Quote:
Originally Posted by Nitro
I believe one of the major hurdles that traditional handicappers face which inevitably could cause their “self-deception” is being mentally locked into to specific methodologies. These tactics predictably can’t handle the fluctuation of all the variables within a diversity of race types and their conditions. Unfortunately, the scope of numerous approaches is limited at best. That’s only because they can’t account for many of the unknown factors involved when dealing with the flesh and blood aspects of the animals’ mental and physical condition at any given time.
The game and those physically participating can best be described as unique at any specific moment. Ultimately changing from one idea to another to satisfy that uniqueness would be akin to placing a band aid on a deep laceration. I believe that’s one of the reasons why many of the more successful players prefer to play within a specific niche that puts them in a more reasonable comfort zone based on past successful experiences. They have accepted the fact when handicapping that “one size (idea) does not fit all”.
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I don't believe there is a single person here who doesn't acknowledge the fact that "one size doesn't fit all". The problem is that this game is complicated enough to encourage the horseplayer to keep jumping from methodology to methodology, and from handicapping software to handicapping software...in an effort to avoid "being mentally locked into" any specific methodology. People jump from handicapping method to handicapping method, and even though they keep losing for years...more handicapping "systems" are still out there, so the jumping from method to method continues for a lot longer than perhaps it should. As the saying goes..."hope dies last". That's the "self-deception" that I am talking about.
Look...I don't much care for the person who views this game as a "challenging hobby", and shrugs off his acceptable losses as an "entertainment expense". I say that I don't care much for this sort of person because such a horseplayer needs no help from me, or from anybody else. This kind of horseplayer has accepted his losses, and probably lacks the will and the motivation to improve his game enough to even have a chance at profitability in this frustrating game. And, in the grand scheme of things...this person will probably end up happier than the rest of us, who have taken this game a lot more seriously than he has.
Nevertheless...the player that I care about most is the one who takes this game head on, and pays the heavy price that this game demands of the "serious player". Such a player may not have a lot of brains, but he has a lot of balls...and I like that. But there comes a time when the "serious player" must realize that he is beat, either because the game is too hard for him...or because his life's circumstances do not allow him to devote the sort of time to this game that it demands. Not to realize this could spell financial and emotional doom for the serious horseplayer...and that's the "self-deception" that I am talking about here. I've been in the gambling arena too long, and I've seen too much...and how I wish that I hadn't witnessed all the pain and the heartache that I have seen. And a lot of it has been my own.