What gets YOU high? Is it when you Win??

[jay68802]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

When I make a withdrawal.

While I do admit that I really get pleasure watching my house draw away, and there is great excitement in watching my long price roar down the lane, it is really the receiving of money that I enjoy most.

Dave, if your "house" is drawing away, you are in the wrong game.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

When I make a withdrawal.

That's a good point.

It's one thing to win a race here and there, and another to be able to set aside some money that you are able to use as income.

[Dave Schwartz]

Originally Posted by jay68802

Dave, if your "house" is drawing away, you are in the wrong game.

Dang, and I can't even blame my phone!

LOL

[ultracapper]

THE HIGHS

1) Seeing something in a replay that isn't reflected, or not prominently noted, in the pps.

2) Seeing the ML on that horse higher than I expected.

3) Watching the betting and coming to realize that I'm going to get an acceptable price.

4) Watching the horse win.

Each event gets my blood pumping a little faster than the previous one.

THE LOWS

1) Watching replay after replay, day after day, and seeing nothing of a positive interest. (Elbow on the desk, head leaning on hand)

2) Noting some things "of interest" on a couple horses and then seeing unacceptable MLs, indicating that what I'm seeing is already baked into the price, implying that I'm really not seeing anything that everybody else isn't also seeing. (Big deal, but there's nothing else going on in this race)

3) Trying to keep my money in my pocket (They all stink, at least this one has this going for it. A little w/p bet might get something out of it)

4) Watching my "action, hunch play" run up the track while knowing that's exactly what it was going to do. (Damn it. What did I do that for? That was so stupid. Get your head together.)

When I make it to step 2 time after time, I know I'm flirting with a bad run. Step 2 is by far the most dangerous. I just start looking for any reason to like something about a horse after looking through the replays of 5, then 8, then 10 races and seeing nothing of real interest. When I start getting that feeling that "I'll never see anything exciting again", that's when real discipline, and a real understanding of what my thoughts are leading me through, need to be consciously grasped.

Great topic. Really forced me to sit down and think about it.

[ultracapper]

Originally Posted by jay68802

The days seem the same a lot in this game. Looking at races again and again. You get into a rut, seeing the low price favorites, short fields, unplayable races where you have no opinion. Then you find something. Take a closer look, and start asking questions. Why the high odds on this horse? Am I missing some thing? You keep looking, the distance is right, with the running style and post he gets a good trip. You wait till race time, follow the betting, looking for how the horse is being played by others. What the probables are, is he cold on the board? Are the probables lower than expected? How do you play him? You finally figure out your bets, and take one more look at the race. Go time, place your wagers and then sit back and watch. The race unfolds exactly as you saw it. Two horses hook on the lead, your horse sits right behind the pace, in the clear. You watch your pick the whole way, see the way he is running. The duel starts to affect the two front runners, your horse closes the distance with out trying, swings out in the stretch and responds to the jockey. You look to see if any one else is coming, and no one is, then you smile and think that was fun, lets do it again.

LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT!!!

The thing is, it may happen 30 minutes later, or it may not happen until 30 days later. That's the lack of control that maddens me about this game. Right there, you just nailed the race, you did everything perfect, and got rewarded. SO......You're ready to do it again. BUT..... in your exact words "Then you find something". As bad as you want that "something" to be now when you're "On it", that "something" will come along when it comes along, no sooner, no later.

I had a huge 3 week run years ago. It was at Hollywood Park during the spring. In 3 weeks, I hit 15 out of 19 races. Not exaggerating. 15 for 19. I took my wife out for breakfast one morning near the end of it, and we were discussing it. She finally said, "Well, you've been awfully lucky." Of course, my response was to take umbrage at my skill being minimized and my results being credited to some arbitrary "it happens". My proper response should have been, and the truth of the matter was, that I was very lucky to be presented with that many opportunities, opportunities that I could read accurately, in such a short period. The "luck" wasn't in relation to my skill as a handicapper, the luck was that I was presented with so many opportunities that fit what I do well in such a minimum amount of races. This is the rub I've had over the years with people that have suggested I bet more races because I have hit at a solid rate at times. What they don't understand is every race doesn't fit the way you handicap, particularly if you're a handicapper that doesn't rely on statistics heavily, or at all, like myself. If you're playing the angles, playing the statistics, and have made your computer program recognize winning combinations of angles and stats and what-have-you spit out positive long term results, then yes, you want to run as many races through the grinder as possible. But when you do it like I do, when you look for particular situations, you just have to wait for them to come, and you can't "make" the situations come when you want them. They will come when they come.

I love it when you're at the track, and you hit a good one, and 3 or 4 guys want to hang around you and work the next race out with you. The next race is a totally different situation, and if it doesn't play into what you're doing, they are going to be very disappointed in the results you lead them to. They figure you're "hot" and it doesn't matter what the next race looks like, you're going to figure it out. Handicapping is the one game that does not work like that, at all. 9 times out of 10 when I hear guys say they are hot or cold, I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of the situations that have been presented to them being advantageous or not, rather than they are handicapping better or worse now than they were before they got hot or cold.