Horse racing betting: Inside the mind of a pro

I was reading an interview recently on Smartersig from the long time professional punter Alan Potts. I have read both of his landmark books on horse race betting and found them to be innovative at that time. I always find interviews with successful pro’s interesting as it clearly shows how professional gamblers think and operate.

But reading that interview underlines just how important it is to specialise. Alan Potts does this and I have always done this playing poker. Even now I make it my goal to exploit losing players by specialising in a certain area, getting a feel for it and then expanding the level of operation in that area.

If you don’t specialise then just how are you going to acquire enough expertise in too wide an area? Alan Potts watches an awful lot of horse races and with every meeting being shown on Racing UK these days or “At the Races” then you can record and then play back every race that has ever been run.

Of course it just isn’t possible to do this with every single race in the racing calendar. There are over 7000 races every year in the UK and trying to analyse them all is just too big an obstacle. This is why specialising is the best and only way to go, this doesn’t just apply to the way that Alan Potts works but it the desired method of operation in any gambling field in my opinion.

Another thing that Alan says in that interview is in how his profits come in bursts and how he often goes for long periods either losing or breaking even. Once again this highlights and typifies the life of professional level punting. It is the mindset that one needs to try and emulate and not the methods.

Different methods work better for different people so it is a mistake to blindly copy anyone and that is presuming that you even could. Also the positive reinforcement that Alan talks about where he goes back and assesses his winning months and previous results during bad runs is instructive.

Losing money at a level where you would have previous found to be stomach churning is really what separates the men from the boys in gambling. It doesn’t really matter what field you are in, be it poker, blackjack, sports betting or whatever…..sooner or later the inevitable losing runs will come and they will be longer than you had ever imagined.

To me Alan Potts signifies the textbook professional gambler. He has served his apprenticeship the hard way and worked himself into a position where he can earn a very good living. He has been in the trenches so to speak and survived and hardened himself to the traumatic events that happen to all pro’s!

But one of his most outstanding redeeming features is his ability to be able to adapt to the forever changing environment. Years ago Alan used to frequent the actual race meetings themselves but this entails long travelling and preparation…..not to mention expense.

But as his field of operation evolved then so did he. Alan no longer attends race meetings but operates exclusively from home and on the exchanges. Alan will not forgive me for saying that he isn’t in the first flush of youth. But this just underlines the professionalism of the man. Unlike many other people of his genre, he has the intelligence and versatility to adapt. If he had not done that then he wouldn’t still be alive and kicking in 2009 and still making money.

This article was produced by Carl “The Dean” Sampson