In this final article in my series on پینباهیس On Horse Racing I examine the importance of adopting the mindset of the betting pro. What is that mindset and how do we adopt it? The winning mentality or mindset of the Betting Pro is one of the hardest things to adopt day in and day out, but it is critical if you are to achieve any level of success and, more importantly, make a consistent income from your betting on horse racing.
I truly believe that this is the one thing that sets the top 1% of elite betting pro’s apart from the rest of the “punter” and “gamblers” who aspire to make money from betting on horses. The fact is that you can teach people the skills required to be successful at betting, how to set up their betting bank, how to set their stakes, how to read form and make selections. All this can be learnt.
However, each one of us naturally has different levels of risk we are willing to take, a different level of loss we are comfortable with, different levels of patience and of course discipline to stick to our rules. We are all naturally different in our character and this makes up what I call our “mindset”.
We can all learn the same skills but each of us will apply them slightly differently. I know this from personal experience with my members and subscribers. I can teach 30 people the same fundamental skills and even supply them all with the same selections and yet each one will come back with different results.
Decisive – I think the first thing I always notice about the Bettors who are successful, is how decisive they are, they make decisions and stick to them, whereas the average punter is unsure about things and constantly flitting from one system to the next.
Patient – They are also very patient and realise that they make profits month by month and season by season – not necessarily day by day or race by race. Most punters are quite the opposite, always trying to push things and chase their losses if they have a losing bet – they have a very short term approach.
Emotionally Detached – by managing his money correctly the Betting Pro does not worry about the outcome of each bet, he is quietly confident that month after month he will make money. The punter who has little money management skills will always be worried about every bet, he will be staking more and more to try to make a profit and lose more and more.
Disciplined – the Betting Pro always bets logically and rationally, each bet is well researched and will give him every chance of success. He knows that over time his selections will make him a profit. The punter will always be gambling making uniformed selections based on nothing more than irrational hunches or hearsay.
Bets within Means – back to money management again, the Pro always knows exactly what stake he is placing and why. He will always bet within the confines of his betting bank. The punter will be betting with money that is needed for other things, so becomes emotionally attached to it and the importance of the result.
Accepts Results With Equanimity – the Pro will not be the one jumping up and down at the side of the race track when his horse wins or crying his way home if it loses – he will leave that to the punters and gambler who take everything personally. The Pro knows tomorrow is another day and the profits will come.
Above all else you must develop superb levels of patience and discipline – to stick to your “betting strategy”. This is so easy when you are on a winning streak and the profits are pouring in to your betting bank but what do you do when you are going through that long “losing run”? The run that lasts a week without any winning selections, when you know you have read the form and picked the best horse in the race and it still does not perform. This is when the true Pro is disciplined and has the faith in his own ability.
It is true that the longer you bet for the easier it gets, not just from what you learn, but more importantly because you have experienced the highs and the lows in your career. You have had the good runs to see you through the bad runs, you know that you can weather the storm when it comes, and enjoy the sun too.
