Professional gambler

not read it myself but someone said it was a good read

Not read it myself. Would you recomend? I am currently reading Patrick Vietch - enemy number one. Is interesting but feels bit more like diary of his life. Not much info into how he was actually sucessful at gambling. Although understandably he probably doesnt want to give to much of that info away.

They interviewed Veitch on tv and he said he specialized on the flat and basically hard work using form,

of course owning a few and having a bit of inside info never hurt either imo !

Will have a look facts ta.

druids lodge confedercy is a great read also, god knows what bills and laddies traders would make of this lot.

Thanks again.

thebigp

would certainly recommend it.

i remember buying that - total waste of money

moongirl3 29 Apr 11:46


i remember buying that - total waste of money

wat was?

Essential Guide To Backing Winners.
Anybody can back winners. The guy in the betting shop backing every favourite will back plenty of winners. An uninspiring title methinks.

The Sydney Harris book. I got Enemy Number One from the library. I thought that was an awful book- pure self-publicity, narcissism and poorly written.

If you want to read good horse racing books I would recommend Andy Beyer.

Me too, i don't watch US Racing but much of what he writes is applicable to UK racing. He has a nice blend of maths and words too so all three of his books are very readable.

sounds like Sydneys methods worked for him. On a scale of 1-10, i rate spending money on this a 0. The information in it is like the ABC of betting....

moongirl3 29 Apr 11:50
The Sydney Harris book. I got Enemy Number One from the library. I thought that was an awful book- pure self-publicity, narcissism and poorly written

Agree entirely. In my view the only reason veitch wrote a book - which incidentally i thought was dreadful - was so that the big mugs who he approached to put on for him knew who he was.

However I'll take my hat off to the guy as a punter he is incredible for many reasons but none more so than his ability to keep one quiet. It absolutely amazes me the discretion is close people have.

Moongirl

Sydney Harris's book reminds a punter what he should be doing!No bad thing in my book.Less than £4 (inc.postage)off Amazon. Not much to lose - to gain a little more insight/confirm own views imo.

Agree with you re Andrew Bayer( Picking Winners) is a good book.
James Quinn is another on US Racing( The New Expert Handicappers). As is Tom Ainslie's - Complete Guide To Thoroughbred Racing

Another good book(UK) is Always Back Winners by Stewart Simpson.

facts is that the one bout top weights in h/caps?

always back winners?

Amongst other things - but yes, that's the one.

George Duffield in 7f races was another good system.

Value Betting by Mark Coton is about the best I've read.

quite a while back read one by Alan Potts,descent if I remember
rightly.

George Duffield, cor! He could ride a finish.

I haven't read any of the above books except The Druids Lodge one,

the only other one I read was Barney Curley's one a few years back.

SOULDANCER 29 Apr 12:14


Value Betting by Mark Coton is about the best I've read.

dirty ew thief he was, great read.

Mark Cotton's book - One Hundred Hints For Better Betting - was a good read too.

Coton

Beyer on speed

veitch book was a poor read

Isn't Sidney Harris the bloke who advertises the one horse saturday newsletter in the RP?


"have the one bet , watch it win from the comfort of your own armchair, then take the misses out for a slap up meal and have yourself a fat cigar".

did any one read a book about USA Bookmakers in the 1920 to 1945 before they were banned.No sure of the title.
There is a paragraph called the "Speed Boys" it is amazing, I leant it out and as usual it never came back.

The nearest to these pros are the two Black Country Guys,
Gough/Jones amazing and they have the cash to show it.

cubone

MikeWood 29 Apr 12:07
facts is that the one bout top weights in h/caps?
always back winners?

That was Always Back Winners, Stewart Simpson.
Didnt read Veitch's book but he'd have to go some to be as unpleasant as this guy

Ignore his 'personal life' - I agree that's just show off bullsh1t !
The 'system' he used was interesting though

I would think the best Pro/Bookie team was
Phil Bull/Willi m Hill.

Ruled for 10 years

Alex Bird was also an Eway Thief.

The question that lasted 20 years was would William hil ll have paid if Tudor Minstrel had won the Derby

cubone

As far as I know it was quite influential in its day Facts, and the type of horses he bet on became overbet. But these things go in cycles

Is that the one that says : only start looking at a horse form when ,
proven on track
jockey/ trainer got good record at the track
trainer in good current form
proven on ground

Alex Bird was indeed an each way thief he used to advocate backing the 2nd Favourite each way in maiden races.

sparrow dont forget he was betting at 1/4 odds and getting massive commission on his bets,

to show what Alex was making when the 5% tax was introduced he stopped betting.

Lukehart. I did forget that the place odds had changed which makes you wonder how he got the money on.

he had over 50 agent getting on and when the 1960 High Street revelation started there were plenty of bookmakers getting a lot of money,
Some times he would back even 3 in a race all Each way.so he was betting big odds on himself.

His surposed 3 1/2% net was on a massive turnover.

Google Alan Woods and Bill Benter, who showed that a strict mathematical approach works best.

a lot of people do not understand the value of Each way betting now that the win odds are so tight,
group them up in a treble/4 timer and you will never starve.
But a lot of people cant get there heads round the concept.

cubone

Some people like the glory of finding the winner and think each way betting is just for wimps!

How comes there are lots of books on punting (finding winners) but none (at least mentioned) on bookmaking or laying?

Sid Harris didnt make much backing horses so his book cant be that good. His main source of income was as a tipster and not a very good one at that.