What's your biggest mistake.... that hit!!??

[Bruddah]

Back in '95, I was leaving the card room of a Casino in Vicksburg Ms. Truthfully, I had lost my ass that day. I think, I had $20 or $40 left. I thought, I would get a couple more racks of red and go back to the card room and try it again. As I was heading to the cage to get a marker, for some reason I decided to stop at a $10 Blackjack table. To make a long story short, I ran my $40 into $25,500+. I was "golden". I could do no wrong and the dealers couldn't beat me. The House even changed decks on me 3 times during the shift. Anyhow, in a period of about 6 hours, I cleaned their clocks. They sent me a lot of very nice offers and perks to comeback. I didn't make it back there for another 10 years or so.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by Bruddah

Back in '95, I was leaving the card room of a Casino in Vicksburg Ms. Truthfully, I had lost my ass that day. I think, I had $20 or $40 left. I thought, I would get a couple more racks of red and go back to the card room and try it again. As I was heading to the cage to get a marker, for some reason I decided to stop at a $10 Blackjack table. To make a long story short, I ran my $40 into $25,500+. I was "golden". I could do no wrong and the dealers couldn't beat me. The House even changed decks on me 3 times during the shift. Anyhow, in a period of about 6 hours, I cleaned their clocks. They sent me a lot of very nice offers and perks to comeback. I didn't make it back there for another 10 years or so.

boy did you just make me feel good! i love it when someone beats those guy's for that type of money with nothing that the house could have won. those boys in the suits in the backroom must have been sick to their stomach's to see you get them.

[magwell]

I wish I had a good story to tell, but every time I make a mistake it cost me money.......

[bisket]

back when internet wagering first started i signed up for you bet. they were the only guy in town. well it was friday evening and i was planning to play on saturday. i thought you know i oughtta make one wager just to make sure i'm doing things right, wouldn't want to srew up a wager you never know it may be the best one of the day. it was somewhere around midnight eastern, and there wasn't any american tracks running, but there was australia racing available. they had some sort of chart that showed past performances. it was a maden race and theres must have 25 horses running. well one had looked like at the end of his last race he was improving position so i figured he'd be as good as any. 2$ on his nose. well i'm looking at the odds and he's like 90-1. i'm thinking well it only cost 2 bucks and now i know how to bet. so the race starts and i'm watching my horse, but its hard cause theres so many. well at the end of the race it looked like he surged, but i wasn't sure. i had a telephone line for my internet service, and if anyone is familiar. you see the horse one minute and then the next second there a 1/4 mile down the track. well dam if he didn't come in and paid 180 some odd dollars. to this day thats my longest shot i ever hit on. its good to be good at what you do, but i'll take luck anytime i can get it.

[BombsAway Bob]

In 1996 Karen & I went to Vegas for a week with a bunch of schoolteachers & professional drinkers on February Vacation. Spent the flight out studying DRF, arrived on a Saturday @1AM. Sunday was GREAT, crushed exactas & Tris at Gulfstream (Pre-Frank) & Inner Aqueduct. Even gave a bunch of the gang that flew out with me a +$100 Exacta to start the Day! 4AM Monday, finally found the hotel room.
8AM Monday, decide to cross the street from the Excalibur where we stayed & played the first 27 hours, & visit MGM GRAND.. TYSON on one side of Marquee, Tom Jones on the other.. Aqueduct starts @ 9:30am in Vegas, so it was a Bloody Mary Monday Morning after 4 hours sleep. Like a Longshot in 2nd race.
Bet A $1Tri: (All)(2)(4)=$6. Back then DRF didn't have entry numbers listed back then, it was just in post position order. In my fog, I didn't realize there was an entry in the race, so my #2 wasn't the horse I wanted.. Long story short(too late), Diane Nelson boots home a 25/1shot, the #2 runs second, #4 third.. $1 Tri returns +$1,250... lasted me until the final 5 hours Saturday.. Playing $25 Table of a Brand New Game... "LET it RIDE", without knowing simple strategy & keeping chips up with a pair of 3's... UgLY Beating..I'm thinking.."This game is Simple..I gotta turn it around soon!"

[InControlX]

Ok, here's mine. I was working a job in Princeton NJ in 1975 doing assembly work for a bunch of eggheads at the University. Since they quit early one day I grabbed a form and saw Monmouth was running. I saw an old spot play running in the second race, so I was off to make the track on time. Not knowing the Jersey back roads and having to contend with the circles (I'm a Wisconsin lad) I took several bad turns and knew I was late, but had a broken watch. I arrived, parked and jumped out of the car and sprinted up what seemed like 1000 steps. Arriving at the window I heard the post time announcement but was able to place my $50 on #4 to win. Now relaxed, seated and sipping a beer I glanced at the tote board providing all you needed for RACE #1. The #4 turned out to be a 10:1 shipping in from some three-legged track. It won. I cashed the ticket with a red face and left. My horse in the second ran out.

ICX

[Shemp Howard]

Liberty Bell Park trotters in the late 70's. Was going to bet $100 to win on a trotter #5 driven by Harold Dancer Sr. so long as he was even money. He kept bouncing 4-5, then even, 4-5, then even. Right before there set to go off he jumps to 1-1 and so holler $100 win on #1 and then realize my error but "There they go"

Some plow horse from the Ohio fairs driven by an Amish with a beard as long as my arm and 25-1. Goes right to the front and increases his advantage from there with Amos driving like a madman. $2,500 score.

[Steven Kolb]

This is straight from my book near the end of Chapter 2. Exactly as it happened.
_________

I firmly believed that horse racing was much more exciting than most other forms of gambling. It’s certainly better than buying a $10 or $20 lottery ticket.
When playing the lottery you know that the odds are many millions to one against your winning a big jackpot. With horse racing the payouts may be a little smaller, but cashing in a winner is a much more realistic possibility. Plus you can do it more than just once or twice a week.
I spent the rest of that Friday afternoon taking care of errands. It was early evening before I headed home. I was eager to get back to the computer and view the day’s racing results. Whether I was a winner or loser mattered a lot, but it was the anticipation of finding out the results that kept me eager and a little on edge.
I have to admit that I was now hooked on thoroughbred racing. Not just the races, but the entire industry. It was in my blood now, and it was going to be a part of my daily experience and way of thinking. Dad’s system taught me about the horse racing business and handicapping, but it took a fluky winning streak to make me fall in love with the sport.
After I returned home I immediately went online to Equibase to view the race results for Santa Anita. I scrolled slowly trying to get my money’s worth of enjoyment and excitement. In the first race I wasn’t even close on two $12 Trifectas. The second race was close, but my Trifecta had the second- and third-place finishers in the wrong order: down another $26.
The third race was the initial race for the Pick 6. I had not picked the #3 horse Flaming West, which was the Morning Line Favorite at odds of 8-5; instead I had selected the #6 horse Kern Ridge at 5-2 odds. A horse named Venus Genus at 4-1 odds ended up winning the race, paying $10.80 on a $2 Win wager.
Disappointed, I realized that I wasn’t going to be a winner of the Pick 6 or another Trifecta. I proceeded to go through the results of the remaining races. For the Pick 6, in the fourth race I had two picks: the favorite and an 8-1 choice. The 8-1 selection won. For the fifth race I had selected five horses, one of them also at Morning Line Odds of 8-1. That horse turned out to be the winner. In the sixth race I had the top two horses covered: Artax at 4-5 and Futuristic at 2-1. Futuristic hit the wire first.
Each race I checked my Trifecta and Superfecta tickets. None of them were winners. However, I was feeling some excitement begin to build as now the possibility of having a winning five of six Pick 6 ticket looked good. It would be nice to end the day by making a small profit from the Pick 6 consolation pool.
For the seventh race I had singled the best horse of the day, Ladies Din. He won easily. Finally, for the eighth race, I had four picks and my 5-1 choice came in first. I checked the payouts. Five out of six was good. Very good! It would pay me $1,294. It had ended up being a good day after all! Only one person had selected all six of six winners, earning a payday of well over $100,000.
To double-check, I took the Pick 6 ticket out of my wallet and reviewed the winning numbers showing on the screen. In order they were: 6, 1, 6, 3, 4, and 8.
I looked again at the monitor, then back at my ticket. Was there a mistake? My notes showed that the #6 horse in the third race was Kern Ridge and yet the results chart showed that Kern Ridge came in third place. Then I felt my blood begin to rush. Kern Ridge was listed as #5 on the monitor and Venus Genus was listed as #6. Confused, excited, and with my heart pounding rapidly, I found the program page. Sure enough, it listed Venus Genus as #6! How could this have happened?
With a few more clicks I investigated a little further. I found the Santa Anita Entries for the day on the Equibase Web page. This was the page from which I had made my selections. It showed Kern Ridge at post position #6 and Venus Genus at post position #7. Evidently two other horses in the race were a coupled entry: #1 and #1A.
By using the Entries page on the Equibase Web site as the source for my selections instead of finding the page with the true program numbers, I had just become the Pick 6 winner of $118,401. I double-checked the results on the Equibase Web site and quickly confirmed that #6 Venus Genus had indeed won the race! I was the only player to select all six winners that day. This horse racing “mastermind” had won the Pick 6 and was going to collect a cool $118,401!________
________
If you'd like to read another excerpt or three, stop by my website.
sk

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by Steven Kolb

This is straight from my book near the end of Chapter 2. Exactly as it happened.
_________

I firmly believed that horse racing was much more exciting than most other forms of gambling. It’s certainly better than buying a $10 or $20 lottery ticket.
When playing the lottery you know that the odds are many millions to one against your winning a big jackpot. With horse racing the payouts may be a little smaller, but cashing in a winner is a much more realistic possibility. Plus you can do it more than just once or twice a week.
I spent the rest of that Friday afternoon taking care of errands. It was early evening before I headed home. I was eager to get back to the computer and view the day’s racing results. Whether I was a winner or loser mattered a lot, but it was the anticipation of finding out the results that kept me eager and a little on edge.
I have to admit that I was now hooked on thoroughbred racing. Not just the races, but the entire industry. It was in my blood now, and it was going to be a part of my daily experience and way of thinking. Dad’s system taught me about the horse racing business and handicapping, but it took a fluky winning streak to make me fall in love with the sport.
After I returned home I immediately went online to Equibase to view the race results for Santa Anita. I scrolled slowly trying to get my money’s worth of enjoyment and excitement. In the first race I wasn’t even close on two $12 Trifectas. The second race was close, but my Trifecta had the second- and third-place finishers in the wrong order: down another $26.
The third race was the initial race for the Pick 6. I had not picked the #3 horse Flaming West, which was the Morning Line Favorite at odds of 8-5; instead I had selected the #6 horse Kern Ridge at 5-2 odds. A horse named Venus Genus at 4-1 odds ended up winning the race, paying $10.80 on a $2 Win wager.
Disappointed, I realized that I wasn’t going to be a winner of the Pick 6 or another Trifecta. I proceeded to go through the results of the remaining races. For the Pick 6, in the fourth race I had two picks: the favorite and an 8-1 choice. The 8-1 selection won. For the fifth race I had selected five horses, one of them also at Morning Line Odds of 8-1. That horse turned out to be the winner. In the sixth race I had the top two horses covered: Artax at 4-5 and Futuristic at 2-1. Futuristic hit the wire first.
Each race I checked my Trifecta and Superfecta tickets. None of them were winners. However, I was feeling some excitement begin to build as now the possibility of having a winning five of six Pick 6 ticket looked good. It would be nice to end the day by making a small profit from the Pick 6 consolation pool.
For the seventh race I had singled the best horse of the day, Ladies Din. He won easily. Finally, for the eighth race, I had four picks and my 5-1 choice came in first. I checked the payouts. Five out of six was good. Very good! It would pay me $1,294. It had ended up being a good day after all! Only one person had selected all six of six winners, earning a payday of well over $100,000.
To double-check, I took the Pick 6 ticket out of my wallet and reviewed the winning numbers showing on the screen. In order they were: 6, 1, 6, 3, 4, and 8.
I looked again at the monitor, then back at my ticket. Was there a mistake? My notes showed that the #6 horse in the third race was Kern Ridge and yet the results chart showed that Kern Ridge came in third place. Then I felt my blood begin to rush. Kern Ridge was listed as #5 on the monitor and Venus Genus was listed as #6. Confused, excited, and with my heart pounding rapidly, I found the program page. Sure enough, it listed Venus Genus as #6! How could this have happened?
With a few more clicks I investigated a little further. I found the Santa Anita Entries for the day on the Equibase Web page. This was the page from which I had made my selections. It showed Kern Ridge at post position #6 and Venus Genus at post position #7. Evidently two other horses in the race were a coupled entry: #1 and #1A.
By using the Entries page on the Equibase Web site as the source for my selections instead of finding the page with the true program numbers, I had just become the Pick 6 winner of $118,401. I double-checked the results on the Equibase Web site and quickly confirmed that #6 Venus Genus had indeed won the race! I was the only player to select all six winners that day. This horse racing “mastermind” had won the Pick 6 and was going to collect a cool $118,401!________
________
If you'd like to read another excerpt or three, stop by my website.
sk

.... and the winner is.......... Steven Kolb

[NJ Stinks]

My story is a bit different (and less rewarding) but, hopefully, of interest. In the early '90's my wife and I went to Vegas for a week. I'm not a big bettor but I do like to play the horses. Anyway, before we left a good buddy of mine handed me $4,800 and said he may want to bet some horses while I'm out there. This guy knows the casinos pretty well and he told me that his bets should be a help in getting us comped a few meals where we were staying. (It was at Circus Circus - oh yea, I'm a bigshot alright! ) He told me to talk to the race & sports book manager before I started playing and inform him that I intended to make some big bets on the horses during my stay. So I did and the manager said he would check my play and would let me know if I qualified for anything in the way of comps.

The first couple days neither me nor my buddy were doing much good. He was betting $200 across on his picks (maybe 2 or 3 a day) and I was betting around $15 to $20 a race. But his plan was working - betting $600 a race once in a while was the key and by the 3rd day we eating breakfast or lunch on the house. (Expensive meals when you think about it! ) Toward the end of our stay my buddy gave me three horses to bet. One of them was Salt Lake who I believe was running at Monmouth. I made the bet. (I can't tell you how many times I thought of backing some of his picks in the win slot that week. But I figured he was doing me a solid and I didn't want to root against his picks no matter how much I didn't like his horse.)

When they were loading Salt Lake into the gate, I looked at the piece of paper where I wrote down my buddies' picks and noticed that I forgot something. For the first time all week that he only wanted $200 on Salt Lake to place and show. Now I was stuck with $200 of my own money on Salt Lake to win! (My wife was there too. It wasn't a Kodak moment! )

You know the rest. Salt Lake went off at 7-2 and won like the champ he was! (A Kodak moment for sure! )

Pretty strange way to pick up over $700 but that's what happened.

[ryesteve]

Originally Posted by magwell

I wish I had a good story to tell, but every time I make a mistake it cost me money.......

I'm glad somebody said that... I was beginning to think that the ROI on accidental bets is somewhere around +100,000%

[MooseDog]

I wanted to bet the 11-1 exacta in the 1993 Breeders Cup Turf, but turns out I forgot to change the race number on the self serve machine so the bet was entered for the Classic instead.

11-1 in the Classic turned out to be Arcangues to Bertrando...HELLO!

This is the ONLY time anything like this has ever happened to me.

[JohnGalt1]

A few years ago, I played a pick six at Hollywood that probably cost around $48.

After the first 4 legs I announced to the friends at the table I was sitting with that I was 4 for 4, but that I had singled the last two legs.

Then I noticed I reversed the numbers for those races. They felt bad for me, especially who I was stuck with in the last leg.

My chalk was beaten by another favorite, The first mistake won.

The last race was an open 10K claimer for fillies and mares. The horse I meant to play was one of the favorites. I was stuck on a 5 year old mare who won her last race, and was a closer. She was like 3 for 30 something.

She won. I collected $14k when I should have been 4/6.

I sure didn't feel like a genius. Luckily I've won 7 more with mistake free tickets.

[wisconsin]

I was playing dime supers via computer one day back in February, and there was a race at Aqueduct I was looking at. Well, my pencil rolled onto the floor, and I could not find it, and there was one minute to post, so I tried to fashion a ticket without writing it down, and we all know that never works, so I played this $7.20 ticket, but used a wrong horse on top. Was supposed to be but in a hurry I went . Well, this bomb, the came from nowhere and paid $40 to win and the dime super paid over $300. I don't remember any other goof that actually made me money, and I've been playing for almost 30 years.