Wagering Mentality

[George]

Enjoying the neat contest Ken has set up and much thanks to Rick for his superb administratio of the contest.

Have discovered something about my wagers that really disturbs me. Over last few days have cheerfully wagered some real "Franklins" on some great longshots. Have been unable to make myself "pull the trigger" on the same horses in the contest.

Guess the "Franklins" don't mean as much to me as the risk of looking stupid does in the contest. Fascinating quirk!!

Was wondering if anybody else is having the same or similar problem??

[jbshoulda]

George

Do what I do. I don't care what other people think. It's all about what makes you happy. If you win a photo in a race or win by 10 lengths they pay you the same. If you win by looking foolish or lose by looking smart I'll take winning by looking foolish.:)

[MikeDee]

Interesting thought George.

I think a contest puts a different perspective on your pick. Looking bad doesn't bother me as much as the pressure to be right in order to win.

When you are playing a a bankroll so what if you don't hit a decent price or 2 there is always tomorrow or the next day and you only need 1 or 2 to bring the bankroll back.

But a contest there are only so many bullets in the gun and and so many days to pull the trigger, as the gap between us and leaders grows there is even more pressure to hit a big one catch up.

[fred4now]

I can tell you that I played alot harder trying to win the mystery meat than I do on my daily bets, weird.

[Dr.Larry]

Hi George,

>>Guess the "Franklins" don't mean as much to me as the risk of looking stupid does in the contest. Fascinating quirk!! <<

Good Insight. Your observation is valid in many areas. A
fundamental fact. We each identify with certain groups, and
perform for these groups. The more important the group is
to us, the greater the pressure to do well.

The pressure, however, lowers our performance. We can see things
very clearly when there is nothing to lose (money, love, jealousy
and other aspects of relationship). We fall back on our lifelong
reactive patterns as soon as there is pressure. The Yerkes
Dodson Law in Psychology states that mild anxiety increases
performance, for it motivates and helps us concentrate.
When the pressure and anxiety cross a certain threshold,
our performance drops markedly.

I use Meditation and Biofeedback to put myself in a near alpha state,
and this usually helps. When the anxiety gets out of hand despite
the above, I quit.

[George]

Thanks for the responses. Wish I could maintain jbshoulda's attitude and sure agree with fred4now that these online contests cause me to work harder than I do on daily wagers.

Mike.....agree there is more immediate pressure to be "right" in a contest. Long ago I put that kind of pressure on myself in daily wagering. Back then it was more important to me to be "right" than profitable. Changed that several years ago and have made $$ at this ever since. Suspect I go back into that mode in a contest.

Dr. Larry......thanks for your thoughts. Of particular interest to me was your use of meditaion and alpha state. Took a course couple years ago on remote viewing thinking the whole thing was BS. To my surprise, found I could achieve theta brain wave levels easily and have had many surprising insights from daily practice. Have found it harder to enter that mode during the course of this contest. BTW, theta hasn't helped my horse-picking :)

[Dr.Larry]

>>BTW, theta hasn't helped my horse-picking <<

That is because your picks are based on Research.
The significant variables are present or not present.
For me it means that the Horse has a nice forward
moving line or does not. No alpha involved.

A nice, relaxed alpha state keeps me from making
mistakes, overlooking something, betting too much or too little. More horses jump out at me, and I bet with greater confidence.

Most desireable, and I have only been at that level once or twice-
is to be in constant alpha most of the day, where you are really
not there at all. Someone interviewing a Pitching Coach years ago
asked the Coach, "When you have two pitchers warming up, how
do you know which one really has it?" The Coach gave several
examples. He then said, " The best sign , when it happens, is to
look into the pitchers face. You see the lights are on, but nobody
is home"

Keep winning!... Larry

[hurrikane]

George...et al...

Great Post!!!!!

on a board like this (actually when the ..how many times do we get stuck with this in life. It would be foolish to say I don't feel eveyone of these emotions every day in everything I do...but..I sit here in front of a poem that Sue has taught me to live by.......kicking and screaming ar times....


"Happiness es a journey....not a destination!

"WORK LIKE YOU DON'T NEED MONEY!"
"LOVE LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN HURT!"
"DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING"!

PS...'George...don't pick any big winners before I can catch up... :D


Greg

(I would post the complete poem but I don't want my ROI to go down. :D )

[George]

Thanks Greg. Neat poem and good thought.

Don't worry about me playing a longshot, I'm just pressing trying to stay ahead of Janet!!

[hdcper]

Hurrikane is exactly right. Not only is Happiness a journey but so is everything else including life. In otherwords, enjoy the ride the final destination will come soon enough.

Another saying I like is this:

Success is getting what you want and happiness is wanting what you get!!!

Remember we are all lucky, no one knows just how fun this game can be until they find it.
Others that think this game is a waste of time, don't know what they are missing.


Bill

[tbrown]

I have a tape from the DaSilva mind control people that is a constant sound at the alpha frequency - I play this when I do my handicapping and it really helps to focus. I should do a database of results with/without the sounds!

[Dr.Larry]

Hi Tom,
There used to be a Franchise course on Jose Silva's
Mind Control. Read the book many years ago. He
teaches how to get into alpha in a matter of seconds.

I know several Executive types who took the training.
They told me that everything reported that everything
described in the book was true.

Don't know if Silva is still alive. One of the great men of
our time. He was a poor Mexican orphan. Self educated.
First time he ever walked into a University was to
teach a course.

[tbrown]

Bert Mayne used to teach a handicapping-version of the mind control method for Sartin clients.
I boought the books and tapes, and yest, it is good stuff that really works. I use the thunb-finger technique to spent part of my lunch hours basking on the hot sand at Coco Beech, FLa.
I actually see myself "fly down and back. Too bad I have to cut the trips short nowadays due to tightened security <G>
But alpha, it works for many things.

[Dr.Larry]

That's it Tom,
See you at the Beach!

[tomcat]

Hey Bulldog, how do you rmember that far back? What year was it that we were at that seminar?

[George]

As Ken stated in his halfway remarks, have found this to
be an interesting thread. I am still finding it difficult
to make my normal plays in the contest.

Although am usually a good player on sloppy tracks allowed
the rain on Saturday at Saratoga to disorganize me.
Hate having to rethink the races after scratches. Was so
rattled by it decided I would probably press too hard at
the other tracks and passed the day. Turned out that I
would have had a very decent day at SAR.

Mike Dee probably hit the nail on the head on his feeling
that we get conservative due to limited number of bullets.
I think that is more my problem than fear of public failure.
On Sunday decided DMR stakes race with War Emblem was going
to run 1A-3 or 3-1A. Wagered on both win/place and exacta
box. Went to post it in contest, typed it in, and chickened
out. Decided not to "waste" two bullets and really wasn't
sure which to take on a single.

This contest really has given me a better understanding of
the skill and discipline players like Ken, Mike Mayo,
Tommy C, and other HTR people have brought to bear in
major tournaments for big dollars.

I go spastic over a 3 month data subscription and beer
money. Can't imagine how beserk I would be in a contest
for $100,000.

[Glen]

Hey George,

Good going in the contest. I'm kinda the same way. I rarely wager on contest selections but will wager on other horses that I don't use for contest selections. Maybe 2% to 5% of the contest picks I make will actually have money on them.

As TC has mentioned in the past, when making contest plays you are not playing with real money and it is not real world. I.e. it allows you to make more ludicrous and far reaching selections in hope of having an unusual and unreal outcome (multiplying your bank X2 or X3).

At many tournaments, there will be players who make selections at the end in order to get back to break even. To the more seasoned tourney player, this would be as good as pissing in the wind. I guess pride/ego takes over in an effort to confirm that they can have a winning day or session. But in reality, this is a losing proposition. The object of the tournament is to win or finish ITM to collect a check, plunk and dunk to face saving final score. If I recall correctly, back in the spring when I won the little LS tournament, all someone had to do was play the longest shot on the board in the final race and they woulda won the thing. Fortunately for me, no one did...

[George]

Glen.....thanks for the feedback. From your description sounds like I really need to work on loosening up and swinging for the fences. That will be real hard to do for a conservative hedge bettor.

A good thought on what to do for my last bet in this contest :)