New (and free) Software Coming From Dave Schwartz!

[Dave Schwartz]

I know, it's hard to believe, but it is true! I am in the process of building a new, mainstream software product. I am not prepared at this point to tell you much about the software except to say the following:


* it will use NO data
* it will capture tote boards
* it will "add value" to your handicapping endeavors
* it will become a "must-have" tool (I hope)
* it will contain a betting interface to multiple ADW's

It is that last item that I am most concerned about right now.

I need help with the design of the betting interface. Specifically, I am looking for opinions about what people like and dislike about various ADW interfaces. Consider the following questions please:

What makes a good win-place-show interface?
What makes a good exacta interface?
What makes a good trifecta interface?
What makes a good multi-race betting interface?

I welcome all of your comments and opinions. If you have a screenshot that you would like to share (either publicly or privately) of a very good (or very bad) example of a betting interface, I would really appreciate.

if anyone knows of "betting-ticket" software with a really slick interface please let me know.


Gentlemen (and ladies, too), please start your opinions!


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[PaceAdvantage]

This really sounds like a great little product...and it's going to be free you say?

Why? :lol:

I'd probably pay for something like this...

[Dave Schwartz]

Oh, I have my reasons! ;)

[mannyberrios]

Hi Dave, The Horseplayersbet interface is real good, it is one of the best. Have a good day!

[Dave Schwartz]

I am looking for a description of features, please. What do you like about it?

Can you tell me what you like about it? (I have no access.)


Dave

[mannyberrios]

You have control with what you want to do do, bet amount, favorite tracks, next five races, ect. You can set the horseplayers tote board to your liking.

[Dave Schwartz]

I am looking for how to "set things to your liking" but I do not know what that means.

One of the things I have designed in thus far is how to get the bets into an exacta-dutch for example. One problem I have seen is that the 2 interfaces I have been able to look at that had this feature only allow you to dutch "by the ticket" as opposed to dutching exactas across multiple tickets.

This is the kind of comment that would really help, Many.

What - specifically - is important?

[teddy]

Like I said in the other post, do max odds instead of min odds. I will pay for that too. But I am guessing you get a bite from the ADW or one of your own rebate shops you send players to. No issue there, Many of us get bites for referring players. You are just the first agent to offer up a better product or a value added one.

[Dave Schwartz]

Like I said in the other post, do max odds instead of min odds.

I do not understand what that means.

[teddy]

I do not want my bets to go in unless the horse is going off under a specified odds. Not over....simple. Means that the public agrees and or someone big has bet his money.

[Dave Schwartz]

I do not want my bets to go in unless the horse is going off under a specified odds. Not over....simple. Means that the public agrees and or someone big has bet his money.

Good for you. Hope this works out for you.

Before I made a line that "worked" I saw that my underbet horses returned more money than my overbet horses. The problem is that those overbet horses still lost money.

I have absolutely no problem identifying who is being over bet. My problem is finding a way to see those horses as profitable.

[jdhanover]

AmWest conditions allow you to bracket a horse (min odds of x and max odds of y). In other words you can set a sweet spot. Think that covers both sides of the spectrum.

Minor improvement:
One thing I havent seen - most have an 'all' button for the individual place in an exacta, tri or super bet (e.g., to bet 2-8-all is 3 clicks). But none have where with one click you put the individual horse in all the spots.

What I mean is if you want to bet the 237/2357/23457/234578 super, the 2 3 7 needs to be clicked in all 4 spots (12 clicks) vs being able to, say, click the horse number and with 3 clicks they are in all 4 slots.

I'll think of other things and send screen shots where needed, but didnt want to forget this one while I had thought of it

A.T.

[Dave Schwartz]

That is a great idea!

[Charli125]

AmWest conditions allow you to bracket a horse (min odds of x and max odds of y). In other words you can set a sweet spot. Think that covers both sides of the spectrum.

Minor improvement:
One thing I havent seen - most have an 'all' button for the individual place in an exacta, tri or super bet (e.g., to bet 2-8-all is 3 clicks). But none have where with one click you put the individual horse in all the spots.

What I mean is if you want to bet the 237/2357/23457/234578 super, the 2 3 7 needs to be clicked in all 4 spots (12 clicks) vs being able to, say, click the horse number and with 3 clicks they are in all 4 slots.

I'll think of other things and send screen shots where needed, but didnt want to forget this one while I had thought of it

A.T.

FYI, Amwest kind of does that already. You would click 2, 3, 7 on the first row and then click the little arrow at the bottom under the first row and it puts it in the next row. Do the same for each row you want it copied to.

[Dave Schwartz]

What he is saying is that he'd like to only click a horse once and have it appear in all 3 rows of a trifecta.

I know that interface; it is a good one.

The only draw back to their exacta dutch is that you cannot dutch multiple ex tickets.

[Handiman]

I'd to see an interface with a button that says winning horse and just have to click it once per race. Now if you can do that Dave I'm in bigtime.


Handi:)

[HuggingTheRail]

I'd to see an interface with a button that says winning horse and just have to click it once per race. Now if you can do that Dave I'm in bigtime.


Handi:)

For Dave, I think that would be one click too many - he'd automate that too... :ThmbUp:

[Dave Schwartz]

I'd to see an interface with a button that says winning horse and just have to click it once per race. Now if you can do that Dave I'm in bigtime.

Sure, I have that.

It is a little expensive because it also comes with some ocean front property just of the coast of Florida. They discovered land on it last year.

[teddy]

[QUOTE=Dave Schwartz]Good for you. Hope this works out for you.

Before I made a line that "worked" I saw that my underbet horses returned more money than my overbet horses. The problem is that those overbet horses still lost money.

I have absolutely no problem identifying who is being over bet. My problem is finding a way to see those horses as profitable.[/QUOT

No way of k nowing if my horses are different than yours. I would assume so. We use different software. You were asking for ways to provide what people wanted so I gave you one. If you are building software this should be easy to include. Change the greater than symbol to less than in your coding.

[teddy]

AmWest conditions allow you to bracket a horse (min odds of x and max odds of y). In other words you can set a sweet spot. Think that covers both sides of the spectrum.

Minor improvement:
One thing I havent seen - most have an 'all' button for the individual place in an exacta, tri or super bet (e.g., to bet 2-8-all is 3 clicks). But none have where with one click you put the individual horse in all the spots.

What I mean is if you want to bet the 237/2357/23457/234578 super, the 2 3 7 needs to be clicked in all 4 spots (12 clicks) vs being able to, say, click the horse number and with 3 clicks they are in all 4 slots.

I'll think of other things and send screen shots where needed, but didnt want to forget this one while I had thought of it

A.T.

Where is Amwest, I need to bet with them if they match rebates I get now.

[tokyo2002]

I do not want my bets to go in unless the horse is going off under a specified odds. Not over....simple. Means that the public agrees and or someone big has bet his money.

Dave, Whether this is a profitable betting strategy or not, this may be a feature that users like Teddy would enjoy. And the more action from them, I would assume the more action for you.

[Dave Schwartz]

"Overbettedness," as I call it, is always a part of my software.

It will, of course, be part of this new one as well.


Teddy - Tried to PM you with AmWest info but your mailbox is full.

Call me - 775.853.1234 to discuss.

Same goes for anyone else who is interested.

Dave

[teddy]

In another thread there is what Ted Cravens calls a players association that is collectively bargaining with ADW to negotiate rates. Never heard of this group but they have the software and seem to think they can beat my whalish rebated programs. I doubt thats possible but this game has changed so much that almost anyone can get 3 pts less than whale rebates and thats no bad deal for a guy betting only a few hundred a day. AADW could not survive and they were giving strong rebates and didnt get enough players.

[Dave Schwartz]

Which thread would that be, please?

[Aner]

I mainly use Twinspires. One negative for me is that I have to enter the type of bet and amount of bet each time. What I would like to see is software that assumes the next bet will be the same type and amount as the previous. If I want to change this setting , then I would make a change. If I have been making $0.50 trifectas bets, those are the settings I want retained.

[Ted Craven]

In another thread there is what Ted Cravens calls a players association that is collectively bargaining with ADW to negotiate rates. Never heard of this group but they have the software and seem to think they can beat my whalish rebated programs. I doubt thats possible but this game has changed so much that almost anyone can get 3 pts less than whale rebates and thats no bad deal for a guy betting only a few hundred a day. AADW could not survive and they were giving strong rebates and didnt get enough players.

That other thread would be here (http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=89227) and the link I provided (to my website) with just a bit more info about a Players Organization is here: www.SartinMethodology.com/rebate_info (http://www.SartinMethodology.com/rebate_info) Or, call me at 800 890-6967. The important point to understand, as Teddy mentions, is that with a certain collective bargaining power, everyone (who lives in the right jurisdiction) who uses an ADW should be wagering into a (frequently) significantly lesser track takeout than offered wholesale - period. Whether you wager $100/day or $10,000/day (you'll get a little more from the latter), while perfecting your analysis and betting skills, and while our emmanent HorsePlayer's Association is working on lower takeouts to start with, why not start at the starting line instead of an average of 8% behind it.

I too am happy to help in this regard :)

Also, it appears Dave and I may be working on the same thing (regarding a computerized robotic betting interface to multiple ADWs for the rest of us) - I just haven't announced one yet, and won't until I can demo something.

Regardless of who you call - call someone!

cheers,

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Where is Amwest, I need to bet with them if they match rebates I get now.

The other thread I mentioned above will take you to AmWest (that's what my screenshot was of). But you need to go through the mentioned Players Organization to get the rebates.

Ted

[Ted Craven]

I mainly use Twinspires. One negative for me is that I have to enter the type of bet and amount of bet each time. What I would like to see is software that assumes the next bet will be the same type and amount as the previous. If I want to change this setting , then I would make a change. If I have been making $0.50 trifectas bets, those are the settings I want retained.
Aner,

While waiting for such desirable software from Dave, you could make use of an ADW which already provides those features AND very good rebates to boot. The image below shows the AmWest Preferences page which sets several defaults including default bet by pool (e.g. .50 for Trifectas), and the default pool and bet (e.g. Win pool and $50). Every time you go to wager, your default pool and bet size is the default, and if you specify a different pool, your default bet size for that pool is also ready for use (or override).

Just check the links I posted above for more info about it.

cheers,

Ted

http://www.sartinmethodology.com/images/pa/amwest_default_stake.png

[teddy]

The sample amwest sheet is about a pt less than ptc in this example for me. BUT they offer the software advantage I need while PTC flatly refused to take the time to meet the customers need. Good for AMWEST. Sad for anyone else.

[Dave Schwartz]

Anyone interested in using this free software when it is available should contact me now and I will give you the skinny on how to connect it to AmWest or PTC.


Both good providers.

That functionality MAY come with a cost if you are signed up via another agent.


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[speed]

The sample amwest sheet is about a pt less than ptc in this example for me. BUT they offer the software advantage I need while PTC flatly refused to take the time to meet the customers need. Good for AMWEST. Sad for anyone else.
Curious where you found the sample Amwest rebate sheet?

[teddy]

The other thread I mentioned above will take you to AmWest (that's what my screenshot was of). But you need to go through the mentioned Players Organization to get the rebates.

Ted


Signed up with amwest today for you Cravens group. Its a dog fight on here for people scrapping to get agent fees. LOL. How much you guys getting. A pt or half pt. Hope that gets me some good software that I dont have Ted

[Some_One]

Any chance of there being a hookup to Betfair's API so we can stream those odds in?

[Dave Schwartz]

Not a chance.

[Pensacola Pete]

A year plus later, whatever happened to this project?

[Dave Schwartz]

Ultimately, the feedback was less than positive. The project was cancelled.

[Pensacola Pete]

Sorry to hear that. I'm looking for an alternative to ATR that works with PTC or Amwager.

[Dave Schwartz]

Our software does that but is probably outside the scope of what you are looking for (i.e. free).

[thaskalos]

Ultimately, the feedback was less than positive. The project was cancelled.

Did that surprise you?

[Ted Craven]

FWIW, I am still working on a wager submission module within RDSS and it should be ready by Summer.

Software upload to AmWest then whatever else I can get my hands on. Not free, but nearly (the annual $100 software subscription). It's designed to be used independently of the handicapping data - just a tote and ADW connection. The usual stuff: WPS, Exacta, DD grids, willpays, dutching, hedging, conditionals, pool ratios/relationships, bet sizing, wager and rebate tracking, etc. The usual beautiful RDSS UI.

Of course I also wouldn't mind being the referrer to the rebating ADW ;)

Ted

[Pensacola Pete]

Our software does that but is probably outside the scope of what you are looking for (i.e. free).

It doesn't have to be free, but I wouldn't want to pay $1,497 for it, either, as I don't use any handicapping software. I'm strictly a tote player.

[Dave Schwartz]

Perhaps speak with John Pizzagati of At The Races fame.

He has a very good product.

[Ted Craven]

Sorry to hear that. I'm looking for an alternative to ATR that works with PTC or Amwager.

Pete, out of curiosity, what is it you're looking for in tote analysis software that you don't get with ATR? I've used ATR for years - it is quite comprehensive. It does upload wagers to PTC, though not as far as I know to AmWager.

Ted