Money management makes the pari-mutuel world go ’round, Part 3

by Frank Cotolo

Part 1 ishere.

Part 2 ishere.

“One month early in my [pari-mutuel] betting I had a string of win bets all finishing second,” said an amateur pari-mutuel bettor I knew some decades back. “So, I decided to play all the horses I bet to win also to place. I would bet more to win and a little less to place. Obviously, my bets per race increased but I felt I’d better cover my chances to win that way.”

“What happened?”

“It was crazy. Most of the horses I played to win and place began to come in third or finished off the board. And if they only came in second, I hardly made back the win bet I lost.”

“Then what did you do?”

“Then I just played my pick across the board.”

“And?”

“And I wound up losing money trying to cover all the possible payoff angles. I guess it was always good to cash a ticket but any way I bet hardly made me anything. I’m starting to take it personally, get me?”

That is not a bettor’s curse — for those apt to believe some strange forces govern the results of people wagering on anything; or worse, that some people are born with or without a blessing of luck that favors gambling pursuits and/or even others convinced luck is a mystical deity defining all moments when risk is involved.

The truth is money management is responsible for winning or losing at any pari-mutuel engagement. All the knowledge about pari-mutuel race wagering at a decent clip is bound to pave a road to the poorhouse if you cannot adhere to a proven method of what you bet and when you bet and if you bet at all. The problems to launch the best money-management system come from professional players.

First and foremost, money management (MM) demands an understanding of arithmetic. Professional bettor Barry Meadow said, “You don’t need to solve calculus problems or comprehend algebraic topology. The math [skills] you need are simple concepts you probably mastered in elementary school.” And he warns: “Unfortunately, while most of us used to be smarter than a fifth-grader, our knowledge may fade with disuse.”

Do not fret. Most of the numerical documented demands for sustaining the potency of a betting bankroll — no less keeping it in the black — are not labor-heavy. More about that as soon as the MM system is based on a “devoted bankroll.” To be exact we must define what a devoted bankroll is and is not.

• A devoted bankroll is not the amount of money that can fit in your pants’ pockets. Even if that amount is carefully folded apart from your wallet’s cash.

• A devoted bankroll is not a particular amount you promise yourself not to lose more than in any one wagering session.

• A devoted bankroll is not allowed to support the beverages and/or food you spend during any wagering sessions at home or an off-track betting area.

• A devoted bankroll is not off-the-cuff information. It documents all information on its use. Simple accounting is accepted but all wagering activities must be recorded and signed off by the gambler in bookkeeping fashion.

• A devoted bankroll is not any “days’ worth of bets.” No gambler should ever own a mindset aimed at losing less at any time; even when any one wagering session has not concluded. The aim is always making a bankroll larger and directed to each wager to accomplish the ultimate peak of action: profit.

• A devoted bankroll must exist for its sole purpose: to make the appropriate wagers (details to come) specified and or adjusted in the MM plan.

• A devoted bankroll must be designed, guarded, monitored, and carefully maintained. It must be respected and guarded and the owner must be staunch about its survival and potency when increased and/or decreased through use.

Always be aware the betting bankroll is the blood and guts of the serious — as well as the professional —pari-mutuel player.

There is no excuse for the care a bettor takes concerning a bankroll. It can be simple. And though the most data you get from its use will be instrumental for keeping you alive in the game, it will only be loyal if you treat it as the prodigious tool it is meant to be.

The other elements of MM — which I will explain as this topic continues — will demand as much emotional attention as do the mechanical elements. Used properly the care of your MM plan will expand a bettors’ chances of profit and they should become joyful tasks. Make no mistake about this also: MM duties and rules will find values in the areas of your handicapping. You will grow a feeling a general control over the adventures of playing the ponies.