Quote:
Originally Posted by cal828
You sure you didn't use a Ouija board (or weegie board as we call it here in the South)? I think you must have hopped on one foot three times, turned in a circle with one eye closed, bowed toward Salem and drank a potion made of wolfsbane before you looked at the PPs. You took 8 shots out of about 200 horses and hit two of them. I think your resume' must include high priestess of the dark arts!!  |
Cal, I think that you have hit upon the handicapper's dilemma. I assure you that if I could hit double digit winners with any consistency, I would, as you so eloquently put it, "hop on one foot three times, turn in a circle with one eye closed, bow toward Salem and drink a potion made out of wolfsbane..." I'd even add eye of newt and toe of frog to conjure up an apparition of Arcangues. But none of that ever seems to work. If I play 10-1 shots, they seem to win about once in every 15 times.
Alas, the more I study the pp's, analyze the pace projections and even out of desperation look at the Thoroughgraph figs, the more I seem to gravitate toward horses that most other players like, and they invariably pay low prices. That means that I have to consistently hit at a very high percentage to beat the dreaded takeout, an increasingly difficult thing to do as more and more computerized algorithms seem to dominate the pools and seem to squeeze the value out of a wager in the final minute or so.
And yet I find this game fascinating.