How is your support system ?....

[LottaKash]

As a handicapper and player, how well does your Spouse, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, or if not involved, your Family or Roomate(s), support or approve of you ongoing involvement in this passion of yours ???

[NJ Stinks]

Lets just say my wife is glad the BC is over for another year. Two full days tests her somewhat approving view! :)

[cmoore]

Very interesting post Lotto...I think it can effect a gambler in many ways. For me I handicapp best when my girlfriend is at work and not pacing throughout the house. Every once in awhile she comes into the home OTB and says "Are you going to sit in here all day" It drives me frickin crazy. I've seriously thought of trying this as a profession of late. But with someone usually asking questions with a negative tone..I don't think it will mix well. Some days she approves mildy...Some days she disapproves Mildy and Ferverently...It seems when the money is coming in..its all good...when I lose or on a bad streak..I've got a problem or I need to find another hobby..I just laugh and shrug it off...I've learned not to argue with my girlfriend or people on the outside that just don't get it. It's alright when someone opens up a business and works 70-80 hours a week. But if someone studies the pps and looks up sire information and bets 40 hours a week it is only alright if they win.. If they break even or lose, then they have an addiction..They just see horses running round a track and thats it. I'm a better handicapper now then I have ever been. I take the losing days much better then I used to also. I really think I could make a living at this game.

[Snag]

I really count myself LUCKY in this reagard. I sometimes feel like a slacker on Monday or Tuesday when I don't get fully into the form. She is always looking for a race to handicap.

[Overlay]

I didn't get married until I was 32, by which time I was already well-entrenched in my handicapping ways. (As far as I know, my interest in horse racing had nothing to do with the breakup of any of my relationships prior to that time.) I was also living in Germany at the time that I got married, so the full impact of my interest in handicapping didn't really become apparent to my wife until we moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where we lived for seven years.

My wife has never shared my interest to the same degree, but she has had her own hobbies and pursuits that I've helped her with (primarily by driving her and her crocheted goods and dried floral arrangements around to craft shows where she was selling them, since she didn't get a driver's license until we had been married for nineteen years). So she viewed any time and money that I spent on racing as a form of diversion that I was entitled to. (Of course, I was also working on the development of my handicapping titles during that time, too, and she has been somewhat more actively supportive and involved since I began marketing them.)

[DanG]

Hope this doesn’t come across as a Dr. Melfi session. :blush:

Gambling without question caused my divorce.

Strike that…a LACK of gambling caused my divorce. :D

Easy to become very naive when you gamble full time with zero dependants. As we all know; traditional working benefits are almost imperative when children are involved. I could have choked when I found out what private insurances etc was going to cost. :faint:

This led to getting a job with benefits and I was MISERABLE and we both knew it. The odd thing is we are closer now (kids too) then we ever were with the contract binding us.

Also her family looked at me like I had an infectious disease when gambling on horses was mentioned. The irony is that one tailored suit and a Wall Street business card and they would have been doing cartwheels. That led to a very secretive life at night when I tried to follow racing and after working all day that became very debilitating mentally.

Support system is something few players acknowledge and fewer still recognize how important it is. The group of players I’m with is so supportive of each other and in a game filled with negative impulse it’s critical to create an atmosphere that will allow success.

[RaceBookJoe]

My wife is great, she fully supports my LOVE of handicapping, she will frequently even watch the big races with me, but she just doesnt understand the work it takes to try to win. I think she would rather me spend my time recording my music or making money some other way, but I also feel that she enjoys seeing me really enjoy the handicapping/race watching process. I had a blast this weekend with the Breeders Cup, even the races I lost I really enjoyed watching the races, and she could hear the excitement in my voice when i told her how my day went. rbj

[LottaKash]

I bumped this back up for "Interest"......

I believe Each & Every One of us is somehow affected by one of the 7 proposed answers, and I am somewaht disppointed by the lack of a higher response to these questions......Well, just cuious about others and their doings........

best,

[pktruckdriver]

Hey Johnny


How bout you, are things okay down there in Horse Country, you seem to be a new man lately.

Welcome back, I think, did you have the support thru all those years.


My 1st wife would have hated horses and anything else I liked, but the 2nd wife was more supportive, right up until the divorce, then she took it all , actually I gave in too easily and gave it all to her, and in doing so it allowed me the priviledge of starting all over in this great country of ours.

So far I am surviving, modestly, and if I get another spouse I would be sure to have her support in my Horse Play, to me it would be a must, no tryibg to hide it, my god could you imagine all those out there that are hiding from their spouses, man what's worse cheating or gambling.

The one thing that makes this issue not so big a deal is the fact of if you are a regular winner, a truly profitable horse player or not. As a winner is a winner, and losing is gambling, something like that, I was told.

Great Post none-the-less

patrick

[LottaKash]

My first wife was oh-so supportive and accompanied me on many trips to Liberty Bell Park and Freehold Raceways back in the early days.....

I went thru, a couple of unmarried long term relationships, they were almost like being single, and they were very neutral about my total involvement in my passion for hoss'....

With My current wife (god bless her), is where the real fun begins...In the beginning she was very supportive of racing and she would often accompany me to the races, and we would also, often, watch the big races on tv together, betting millions in the process, we liked to party at those times and we always had a good time in it all....

Next is when the Roller-Coaster ride began, and this was back in the 80's....I was always at the track whenever I had the chance and my wife approved mildy as she would always be rewarded with some extra kash when I thought that presenting it to her would be meanigful....I had become quite competent at winning and after working at a very good job at a major oil company, for 22 years, I just came home one day and reported that I had just quit my job....She asked, "to do what ?"...I told her to play the HORSES for a living...I reminded her that I had a very serious bankroll for that purpose, and the money that I had accumulated in my provident fund was very healthy and everything was safe as can be, and that i wanted the chance to do this....It was always my dream......She agreed, and off I went....

Well, the first year netted me $25K clear, no IRS, clear.....What occured from that point on, is a tragedy of sorts, with this "LIving the Dream", I had began to undergo some changes in my attitude and style of play....To be quite honest I partied harder than ever, drinking and smoking left-handed cigarettes to excess......My play got sloppy, and this as as I got even more cockier than ever....Consequently, the profits were diminishing rapidly and my confidence was on very loose ground as well...Somehow I had gotten in with a group of gamblers that were always living on the edge of midnite.....I played a lot of Poor Poker and this whole lifestryle was quickly becoming a big blur..

To sum it up, I had lost the first years $25K, and an additional $89K in the process, I was lost, I mean totally lost ........My wife became totally different towards all this...At this point I realized that I couldn't go on this way and I still had some meanigful money, and it was enough for me to invest in a Very Good Tractor and Trailer, and so I become a small trucking company....It was like this for about 10years, I mean became totally disassociated wth the true love of my life......My wife from then on wouldn't even listen to one iota of what I had to say about my real passion......I was doing penance and paying my dues.

About 4-years ago, as I couldn't stay away any longer, I slowly but surely made my way back into all this......After all I did know how to win at this game, I just didn't know how to be successful at it.......

Now I am retired, and I supplement my income somewhat from the profits that I manage to get, and my wife is understanding, tho still not interested at all, call it indifferent, but she knows that I am holding my own, as it doesn't affect our finances in the least.....

.So, what a wild ride...Am I sorry, Nah.....I loved it all for what it was, and I managed to see the whole US of A to boot, and I did make it to the retirement part, and here I am, happy as a clam......

.Except for what is about to take place next, in our nation's history....GOD help us....

humbly,

[chickenhead]

So outside the Pearly Gates up in Heaven, there are two big billboards, one on the left of the gate, one on the right.

The one on the left says "My wife dominated my life", the one on the right says "I was always my own man".

There is a huge line in front of the one on the left (in heaven we are all honest), guys stretching out to the horizon. In front of the sign on the right, there is only one guy all by himself.

St. Peter comes out and see this lone guy out on the right...and walks up to him:

"My son, why are you standing here?"

The guy sheepishly answers:

"My wife told me to stand over here..."

[JustRalph]

So outside the Pearly Gates up in Heaven, there are two big billboards, one on the left of the gate, one on the right.

The one on the left says "My wife dominated my life", the one on the right says "I was always my own man".

There is a huge line in front of the one on the left (in heaven we are all honest), guys stretching out to the horizon. In front of the sign on the right, there is only one guy all by himself.

St. Peter comes out and see this lone guy out on the right...and walks up to him:

"My son, why are you standing here?"

The guy sheepishly answers:

"My wife told me to stand over here..."


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