Gambling And Good Intentions

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

So the old saying goes. And here's the rub. When it comes to gambling that old adage is absolutely 100% correct.

We all wake up in the morning with a mental road map for what lays ahead for the day. Well, we should or how would you know where to start? My days are absolutely structured to within a 30 minute time frame. Because if they weren't, I'd never be able to get through the amount of stuff I do.

I know - get a life!

I have a certain amount of time in the mornings for "discretionary things" - my afternoons are fully focused on the task at hand and that task, of course, is to finish in front of the day's racing activities. That's my lot - no complaints - I enjoy it. I also enjoy the holidays from it when I'm away and always look forward to the return to "the daily discipline" at the end of a break.

If I stopped enjoying it, I'd walk away from it in a heart beat and wouldn't miss it for one moment. Life is way too short to do otherwise.

Now I don't hold myself up as some sort of paragon of discipline and what you have to do to finish in front of the punt, but if you want to be successful at this game you have to have a structure in place that supports your mainstream efforts or the whole thing is a waste of time. And only fools waste time.

Every punter has the list of good gambling intentions filed away in the back of their minds. Like the "bucket list" - all the things you're going to do before you "kick the bucket".

All those good gambling intentions like: I'm not going to be greedy today because when I get greedy I lose.

Greed is one of the greatest jeopardy factors that will bring you undone in the blink of an eye.

You can make $100 if you start with $1000.

It is very difficult and generally against the run of things to start with $100 and turn it in to $1000.

I often do the former. On rare occasions I've done the latter. If I were relying on the latter to feed myself I would long ago have become anorexic.

When the greed takes over, you tend to forget one of the true maxims in gambling: there is a limit to EVERYTHING. It is not an endless pathway to fame and fortune.

I'll repeat that so you have to read it twice because it is important: When the greed takes over, you tend to forget one of the true maxims in gambling: there is a limit to EVERYTHING. It is not an endless pathway to fame and fortune.

There are strict mathematical limits of "chance" in play every time you have a bet. They are mostly inflexible and if you believe that pure luck - whatever that is - is going to guide your every betting move, you also believe in leprechauns, fairies at the bottom of your garden and that John Howard is going to be Prime Minister of Australia again one day.

A lot of punters find it impossible to simply walk away if they are having a losing day. Of course, this ends up constructing an even bigger losing day. Walking away losing for the day is no great shame. Walking away losing BIG day after day after day is.

You have to have the losing days to make the winning days possible. (You may like to think about that for a while because it is absolutely true).

And think about this - we all start the day with a feeling of hope and expectation. When we start losing, those positive thoughts go straight out the window and the the feelings of despair kick in.

The feelings of despair are way stronger than the feelings of hope and it is these stronger feelings of despair that propel us towards those exorbitantly large and ridiculous bets. You know the ones I mean. I certainly do because those ridiculously large and stupid bets were the ones that ALWAYS got me in to trouble.

They're mostly bets that were completely unplanned at the start of the day but are the product of desperation and despair...... and pushing the pedal to the metal will undoubtedly accelerate your trip down the road to ruin. You simply HAVE to know where the brake pedal lives or "doom and gloom will follow you all the days of your life" as a minister from my early Presbyterian life used to repeatedly say.

You know how they talk about jockeys being a "good judge of pace"? It is exactly that same judgment you need to exercise in your pacing of bets and knowing when to simply accept that "hey, today's going to be a losing day".

And if it is a losing day? What are "they" going to do? Put you up against a wall and shoot you? Of course not - and again - losing is just as much a part of gambling as winning. Accept both of those positions as true and you will have a happier time when you are gambling and, probably, a more successful time.

The road to ruin only becomes your chosen pathway when you step off the "map" you had firmly in mind when the trip began. As boring as it may be, stick to your original plan of staking and selection. Don't listen to the voices of despair. Stay focused and stay in control - winning OR losing. You'll have more fun!

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