because the previous football season, I was still in that very sort of small number area and growing. And, yes, I was 6 x ing, but it wasn't you know, it was a lot of frustration going on there. Then this football season was was just like it was nice. I was learning more, and I think the in play live strategies shifted a little bit from the previous NFL season. And, they they evolved. And, I was able to sort of really approach that from a learning perspective, whereas the previous NFL season, I was still caught up in a ton of bad habits, still thinking I knew more than other people, still thinking, you know, all those things.

Shane Mercer [00:43:15]:

Whereas this NFL season, I was like, alright. I I know. You know? Like, let's see what what they're doing, see how it works, and sort of follow along and sort of embrace the changes and kinda just go with it. And, there were some really, really solid football strategies that that kind of, you know, sort of helped me get back on a path to growing at the bankroll again and sort of ramping up again. And that was, that that was a fantastic NFL season.

Andrew Pace [00:43:39]:

Come September, Shane, is your bankroll below 50,000 now?

Shane Mercer [00:43:43]:

Yeah. So well okay. Let's talk about that then. This is another aspect. This gets into the conversation around scalability. So I made very conscious choices after my run to reduce my bankroll and take my profits. Now, hey. So Okay.

Shane Mercer [00:43:57]:

You will advise against this. And No. I won't. Well, I mean No. I absolutely won't. I I think you have, but I maybe in this case, you won't or in certain cases. But, you know, I knew I guess the the point is is that I did this consciously knowing that taking profits, taking the money that I've made, and pulling them out of the books is going to significantly inhibit my ability to scale. And Sure.

Shane Mercer [00:44:22]:

I was okay with it. I I made that decision. And so for, basically, that whole April, 2023 to, say, September 2023, I operated with a $10,000 bankroll.

Andrew Pace [00:44:36]:

Okay.

Shane Mercer [00:44:37]:

I took all that money out, put it in the bank, and I I've used it to to pay for things, big things in my life. Big things I wouldn't have been able to do without

Andrew Pace [00:44:46]:

it. Anything you wanna share?

Shane Mercer [00:44:47]:

Or Well, the the biggest thing overall is is my wife's education. She yeah. So Wow. During this, during during all of this, a big part of, what what came up and, you know, my wife, my, mother of my 3 wonderful daughters. She's had a lifelong

Andrew Pace [00:45:05]:

That's powerful shit, dude.

Shane Mercer [00:45:06]:

She's had a lifelong goal of becoming a teacher. She did her undergrad. And, in the final year of her undergrad, we had our first daughter, Stella. And, that would have been 2013. Fast forward now, it's the it's January 2023, and I'm just getting on this hot run, right, of betting women's college basketball. And and my wife comes to me and says, look. Like, I'm never gonna be able to make more money in my career unless I go and I get my teaching certificate. So this was something that, you know, she graduated with her undergrad, but never took the next step to become a fully certified teacher because we started having kids and having a family and all that sort of stuff.

Shane Mercer [00:45:47]:

Right? These are the the the the challenges and the balancing act that women have to do in our in our world and in our society. And, anyway, she came to me and said, look. I wanna take this program. It's a master's course. It'll also get me my teaching certificate, and, it's gonna cost about 40,000 US.

Andrew Pace [00:46:05]:

Jeez.

Shane Mercer [00:46:05]:

And if, yeah, if this had happened any other time in my life, I would have been like, are you fucking kidding me? We can't afford that. What are you talking about? There's no way this is gonna happen. Blah blah blah. The excuses would have piled up, but guess what? I was I was crushing it over here at inplayLIVE. And you know what? I didn't even also this too. inplayLIVE changed the way that I think about money in a lot of ways, but that that's a much bigger philosophical conversation. And, anyway, in the moment when she came to me, I just said, cool.

Shane Mercer [00:46:29]:

Do it. Sign up. Go. Wow. Just like that bag. Didn't even think twice about it. I'm like, cool. Go for it.

Shane Mercer [00:46:35]:

We'll figure it out as we go. And, here we are a year later. In fact, pace, this is her last week of school. She graduates Wow. Coming up. Wow. In at the beginning of May, she will be graduating.

Andrew Pace [00:46:46]:

Chills, man. That's fucking nuts.

Shane Mercer [00:46:48]:

Like, when you talk about in time investment, money investment, investing in education like this is a life time of reaping the rewards of that investment. And so when you when you look at it and say, I made, you know, I made that chunk of money during that time and I pulled all that money out, I didn't just pull it out and spend it on stuff. Right? I pulled it out. Right. I invested it in my wife, in her education.

Andrew Pace [00:47:15]:

In your family.

Shane Mercer [00:47:16]:

In my family.

Andrew Pace [00:47:16]:

Your family.

Shane Mercer [00:47:17]:

And so that she can now go, and, she'll be a fully certified teacher. Come come, you know, in in in just a couple of weeks. And she's got a master's degree as well, which sort of helps catapult her, up to a higher, pay level, in the province of Ontario. And so it's Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:47:32]:

You can, it means you can retire.

Shane Mercer [00:47:34]:

It means I can sit back and relax a little bit.

Andrew Pace [00:47:36]:

It was the best investment ever. Yeah. No. That that's incredible. Okay. So So, anyway, congrats. Like, huge congrats. Right?

Shane Mercer [00:47:43]:

Thank you. Yeah. Go ahead. But but this gets us back to that whole conversation around scalability. So I pulled this money out. Right? And then I'd said I consciously said to myself, and not just to myself, but to a couple of the guys that in my group, I said, look. I'm not operating with a 20,000 or a $10,000 bankroll. Right? And they're like, really? Like, you know, like, you know, mixed mixed reviews.

Shane Mercer [00:48:01]:

For you. Yeah. But For you. You know, Sure. Right? But but people, like, like, you know, the the guys who do you know, guys like you, other guys who have even, you know, hit the 100,000 club or or, you know, beyond that. Even if you're in the 50,000 range, you might be thinking to yourself, holy shit. You're gonna go back to a $10,000 bankroll. You know? It's not easy.

Shane Mercer [00:48:20]:

It's not easy. Right? You you go from, you know, you go from betting $500, a spin to a $100 a spin. It's kinda, you know, it it can take the excitement out a little bit. Right? But at the same time, if you know that what you're doing is making a responsible decision, then you kinda live with it. Right? You're cool with it. And when you're losing, like I was during that time, you know, trying to trying to fit a a square peg in a round hole, you know, you actually really appreciate that you're not losing more. Right? And and, you know, trying to trying to do some things with baseball that weren't panning out. So, you know, you kind of appreciate.

Shane Mercer [00:48:56]:

So it gets back to where where's my bankroll at come the beginning of the 2023 NFL season? Well, it's only down in the, $10,000 range. I'm operating with a $10,000 bankroll. But as things went on, as the season went on, I I upgraded and we had some success and, you know, I was able to, to grow that bankroll again. And, I started operating with a $20,000 bankroll. And, as, time went on, you know, I got back into what I was doing the previous year, And, that didn't it it it it started off really well, but the season didn't go the way I thought it would, when it came to college basketball, both men's and women's because we did really well on both the previous year. And, this year was this this past college basketball season just wasn't the same. It wasn't a losing season by any stretch of the imagination, but it was, it was harder. It was a harder season in a lot of ways, both on the men's side and the women's side.

Shane Mercer [00:49:57]:

I would say, you know, the men's side was was extremely difficult, and I basically put that to the side. But on the women's side of things, I thought the books would stay the same. And what a mistake I made. One of my joke, Shane. Right? I thought the books would stay the same, especially on something that's kind of, like, considered a small market. You know, the other side of this too is, you know, I'm not operating with a huge bank. Well, I'm operating with a $20,000 bankroll to to start the season. And, so getting money in isn't really a big concern of mine.

Shane Mercer [00:50:24]:

Right? Even though this is a smaller market and guys like you, PACE, have a hard time getting money in on certain things in this area. That wasn't that wasn't a big issue for me, really. And it started off well, but then I quickly realized, wait. These books aren't gonna offer all these games like they used to? Oh, wait. And this book over here is only offering 25% of the games they used to? Oh, and that book that I used to track all the games is only offering a quarter of the games, and I can only track a quarter of the games that are taking place on this book now. There were a whole bunch of challenges that I just I did not. Not only did I I it's not even like I just didn't expect them. I didn't even consider that it was possible that this could happen.

Shane Mercer [00:51:06]:

Right. It was it was a real sort of, yeah. It it was a it was a a definite, you know, learning, experience again. Right. But all of that to say, I found ways to make it work when it came to, women's college basketball, And, you know, was able to to to close out the season, close it out well overall. So yeah. And that that's kind of what what got me, all the way back up over that 100,000 mark in profit.

Andrew Pace [00:51:38]:

So, like, again, like, just putting things into strictly, like, investment ROI, not time ROI.

Shane Mercer [00:51:44]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:51:44]:

If I look at your journey, we're talking about 1,000 to 6,000 approximately in those first 6 months. Yep. Yep. 600% ROI. Then like the 6,000 to $50,000 jump in like 3 months.

Shane Mercer [00:51:54]:

Yep. Right? Yeah. Very nice.

Andrew Pace [00:51:56]:

And that that being like a real successful run there, but that's like a 900% ROI in that 2 month time frame. And then this reset, which also included some some, some losses, reset with the the big purchase there. And then this 10,000 to essentially $60,000 run, again. And that one you're happy about.

Shane Mercer [00:52:20]:

It's the same. Yeah. You look

Andrew Pace [00:52:21]:

What's the ROI and time frame?

Andrew Pace [00:52:24]:

What's the ROI and time frame?

Shane Mercer [00:52:25]:

Wow. Yeah. That's hilarious. I never even thought about that.

Andrew Pace [00:52:28]:

But but, like, if I'm if I'm listening to this, like, some of the key takeaways are are this time commitment being the investment, but the time commitment compounding from the standpoint of now you have leveraged this first 6 months in such a massive capacity because of the success that it's gonna bring your wife and your family long term.

Shane Mercer [00:52:47]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:52:48]:

Like, what a leverage there.

Shane Mercer [00:52:49]:

Got it.

Andrew Pace [00:52:49]:

Yeah. Put in this 6 months up front that's gonna be, that was painful. That is going to give for the rest of your lives. That's gonna be a better pension. That's gonna be a better income year to year. That's gonna be something that's like a huge learning lesson for both you and your wife to teach your daughters of, like, short term pain, long term gain

Shane Mercer [00:53:11]:

Mhmm.

Andrew Pace [00:53:12]:

And what you went through there.

Shane Mercer [00:53:13]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:53:13]:

Right? So it's a time that you were mad, you were frustrated about. And then the next is just taking all those obviously, you have that that 6 to 50 is like a real that was a real big, you know, cup few months. Yeah. That was huge. Freaking massive. Yeah. It was freaking massive.

Shane Mercer [00:53:29]:

It really was. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:53:30]:

So that might be a little bit of an outlier in the whole thing, but then again, you just repeated the process of this sort of 6 x in in about 6 months time frame again, that you're thrilled with.

Shane Mercer [00:53:39]:

Yeah. Yeah. Very, very happy.

Andrew Pace [00:53:41]:

Because now you have some of that scalability. And also too, you're like, hey, you know, you might think poorly of this that I pulled out the money. Well, what you did with that money is is absolutely phenomenal. I don't think poorly of that at all. But, actually, I'm I'm gonna kinda take that a step further because what you did there in realizing profits and investing them, because what you did was invested them Yeah. Is really powerful. And there's a lot of different ways to do that. Right? Like, that could be buying stocks.

Andrew Pace [00:54:06]:

That could be, buying, you know, some some other form of investment of any kind that could exist, real estate, whatever the case may be, where now you've realized some of those gains, and, yes, your bankroll got smaller. But now you have passive investments working on your behalf. And in this case, it's kind of funny to refer to your wife as a passive investment, but that's precisely what it is. Right? It's precisely what it is. So you you have these passive investments that are working for you behind the scenes. Now, you're you're talking about this 10 to $20,000 bankroll. Well, you say that as if it's small when most viewers that hear this or the average human being in North America is gonna be like, I'd kill someone for $10,000. I could pay my debts, and I could do this, and I could do that.

Andrew Pace [00:54:53]:

Right? You find your sweet spot. And I think, Shane, you know this, like, it wasn't that long ago. It was, I think, 6 or 8 weeks ago that I announced to the whole group, I reset my bankroll to $20,000. Like, I've hit the 6 figure club off of that in 6 weeks, 8 weeks. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I've literally hit the 6 figure club off of that initial amount, but you know, I have money behind in my fearlessness with that 20,000 is gonna be a little bit exaggerated Yeah. Compared to maybe what we preach.

Andrew Pace [00:55:26]:

But with sportsbooks limiting players and scalability, it isn't infinite. It isn't like, oh, I'm just gonna go buy Berkshire top end of how much money you can get in on everything from minor markets in a in a sport that no one follows to the NFL main markets to the NFL minor markets. Like, those numbers vary and they vary at different sportsbooks. And it can be easy on some sports to get 5 to $10,000 bets in. And for other sports, it's actually impossible. Like, I'm not gonna be like, oh, you can do it, but this is how you do it. It's it's gonna be impossible in some cases. So you hit this sweet spot of where, like, resetting to a certain size is actually becomes your comfort zone.

Andrew Pace [00:56:20]:

So, like, in your case, this $10,000 reset, $100 bet, I would have advised against that. I would have said reset to the $10,000, but I wanna see you placing $250 wagers. I don't wanna see you placing a $100 wagers. Right? But that might not be your comfort zone. But that's what I would say I I would have done. Personally, if I reset to 10,000, I'd probably be betting about 500 to a 1000 per wager, like, pretty comfortably. But, again, that isn't someone resetting with if you don't have the money behind, then I would say 250 would be the max. Right? But regardless of what that level is, you find your sweet spot where now now you're sitting in a spot, you know, you pass a 6 figure club, $107,000 total.

Andrew Pace [00:57:03]:

You don't have that 107,000 just sitting there. It's not there.

Shane Mercer [00:57:06]:

It's long gone.

Andrew Pace [00:57:07]:

A bunch of it's gone. You've used it for different things. Right?

Shane Mercer [00:57:09]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:57:10]:

So you have to find that sweet spot. Right? And and maybe the sweet spot for you is around that 20 to $30,000 range where you do go, hey. I'm placing wagers in the 3 to $600 range. And that's kind of, you know, where I really feel comfortable. And maybe in a year's time, you might look at it and go that 3 to 600 just isn't moving the needle. I've made more profit, and now I'm really comfortable in this sort of $1,000 range. And the nice thing about all those numbers is is you're really not in a position where there's a few there's gonna be times, but you're really not in a position where you're like, okay. It's really hard to get this $1,000 down.

Andrew Pace [00:57:43]:

I think you'll find that using multiple sportsbooks, you can still easily place, you know, a a $1,000 a $1,000 wagers. Once you get above that, that's where, again, you don't have the choice of of scaling a ton. You have to have this sort of content level of of where you're at with those numbers. Now there's something that if you were listening to this and you went through this whole journey, you said you started with $1,000. You didn't have a job.

Andrew Pace [00:58:12]:

I do the math, and I'm like, so you made a $100 grand in a year and a half? Like, it's not great money, Shane.

Shane Mercer [00:58:17]:

No. It's really not. And, I did get a job along the way. I did get a day job along the way. I got a day job pretty early on, in that in that sort of journey. So, you know, in July 2022, join inplayLIVE. I got the day job, in a full time capacity mid October 2022. And, so so, you know, that that that really the the day job too helped in a lot of ways because, one, breathe, relax, can use the day job, pay all the bills, pay all the things, keep the family going, all of that.

Shane Mercer [00:58:48]:

But it was, it was on my terms. And this was another aspect too of when I was looking for a job. I'm sort of at a point in my career where I was like, you know, I'm I'm gonna be a stickler for things. You know? And I I know what I can do out there and, and in my career and just a level of confidence, I guess. And I guess this just comes with time and age and experience, but I was able to sort of, find a job that worked really well for me, for my life, for my family's life, and for my ability to do this. And, and and they were totally cool with it all. In fact, I even mentioned because at Pace by this time too, I had done a little bit of, work with you, not sports betting related, but a little bit of work with you and the team at inplayLIVE in terms of, media coverage and that kind of thing. So when it came time to to take on this day job, it was, it was actually brought up.

Shane Mercer [00:59:38]:

I said to them, I'm like, I do this other thing, you know, with this company over here on the side. Yeah. Are you cool with it? And they said, yep. Totally cool with it. I was like, sweet.

Andrew Pace [00:59:47]:

Nothing like bringing up in an interview that you're a full time gambler.

Shane Mercer [00:59:50]:

Yeah. Well, you know, this this wasn't have been the first interview. This would have been, you know, a couple a couple air. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bring it out.

Andrew Pace [00:59:59]:

That you'd sign the contract. Hey, guys. I gotta let you know. I gamble on sports full time.

Shane Mercer [01:00:04]:

I gamble on sports full time, but, yeah, I work with a sports betting company. So, yeah, look. I I have that. And and and here's another side of things too. Right? Like, a lot of people want to and, you know, it's funny. When I first reached out to you, my idea was, hey. Can I quit my job? Right? Can I quit my job and do this full time? That's what I that's that's sort of what I had envisioned. Hey.

Shane Mercer [01:00:20]:

So I'm at a place now where it's like, no, you know, no offense to you or any of the pros at inplayLIVE or anybody else who does this for a living. Kudos to you. Absolutely. You've made it work. I don't know that that's something that I would wanna do as a full time job and make my living off of it. You know, I I have a career as a journalist, and in a lot of ways, that's kind of who I am. It's a big part of my identity. And Right.

Shane Mercer [01:00:48]:

You know, I I like to think that I do some some important work at least some of the time, in that capacity. And it's just not something that I I think I would ever really leave behind. But I also was we were talking I was talking about this with with a few of the other guys at inplayLIVE before, and it was like, how much money do you need to make from sports betting before you would say to yourself, I'm willing to give up all this other money over here. Right? So if I have a job like I do that allows me to still be able to, bet on sports on a regular basis and and have the time to do it. Right? Because I work from home, I work remotely. I have I have more time than maybe somebody else who's doing a 9 to 5 that has to commute an hour to work every day. But how much money would you need to make? Right? And I started to have a like, I would need to probably make $500,000 a year off of betting on sports before I would even say to myself, I don't want that money over there. Right? Like like, at what point do you like, how much money do you have to make before you start rejecting money? Right? Like, that's right.

Shane Mercer [01:01:51]:

That's what that's how I look at it. Right? It's how much money would I need to make to say that, you know let let's just say, for example, you know, a $100,000 a year in Canada is a is an excellent salary. I think most people would kinda say that, you know, and it's becoming harder and harder to to to live off much less than that these days. But, you know, in the past, that was sort of kind of the sunshine. Right? Somebody who made a $100,000 a year. So how much money would you need to make off of sports betting to say you don't want that $100,000 over there?

Andrew Pace [01:02:21]:

Sure.

Shane Mercer [01:02:22]:

Yeah. And that's kind of the way I look at it. So

Andrew Pace [01:02:24]:

Yeah. And I think that too, though, just like from a skill set standpoint and everything that we do, like you said, you look at money differently now, and I'm sure there's, like, probably we could go on for hours about, you know, some of the different things that you've learned, over the course of, you know, the the sort of year and a half or, you know, approaching 2 years of of of doing this, but, you know, the worlds can start to collide, you know, and and those opportunities could very much come your way in the future where it's like, hey, journalism, sports betting.

Shane Mercer [01:02:52]:

Yeah. Right? Yeah. And there's definitely a market for that out there. Absolutely. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [01:02:58]:

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, I think it's really cool. One one kinda underlying theme in this that we haven't brought up was just, like, you you you didn't do this as a living with a $1200 start. You had 3 months to kinda get started with it, but you got a full time job. So full time job, wife, 3 daughters. So let's just touch on that.

Andrew Pace [01:03:20]:

How have you managed to to have them be okay with it? How have you managed your time?

Shane Mercer [01:03:27]:

Yeah. Well

Andrew Pace [01:03:27]:

Like, because the reason why I say it, Shane, is probably the the biggest reason of why people wouldn't do this or that try it and don't continue to do it.

Shane Mercer [01:03:38]:

Yeah. So, a couple of things on that. The day job that I have now, like I said, working remotely, allows me to be at home from here. I don't miss dinners with my kid. I tuck them in at night. I coach 3 soccer teams, all 3 of their soccer teams. Right? There you go.

Andrew Pace [01:03:53]:

Add that to the plight of the things that I just brought up.

Shane Mercer [01:03:55]:

Yeah. Right? But but, like, you know, that that is time spent with them. Right? Having fun with them, playing with them, giving them time and attention. And, that, is something that I didn't do for a long time. Wow. And that's something that I didn't get a chance to do when I was at that job, when I was reaching out to you and emailing you.

Andrew Pace [01:04:18]:

And before you were betting before you were betting?

Shane Mercer [01:04:20]:

Before I was betting. When I was in that More powerful. More powerful shit. When I was in that job, that job owned my life. Like, I don't I don't even that's not an exaggeration. I was on like, I'm working for a 24 hour news channel. And not only am I working for it, but I'm I'm in a sort of, a supervising kind of role, a management role. And so that means doing on call rotations.

Shane Mercer [01:04:47]:

Long, long days, like, literally working from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. And then when the weekend rolls around, you might have the weekend off, but you're on call. So if shit hits the fan on that weekend, you're getting a call, and you might have to work at the drop of a guy.

Andrew Pace [01:05:01]:

Shit always hits the fan.

Shane Mercer [01:05:02]:

Shit always hits the fan. And so, and I did that for a long time. I was in that I was in that one, at that one workplace for for, 10 years. And so, when you talk about about time management, I don't Payson, I'm at a point in my life and have been since joining inplayLIVE and and throughout it where I've been able to give plenty of time, and I have found plenty of time to give to the family, to the kids, in order in in ways that I was never able to to do before. And, you know, with with sports betting and that side of things, it's easy to kind of just leave it at times too. Right? It's like, oh, you know, we have a soccer game tonight. Alright. I'm gonna miss I'm gonna miss this game or this you know, we've got you know, towards the end of May, the the soccer season will begin, and we might have a couple of, playoff games, maybe an NHL playoff game and an NBA playoff game in the same night.

Shane Mercer [01:05:56]:

And if I can be there for the for it, then I'm there for it. And if I'm not there for it, then I'm not there for it. And that's not a big deal.

Andrew Pace [01:06:03]:

So, I mean, I guess what I'm hearing there because I think, like, there's a lot. Right? The perspective or or you didn't have it at all to an have what you wanted or or or you didn't have it at all to an extent. So, like, you have this great perspective. It allows you to then categorize things. You're not betting while you're coaching.

Shane Mercer [01:06:26]:

No. I mean Right?

Andrew Pace [01:06:28]:

You you you know, like, these are the times that I'm doing these things with my family. This is why I'm doing it these times, and they probably know on the alternative. Like, daddy's working right now.

Shane Mercer [01:06:38]:

Yep.

Andrew Pace [01:06:39]:

Like, you know, I'm going downstairs, and I'm I'm helping mom go through school. I'm I'm, here's the next, you know, 50,000 for, you know, our trips or, you know, which obviously isn't, isn't an investment in something monetary again, but might be an investment in long term happiness and experiences. And like, a lot of these discussions, I'll talk about things that will end up being monetary, but at the end of the day, like, what if you and your family never did anything together? And because you're just such a stickler for all the cash that you have. Right? So there there's a lot into it, but full time job, 3 daughters, wife, full time sports bettor, and coach more soccer teams than, Zana Dain Zidane there. So, Shane, man, like, huge congrats. You're a testament to the success that, we preach in the community. It didn't come overnight. Like, obviously, you spent a lot of time, and it's not over yet.

Shane Mercer [01:07:35]:

It's nowhere near over yet.

Andrew Pace [01:07:36]:

You're just getting started.

Shane Mercer [01:07:37]:

I do feel like I'm just getting started. I really do feel like I'm just getting started. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [01:07:41]:

Yeah. So, I mean, you emailed me up front, you know, kinda checking into the validity of what it is that we did. You did research before joining. Took you a year, maybe took you a little too long. You know, you you once you joined, you asked for help. You gained perspective on your first 1,000 to 6,000. It took a lot of time to gain that perspective, but you continued to learn. You took ownership for your bank role that led to you doing some of your own things through some of the strategies that, you know, we we coached, but owned that, became an expert in that area while letting us become experts in the ones that we were.

Andrew Pace [01:08:21]:

You stayed with your finger on the pulse. We didn't talk about this, but you tracked all your wagers, and you could track things to the extent where you'd go, okay. Pace is really excelling in this area. He's now the expert in this. I'm gonna follow him in this category every single time he speaks about it. Yeah. That's that allows me to shift focus from this to this for this brief moment and then go back to what it is that I'm an expert at. And and that isn't just me.

Andrew Pace [01:08:43]:

Of course, you did that for the other pros as well. Mhmm.

Andrew Pace [01:08:46]:

And then a big part of it here is, you reached out, to Mark Penelton. So huge kudos to him, but the message there is you reached out for help, and you it really engulfed yourself in the community and became a face of the community, obviously, through the podcast and things like that, but it was because you reached out. I'm I'm never gonna invite you on to a podcast if I didn't know you were a journalist in the first place. So you reached out to prominent people to to to get help and and to, you know, immerse yourself in things. And, all of that has led to where you are now. So, just huge congrats, man. You're you are the reason this community exists. Like, it's the people like you.

Andrew Pace [01:09:28]:

It is. It's the people like you that we built this for. So if you guys think you're the kind of person, you know, that can can put in the time, energy, and effort like Shane, we got the promo code there 'BEHINDTHELINES'. And Shane, I'll say it this week. Until next time, keep beating those books.

Shane Mercer [01:09:44]:

Thanks, buddy. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Behind the Lines. Remember to like, download, and subscribe. We are on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcasts. Have a betting story or wanna be featured on our podcast? Drop a note in the comments below. And if you wanna join inplayLIVE, use promo code 'BEHINDTHELINES'.