Psychology of Winning
 

In Doc Sartin’s manual called the Psychology of Winning he points out the mindset a person should have to be a winner. I think this is also an important aspect to the methodology. To add to this I have some things that I try to do and things to avoid when I go to the track. Other comments are most welcome.

1) I try to do most of my handicapping prior to arriving at the track. For me since I have been using Energy lately that means getting the advance edition of the Racing Form. My first look is to go through all the races at the tracks I decide to play to determine which races to spend more time on. I am looking for vulnerable favorites, contentious fields, and also unplayable races because of FTS, etc. Also I will look at races where I believe a heavy favorite has a good chance of winning. I may try to find a horse to beat this one, but I usually back off on my bets when doing this.


2) I use whatever tools I can to get the proper pacelines and contenders in the program I choose to use. Since I do not take a notebook computer to the track I print out whatever I feel that I might need to refer to. If one of my horses scratch I try to adjust the best I can. After printing all that I need, I 3-hole punch the readouts and put them in a binder, using separators between tracks. By doing most of your handicapping the night before, or if you are an early riser that morning you already have a big advantage over 95% of the people you will see at the track. My statistics may be wrong, but you get my point.


3) I try to arrive early rather than late so I can get a good table with a good view of the monitors for the tracks I am interested in. After I am settled in I may get a cup of coffee, ice-tea, or a soft drink. What I stopped doing a long time ago is ordering a beer or two at the track. I have nothing against people who do this, but for myself handicapping is difficult enough so I want to be as mentally sharp as I can be. Also I have found out from experience that if I am out partying the night before I will come to the track hungover which only gets worse after all the losing races that are sure to follow.


4) Some people may have different thoughts on this, but I found this to be less of a problem as my confidence in the Sartin Methodology grew. Unless I am with people that are familiar with the Sartin Methodology it is best to keep your read-outs or opinions to yourself. This is not a problem with the friends I meet at the track as we have respect for each other regardless of our individual handicapping method. If you give your insights or show your readouts to a stranger several things will probably happen none of which are good for you. He may think you are a computer no nothing, and you will end up hearing his life story on how to play the horses or how nobody wins. Worse yet you may actually give him a winner in that race and if he played it you have a friend for the day. If he did not play it you are going to have to answer why you did this or that, what-if scenarios etc. They will never believe you no matter what. They are not interested in you or your Methodology. These are the takers and losers of the world. Avoid these people at all costs because they will ruin your day if you let them. I must stress most people are not like this, but I still meet some on occasion.


5) Trust your instincts. Call it your subconscious, deja-vu, little professor or whatever. I think this has a lot to do with pattern recognition and how it is stored in your subconscious mind. Whenever it seem to pop up without any effort on your part I pay close attention to the feedback it is giving me. More often then not when I go against this I end up being wrong.


6) At times all of us have personal problems, family responsibilities, and other issues that affect us in other areas. If at all possible try to separate these from what you do at the track that day. I have the utmost respect and admiration for people who can do this while still taking care of business at home. You are to be congratulated by accomplishing a most difficult task.


7) Lastly, do not let losing races or tough beats as they call it in Texas-Holdem cloud your judgement for the races to follow. You can take a quick look to see if you did anything seriously wrong in your handicapping, but you probably didn’t if you worked the races diligently before coming to the track. Do not feel you have to change your handicapping procedure because of one loss. If you dwell on a losing race too long you are spending time on something that would be better applied to the next race at hand. The time to do a post-mortem is after you are done for the day. Sometimes I am still guilty of this, but thankfully it has been happening less. Remember, your next 5 races you do may result in winners without you having to change a thing. Good-Luck or as Binder puts it Good-Skill to all.

excellent
 

Thank you Houndog
I really am a big believer in this work by Doc
your own ideas of a winning mind are very good

i strongly recommend this manual

It and many others are being added to the old manuals section of bindfold

matter of fact a new better quality Red Match Up manual
and 2 synergism manuals have just been added
Thanks
http://bindfold.com/oldermanuals.html


Bill

Tremendous post "Dog" with your # 5 being by FAR the most important of all in my opinion. That overpowers any reads from any software by a country mile.

As far as the track - fugghedaboutit. Best move I have made in the last year was abandoning the track and doing my wagering from home. Does it get lonely? Yes. But wagering seriously has NOTHING to do with socializing. Found that out the hard way.


Rich

Have to agree, and if you have a high speed internet connection (which is not necessary) you can view the races on your computer. Also by wagering at home you can make all your bets at once, and do other things if you need to. You don't have to worry about clerks punching wrong tickets, changing your mind because of the odds changing one way or the other on the horse you want to place a wager on, and other distractions.

Sometimes it is better to just make your wagers ahead of time and check the results later. Yes, you end up betting extreme favorites at times, but you also end up betting solid longshots that you may have changed your mind on by watching the tote board flash. This does not apply to everyone here, but I have done this on occasion when the odds went up on one of my win contenders. I ask myself did I do something wrong or miss something? This defeats the whole purpose of all your careful handicapping you did prior to going to the track.

Houndog/Sartin Wisdom
 

Great posting. Just experienced an OTB where the guy next to me had his video blasting so I couldn't think and then started talking when I'm trying to make a betting decision until I told him I was trying to concentrate. Have enough problems making decisions at home on the computer minutes before post time.

Houndog/Sartin Wisdom
 

Great posting. Just experienced an OTB where the guy next to me had his video blasting so I couldn't think and then started talking when I'm trying to make a betting decision until I told him I was trying to concentrate. Have enough problems making decisions at home on the computer minutes before post time. Will try your method of just placing bets early without post time odds decisions but I still believe that the Doc said to bet at least 10 minutes or less to post. Uncle Roughy