LOSING DELIBERATELY (HUUHHH??)

Believe it or not, there are people who set out to lose deliberately - perhaps not consciously but certainly subconsciously.

Why do they do that? A good question that deserves far a more qualified response than I can offer here. It's almost like that disease Munchausen By Proxy where people deliberately make their kids sick or hurt them in order that THEY may get attention.

The same is true of some gamblers - and I emphasise, SOME gamblers. They lose deliberately so they can tell their friends how much they lost and make a big deal of it - as if it is nothing to them. Some do it to get sympathy. Some so they have someone else to blame for their own misfortune. How often have you heard this: "oh, that jockey slaughtered it"?

What it's doing is palming off responsibility for their own shortcomings on to others - it's always someone else's fault - never their own for showing poor judgement. We all know that jockeys sometimes ride poor judgement races but they are human. We all make poor judgement calls from time to time in work or play. I certainly do - probably every day, so don't get upset when a jockey makes a bad call at some stage of a race. It happens! It will continue to happen.

Here are some ideas to help you not make the same mistakes over and over again.

Protect Your Punting Bank At All Costs.
I'm sure the best way to make consistent profit is to build a good, power foundation and grow slowly but steadily from it.
Your bank account is just like an army base and your ammunition. How are you supposed to fight back to reclaim the losses with no ammunition and a wiped out base? Thus, the first golden rule is: Protect your bank account at all costs and never bet with money you can't afford to lose.

Control your emotion
I've seen enough people getting emotionally wrecked after a losing bet, and lose on their next, and the next, and the next. They then bet with more and more money to regain their losses with devastating effect.

Don't ever let losses get on your nerves. No one (me certainly included) backs nothing but winners. Take every loss as a temporary setback - or "paying it forward".

To the other extreme, don't be like the thousands and thousands of punters who are punished every week for their greed and plunge big time on their "certainty".
Let me tell you, there is no such thing as "certainty" in the world of racing. I used to back lots of them - and guess what - they didn't all win! And by betting big money, which you probably can't afford to lose, on something no matter how certain it is, you are violating the first rule: "Protecting your bank account at all cost"

Choose a Selection System and Be Disciplined
It is essential to have some system of selection to identify which horses to place your bet on. Once you've decided on one, try to be disciplined and stick with it through thick and thin. I have to say that all systems have their good and bad times. Don't just judge a system just after a few bets and switch and swap from one system to another trying to find that "golden run". Any good system will have its golden run - it's a matter of whether you are there to reap the benefits when it does.

Keeping a records of past bets
It's IMPERITAVE to keep records of your past bets. Preferably on on Excel spreadsheet. In that way, you can easily analyse how good or bad a system is and to make certain adjustments to improve a bad system, or even make a good one better. I do it ALL the time.

Proper Staking Plan
A staking plan is as important as a good selection system - probably more so. On the flip side, why are home loans structured in the way they are? Simple - so there is a STRUCTURED method to end up at a desired financial result e.g. owning your home.

A staking plan will help you make a consistent (even if boringly slow) stream of profit helping you to safeguard your bank and also to build it. A proper staking plan will help you to do just that, and sometimes it can even help to make up for the shortcomings of a poor selection system but don't rely on it to do that.