Thursday 7 February 2019

Betting Strategy: The #1 Thing That Works (Discipline)


For many, betting is not a complex subject.

It takes as little time as scribbling out a betting slip: time, meeting, horse's name and stake. How simple was that? ''I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's as easy as ABC...''

However, the question we need to ask those individuals is: ''Does your betting pay?''.

If it does, then you don't need to read anything else because you've cracked it. Perhaps you've gone one step beyond and have a bot placing bets and making a passive income. You travel from country to country only checking your betting account to see how much money you've won!

Sadly, for most people, this is a dream...

Very few winners in life get there by knowing less. How can you know less but make more? I don't think it is possible unless you have some strange theory using quantum physics.

If you wrote a diary of the process of making a betting selection, what would it reveal? I mean, are we talking about something that could be written on the back of a stamp or enough chapters to write a book? From individual to individual both of those examples are true. However, which one of the two extremes would you like to receive a tip?

Unless you have a strange fetish for losing money, I imagine it would be the latter. So, in the main, we appreciate that being successful takes time. 

Discipline is one of many aspects of being successful. You don't see anyone in the army lacking discipline. It is the foundation of being productive and achieving a goal. Successful betting is the same. As I have said many times, you don't wake up one morning to find you are a professional gambler. If you considered that possibility, I would assess that the individual is a professional fool. I know a lot of people associate being a professional gambler with the definition: betting lots of money on short-priced horses. I've seen it myself. Funny how those people are now doing a 9 - 5 job. I don't say that trying to rub salt into their wounds. 

We are simply dealing with facts.  

From my years of betting I have realised how important discipline is to successful gambling.

In many respects, it is about knowing the answer to a question rather than making a knee-jerk reaction. It can be something as simple as being prepared for an upcoming race whether that day, next week or later that year. It may be having a guide in place which says unless there is an exceptional reason, don't bet odds-on. While your pre-season research details that a given trainer has very little chance of winning if priced over a certain price when racing on debut. 

If I wrote down every aspect of discipline when making an assessment whether to bet or not it would be a complex, fascinating and ''boring'' read. 

That discipline doesn't end with placing a bet. Because there may be reasons why I bet more or lay off the bet. 

The guiding principle of discipline is that long term it will bring greater understanding, opportunity and winning (or making money).   

I have known people who have bet all their life and they would read these words and think it is mumbo jumbo. ''Who needs that? What a waste of time? I just write out my bets, job done!''

Sadly, unless they have something very unusual going on, they lose on a regular basis. In a world of competition, you do not need to be the best just one step ahead of the majority leads to success.