Betting on pro football is like Jello wrestling with your best friend's girlfriend. The exhilaration is past anything you're likely to experience that's legal. And the danger, for us thrill junkies, makes it worth the risk of getting caught or losing your bank roll. But there's a smart way to handle the thrills. Check out our Mandates for winning and enjoying NFL betting:

1.) Bet only your Top Picks

This would make sense, but too many people play a much larger slate of games. If there's only one game you feel good about then play that game and only that game. The chance of winning the game you feel best about may be 60% or 65%, the chance of winning the others goes downhill from there. If you have a couple, maybe three games you feel great about, play them. Don't bet games just for the action. The more balls in the air or girls in the Jello, the more likely you lose.

2.) Don't Chase Good Money after Bad

This probably should be #1 as it happens all the time. The weekly NFL schedule is split into four distinct time periods: The early games, the late games, the Sunday night game and the Monday night game. Bettors should not think that way. There is one period: The Weekly Schedule. Don't pick out a bet for each time period. Pick out the best bets. And don't pick out bets for the later games when your bets for the early games are coming undone. You can't catch up on weaker bets, most likely you'll lose more. Good money is bet on games that give you the best chance of winning. Bad money is bet on games trying to make up for the good money lost. Don't do it.

3.) There are no such things as Streaks

One of the easiest ways to lose money won is to up the usual betting amount because you are on a streak. Despite what you hear or read, there is no such thing as a betting streak. Each bet is of itself. You can look back and say that the five bets you won in a row or the stretch when you won 80% was a streak, but you are never in the midst of a streak. Play each bet the way you'll always bet. Don't raise the play because you've been winning. Play each bet as if it's the first time. Upping the bet on the success of yesterday's results may mean disaster today. Yesterday has nothing to do with today.

Take our advice and remember that you play for fun or the thrill whether in the Jello or not. Mmmmmm... Jello.