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Six Secrets of Successful Bettors : Winning Insights into Playing the Horses review:4 stars (six secrets of successful betters) - it kept my intrest , however i expected it to cover more of what type of plays these guys make at the track.4 stars (How to do it right.) - Frank R. Scatoni, Six Secrets of Successful Bettors (DRF Press, 2005)
So you want to be a professional horseplayer. What's the first thing you should do? Well, okay, the first thing you should probably learn to do is become a decent handicapper. But if you want to take it to the professional level, sooner or later you're probably going to have to do what everyone needs to do if they want to make it big in any profession: network. Talk to the guys who have already made it. Get pointers on how to do so. Maybe talk to some people not in your chosen profession, but related to it, to get some more universal ideas on theory and practice as well.
Previously, that step, unless you got lucky and had a pro in your backyard (not out of the question if your home track is Keeneland; if you frequent, say, Anthony Downs, however, you're going to be looking a long time), would have required a good deal of searching, a good deal of groveling (after all, the guy's not going to know you from Adam), and probably traversing the country a few times. A pretty expensive itinerary, to say the least, and you need to keep your bankroll up. But now Frank Scatoni has interviewed a bunch of them for you and boiled it all down into this book, which will cost you a whole lot less than plane tickets crisscrossing the country.
Scatoni gets words from some of the best-known professionals in the game, both the pundits (Crist, Beyer, Quinn, etc.) and the guys who've never written a word, but still make their money at the game (Ernie Dahlman, especially, and some players who chose to remain anonymous). He also pulls in a player from the world of baseball betting, a former top Vegas odds-line maker (Roxy Roxborough), some poker and blackjack players, and the like. The end result is a book about why these folks are successful, largely in their own words.
You would expect some conflicting and confusing information. That's life; there are many different ways to win this game. Beyer concentrates his play in exactas, Crist in pick sixes. They both make a living betting. One bettor puts twenty grand through the windows a day, another, if I was extrapolating his numbers right, bets in the vicinity of seventy-five million a year. They all make livings doing it. And a lot of what they have to say has been said time and again in books on handicapping, and you never really picked up on it before, did you? Well, give it another shot, and soak up the new info, as well. One way or the other, this is definitely one you want to pick up before quitting your job and going to the track full-time-- or even if you're a Christmas-and-Easter bettor who wants to get a little more disciplined like yours truly. *** Â#4 stars (Full of interesting insights) - I have read several 'betting psychology' books and, being something of a skeptic, I expected to come away disappointed by 'Six Secrets'. I didn't/wasn't. Since I've gone from tyro to serious amateur, I know this book will help both. Will it help a pro? I don't see how it couldn't help anyone.
Especially useful to me was the almost universal view of those interviewed that, whatever the game (in my case, thoroughbred racing) 'it's one long game'. A winning bet or day doesn't make you a genius, nor does a losing bet or day make you a dummy. Each bet you make is like the flip of a coin: some come up heads, some tails. A single outcome isn't as important as the reasoning which led you to make the bet in the first place. If your overall methodology is sound, if you know why it's sound, if you know yourself and what works (and doesn't) for you, profits should follow. A fair degree of competence at your game of choice is assumed.
My biggest knock on the book is with a couple of those chosen for the interviews; I have known one of them and have friends who have known another. I just don't think that they're as expert or as successful as they are purported to be. For me, this came out in their interviews, which seemed weaker than the rest, as if they weren't really speaking from experience. It might just be my take, though.
Don't think that this book is just a list of rules and homilies. Many other areas are explored in addition to what I found most useful. After a complete read, I think you'll walk away with a good perspective of what makes a winning gambler.
As with most of these self-help books, execution is the hard part....
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