| You may have seen some betting schemes that | | | | small fortune with what I had discovered. I felt like the |
| promise to make money because you bet more when | | | | man who had found the goose that lays the golden |
| you win and less when you lose. Many of them are | | | | eggs. I went to my local track and started playing it. |
| based on what has euphemistically been called, "the | | | | Sure enough, for three weeks everything went well |
| law of averages." The problem with the law of | | | | and even though I didn't get rich, I made a good |
| averages it that to the best of my knowledge, no one | | | | paycheck each week. I got so I depended upon it |
| has ever been able to enforce it. Years ago I studied | | | | and also so I trusted it enough to increase the amounts |
| the results for thousands of races and tried different | | | | of my bets. |
| betting systems on paper to see if there was any | | | | The problem was that when I did increase my bets I |
| way to win. | | | | also hit a rough patch at the same time so I lost a lot |
| The results amazed me. I stumbled across a method | | | | of money. When a progressive betting scheme is |
| of increasing bets incrementally and it almost always | | | | working it is fantastic, but when they fail, they are a |
| showed a profit by the end of the day. I worked at it | | | | bear that will devour your bankroll faster than you can |
| for months and tried it at many tracks and to my great | | | | say poor house. That is exactly what happened. |
| joy, the results were always the same. I had a sure | | | | The lesson I learned was that things might work on |
| winner. It wasn't just a matter of increasing the | | | | paper, but in real life, they seldom go as smoothly. |
| amount I bet, it was also based on not playing certain | | | | Using historical data to predict future trends is risky as |
| races that were low probability and it also was based | | | | any economist or politician can tell you. |
| on exactas, not win bets. | | | | It wasn't until years later that I managed to eek out a |
| I found that the well known statistic that the favorite | | | | small living betting on horses and I did it with straight |
| wins a third of the time and finishes in the exacta | | | | bets. If your system isn't winning enough to show a |
| about half the time could be used to hit many good | | | | profit with straight bets, increasing your wagers will |
| paying exactas. I also found that it worked out that it | | | | only eventually make you lose more, trust me, I know |
| averaged a certain number of hits per day. The trick | | | | that from experience. A good system will make a |
| was in the races I avoided and the horses I played | | | | small profit, if you tweak it a little to suit your track and |
| with the favorite to make the exactas. | | | | style, but you have to be realistic and have realistic |
| I had worked hard for a long time and saved a | | | | expectations. Never ever expect progressive betting |
| modest bankroll and knew that I could turn it into a | | | | to make a bad system work. |