Making $20-50 a day

[timtam]

Countless times I talk to guys at the OTB who are retired and try to make

$20-$50 a day they say they could supplement their income and " live on easy

street". Is that at all possible cause many times they are up $30 and hang

around until they are down $10 or $20 bucks. They ask me and I say will

power and vamoose when their ahead. What would be a way to make a

daily wage at the OTB? If any?

[BaffertsWig]

Originally Posted by timtam

What would be a way to make a

daily wage at the OTB? If any?

Only consistent way would be to get a job as a teller.

[Murph]

Originally Posted by timtam

Countless times I talk to guys at the OTB who are retired and try to make

$20-$50 a day they say they could supplement their income and " live on easy

street". Is that at all possible ... What would be a way to make a

daily wage at the OTB? If any?

Ah, what a life. Hanging out (home or away) everyday, puffin' stogies, sippin' espressos, complaining about EVERYTHING. It seems a respectable way to while the lonely hours. Alas, to this day, I cannot beat the rake.

W WP WPS since Jan 1, 2017
# of Bets Win % $1 ROI Wagered Payoff Profit/Loss
313 30.67% -0.16 $1119.20 $936.23 $-182.97

Being more selective can help profits (in bursts) but takes away from social time. Really, if I won, what would I have to complain about?

[EMD4ME]

I'll get flack for this but if I had to make $20-$50 a day, I would easily do it 9/10 days that I wagered on.

Problem is, that's not my game. I love the super exotics and look to beat the game with roller coster scores. It's simply too boring for me.

I think it is easily done if someone had the proper tools (notes on horses, replays, DISCIPLINE, pace figs, etc etc etc).

Try and tell me that some guy/woman with a DRF is attempting this (with pen and paper in an OTB) then I'd say their chances decrease 10 fold.

[Robert Fischer]

Two(at least two) issues at work here...

1 - Do you have the 'requisite skill' to net a positive return? This must hold true over a long term number of plays.

2 - Why is there a compulsion to play until you lose a certain amount, rather than quitting while you are ahead?


If you can tackle both of those issues, yes it's possible to play daily sessions, towards a 'goal' (with gains and loss amounts that trigger 'stop, session, go home', regardless of how soon the goal is met).

Most people cannot tackle either issue.

(Although very difficult for many regular players) almost anyone can theoretically overcome gambling compulsion with some success, if sufficiently aware and motivated. The 'requisite skill' issue is not going to be possible for the majority of players, no matter how motivated.

Assuming a player does not have the requisite skill, but does have the discipline to end a betting session for the day, when a positive goal is met, they will at least have more winning sessions. Would prove an interesting experiment, with some fun and some frustration.

[Twin Double]

Originally Posted by timtam

Countless times I talk to guys at the OTB who are retired and try to make

$20-$50 a day they say they could supplement their income and " live on easy

street". Is that at all possible cause many times they are up $30 and hang

around until they are down $10 or $20 bucks. They ask me and I say will

power and vamoose when their ahead. What would be a way to make a

daily wage at the OTB? If any?

The only way I would think this could be possible would be to find strong favorites under bet in the show pool. In today's computer age these situations rarely arise with all the computer betting going on, most of the time any overlay in the show pool is evened out when the gate opens. To apply this strategy the person would have to be making $200 show bets and would try to find one opportunity a day. The one opportunity ideally would be a situation that's been back tested to show a profit from a significant sample size.

It would be a tedious daily grind, like micro-limit online poker. Yes, it can be profitable for that unique individual. After factoring in the cost of your information and the time spent to spot the ideal plays it would make more sense to get a part time job at the OTB for a couple hours a day.

[ultracapper]

$50/day is $18,250/year

Stogies? Easy street?

Puffing Swishers, cruising in your 1992 Corolla.

[Twin Double]

Originally Posted by ultracapper

$50/day is $18,250/year

Stogies? Easy street?

Puffing Swishers, cruising in your 1992 Corolla.

and the pasta stained wife beater

[NorCalGreg]

Originally Posted by Murph

Ah, what a life. Hanging out (home or away) everyday, puffin' stogies, sippin' espressos, complaining about EVERYTHING. It seems a respectable way to while the lonely hours. Alas, to this day, I cannot beat the rake.

W WP WPS since Jan 1, 2017
# of Bets Win % $1 ROI Wagered Payoff Profit/Loss
313 30.67% -0.16 $1119.20 $936.23 $-182.97

Being more selective can help profits (in bursts) but takes away from social time. Really, if I won, what would I have to complain about?

Don't worry about it Murph...in internet parlance--ya broke even

[VigorsTheGrey]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

Two(at least two) issues at work here...

1 - Do you have the 'requisite skill' to net a positive return? This must hold true over a long term number of plays.

2 - Why is there a compulsion to play until you lose a certain amount, rather than quitting while you are ahead?


If you can tackle both of those issues, yes it's possible to play daily sessions, towards a 'goal' (with gains and loss amounts that trigger 'stop, session, go home', regardless of how soon the goal is met).

Most people cannot tackle either issue.

(Although very difficult for many regular players) almost anyone can theoretically overcome gambling compulsion with some success, if sufficiently aware and motivated. The 'requisite skill' issue is not going to be possible for the majority of players, no matter how motivated.

Assuming a player does not have the requisite skill, but does have the discipline to end a betting session for the day, when a positive goal is met, they will at least have more winning sessions. Would prove an interesting experiment, with some fun and some frustration.

What would a reasonable over-bankroll profit amount to....say a $200 bankroll....how much would the bankroll have to be before I walk away for the day....?

Is their some mechanical prop that can be used to mitigate gambling compulsion either early or late in the day..?

[Prof.Factor]

IMHO,

Prime plays, and prime plays only. Forget action bets, entertainment and fun.
Stick to proven methods and grind a profit. Fun will go right out the window.

Some might sacrifice their grinder profit for exotic windfalls. I'm talking signers the IRS knows about.
No exotic action playing either. Windfall targets only.
This "feels" riskier, but windfall hits can yield exponentially more than grinder profits.

[DeltaLover]

Originally Posted by timtam

Countless times I talk to guys at the OTB who are retired and try to make

$20-$50 a day they say they could supplement their income and " live on easy

street". Is that at all possible cause many times they are up $30 and hang

around until they are down $10 or $20 bucks. They ask me and I say will

power and vamoose when their ahead. What would be a way to make a

daily wage at the OTB? If any?

Is this for real or a troll?

Even if a bettor has a real advantage (extremely improbable) , the expectation of a consistent “daily” profit is very naive. For a positive EV to materialize, it needs a long sequence of bets; depending in its standard deviation it is not uncommon to need several months to translate a winning strategy to profits.

More than this, timeboxing is completely meaningless when it comes to betting! Trying to limit daily losses or quit for the day when ahead by a certain amount are extremely silly tactics that have absolutely no significance to the bottom line.

My advice to those who “need a few bucks per day” is to stay as far as they can from horse betting (as any other type of gambling)!

[Inner Dirt]

I could never do it even when I first started going to the track on my own as an 18 year old with a $7 an hour job in 1979. My goal was making at least $100 or bust. If I was up $50 going in the last race I was either looking for an even money shot or better to win bet for $50 or looking for a 7-2 or higher to place bet for $50. I have always had a calculator in my head and could quickly figure minimum place and show prices back in the day when they weren't posted.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by VigorsTheGrey

What would a reasonable over-bankroll profit amount to....say a $200 bankroll....how much would the bankroll have to be before I walk away for the day....?

Unfortunately I've found that for 'Win/Place/Show' betting, about '2% of bankroll growth per session', would be a reasonable amount.
So for a $200 that would be... $4.
Of course, on day 2, your goal would be 2% of $204 ($4.08!), and over time, your bankroll would increase exponentially, rather than linearly.

If you could actually accomplish this, it would initially be extremely boring (in terms of short term rewards), for some time, and then you would be having a decent exponentially gaining income stream, and then you'd reach a point where your wagers are affecting the W/P/S odds, and you'd have to set a linear goal (e.g. $200 a day), rather than a percentage goal.

Originally Posted by VigorsTheGrey

Is their some mechanical prop that can be used to mitigate gambling compulsion either early or late in the day..?

I haven't heard of anything.
Gambling compulsion is an irrational behavior that is related to cognitive bias and emotional reaction.
The only success, that I've had with gambling compulsion is to avoid participation with the emotional aspects, know your triggers, and guard your rational thinking.
That makes full-participation in the fun of horseplaying pretty much impossible. The dream of the score. Betting a meaningful amount on your opinion/hope. The fear of losing. The desperation as the horses round the turn and enter the stretch. The resulting agony or ecstasy.
For many, those aspects are what provides the 'entertainment' of the activity, and it wouldn't be enjoyable otherwise.

[Bata]

Originally Posted by BaffertsWig

Only consistent way would be to get a job as a teller.

Or greeters at Wall Mart.