Have you ever fancied the life of a professional gambler? Say someone like Harry Finlayson lying on some sun drenched beach quietly sipping champagne, talking on your cell phone to your trainer in the UK about your runner next week. It sounds great but apart from a selected few the life of a full time professional punter is far from that image.
I have been told that for all the claims made by systems marketers a mere 0.7%  make over £15,000 a year on Betfair which would hardly be a living wage. Not speaking from personal experience but from what I have been told and read most professional gamblers spend long hours studying form and travelling the country. In fact it is not exactly the life I would want.
If you Read More…

Bookie v Punter
Some people see it as a game.  How can the poor old punter matched against a rich bookie ever come out on top? Others see it more s a war, some times a war of attrition  as the punter fights desperately to not only hang on  to his own money but snaffle some from the bookie.
There is a phrase in common usage this day about us all playing on a level field but in the case of punter v bookie the field is far from level. It is slanted and slanted very much in favour of the layer rather than the backer.
For the average horse racing fan a gamble on the horses is a little bit of fun, generating some excitement and with the hope of a little Read More…

“When I were a lad”. I have always wanted to start of a piece with those words. If only in homage to my Northern background and as an admission that as the years pass by I am becoming a miserable old devil, just like my Dad and Victor Meldrew before me. There is something to be said for tradition after all.
But back to the subject in hand when I first became interested in racing the only sources of information you had you gained from newspapers and weekly racing journals. We very rarely went to race meetings and the only races on TV were the Derby and the Grand National.
How all that has changed. It is now possible to watch on television practically every race run in the UK or Ireland. Read More…

Just imagine, you are in your local bookmakers, studying the Racing Post.  Next to you are 2 chaps you have never met before. They are talking and you can hear part of the conversation.
“I’ve got a good thing in the next race. A mate of mine knows someone at the stable and they say he is tuned up to win today.”
He then goes on to tell his pal the name of the horse, which you can’t help overhearing. (Of course you were not trying to eaves drop.) So now what do you do? Ignore what you have heard and carry on studying form or quickly grab a slip and write out a bet for that horse. Because you are a generous guy you might even tell some of your friends the Read More…

The majority of punters do not studying form in depth before placing their bets. There are several reasons for this such as a lack of time or simply laziness. For this reason they either make snap judgements or seek outside help. This can come either by taking the advice of tipsters or by using some form of racing system.
One thing is for sure in the horse race betting world there is no shortage of advice available. A great percentage of punters rely on the information from the tipsters in their morning racing or daily newspapers. Some of these tipsters are followed by so many that they can have a major influence on the betting market when their selections are revealed. I suppose the most obvious example of this is Read More…

You will read it many times; there is no system that can be 100% successful. There will be losing days, losing weeks and possibly occasional losing months. If you are relying on your income from horse race betting a poor month can make a big hole in your budget. For that reason most full time horse race system players do not rely on just one system but run a portfolio of systems so as to balance out the uncertain nature of their business.
I always liken it to being a city trader; they will have a portfolio of shares some risky high yield, others less profitable but more gilt edged. If you are looking to make a regular income either part or full time you should consider doing the same.
I Read More…

I am constantly surprised at the popularity of each way bets with punters. It seems to me the most bizarre bet to make at any time. There is so much going against the each way backer that I am amazed that anyone bothers with them these days.
So what you are saying when you place an each way bet? You are backing the horse to win but you are not really sure that it is good enough so you are going to hedge your bet.  The thinking being I am not sure this is a winning bet and if it does not win it might finish 2nd or 3rd. That is not really showing a lot of confidence behind your selection and you are doubling your potential loss. If you do Read More…

As I have already said you are going to need some money if you are going to become a successful punter.  How much money is going to depend upon your current situation and goals. The one suggestion that I do have is that you start small and aim to build up your bank. There is no reason why you should not start with a bank of £50 or so.
The golden rule about betting banks is to never put money that you cannot afford to lose into your betting bank. Hopefully your betting bank will grow and eventually you will be able to draw off regular sums from the bank. However, in any form of gambling there is a risk, you could lose your money.
Now you have set aside an amount Read More…

Today is the day that you need to effect a mind change. From today your betting is going to stop being a hobby and become a business.
Why?
Because like any business your aim is to make a profit and you will not do that by adopting the hot or miss approach that so many of us have in the past.
So let us consider what we would need before starting any business. Of course first and most importantly we are going to need some capital. There is not any business that you can start successfully without some capital, despite what some people will tell you.
So having collected together some capital we are going to create some sort of record/accounts system. (OK, I said it would be profitable, I didn’t say it was Read More…

This section of the site is called Punting for Profit because I work on the assumption that you back horses to try and  make money. If you are one of those people who views their betting as a charitable contribution to the Bookies Caribbean Holiday Benefit fund then this may not be for you.
In my younger days I used to spend Saturday mornings reading the racing pages of the Daily Mirror, Sporting Life and The Weekender. By lunchtime I would have made my selections, worked out how much I could afford to spend and wander around to the bookies to place my bets. Then it was an afternoon in front of the TV. This was hopefully followed by a trip back to the bookies to pick up my winnings Read More…