What do you sacrifice for this?

[andicap]

we all know winning takes time and work....what do you give up in order to do this?
E.g., sleep? Do you get 5 or 6 hrs a night.....?
Reading? Do you don't have time to read or do more than scan a newpaper or magazines, etc.
TV?

We all have family obligations, etc...but how are we making room in our lives to devote time to research and handicap?

[sq764]

Its a hobby.. So if some people like to run, its that time we use.. If people like to spend hours building models, or repairing cards, that's the time we use..

Scott

[GR1@HTR]

Good question Andy. I know my handicaping time is very limited..Since I am single (just me and the dog) I have plenty-o-time to do this. I figure I am at my handicapping peak so I better take advantage of it. During this time period, I want to travel to multiple tracks and play lots of tournaments. As soon as I get "hitched" I will be kissing all this great fun goodbye and moving on to other entertaining hobbies...Plus I have a great job now...Sometimes enables me to watch the races on my PC and phone interview folks at the same time--->>All to good to be true!!!

Life is good!

:eek:

[cj]

We all have our things we love to do, and my wife doesn't mind the two I have very much, golf and handicapping. There are many worse things guys could be doing. Of course, it helps I've had winning years the last few. She might not be so tolerant otherwise!

It must be love and the challenge of the game that does it, cause even in profitable years I could make more money working for minimum wage at McDs if you figured all the hours I put into this!

CJ

[anotherdave]

For me it is what do I sacrifice if I do not do this. I have many obligations in life. I am married with 3 kids. I spend a lot of time with them. I do not let the races interfere with family life. I do my handicapping after people are in bed or in free time at work. It is my passion. Everyone needs a passion. Since I have been making money, it does not cause trouble for our family, as I still know what the real priorities are. If I was consistently losing a lot, I could see what serious trouble it would cause. I would stop doing it seriously. But if someone wants to do it and loses $1000 a year (that he can afford), go for it. Have some fun. Cheaper than golfing. I take care of my obligations. One of my obligations is myself. I deserve the enjoyment I get from doing it.

I find it such a good mental exercise. When I am 80 I will still be handicapping and I hope that using my mind all these years will help keep me relatively sharp even at that age.

AD

[CamptownRaces.com]

I see you're from BC

I'm just across the boarder.

I live in the outskirts of Everson...

Do you know where that is?

I play poker in Blaine sometimes...

Do you ever come across?


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, back to the main subject.

Between my sports, horse racing, and 3 websites, I spend between 10 to 12 hours a day, (7 days a week) handicapping, formatting, or reading something...

I love it...

I have 4 kids that I spend a lot of time with. 2 Boys and 2 Girls, boys being the older.

My business life doesn't effect my family life, it actually helps it!!

I have to do what I do, or I won't make any money...

Charles

PS
The Kings +2 points is a nice bet!!!

[anotherdave]

Originally posted by CamptownRaces.com
I see you're from BC

I'm just across the boarder.

I live in the outskirts of Everson...

Do you know where that is?

I play poker in Blaine sometimes...

Do you ever come across?



I live in the interior of B.C. in Kamloops about 3 hours from Vancouver. I do go down to Washington occasionally, but haven't for a while. Not a poker player except for fun. I'm a lousy bluffer.
I like to play Hastings by phone and get down there a couple of times a year. I play Emerald a bit, haven't been there yet. I remember Longacres, though! Also like the California tracks. New York occasionally.

[karlskorner]

Andicap;

My routine has been this way for the past several years.

Betwen 9-11 tonight, print tomorrows PP's, print today's charts, transfer my notes to today's charts, find my "key" horses and note on tomorrow's PP's, run my program.

Tomorrow morning I read on the net the DRF and other publications, start to work on what I did last night, 1-2 hours.

Get to the track at least an hour before post time, check the "workout" board for horses worked yesterday and are not listed in DRF, check the scratches, check the shoe board for 1st race and than walk around and ask questions.

Karl

[Dick Schmidt]

Andy,

I gave up a regular job, 2 hours a day on the San Diego freeway, a boss, wearing a tie (or even clothes) and office politics.

Of course, I also gave up a regular paycheck, friends at work (or just someone to talk to during the day) and the respect of most of society. I like the trade, but not everyone wants to make it.

Dick

[Topcat]

Good question!

Well sometimes I can't spend as much time as I would like handicapping but for good reason I am happily married with 4 young children, hold an exucutve position with a billion dollar company and I spend about 20 hours a month doing charity work at Church or fund raising through the Knights of Columbus.

I found that I could pick up a good amount of time by giving up TV-it was easy when I realized that I couldn't recite what I watched 2 weeks ago-it's a waste of time.

OK what I also give up is sleep. I can get by on 5 hours although I really need 6. The other trade off is golf- I gave it up -golf will take all day Saturday -probably another night per week hitting golf balls if you want ot be any good and it cost you a little money or a lot depending on where you play. If someone were to add up what a golfer spends per year it would dwarf what some casual horse players spend at the track. Funny how no one ever questions a golfers morals or sanity.

I'm not betting as frequently as I would like but family comes firts and as Anotherdave said I know what the real prioities are.

That doesn't mean i won't take the plunge and go full time down the road as I can see where investing/playing full tiem can be a real plus for the family and I won't have to worry about the next round of layoffs.

BTW my dad is 84 years young and he stays mentally sharp by handicapping-he can still out handicap anything i can do even with HSH! So maybe we need to redfine handicapping as mental exercise.

[Handle]

I'm just your serial masochist. When you spend 8-10 hours a day at work programming, and then come home and spend another 4-8 programming your horsey software, you have to have an understanding wife (mine has a Masters in Social Work (psych. "bias" for all those folks who think that's a government job)). My dog is pretty cool about it too.

So, it's late already, but before I blather forward. My point in posting to this thread is that I have to be able to commit a lot of time and energy (FOCUS) to racing if I want to win. You can *give* me the winner and I'll ignore it if I'm not focused. When I have lots of other stuff (writing cod... it is Good Friday for all you fish lovers) to do, I put the breaks on, hopefully fast enough to avoid a losing streak. That's my big sacrfice when it comes to horse racing -- the amount of time I spend at the alter of EquiSim vs. the amount of that time I get to spend playing the ponies.

But I'm not bitchin' here. I'm so fortunate -- I love to play the races, I love to create software (long story there), and my wife, dog, and cat are pretty nice too <g>. But Andicap is dead on when he brings up the word "sacrifice" -- you can't go into this game and expect to win without putting effort into it. Either you are particularly brilliant (you can play 10 chess matches simultaneously, and win), or you have to sacrfice something to get the job done.

Ramblin' Handle

[Derek2U]

I just love horse races & handicapping, but i confine myself to
weekends, rarely otherwise. I love playing Sunday races during
the winter & fall, watching the action from my TV from Aqueduct/
Belmont. It's like the most perfect day.
I developed & wrote software for MY way of handicapping, ONLY
for NY & NJ tracks. I churn out my numbers then, with these
numbers on my printout, I go back & scan the PPs again: do these numbers really make sense for Horse A? is that Horse in
shape to run these numbers today?
I truly beleive that form/condition/fitness is factor#1;
speed/running style, factor#2.
I do NOT generate pace numbers at all.
I place ALL my bets through my OTB acct; and, every year, upon
request, OTB sends me my TOTAL summary printout all my action:
how much i deposited, withdrew, & wagered.
Its my P&L & its all there.

[Schlagman]

There was a time when I sacrificed everything - my time with family and friends, my energy, my money, my peace of mind.
If I were a great handicapper like Karl, maybe I could have balanced things better. But failure combined with keen intelligence brought with it determination to succeed at all costs.

So now I use spot plays only. Takes half hour a day to download data, run the programs, check for late scratches once in the morning, and place my bets on the internet. Once a week I spend an hour or 2 updating my records and refining my plays. Works for me. Now I do volunteer work/social service to justify being a degenerate gambler, spend lots of time with those I care about, and am even writing a book.

[superfecta]

HMMM,
I don't have time for crack,beating the kids,or religion.Can that be all bad?