PIZZOLLA SOFTWARE

[boxcar]

KingFish, and Beacon, thank you very much for your insightful, in-depth replies.
This new information sheds a different light on things. Yes, I suppose I was referring to TMM, not TMH.

If I were to take this software for a "test drive", I would prefer reading the instrcutions, tips, etc., as opposed to listening to tapes or even watching videos. I absorb things a lot better and faster by reading, providing the material is well written, of course.

Again, thanks to both of you gents for your thoughtful and thought-provoking replies.

Regards,
Boxcar

[wes]

BY the time you reach the learning curve, the horses have past that point in most computer generated programs.


wes

[turfbar]

To all
I use both programs ,both have thier own specialties, to me TMH is genius
although the program is between 14 or 15 years old and I use it pretty much
each day ,haven't touched the pars in that time (since purchase 1992)and they work fine there is no need to upgrade pars but that is a whole other ball of wax,never attended a TMH seminar and I do regret that because I did learn by expierence which took some time , if someone held a gun to my head and said choose betweem TMH or Master Magician , no hesitation The Master Handicapper.

P.S. I also own a copy of MPH


Turfbar

[Wickel]

Does Post Time Daily, or anyone else for that matter, sell the Master Magician tapes separately from the software? Is anyone aware if the tapes have ever been offered on e-bay? Thanks.

[sjmeola]

I also have been using nothing but these two programs since 1992

There are pro's and con's to both programs..

Knowing Shanta well (Richie) he also knows both these programs well (hey pal)


I'LL start with the no longer supported TMH which I always said that there was nothing better on the planet at getting high priced winners. I still beleive that to this day and saying that I havent used tmh in about 3 years.

TMH (the master handicapper) was far ahead of its time and does many things beautifully and elegantly.

pro's
----------
Good record keeping tools able to type in bets and returns after all races always showing you your overall profit or loss at any track,surface or distance.

type in the winner and all modeling is done for you showing your strengths in any catagory (early late or total energy) including but not limited to specific tracks and distances.. this is very helpful as one might have a great return in routes but doing poorly in sprints, valualble info in a few seconds time..

acurate feet per second numbers for all pacelines all adjusted autoamtically.
the program has an amazing ability at predict when a dirt horse may like the grass and most of these are big priced winners..

A wonderful oddline which one can bet off based on the pacelines selected.

Pars are old but I also updated them using the standard 10k claiming par which seem to work just fine..

the expected line is a concept wich is greatly underused in turf speculation.
It is a tool that handicaps the public and tells you thru whatever speedratings you use (beyer or equibase or somethig else) and current form and class factors to try to predict how the public wil bet the race, thus telling you tru overlays vs bogus ones.. as Pizzolla always said some of the worst bets in racing are horses that the public should like and are taking no action on the toteboard and look great on all our readout and numbers...

The expert selector selects all pacelines at a keystroke giving you a valuable consistent judgmental base.. there are pro's and cons to this vs selecting your own pacelines wich I will not get into here...

Cons to TMH
-----------------
I honestly cant think of many but since I no longer use tmh and use TMM exclusivly there must be some reason or I still would be using it..

ONE big one which I always struggled with is the acupressure technogly(otherwise known as the matchup) and using that as a basis for how you are gonna bet the race(being early late or total energy)

the program gives you betting lines and pace numbers for all 3 and the acupressure is the tool to determine how to bet.
The frustration that i have had is that far too many races do nut run the way the acupressure says thus making the whole anylsis useless. I do not chalk this up as a flaw to the technology but a mere fact of life and racing.
Far too many times did I bet a race one way (lets say early line) and ny top late horse rolls home and pays 55 dollars an im ripping up m tickets. so picking the right betting line always opend the race to too many contenders so I call that a negative..

The ideal way to use tmh is to take the time to go thru all the horses form cycle window in a given race and pick apropiate pacelines thus givin the best acurate specualtion of the race. When this is done I feel it is second to none.The Con is it is not friendly to multi tracking and simulcasting many races in a short time unless you have time before the races to do your paceline work..

Summary
--------------------------
The fact that the program is no longer supported but the files are still available still make it a viable deadly program in the handicpping software dept.however I imagine only a few hundred at the most still use this program which may mean the plug to these files could be pulled at any time. I been waiting for this to happen for years now and it hasnt so kudo's to pizzolla for that.


In the next note I will explain the pro's and cons to the magicain(what I use now and why)

I have been with the pizzolla group since its inception even as far back as doing tpr numbers on a pocket sharp handheld which i purchased from dick schmidt back around 1991 (IT still works to this day)

been to no more than 4 of the handicappers networks seminars all on the east coast...

Sam Sjmeola@aol.com

[shanta]

Sammy!

Hey how are you? You have forgotten more than I will ever know with TMH. You are the best I have ever seen with that software. Mark a close 2nd

I miss seeing you since your move out west man. I mean that.

Sammy on a personal note I sent you an email bout a week ago regarding a family issue with you. I hope you received it ok?

You are in my prayers bro.

PLease lemme know whenever u make the trip back here. I will take a ride out to Meadowlands to see ya ok?

Take care of yourself Sam
Richie

[JimL]

Sam, what a well thought out thorough review. Looking forward to your thoughts and usage of TMM. JimL

[andicap]

Sam,
where the hell did you move to?

Yep, nobody knows Pizzolla's software like Sammy. We used to have long talks about its principles back when I was a bit more ignorant about pace.

andy

[sjmeola]

Hey Andy !

Got Married and moved to Colorado springs (beautiful here but not much of a horsey kind of place so all handicapping and betting is done from home..

Good to see you are still here !

I'll email you soon with contact info !

SaM

[andicap]

Can the fulcrum figure tell you something about the pace of the race?

I was fooling around looking at a race last night that had very little early pace and the fulcrum was extremely low. Logical but is it so?

Does a low fulcrum number indicate (nothing's 100% of course) that the pace should be slower than normal?

[sjmeola]

Hey Andy !

The Fulcrum is not intended to predict the pace of the race tho it does do just that far too often.

Thu fulcrum if set properly, is the slowest possible pace the race can go.


For Example lets say we set a fulcrum pace at 45.3 at the second call.
And it is ok to add a tick or 2 to the fulcrum so a 45.3 could be adjusted to 45.4 or 46 tho staying rigid with the 45.3 is not wrong.

then we look at all the horses to see how they fair in races at or around 45.3

if we find horses that run up the track on more than one occasion, against paces of 46 or slower, they are not to be consisdered for win possiblities, regardless of numbers and ratings. These horses have proven not to be able to compete against the paces that they will likely face today. What would be aceptable of being able to compete at or around the fulcrum would be 3 lengths or less if my memory serves me right..


Talk to you soon !

Sam

[andicap]

Thanks, Sam --- could you use adjusted pace/speed figures from a program to compute the fulcrum? As long as you keep the same distance comparisons so the adjustments are more accurate. My problem with the fulcrum as Pizzolla used it was how it failed to figure in track-track differences since a 45.2 pace at Belmont for 6f is good, but at Calder it's sensational.

I was just wondering, even tho the fulcrum doesn't predict the pace of the race, that if the fulcrum was set unusually low did it mean a weak pace scenario, either:
a) lots of cheap spead who can't finish within the 4 lengths Pizzolla set to qualify as a fulcrum race or
b) a few early types but with lower than average pace figures?

Interesting is that if a low fulcrum was due to lots of cheap speed, it would favor a closer since the speed would likely die being cheap and slow -- faders.

But if the low fulcrum was a result of lower pace figures on a couple of early horses than it would favor an early speed horse because the few early horses in the race would set a slower pace, not be pressed and more likely to hang on.

[kingfin66]

People always seem to want to make it more, and much more complicated, than it is. From page 60 of Handicapping Magic, "Very simply put, the Fulcrum Pace is a conservative estimate of what second call pace the horses in today's race must run against to compete successfully."

That's all it is.

[hracingplyr]

just got michaels picks for the preakness in a letter he sends out, the guy is a trip to say the least. i think he could sell snow cones to eskimos. he loves a race at pimlico tomorrow in the 9th race. he likes the 5 and 9 hes says they have colonel bradleys super 3rd quater of a race play, just out of curiosity what is the 3rd quater of a race?

[Tom]

Third fraction in :24 or less?