Horseracing

There is not a horseplayer alive who hasn’t dreamed of the “ultimate score.” The one extremely optimistic goal for anyone who invests into the Sport of Kings with any regularity is to have the perfect storm of events blend together for a fleeting moment to form the flawless race. Our vision is a plane of unparallel wisdom and foresight where everything uncannily falls into line just as imagined, thus granting total financial security for a lifetime. On the first Saturday in May in 2009, fate chose a handful of gamblers who ran through the raindrops and indeed caught lightning in a bottle. Twenty-three $2 superfecta tickets were cashed from the Kentucky Derby with the unlikely 50-1 shot Mine That Bird leading the way. Each ticket returned the life changing amount of $557,006.40. These chosen few have crossed over into the Promised Land, they have beaten the game. As for the rest of us left in Purgatory, the grind continues. Such an impossible equine capturing the roses left yours truly and countless other enthusiasts of the turf drowning in a sea of post Derby depression. After I licked my wounds, my focus naturally turned towards the Preakness Stakes and an opportunity at redemption. In the days preceding the second jewel of the Triple Crown, I noticed a great majority of my time had been spent pondering on how I was going to empty the coffers of Pimlico Racetrack. I just did not want to cash a modest ticket on the race, I yearned to imitate the patrons who had won half a million dollars on the Derby. Preakness morning I spent several hours pouring over the Daily Racing Form running lines and mapped out a dozen or so exotic betting strategies within the amount of my bankroll. Undoubtedly, I was swinging for the fences. If any of these number combinations showed up on the tote board, the paramedics had better be heading my way with cardiac paddles in hand. On my drive up to Orlando Jai-Alai Fronton and Race Book to place my Preakness wagers, something was amiss in my psyche. I was confident that I had identified the fastest horse entered in the Preakness but lacked conviction that I could depend on the runners completing the trifectas and superfectas on my proposed betting slips. I

finally conceded that aside from my opinion the filly Rachel Alexandra would win the Preakness, I was utterly lost. Upon entering the race book and discovering that my top selection was offering a return of 9/5, I begrudgingly decided to abandon my dreams that on this day I would capture unequivocal wealth. I put a c-note on the chalk’s nose and took a seat. My gambling mentor and good friend Howard Ostrom taught me a very valuable lesson when I first met him. He insisted that even though a person might be a formidable handicapper they may also constantly visit the ATM machine due to the fact that they bet poorly. A facet of this doctrine states that sometimes you have to simply “Take what the racetrack is giving.” In the heat of the moment within the confines of a hectic gaming arena where an infinite amount of emotion is swirling around you, this is often the absolute hardest advice to heed. Satisfaction easily turns to greed when after cashing a $14 dollar winner you notice a patron two windows away signing a tax form and pocketing three dimes. With three minutes to post before the Preakness Stakes, I ran into the men’s room and overheard one patron tell another his thoughts on the highly anticipated race. “I know that filly is going to win this thing man, but the favorite won’t pay anything. I threw her out of my exacta box.” After my elation settled down from the sight of Rachel Alexandra crossing the wire ahead of the Preakness field, my thoughts returned to that gentleman’s comments. He had given away the race and his hard earned cash because he was blinded by unrealistic expectations. Mine That Bird, who was the second place finisher in the Preakness, never had a home on any of my original exotic tickets. Pressing my chase of an outlandish victory would have resulted in disaster. I have not always made wise decisions within the track’s confines but in this very important instance I was indeed a good handicapper and a good bettor. The last thing I want is for my words to tarnish any horseplayer’s fantasy of striking it rich. After all, that is the reason most of us initially entered the game.

by ERIC VAUGHN FLOYD

Eric Vaughn Floyd is a turf writer for various gaming publications and is a consultant to several nationwide media outlets in regards to the Triple Crown. Excerpts of his gambling memoir “The Backstretch (My First Decade Playing the Game)” can be viewed at LULU.com

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by PHIL HELLMUTH, JR.

This is an excerpt from Phil’s book, Bad Beats Phil Hellmuth, Jr. is a 15-time World Series of Poker Champion leading all poker players in the world. His books include Poker Brat, Phil Hellmuth’s Texas Hold’em, Deal me In, Play Poker Like the Pros, Read ‘Em and Weep, Excelling at No Limit Hold ‘em, Positivity: You Are Always I the Right Place at the Right Time and Bad Beats and Lucky Draws. Phil’s books, blog, tips and more can be found at PhilHellmuth. com.

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Deception and Reading Limit Hold’em is a fast-moving game for a fastmoving society and online players seem to move in and out of games more quickly. They often play on their lunch break or when they just have an hour to kill before dinner. In any case, the lineups change quickly so you don’t have a lot of time to figure out what the other players are doing.

To get a good feel, pay close attention to the hands players show at the end of a pot as this will show what type of player they are. If a player has raised a pot and then bet all of the way down to the end and shows 6d-7c, you know that he is a jackal type. If a player hasn’t played a pot in a while, the early evidence suggests he may be a mouse type. Remember, the sword cuts both ways in online poker. The other players won’t know about you except what you let them see. If you are raising a lot of pots, the other players will think that you are a jackal especially if you show some weaker hands. You may show some of your weaker hands at the end of the hand even if you don’t win the pot, in order to convey the illusion you are a jackal. Or you can show your strong hands in order to give people the impression that you are a mouse. I like to show my strong starting hands face-up, to make people think I am a mouse, then I will be able to bluff more pots in the future, because they think I only play big hands. (In lower-limit games, it is hard to bluff someone out on the end!) Even though you can’t read other people’s facial expressions when playing online, there is still plenty of information available about the way they play and you can confuse them with what hands you choose to show. Other things to watch while playing online include the amount of time a player takes to make a decision and the number of other games a player is in. If players are in other games, they are likely to lose concentration, and you may be able to take advantage by playing more aggressively. A good online “tell” is whether or not a player bets his hand right away or stalls by figuring out if a quick bet means a hand or a bluff. A quick bet is usually a sign of weakness, and a slow bet is usually a sign of strength. Everyone in poker is an actor and when people bet slowly they are usually trying to say to you, “I don’t know if I should bet this hand or not. Let me think. I’m pretty weak right now.” At least that’s what they want you to think. By contrast, a quick bet is meant to convey an impression of strength; they’re saying, “I have a huge hand, and I’m going to bet because of this.” You might not want to believe it, though! Ten-Handed Games

I recommend you use the “top ten only” strategy when you play online at a ten-handed table. This strategy is simple, safe, and very effective and should allow you to build up some profits. If I could design a computer program to play my money online, this is the way I would program it. The reason I recommended this slow strategy is the online players in small-stakes poker games play so badly that the “top ten” strategy will be a big winner in the long haul. There is no need to get fancy and take big swings up and down with your money online: the patient route will smooth out the swings and produce the desired wins. Also, make sure you play in games of an appropriate size for your bankroll. If you intend to risk $100 online, make sure you play no higher than $1-$2 limit. This way you will have 50 big bets to play with, and you will give the “top ten” strategy a chance to succeed for you. With 50 big bets, you will have a decent shot at turning $100 into a lot more money over 40 hours of play using my online strategy. However, 50 big bets is still not much money in a poker game as 100 big bets is a much safer amount to start with. Don’t be discouraged if you lose your initial $100 playing the “top ten” strategy. Luck is a big part of poker, and although this strategy is a favorite in any online $1-$2 game, sometimes you can just get unlucky!

Five-Handed Games

Hold’em is a very different game when you are playing it at a table where the maximum is five players. You will find that the swings you take in a five-handed game will tend to be much bigger than the swings you take in a ten-handed game. Five-hand-maximum tables don’t exist right now in the “real-world,” probably because the casinos figure they have a limited amount of space and need to use it for full-size tables. Online casinos, of course, face no such limitation.

At a five-hand-maximum table, in addition to the top ten strategy, you can now add all small pairs, any A-x, and the “20-rule” (two cards that add up to 20 or more) to the mix of hands to play pre-flop. I’m not saying to play these additional hands all the time. For example, I wouldn’t play 10-J for three bets before the flop. However, you can now call two bets with these types of hands or make it two bets yourself. Because you are playing more than three times as many hands before the flop in a five-handed game, you may also find five-handed tables a lot more fun, and potentially more profitable too! GAMINGANDDESTINATIONS.COM | 19