Reviews
Introduction
It's a beautiful, bright Saturday afternoon, and you're stuck shopping for new
furniture, when what you really wanted to do was take advantage of a great card at your
local racetrack. There were a few horses you wanted to bet if you got your price,
but now you're out of luck because they have neither a tote board or tellers at your local
Ikea Furniture Superstore. Out of luck again....or are you? Not if you have a
copy of CherryPickr, the new e-Book and companion code written by Gregory M. Johnson that
transforms your PC into your very own unattended automatic betting machine!
Installation
When you order the CherryPickr e-Book ($24.95) from www.handi2k.com, you are given instant access to a 3MB self-extracting ZIP
file which contains the actual e-Book in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. If you don't have
the Adobe Acrobat reader, you can easily download a free copy from the Adobe web site.
Also contained within the ZIP file are 19 separate macros that work within
CherryPickr, as well as a Visual Basic Script file which contains the logic that
determines whether or not a bet is made. If you were afraid that there would be
actual programming necessary to get CherryPickr going, you'll be pleased to learn that
there is no programming required, unless you wish to customize CherryPickr for your own
unique style of wagering.
Since CherryPickr is merely an e-Book with directions and macros that enable
automatic wagering through YouBet, you are also going to need a piece of software that
puts this all together, the engine which actually runs the automated tasks. To that
end you are also going to need to purchase a software product called AutoMate
from a company called Unisyn Software. This product will run you $59.95 and is
available on the web at www.unisyn.com. Luckily, AutoMate is available in a 30-day-trial version.
When combined with CherryPickr's 100% Satisfaction Money Back Guarantee, you really
risk nothing if you're interested in trying the concept of automatic wagering.
AutoMate is a code-free development tool that enables you to create
"tasks" that your PC can execute automatically. AutoMate and
Unisyn have absolutely nothing to do with CherryPickr and Gregory Johnson...they are
indeed separate companies and products. However, automation software is absolutely
necessary to run the CherryPickr concept, and Mr. Johnson recommends AutoMate for
use with CherryPickr.
What it essentially boils
down to is this: The CherryPickr e-Book is an instruction manual with macros and
code included that shows you how to set up the AutoMate software to place bets
through YouBet automatically and completely unattended. It does this by reading your
selections and oddsline, then scanning the virtual tote board at www.racingchannel.com, and then determining if it makes a bet according to the
programming logic contained within the Visual Basic Script file.
After you download and
install the AutoMate software, you can easily import the macros included in the
CherryPickr ZIP file. These 19 macros and the Visual Basic Script file have already
been programmed to allow CherryPickr to do its thing in combination with YouBet, your
picks and oddsline, and www.racingchannel.com, however, there are still a few minor adjustments you must
make, such as telling CherryPickr which track you will be playing and when.
Error Watching
So many things can go wrong on a PC when nobody is watching. You can lose
your internet connection without warning, web pages may become temporarily inaccessible,
etc. If any of these things were to happen while your PC was sitting there alone,
waiting to make a bet for you, the results could be financially unrewarding.
Never fear! Included among the 19 macros in the CherryPickr download are 11
Error Watch macros that are programmed to respond to unexpected events, and most
importantly, to allow CherryPickr to continue to function correctly in the face of these
odd occurrences.
In addition, you will be able to easily add additional Error Watch macros for any
unique runtime problems your particular PC setup may encounter. The actual
flexibility of AutoMate is quite impressive. With a little imagination, one
could probably make any tedious PC process automatic with this software and the knowledge
contained in the CherryPickr e-Book.
Tote Watching
The Tote Board watching procedure included with the e-Book is designed to work with
the Racing Channel tote board as viewed in the Netscape Browser. However, it is a
relatively simple procedure to modify the task to work with alternative browsers and tote
boards.
The procedure itself continuously monitors the virtual tote board, checks to see
whether you have made selections for this particular race, calls the Visual Basic Decision
Script, and starts the YouBet WagerPad if it indeed determines have a valid bet to place.
Make That Bet!
The Visual Basic Script
file is the procedure that determines if a bet is to be made. By default, the script
checks the snapshot file made by the tote watching procedure to see if there are 4 or less
minutes to post. If there are, the script then checks to see if a pre-written text
file exists which contains the posts and fair odds of your contenders in the race.
There is a separate text file for each race you wish to consider playing. If all
these conditions are met, the script then determines which contenders are actual bets
based on a comparison of your odds line and the current odds on the virtual tote
board. You can easily modify the logic contained within the script to allow for
preset betting edges, as well as other methods of wagering besides the default win
wagering that is included with the e-Book.
If a bet is to be made, the VB script outputs the post numbers to a separate text
file, which is then in turn read by the AutoMate WagerPad procedure which is the
task that actually opens the YouBet WagerPad and makes the (hopefully) winning wager!
Then the process begins anew for the next race on the card, all the while without
you needing to be present in front of your PC, blindly staring at a tote board all day
long.
Conclusions
Non-value players never really faced a problem getting their bets
down while they were doing something else. They'd just make their picks, phone the
bets in before the first race, then go off and do their own thing and check the results
later.
CherryPickr now gives the value conscious player the freedom and options once
reserved for the less sophisticated non-value player who had better things to do than sit
at the track or OTB, or in front of his/her computer all day long.
The biggest drawback in
using this automatic betting system is that as of this moment, you can only bet one track
at a time using CherryPickr. If you like to play a bunch of tracks on your PC at a
time, you may want to further investigate how one might go about customizing CherryPickr
to accommodate a multiple track style of play, if indeed that is at all possible in the
first place. I know for a fact that Mr. Johnson is open to any and all inquires
about his CherryPickr product via his web site, www.handi2k.com.
Although all that I just
described may sound incredibly complicated, especially for the person who has little or no
programming experience, please be aware once again that Mr. Johnson has included
everything you need to get started with automatic wagering. No programming on your
part will be necessary if you are a win better with your own odds line. And if you
are a bit of a programmer, all the better (pun intended), as you can easily customize the
CherryPickr system to fit your style of play.
CherryPickr represents the beginning of a new era in horseplaying. The stock
markets have had automated program trading for quite some time, and it is only fitting
that horse racing investors get their automatic program trading as well! I have
always wished for a way to make bets while I was off doing something else, but being the
value-conscious player that I am, I never make a bet without knowing the current odds, and
determining if I have a perceived edge. With CherryPickr and AutoMate in hand, my
wish may have finally become a reality, with a little tweaking of course!
Vital Statistics
(What You Need & What It Costs)
CherryPickr e-Book ($24.95)
Unisyn
AutoMate 4.5 software ($59.95 or 30-Day-Trial)
Windows 95, 98, or NT operating system
Netscape 4.0 or higher, or Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
Microsoft Windows Scripting Host
YouBet,
Inc. software 3.0 (earlier versions will also work)
==PA
