How to break a slump

[mfactor]

2022 has been a difficult year for me. I'm a weekend warrior,,sometimes Friday Saturday and Sunday and sometimes Saturday and Sunday. I play Santa Anita or Del Mar and try to stay away from Los Alamitos.
Bankroll for the weekend is about a nickle. I play pick 5s and Pick 4s. Usually I make my share of scores. Except this year. I can't get going. I haven't even been deep enough to say I lost the last leg. There was one occasion when I had the 10 this summer at Del Mar for a 9500 pick 5 and Rispoli came out of the clouds to beat me.
The camera was on the 10 and Trevor didn't mention the horse that beat me until the last moment.
Anyway I'm lost right now. I don't have a feel for what's going on.....My long winded question is what do you guys do to break slumps. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[chrisl]

Damn! is there something other than a slump. LOL Good Post, I will be interested in any feed back.

[Dave Schwartz]

First, determine if it is a slump or simply the result of consistently sub-standard play.

I test that myself by asking the question, "Are my horses as live as they usually are?"

As an example a couple of years back, I got my ass kicked really hard, losing three sessions in a row.

I could tell that my selections were just not in synch with what was happening. My horses were just not getting calls. Not early, not late. Nothing.

So, I stopped playing until I figured it out.

And I did that by practicing.
I played races from past days, without seeing results.

And what I saw - and tracked - was that the game had changed from November to March.

Yes, this happens.
And in this age, almost every year is different than the last.

Welcome to the age of adaptation.

[proximity]

Originally Posted by mfactor

2022 has been a difficult year for me. I'm a weekend warrior,,sometimes Friday Saturday and Sunday and sometimes Saturday and Sunday. I play Santa Anita or Del Mar and try to stay away from Los Alamitos.
Bankroll for the weekend is about a nickle. I play pick 5s and Pick 4s. Usually I make my share of scores. Except this year. I can't get going. I haven't even been deep enough to say I lost the last leg. There was one occasion when I had the 10 this summer at Del Mar for a 9500 pick 5 and Rispoli came out of the clouds to beat me.
The camera was on the 10 and Trevor didn't mention the horse that beat me until the last moment.
Anyway I'm lost right now. I don't have a feel for what's going on.....My long winded question is what do you guys do to break slumps. Any ideas would be appreciated.

my experience is eerily similar to yours except that i basically just spot play watch horses to win on this circuit. i also pass los al pretty much. (i maybe bet geezer (?) there off what was really the worst trip of the entire del mar meet iirc?)

anyhow i "beat" the main del mar meet but really just hung on as i was trending down at the end. at santa anita i didn't get many horses but was set to win again with, ironically a #10 horse, who's candy on october 8th but miller closed up the rail and nailed me right at the end. i accepted defeat and looked forward to del mar november but kept getting the same trip there where i'm 8th and close to 5th, not really challenging. i was 0/5 and thought about trying the last race of the meet where i figured earls rock and the irad ortiz horse would be underlays. luckily i passed sincei believe they ran 1-2.

so you're not alone if it's any consolation and fortunately we get a little break here to recharge our batteries. good luck in 2023!!

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by mfactor

2022 has been a difficult year for me. I'm a weekend warrior,,sometimes Friday Saturday and Sunday and sometimes Saturday and Sunday. I play Santa Anita or Del Mar and try to stay away from Los Alamitos.
Bankroll for the weekend is about a nickle. I play pick 5s and Pick 4s. Usually I make my share of scores. Except this year. I can't get going. I haven't even been deep enough to say I lost the last leg. There was one occasion when I had the 10 this summer at Del Mar for a 9500 pick 5 and Rispoli came out of the clouds to beat me.
The camera was on the 10 and Trevor didn't mention the horse that beat me until the last moment.
Anyway I'm lost right now. I don't have a feel for what's going on.....My long winded question is what do you guys do to break slumps. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Are you saying that you have lost $500 every weekend for the entire year?

[ranchwest]

Several things could be factors.

1) Normal statistics. For instance, if you typically play 10/1 horses, it would not be unusual to miss on 50 races in a row!

2) There is something that has degraded about your mental focus.

3) You are not doing a post mortem on enough races to determine what you might could have done better.

4) You are not doing enough research to stay ahead of the game.

5) You have not established a consistent process or you are not always maintaining a consistent process.

6) You are pressing, trying too hard to force your results, instead of letting your knowledge lead you.

Does any of that seem familiar?

[Light]

Originally Posted by mfactor

2022 has been a difficult year for me. I'm a weekend warrior,,sometimes Friday Saturday and Sunday and sometimes Saturday and Sunday. I play Santa Anita or Del Mar and try to stay away from Los Alamitos.
Bankroll for the weekend is about a nickle. I play pick 5s and Pick 4s. Usually I make my share of scores. Except this year. I can't get going. I haven't even been deep enough to say I lost the last leg. There was one occasion when I had the 10 this summer at Del Mar for a 9500 pick 5 and Rispoli came out of the clouds to beat me.
The camera was on the 10 and Trevor didn't mention the horse that beat me until the last moment.
Anyway I'm lost right now. I don't have a feel for what's going on.....My long winded question is what do you guys do to break slumps. Any ideas would be appreciated.

You must clear your mind of all things. Remove yourself from the obsession of "trying to win" which is at the root of your blockage. Relax your mind, light some incense to get you in the mood if you so desire. Sit down,close your eyes and do not think of your problem or you will sink deeper in its clutches. Just pay attention to the flow of your breath. Take some deep breaths. When your normal breathing slows down to slower than normal, you have achieved some relaxation. Do not resume playing until that has occurred.

When that occurs, ask the universe for help from within yourself regarding this matter in a serious manner. Be patient. The answer will not be immediate or in words. It will show you the answer gently so you have to pay attention for the answer. When you resume play, you will be looking at the races without the same mentality that caused you to lose all year. You will be refreshed and your abilities enhanced. You will then discover what you were doing wrong which only you know but cannot perceive with your present state of mind. Your higher self will show you the way if you follow what I say.

If you find what I say too "out there", that's fine. Just be aware if you ignore what I say,when you do come out of whatever the blockage is that is causing your dilemma , you will be following the steps I say here. It's just that you will not be conscious that you are doing these same steps in a different manner (such as during sleep or subconsciously) and it will take you longer to accomplish it.

[thaskalos]

It has been my experience that things that worked in the past do not necessarily pan out in the future...especially when we are talking about the long exotics, whose profit for the season often depend on a single winning ticket or two. You also don't provide enough information about how long you've been a pick-4 and pick-5 bettor...it may very well be that your handicapping skills and your bankroll are inadequate for the task of handling the more complicated exotics. Why not try your hand at the pick-3 or even the daily double, and see how that goes.

As the lesser players flee the game and the "computer guys" gain ever-increasing prominence in the wagering pools, the game gets increasingly harder to beat...and it behooves the serious player to keep improving his skill set, not only in order to profit...but even to survive in this game. We can't rely on our useful methods of old. We must continually keep improving...because our competition in the game keeps getting stronger.

[Poindexter]

OP, pick 4's and pick 5's are their own beast. Do not know how long you have played them for or how consistently been able to stay competitive or win consistently with them in the past. But what you are experiencing should not be shocking. They are low probability wagers. I don't know how you play. Do you use caveman tickets. Do you use and abc approach. Do you overweight obvious horses. Do you include horses you probably should not........ On and on there are questions that may give some insight as to whether you are playing these wagers well (you can play well and lose and you can play poorly and win). I wouldn't worry about breaking a slump. I don't think there is a such thing when dealing with pick 4's and pick 5's. There are other factors. Playing difficult sequences. Gambling on bad singles or doubles. Going too deep, going to thin, not being selective enough, playing sequences that aren't offering any value.


You can take Thaskalos' idea and redirect into easier bets with less frustrating losing cycles or you can start handicapping yourself. Which means every time you play a pick 4 or Pick 5 you ask yourself some of the questions presented above and some others you can think of. Keep a notebook and analyze the results. I played this pick 4 for this reason and didn't play this pick 5 for that reason. As you do this over a number of pick 4's and pick 5's you will spot weaknesses in your game and you will find strengths in your game. Find the strengths, eliminate the weaknesses and you improve your game. Improving your game is your best chance of winning and the only cure for a losing streak is to win.

[Brisk Urging]

YouTube (Short URL)

[Inner Dirt]

Are you playing a different track or did the track change on you? I am a pace handicapper who has taken a break from racing and has been betting NFL and NBA mostly season bets since the evil Satan worshiping powers to be closed the inner dirt track at Aqueduct. I do figure I will return in the next year or so.


My favorite bet was finding a track kind to speed and finding decent odd horses who should get an uncontested lead and building pick 3 tickets around them. I would say that is a special skill I have, fishing out a surprise speed horse.


I found some tracks back decades ago all of a sudden flipped from speed favoring being the norm to having a whiff of the early lead was certain death.
It took a while to soak in and it caused some bad losing streaks. I was thinking I was dealing with a prolonged closer bias, when in fact the track was now that way all the time.

[Johnny V]

In my case what I generally do is look what I was doing before the slump started by going over my records. Sometimes I discover that when I was going well I got careless because I was getting overconfident and complacent. I look to see what type of races, tracks, etc that may have been the source of the slump. Keeping records is vital for me.
Mental burnout has to be considered as well. In my case sometimes I just need to take a break from racing and get myself mentally rested and occupy myself with something else. Get my batteries recharged.

[mfactor]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Are you saying that you have lost $500 every weekend for the entire year?

No. Some weekends up 600 on Fri and Saturday and give it back. There was a weekend I won like 1800. Some weekends where I win 100 or lose 100 but generally when I get hot I stay hot for a couple months and that pads the bankroll. It FEELS like I've lost 500 every weekend but that is the worst case scenario.

[mfactor]

Originally Posted by ranchwest

Several things could be factors.

1) Normal statistics. For instance, if you typically play 10/1 horses, it would not be unusual to miss on 50 races in a row!

2) There is something that has degraded about your mental focus.

3) You are not doing a post mortem on enough races to determine what you might could have done better.

4) You are not doing enough research to stay ahead of the game.

5) You have not established a consistent process or you are not always maintaining a consistent process.

6) You are pressing, trying too hard to force your results, instead of letting your knowledge lead you.

Does any of that seem familiar?

Excellent. Yes All good stuff man. For me this borders on brillant. Thank You

[mfactor]

Originally Posted by Light

You must clear your mind of all things. Remove yourself from the obsession of "trying to win" which is at the root of your blockage. Relax your mind, light some incense to get you in the mood if you so desire. Sit down,close your eyes and do not think of your problem or you will sink deeper in its clutches. Just pay attention to the flow of your breath. Take some deep breaths. When your normal breathing slows down to slower than normal, you have achieved some relaxation. Do not resume playing until that has occurred.

When that occurs, ask the universe for help from within yourself regarding this matter in a serious manner. Be patient. The answer will not be immediate or in words. It will show you the answer gently so you have to pay attention for the answer. When you resume play, you will be looking at the races without the same mentality that caused you to lose all year. You will be refreshed and your abilities enhanced. You will then discover what you were doing wrong which only you know but cannot perceive with your present state of mind. Your higher self will show you the way if you follow what I say.

If you find what I say too "out there", that's fine. Just be aware if you ignore what I say,when you do come out of whatever the blockage is that is causing your dilemma , you will be following the steps I say here. It's just that you will not be conscious that you are doing these same steps in a different manner (such as during sleep or subconsciously) and it will take you longer to accomplish it.

OMG I love it. Right up my alley. I live 10 minutes from the pacific Ocean and before I make another bet I am going to go there and let the mist from the waves film my heart and soul with positive affirmation. It's like I've been waiting for the weekend to come so I can lose instead of letting everything come in due time and get myself mentally prepared for when the time comes.
Awesome Thank You