New Horse Player Question

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by FreeExperience

Hi Everyone

As of Friday, I can no longer play poker online. I've thought that playing live at a casino would be fun, but the one nearest to me is roughly 2 hours away.

BUT, there's an Off Tracking Betting spot about 10 minutes from me and it's decently nice inside to get me thinking twice about betting on horses.

In the past I've bet on sports online until that was made illegal, than poker online until that was made illegal. I understand odds when it comes to sports other than horses, and I'm looking to the experienced bettor's here for help in clearing things up for me.

Thank you for any help that you can offer. This, like my previous adventures before, is very exciting.

Welcome to our game...but tread lightly; there is much to learn, and knowledge doesn't usually come cheap in this game.

This game is not like poker. There is so much misinformation about horse race betting floating around...that beginning horseplayers can easily spend YEARS sorting it out.

I would like to suggest 3 books to you...they can all be picked up rather cheaply at Amazon.com:

RECREATIONAL HANDICAPPING -- by James Quinn

THE WINNING HORSEPLAYER -- by Andrew Beyer

BEYER ON SPEED -- by Andrew Beyer

These books - combined with the rich content of this site - should go a long way towards creating a solid foundation for you in this game.

Resist the temptation to jump right into our game, and start betting serious amounts from the start.

Like they say about poker..."This game takes a minute to learn...but a lifetime to master."

Good luck!

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by superfecta

Just as an aside free,have you read any books on handicapping?
you would need to understand the basics to choosing a horse before worrying about how much it pays.
And as a real debby downer,as Ive been reading about the online poker scandal,all the players are complaining about their money being held.Is it really their money if it was earned doing an illegal activity?Horseracing is legal,but I cant bet with a bookie on it legally.
If my bookie gets popped by the feds,and all his cash is seized,can I really expect to get my winning ticket cashed?ever?
I wish online poker was legal,but its not.so I cant see how these guys got a leg to stand on.legally.
Sorry for the hijack.

Be careful my friend...your ignorance is showing.

How do you know that this money being held was "earned doing an illegal activity"? Everybody is not a winner ...you know. Most of this money is not "illegal winnings"...it's money deposited by LOSING players, who wanted to play the game.

Why does it bother YOU if "all the poker players are complaining about their money being held"?

They may not be allowed to play poker online...but I'm pretty sure that they are still allowed to complain...

[superfecta]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Be careful my friend...your ignorance is showing.

How do you know that this money being held was "earned doing an illegal activity"? Everybody is not a winner ...you know. Most of this money is not "illegal winnings"...it's money deposited by LOSING players, who wanted to play the game.

Why does it bother YOU if "all the poker players are complaining about their money being held"?

They may not be allowed to play poker online...but I'm pretty sure that they are still allowed to complain...

Umm,ok
if you read my analogy,it addressed your point on "winnings".
And I am one of said players,I just accepted the risk,never left any large amount on site.
Why do YOU care what I say?
I just thought the players were smarter than that.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by superfecta

Umm,ok
if you read my analogy,it addressed your point on "winnings".
And I am one of said players,I just accepted the risk,never left any large amount on site.
Why do YOU care what I say?
I just thought the players were smarter than that.

I don't particularly care what you say, but, this being an online forum...we respond to each other's comments.

And we poker players already know that we don't have a legal leg to stand on as far as getting our money back is concerned...we don't need "smart guys" like you to rub it in...

[superfecta]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

And we poker players already know that we don't have a legal leg to stand on as far as getting our money back is concerned...we don't need "smart guys" like you to rub it in...

and there it is,just be upfront with yourself,dont lash out.
and sorry for the hijack again,Free

[Some_One]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Welcome to our game...but tread lightly; there is much to learn, and knowledge doesn't usually come cheap in this game.

This game is not like poker. There is so much misinformation about horse race betting floating around...that beginning horseplayers can easily spend YEARS sorting it out.

I would like to suggest 3 books to you...they can all be picked up rather cheaply at Amazon.com:

RECREATIONAL HANDICAPPING -- by James Quinn

THE WINNING HORSEPLAYER -- by Andrew Beyer

BEYER ON SPEED -- by Andrew Beyer

These books - combined with the rich content of this site - should go a long way towards creating a solid foundation for you in this game.

Resist the temptation to jump right into our game, and start betting serious amounts from the start.

Like they say about poker..."This game takes a minute to learn...but a lifetime to master."

Good luck!

I agree, like how there are play money tables in poker, play on paper or with virtual bucks (Sklansky bucks will do also, lol) for a bit.

Also, the NTRA has been doing vitural classes weekly, there are 9 chat sessions already available for replay at the below link, a great resource I think, and it's all free.
http://www.ntra.com/content/learnmore/display/138

Edit: I forgot, on 2+2, I think there is a horse racing thread in the sports gambling section, not sure how much goes on there, but could be a source of info,

[Freightliner]

Originally Posted by Ray2000

Freightliner

Overlay is the term for under bet horses, ...getting higher odds than expected.

I've been away for 20 years, still scraping off the rust.

[pondman]

Originally Posted by FreeExperience

This is really incredible how the odds can shift so quickly and effect so many bets at the same time. Is there a reason that so many bettor's wait until the last minutes to place their bets?

How honest is the business of Horse Racing and Betting? In online poker there have been scandal's where operator's / programmer's have used the information to their advantage and stolen a lot of money from honest player's.

It's a mutual pool. The odds on your horse is dependent on [(the total in the pool - approximately 20%) / how much is bet on your horse]. It changes as players bet. Therefore the prices are much less volatile at large tracks than in the bushes.

If you want to survive over time, you've got to reserve your large bets for horses with an advantage-- just as you would in all other forms of gambling. Therefore, you need to make sure your expected return is high enough to cover your losses. So betting on low price horses is a quick route to ruin.

The good thing about horse racing is you can sit at the table and not bet until your horse comes along.

If you are asking about larceny, you'll get many different responses. I say yes (from personal shenanigans to hide a horses abilities.)

[ceejay]

Originally Posted by FreeExperience

Is there somewhere that I can learn strategies to counteract any negative effect that the odds change will have on making bets that will show a profit?

One thing you can do which is far from perfect: use conditional wagering available at a number of ADW's. it is far from perfect because it does not insulate you from "later" odds change.