It is good advice never to forget that the "other side" of the bet is the book itself. The book is entitled to refuse the action of anyone, without stating a reason. If this should happen, the most likely reason is drunk and disorderly conduct, followed by abuse of the staff. But other reasons may also emerge: (a) the wagerer appears to be trading on insider information or (b) the wagerer is too smart for the book and might wind up costing the casino too much money.

Now it really is bad karma for a sports book to admit that a sharp is "too sharp" for it, so reason (b) is really only a logical possibility, not a practical one. Long before the book closes its window to someone who is just too good, it will have taken other measures to "level the playing field," as it were.

Suppose you discover some exotic wager that may have been put up without much thought, perhaps for promotional purposes. It is really a good value, providing a huge edge on one side or another. You go to the window, and say, you want to bet $10,000 on it (as you are convinced it will pay off big time). This will not be permitted. The maximum bet in most books, at least on the props with light action, is around $500. Each casino may alter its policies on maximum bets according to the kind of wager. Bets with a lot of action will have higher maximums. For the super bowl, the book would take the $10 grand bet without blinking.

Now you are smart, and say, well, if I make 20 trips to the window and buy 20 $500 tickets, that will amount to the same thing. The problem is that the odds are not the same on the second trip as on the first. The book will take your first maximum bet of $500, all right, but then it will have moved the line against you. One of the definitional features of the max bet is that it moves the line against the bettor for the next wager.

If for some reason the line did not move after the first trip, it will surely happen after the second. But now suppose the edge is still good enough so that even under the new terms it is worth the maximum bet. The book may take the maximum bet a second time, but then the line may shift emphatically against you. A third attempt at a maximum bet may cause the book just to shut down the prop altogether, or politely say that they can not take any more of your action on it.

One of the fears of the book is that the zealous, maximum bettor is wagering because he or she knows something that no one else does. Now, while it is clearly within the rules of the game to have better handicapping research and clearer analytical thinking than the house does (or the others who might be calling out bets at the window), trading on insider information is not approved of. It may not be illegal in the same sense that the SEC rules punish insider stock trading as securities fraud, but this information could be illegal, depending on how it was acquired. In any event, the book will not want to be a willing victim of, or accomplice to, insider betting. As the book has no legal requirement to accept your money, they will just refuse. End of discussion.

The annoying thing about maximum bets is that they are lower - often much lower -- for the off-beat props that might have really high edges (because they were just ill-conceived or designed to attract action to the book) than for straight bets. One rather well-known example of such a goof was the casino prop on total games won in the basketball tournament. The totals prop on games won by a given team exceeded the number of games the team would play.

The maximum bet rule probably will not apply to the highly studied contests in which finding even a minuscule edge may be a big challenge.

If the bettor's plan is to be making some high-end bets, it is probably a good idea to go say "hi" to the book manager and tip them off about your plans. This can smooth the way when it comes time to get the ticket.