What is your process for picking teams in a break? Why buy breaks?

Just curious how you all pick your teams for breaks. Do you buy just on your favorites or do you do your research and really dig into the checklists to see who the hits are? Do you know all the up and coming young players (more difficult in baseball than football)? Or are you just looking for the one BIG HIT?

Breaks are great for collectors and dealers as well. That's right for dealers. Why put out thousands of dollars on cases and all the work and time of opening and sorting and then maybe not get much in the way of what your local buyers want? You know your buyers and what they will want. Buy the teams that will sell in your area. Put out a few hundred instead of thousands and not get stuck with hours of opening and sorting (your time is money). As we know some cases are great while others are duds. Can you afford to be out thousands of dollars on a bad case?

My advice...is if a team is your favorite and they are inexpensive it is a great way to collect your favorite team and players. But before I'd put out bigger $$'s on a break I'd really look through the checklist to see all the hits.

The easiest way I have found to do this is to find a checklist on line that shows the players and the teams. Then I use the Control "f" function. This allows me to search the checklist for a key word. I typically will use the team name. For example if I am looking for hits for the Ravens, I hit control "f" and type ravens. This will show that there might be 20 times the raves word shows up in the checklist. You can then scroll through all 20 entries and see if they are auto, relic or base cards. Then make your determination. Obviously the teams with the most sought after players go higher, sometimes even when less overall hits are available. Other times you may find a team with lots of hits but they are not the really big name draw. In this case you can usually get that team a little cheaper and get your money by getting more hits.

My other advice is to look over the available teams and see when the release date is. As the release date approaches most breakers, including myself may offer some specials or discounts. I am always willing to consider offers, but am more flexible once the top teams have sold and I can see exactly how much money I still need to break even. Once I am even, then all bets are off and most reasonable offers are taken.