No bet is no problem....or is it?

[RussP]

Interested to hear people's views on this. Personally, no bet is no problem. I can go days or weeks without a bet, as I won't bet just for the sake of it. Unless a horse ticks all the boxes, I'm happy to ignore it even if I 'fancy' it. If it wins, then I've missed a winner but I'm sure there would be more losing 'fancies' than not. However, on the flip side, it is important to 'keep your eye in' so, for that main reason, I've decided to take up laying, albeit to smaller stakes. This way, I can still bet on a race where I can narrow down the contenders but not necessarily pinpoint the winner. The one thing that will not change is the type of race I'll bet on....it will always be all age flat handicaps. 2 things that intrigue me (mainly because I can't do it anymore) is: - what is the motivation behind backing 5 or 6 horses a day? It is because you feel the need to have a bet or is it that you 'fancy' a horse & don't want to miss a winner? Or another reason? - how easy do you find it concentrating on all types of racing? Do you try to stick to one type? Again, is it the need to have a bet? I'd be really interested to hear views on this. I have a style that suits me but that is not to say it cannot be changed. I'm happy doing what I do but it's good to share opinions. :ok

[fintron]

Re: No bet is no problem....or is it? Interesting topic. I have tried the approach whereby I stick only to my strongest fancies and it was a disaster for me personally. The ones I thought were very strong chances often got beat whilst the half fancies sometimes won (i think they call this sods law!!) so for me the back several horses a day approach works best. I think the problem is that if a punter only has a small number of bets then it can take longer for their judgment to shine through. In the long term they will eventually get ahead, but if they had more bets over a quicker period of time (and this is assuming all are backed on the same grounds as usual, not for the sake of it) then they get on top quicker. So for me the motivation for backing lots each day is trying to unearth my edge quicker. If I only have a small number of bets I don't know whether I am a good/bad punter or whether my success/failure is down to coincidence. I think this is very much down to the indivual though. For you Russ, betting to levels and having a small number of bets each week works very well and your threads are in nice profit. For me though, I am an action junkie, I think I have more chance of getting ahead by backing several each day, and think if bets fall within a staking plan then I can do that long term. As I back within a broad SP band it seems daft for me to have equal stakes on a 5/1 or 20/1 shot, because the probability of them winning is drastically different. As for the second question, that isn't really something that effects me. Pretty much all my bets come from handicaps and I feel I have a good understanding of how they work. When it comes to Group stuff I'm hopeless so tend to duck that altogether.