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HomeShop at BookSurgeCookingSeasonalThe Psychology Of The Winning Horseplayer |
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Must Read for Serious Horseplayers Oct 31, 2009
To be successful in life one must know oneself. This is true also for the successful horseplayer. This book helps the reader find themselves---what makes them form opinions and come to conclusions. If you want to be a winner at the races, you have to read this book cover to cover more than once.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Not much for a serious horse racing fan Jul 24, 2009
I am a bit disappointed with this book. As a serious horse racing fan, I cannot find anything in this book helpful to my handicapping or money management skills. The topics which are covered by this book are quite basic and I believe all serious handicapper knows these psychological effects and impacts.
 I needed this book Jun 26, 2009
Many of the concepts in Tom Hagerty's book are based on the relatively new subject called either behavioral finance or behavioral economics. This subject mostly discusses the intellectual and emotional biases that negatively affect the decisions of investors in the stock market. But these biases also affect the decisions of horseplayers when they are placing bets day after day at the track or on the Internet.
I needed this book because I can see how these biases often distort my decision making at the tracks I go to. Sometimes I become too conservative when the odds are too long on a prime selection, and sometimes I push too much cash through the windows when the crowd bets my selection down to below value. This is just one example of how the confirmation bias works to keep a player from profitable play.
One of the characteristics that make a guy or a gal in my case a strong gambler is the ability to overcome emotional biases - to maintain a psychological balance. I found useful concepts on almost all the pages of Hagerty's book that helped me gain that balance, although I'm not really there yet as I found out yesterday at Churchill Downs. And these concepts are presented in the language of a man who obviously has been around racetracks a long time. And the language is laced through with a sardonic humor I enjoyed.
The critical comments about the book by The Lying Thief I found mystifying: "I purchased this book and returned it after acquainting myself with its contents."
He goes on to say: "The book does not offer much psychological illumination." We must have been reading different books.
I read through some of the comments The Lying Thief made about other books. He is evidently an honest critic with a wide knowledge - gambling, investment, and chess. I wonder why he came down so on Mr. Hagerty's book. He certainly is right about one thing though: "It doesn't contribute anything to the technical side of handicapping either."
I was hoping the book would have something about Mr. Hagerty's method of selection, his ideas on exotic play and structuring the bet, and his betting strategy. But perhaps that's another book.
 don't buy Jun 16, 2009
i purchased this book and returned it after acquainting myself with its contents.
i really cannot recommend this book, since neither does it offer much psychological illumination (as its title promises), nor contribute anything to the technical side of handicapping (which would redeem the book despite its failure to address its stated topic).
tlt-
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Groundbreaking Book ! Apr 17, 2009
A practical book on the psychology of betting thoroughbreds that was obviously written by an experienced horseplayer. After collecting and reading several hundred books on thoroughbred handicapping and betting, I would rate this as one of the best I've encountered.
For me making consistent money at the track consisted of 2 steps.
The first step was accumulating the knowledge and experience to be profitable on an annual basis betting part time. There are a whole bunch of books and people available to help make this possible. I profited for a decade betting when my jobs allowed me time. Believe it or not, this is the easy step.
The second step is hitting the track every racing day with adequate capital and turning this activity into a real income. After a while it was evident that I was gaining a much deeper knowledge of the game and that betting had become mostly a psychological battle against my own human nature. At this point until this book came out, you were basically on your own at the beginning of a painful journey.
I've seen a bunch of good handicappers lose this battle before I tried. At the end of an 8 month period of tackling this problem from every possible angle I discovered this book. I mean I looked at this thing from every possible angle including consulting a shrink that I brought into the process. After reading and internalizing the information in this book, I finally started reaching my full effectiveness in betting.
After incorporating the information in this book, I had a horse I bet to win by my method that went off at 80-1 and lead the whole race only to be beaten by the favorite at the wire. No emotional effect at all. Several racing days later I had a horse I bet to win by my method that went off at around 9-1 or 10-1 I thought. I went and used the restroom and when I came out my horse and one of the low odds horses hit the wire for a photo decision. I was looking at the next race when I saw the order of finish and my horse had won at 23-1 because of all the late money bet on the favorite. Again, No emotional effect at all.
This is an extreme situation but it made me realize that this book helped me change the track from a somewhat emotional activity to place where I conduct my business. If you're trying to become a profitable bettor and are willing to do whatever it takes, this book is a real find.
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