HTR Software

[Judicious Player]

I was just wondering if anyone is having success with HTR, Ken Massa's software program.

So far, great customer service. Nothing negative to say about the people running the place. A great staff.

I signed up out of curiosity. A friend of mine from Sam's Town uses it.

I have had the service for only two months, and I have not yet bet off of it. I am in a study mode right now.

Frankly, I do not find it very predictive, but I am admittedly clueless when it comes to using it. (I realize that many tournament players do quite well with it. Even Ken himself, which is refreshing.)

If anyone out there has any insights to share, it would be greatly appreciated. Maybe someone has angle on how best to implement it into one's toolbox . . . ?

Thank you in advance.

[JustRalph]

http://www.homebased2.com/forums/

[Judicious Player]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

http://www.homebased2.com/forums/

Thank you.

[Judicious Player]

Found the insight @ HTR's own forum:

"Will have much more today later when things calm down including a run down of our picks in the tournament. But as you might have guessed, we used the 'Massa strategy', saving all the bullets for late in the day and firing at those low Vi races."

Awesome!!!

Thanks again, JustRalph

[Judicious Player]

Originally Posted by Judicious Player

I was just wondering if anyone is having success with HTR, Ken Massa's software program.

So far, great customer service. Nothing negative to say about the people running the place. A great staff.

I signed up out of curiosity. A friend of mine from Sam's Town uses it.

I have had the service for only two months, and I have not yet bet off of it. I am in a study mode right now.

Frankly, I do not find it very predictive, but I am admittedly clueless when it comes to using it. (I realize that many tournament players do quite well with it. Even Ken himself, which is refreshing.)

If anyone out there has any insights to share, it would be greatly appreciated. Maybe someone has angle on how best to implement it into one's toolbox . . . ?

Thank you in advance.

I have learned since this post, from other HTR users, that HTR is quite predictive indeed. Like all sofware, however, it is not a magic formula; it is, instead, another tool to use.

That said, I can already tell that there is power in HTR in finding playable races and unplayable races. Each race is labeled with an indicator that suggests the race will be chalky or . . . not so chalky . . . i.e., will be won by a non-favorite, or perhaps a price horse . . . Some races are labeled "chaos" (where the favorite has less than a 15% chance of winning) and those races will be of the most interest to me . . . Races that the software earmarks as chalky will be avoided altogether --- or, an obvious horse will be used in such a race as a Pick 4 anchor . . .

This Vi designation (which is what it is called) is, in and of itself, worth the monthly subscription price . . .

[JustRalph]

Have fun..........

[jhilden]

The VI, or Volitility Index (I think that is what it is), is a good indicator to start checking for races that have a vulnerable favorite. The K Factor and HTR # differentials help also. You are on the right track. The bad thing with HTR is that you easily can go into overload mode and contradict yourself very easily with all that information.

Run the robot with different VI ranges and see what works for different tracks and how the top rated horses fared.

[Judicious Player]

Originally Posted by jhilden

The VI, or Volitility Index (I think that is what it is), is a good indicator to start checking for races that have a vulnerable favorite. The K Factor and HTR # differentials help also. You are on the right track. The bad thing with HTR is that you easily can go into overload mode and contradict yourself very easily with all that information.

Run the robot with different VI ranges and see what works for different tracks and how the top rated horses fared.

Thanks for the input, and I get what you say about overload.

While I do well at the track today, it seemed a lot simpler in the late 70s and early 80s. No information overload and no exotic overload. Daily Doubles and Exactas and no Internet.

[BigJake]

I've really been looking at HTR or just buying DRF single files four or five at a time. Someone needs to really sell me on HTR. I know there are probably 1000s of post on HTR, but this is the one I've found to latch on to. With the DRF files I can set up the PPs the way I want and use data to crunch different angles in excel. Why is HTR better than that?

[RichieP]

Originally Posted by BigJake

I've really been looking at HTR or just buying DRF single files four or five at a time. Someone needs to really sell me on HTR.

Morning Jake
It might be better if you convince yourself that the software is worth the monthly outlay for data files. This way the appreciation of it's power comes from within.

The free demo and Mr. Massa's willingness to give folks a free day or 2 of live races hopefully helps to accomplish that.

Hope everyone out in Bluegrass country is recovering from the wild ice storms that have hit there.

All the best

[Tom]

You are comparing PPs to information. HTR is far more than PPs.
There is a free demo, try it and see what it is all about.

[DanG]

Originally Posted by RichieP

Morning Jake
It might be better if you convince yourself that the software is worth the monthly outlay for data files. This way the appreciation of it's power comes from within.

The free demo and Mr. Massa's willingness to give folks a free day or 2 of live races hopefully helps to accomplish that.

Well put Richie;

Addressing a few other posts…

As far as PP’s; if you have any MS Access knowledge and / or Excel, you can create custom PP’s that are far superior to anything I’ve seen.

Too many variables and / or too complicated: That is in the eye of the beholder and I can see where it would get some in trouble. IMO: that is more an end user function then that of the program. You can use most software (and certainty HTR) in a very basic way if you choose, but I like having as many options as possible for the monthly fee and then deciding what the wheat from the chaff is.

After using both sheet services, DRF for many years, exporting from the original Formulator, countless home grown approaches; the use of software (HTR) has convinced me it needs to be tried for a minimum of 6 months (roughly the price of 2.67 grocery orders) to determine if it’s really for you.

In talking to new users it’s very similar to the Len Friedman seminar I went to many years ago. (I’m paraphrasing from memory)

He said there were normally 3 stages of development in sheet users…

1. Often / almost instant success just betting fast / fit horses at reasonable odds.
2. A significant drop in returns while complicating the process through esoteric pattern reading.
3. A return to success as a balance is reached between past and current experience.

The software learning curve can be very similar. Some will get off to a flying start and then sometimes I’ll read a post in 4 weeks as to “what went wrong”. Others will have information overload immediately and they will shut down. Still others will wonder where its been all their lives.

People can tell you from now until our extended nap and it won’t replace hands on experience. Just try and narrow your focus in the beginning; there is always time to expand your game and 4 years in I’m learning new things literally every day.

[BigJake]

Originally Posted by RichieP

Morning Jake
It might be better if you convince yourself that the software is worth the monthly outlay for data files. This way the appreciation of it's power comes from within.

The free demo and Mr. Massa's willingness to give folks a free day or 2 of live races hopefully helps to accomplish that.

Hope everyone out in Bluegrass country is recovering from the wild ice storms that have hit there.

All the best

Thanks Richie. My part of the state really just got a thin layer of ice. We were right on the edge of disaster. Just 30 minutes west of us there are some that will be without power and water for almost a month by the time it is all said and done.

I think Dan is getting to the core of my true question. With all of the PP information set up in my spreadsheet, I can calculate "fps" and rank horses accordingly by the different segments of the race. I've heard to really be able to use the software that it takes 6 months or so to learn (like Dan said, years to really master).

I've used the old MPH software and I know there are drastic difference in HTR and MPH, but its based on the same principles, right? What can you really do in HTR that makes it worth the monthly fee? I don't want to sound "belittling" and sometimes its hard to express your true sentiments on a board. I am truly thinking about using this program. I am just very concerned about the outlay.

Jake

[DanG]

Originally Posted by BigJake

What can you really do in HTR that makes it worth the monthly fee? I don't want to sound "belittling" and sometimes its hard to express your true sentiments on a board. I am truly thinking about using this program. I am just very concerned about the outlay.

Jake

I agree with you Jake; these can be tough things to discuss in print.

As far as the monthly fee goes; we are talking about less then $4 a day for every single track in North America. In the data world that is incredibly under priced as Ron Tiller (HDW) / and Massa know very well.

That includes… (Off the top of my ‘got to bed at 3:30am head)

• Results
• Charts
• PP’s
• Advanced Proprietary ratings (Fitness rating, Pedigree, Contender grades etc…)
• FPS-Velocity Numbers
• Quirin Style Pace & Speed Figures
• Cramer’s “Beyer style” Figures
• Track Profiles
• Auto Download / and Auto Scratch
• HDW cleans the Equibase data before HTR receives it. (This is huge btw)
• Tons of trainer data and unique displays.
• Virtually unlimited exporting features.
• Stand alone research program (for those who don’t want to export)
• Stand Alone Velocity / Match-up program

I could go on and on; but as we discussed before; until a user goes hands on, I don’t think the printed word makes an impact.

The time it takes for Tiller / Cramer / Massa (and this goes for all the HDW family of programmers) have devoted to their work is just remarkable. The fee’s charged are the greatest value to the semi-serious player I’m aware of.

Of course were talking about nuts and bolts here and there are some things you just can’t put a price on. Being able to talk directly to the programmer’s creator (who is a serious and excellent player himself) is invaluable.

Setting aside < $4 a day until our TC is over will be worth 10,000 posts of this kind and will provide a fair test imo. Even if you don’t take the plunge I feel every player would benefit from reading the newsletters archived on their site.

http://www.homebased2.com/km/library.htm#newsletters

Either way; best of luck with your choice.

[Tom]

And, we teach you the secret handshake!