The Master Magician

[Myhorse1_X]

The latest American Turf magazine has a page about the new program from ITS.

It is supposed to be a combination of the Master handicapper and the Handicapping Magic.
The price is $497 with a 30day guarantee. Any taker's out there??

Has anyone tried the program.

MyHorse1

[keenang]

YES I HAVE THE BOOK AND THE SOFTWARE. I AM NOT TOO HAPPY WITH IT OR IS A FRIEND OF MINE WHO ALSO HAS IT. I WAS SURPRISED WITH SOME OF THE WORKINGS. I HAVE FOLLOWED MIKE SINCE HIS EARLY DAYS WITH THE SARTIN GROUP AND HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SQUARE SHOOTER,BUT THIS ITEM MISSES THE TARGET. GENE

[Myhorse1_X]

Gene:

Thanks, that answers my question. I know that it is a brand new program and I thoulght that using some of the algorithms in the Master Handicapper into another program would be a good thing.

I used to use the Master handicapper, but it was a DOS based program and as my computer got faster and faster, it would crash when changing from one screen to another so I finally gave up on it.

MyHorse1

[cato]

My horse: If you liked The handicapping Magic Software, you will really like the master Magician software. The primary improvemnts are that TMM will rank each race as neutral, lone speed, speed of speed, pressure and heavy pressure and then, based on that classification it will emphasize PBS numbers (pace numbers) or PPF numbers (closing numbers).

It also has at least two methods of picking pace lines and an easy way to adjust the lines.

I would not say tha it is a combination of the Master Handicapper and Handicapping Magic--primarily becasue it still relies on the racing form style speed numbers rather than the "track performance numbers"

take care, Frank

[Myhorse1_X]

Cato:

I did like the Master Handicapper, but I purchased the Handicapping Magic software and found it lacking. I read the book which I enjoyed very much, but the software was not very good.
I thought that the Master Magician was a combination of the two programs was the reason I had an interest but if it is not, then I am afraid that I will be hesitant to purchase it until someone does a review of it on this message board.
Say "Hello" to Michael for me.

MyHorse1

[Lefty]

I don't have this prgm and just finished the book. I was familiar with both The Fulcrum and PBS nos. from when Mike was with Sartin. I like the addition of form cycle window and the way he puts it all together. I have a friend who bght the orig prm for, I think, about $167. He didn't like it because still had to do a lot on your own. As I understand it this update does almost all of it automatically. So if you like the concept, I would say you would like this prgm. It's got me thinking, but I have so many prgms already...

[cato]

My Horse: TMM is a huge improvement over the Handicapping Magic software. If you like the book and MP's and EL's approach to things, it is well worth it.

I guess TMM pretty much does all that The Master Handicapper did, except it uses drf style speed ratings (the claim is that this is a good thing because it is no longer in the mainstream but I would prefer having more accurate numbers); it does not have the pin point adjustemnt feature (which always seemed incredibly neat but I never used it); and it does not have the exacta advisor (but that stuff is easily discovered just by looking at a few numbers).

But I don't want to focus on the negative...TMM does have the pace-position analysis that is very effective; PBS and PPF ratings; automatic fulcrum setting; fair odds for betting, and an odds line that "predicts" how the public should bet and the ML odds; automatically selects a pace line based on the form cycle window analysis; has an alternative pace line selection method that pulls out some pretty neat calls; alerts you if a horse has a problem meeting the fulcrum; alerts you if a horse is coming off a layoff and has a bad history off of layofs; alerts you if a horse is a SNAIL (showed nothing after layoff); alerts you if the horse has an aberrant race that may give you a false reading; allows you to use 100%, 50% or 0% of the variant in calculating the PBS numbers; allows you to adjust how the odds are calculated, to favor PBS or PPF numbers; adjusts for off track (mud, etc.) and races taken off the turf.

Plus, its an incredibly simple and intuitive program to use. Other than that it sucks...
:)

Take care, Frank

[Lefty]

Cato, were you being facetious because someone else said they didn't like the prgm or are you saying after all the things it does you can't get winners with it? You've kinda thrown me.

[cato]

Lefty: Sorry about that. I was being silly (if I could spell facetious I would have been that too). I think its an excellent program. Under the Pizzolla and Langjahr theory, you pass a bunch of races and go for higher odds (value) bets.

If I do that, I'm fine with the program (and my feeling is that the program does help you pass races). On the other hand, if I play like I'm drunk and bet most of the races, I'm lost.

I don't want to start sounding too much like a shill here, but now that we are on it, the program comes with eight cassette tapes that are great. That is, if you like the book and/or Pizzolla's approach to things, you will really benefit from the tapes.

Pizzolla's play and approach to things emphasizes exotic betting and I think the tapes are very helpful in that area.

Take care, Frank

[superfecta]

I am assuming you are here in Okla somewhere.Do you bet at the track or from home?I am always interested in seeing other handicappers at work,talk shop and the like.....

[andicap]

ITs my impression some people can't handle TMM (I don't have it, but did read the book) because it demands intense discipline at times. Also the concept of a false overlay could be a difficult one to grasp. If you blindly bet every overlay the software gives you, it sounds like you will lose.
Also, since it is pace-based, you need to figure out which figures to bet off of, the PBS or the other one, the late-pace one. This is similar to his former program The Master Handicapper in which he gave you three lines, early, late and normal and you had to decide which one to bet off of based on a) pace set up b) track bias

[Lefty]

Its my understanding that the decision is to bet PBS nos in a race you think will go early and the PPF ones in a speed laden race.
My understanding of the adv I just got is the MM prgm even tells you if it's pressured or not. Hmmm.

[Bob Harris]

Andicap,

There are a variety of reasons why people struggle with TMM and the reasons you bring up are certainly valid.

One of the biggest problems I see, and my guess is this would apply to other pieces of handicapping software too, is the desire by the user to move the program from an advisory role into a decision making one.

If a program weeds out the contention in a race and advises the user to potential "issues" which may determine the outcome, it has done the job it was designed for.

Who to bet (or if to bet at all) is somewhat intuitive...it's definitely the toughest part of this great game we play.

Bob

[superfecta]

Originally posted by Bob Harris
.

Who to bet (or if to bet at all) is somewhat intuitive...it's definitely the toughest part of this great game we play.

Bob Thats the hardest thing for most to understand IMO.No matter how much information the bettor has ,he still has to make the "proper" bets.And for every type of bettor,there is a different way to bet and make money.There is no such thing as a universal good bet.How many of us can actually accept that?