Jim,

Understood and thanks. And those kinds of contests exist everywhere for people to play in. Many other people will go broke or get discouraged betting like that. Sartin Methodology teaches another way - a way to stay in the game until bettable longshots come around, which they do regularly enough with software to reveal them.

Folks new to the sport should not be swinging for the fences if they want to be around for long. And I believe if the sport is to be around for long, newcomers need to be able to learn how to win regularly, not just every other, or every fifth time time they go to the track or sit down at their computers.

These ideas are core to the philosophy behind the current format of the Learn to Win contest (as they were to what Howard Sartin taught in his day). Some of us may indeed graduate to the icewater-in-the-veins school of wagering (or versions thereof), or indeed to multi-unit exotics with lower hit-rate/higher payoff, bigger rebate prospects. Every person has their own story, their own learning style and capacity. Everyone can evolve too, if they don't blow their brains out first.

Finding a middle path is the task ...

Ted

I'm not advocating swinging for the fences everyday. That has a connotation of blindly betting long shots to win. You pick your spots in a day and play horses going off at greater odds than they should be. My personal sweet spot is in the 7/2 to 6-1 range. In order to do that you need tools that the general public does not use. And you will lose many races in a row at times. If you are not prepared for that, you are not prepared for long term profit.

I will end my part of this by stating I think the Sartin methods of measuring pace and velocity are very good and worthwhile. Your software and others in the methodology can be vital in that regard. However, I think the betting part of the Sartin methodology stressing consistency leaves much to be desired in today's racing environment. Michael Pizzolla has publicly stated that he won a lot of races using the Sartin methods of betting (over 66%), when he was a teaching member, however, he was not really winning any money.

For all you folks that honestly win 2/3 of your races and profit long term at this game, my hat is off to you.

Jim

80.00 to win and 10.00 to place
 

since I am one of the guilty ones for having made some of these bets, I feel that I should explain why I made these bets.
1) The win bet was placed on the horse that I felt had the best chance of winning this particular race. It is my KEY horse that in my opinion has a better than 50/50 chance of winning and if it does I want to increase my bankroll by as much as possible.
2) the 10.00 place bets are only used as savers to keep my total contest % at or around 50+%. I do NOT expect to increase my bankroll with these savers.

I try to be the best that I can be and truly am enjoying this contest.
I play with the goal of winning any of the prizes and if I feel that I am not going to be able to win the top prize then I will at least keep trying to win one of the other ones.

If this attitude offends anyone , then I apologize for that offense.
The prize of a free month of RDSS may not seem like much to many of you, but when you are not able to find work and have to live on a small fixed income a free month means that I can continue to play at the greatest game in town.
rmath

$80 w $10p
 

I am a w/p player only ,sine 1980 , i start to play, i only bet i horse a race for w/p only, some time w/p/s, even today also a same way, w/p only, in this contest, i try to lean how to use RDSS to pick winner, and start bet only one horse, sine bill v said used two horse to win , so i still use $80 to win for my top pick , and put two $10 bet for 2 horse, just want to see is 2 horse bet good for me, i am not going to win any prize here, my gold is how to pick a winner useing RDSS, THANK TED to put this contest up, and hope more people can put there skill in this contest

Rmath and Raymond
 

I'm very sorry for my insensitive comments. It looks like I feel victim to the same persona which i despise
the most , The bully.. I was insensitive to what I perceived as laziness and people taking advantage of Ted's generosity
I have spent the day reading the yellow manual and many psychology of winning articles.
I learned many important lessons today I should have taken into account that we all have our own levels of skill and
pain thresholds, That each of us is effected by our own surroundings and emotions
I don't know where the contest will go now, I kind of related to Ted that they can never take away the joy and positive
that we felt this past month and a half and how maybe we had helped people do a just bit better.

I wish you and every one a win in as many races as you can get
I look forward every night to doing the scoring I wish you could understand the joy I get when I record
a winning selection for people and I hope that those who miss take something out of the race to improve on

I am rooting for you all
Don't let the bully's pressure you

Bill V
 

Thanks Bill, I did not think you were being a bully.
My response was my way of looking at the contest. I have always been very competitive when playing in a contest.
I feel that I have learned much from this contest when I go over other peoples pacelines and selections. I especially like the way you show how changing the way one chooses the way a bet could be done differently returns a greater profit. Please continue with what you are doing.
I know that you are only trying to help each of us become better and more profitable handicappers.

Sincerely, your friend
rmath