Customer Reviews

Six Secrets of Successful Bettors: Winning Insights into Playing the Horses

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I have read several 'betting psychology' books and, being something of a skeptic, I expected to come away disappointed by 'Six Secrets'. I didn't/wasn't. Since I've gone from tyro to serious amateur, I know this book will help both. Will it help a pro? I don't see how it couldn't help anyone.

Especially useful to me was the almost universal view of those interviewed that, whatever the game (in my case, thoroughbred racing) 'it's one long game'. A winning bet or day doesn't make you a genius, nor does a losing bet or day make you a dummy. Each bet you make is like the flip of a coin: some come up heads, some tails. A single outcome isn't as important as the reasoning which led you to make the bet in the first place. If your overall methodology is sound, if you know why it's sound, if you know yourself and what works (and doesn't) for you, profits should follow. A fair degree of competence at your game of choice is assumed.

My biggest knock on the book is with a couple of those chosen for the interviews; I have known one of them and have friends who have known another. I just don't think that they're as expert or as successful as they are purported to be. For me, this came out in their interviews, which seemed weaker than the rest, as if they weren't really speaking from experience. It might just be my take, though.

Don't think that this book is just a list of rules and homilies. Many other areas are explored in addition to what I found most useful. After a complete read, I think you'll walk away with a good perspective of what makes a winning gambler.

As with most of these self-help books, execution is the hard part....

Frank R. Scatoni, Six Secrets of Successful Bettors (DRF Press, 2005)

So you want to be a professional horseplayer. What's the first thing you should do? Well, okay, the first thing you should probably learn to do is become a decent handicapper. But if you want to take it to the professional level, sooner or later you're probably going to have to do what everyone needs to do if they want to make it big in any profession: network. Talk to the guys who have already made it. Get pointers on how to do so. Maybe talk to some people not in your chosen profession, but related to it, to get some more universal ideas on theory and practice as well.

Previously, that step, unless you got lucky and had a pro in your backyard (not out of the question if your home track is Keeneland; if you frequent, say, Anthony Downs, however, you're going to be looking a long time), would have required a good deal of searching, a good deal of groveling (after all, the guy's not going to know you from Adam), and probably traversing the country a few times. A pretty expensive itinerary, to say the least, and you need to keep your bankroll up. But now Frank Scatoni has interviewed a bunch of them for you and boiled it all down into this book, which will cost you a whole lot less than plane tickets crisscrossing the country.

Scatoni gets words from some of the best-known professionals in the game, both the pundits (Crist, Beyer, Quinn, etc.) and the guys who've never written a word, but still make their money at the game (Ernie Dahlman, especially, and some players who chose to remain anonymous). He also pulls in a player from the world of baseball betting, a former top Vegas odds-line maker (Roxy Roxborough), some poker and blackjack players, and the like. The end result is a book about why these folks are successful, largely in their own words.

You would expect some conflicting and confusing information. That's life; there are many different ways to win this game. Beyer concentrates his play in exactas, Crist in pick sixes. They both make a living betting. One bettor puts twenty grand through the windows a day, another, if I was extrapolating his numbers right, bets in the vicinity of seventy-five million a year. They all make livings doing it. And a lot of what they have to say has been said time and again in books on handicapping, and you never really picked up on it before, did you? Well, give it another shot, and soak up the new info, as well. One way or the other, this is definitely one you want to pick up before quitting your job and going to the track full-time-- or even if you're a Christmas-and-Easter bettor who wants to get a little more disciplined like yours truly. *** ½

it kept my intrest , however i expected it to cover more of what type of plays these guys make at the track.

I thought this book lacked focus and detail. Its basically a collection of thoughts from a number of so called "Pros" who use various methods and comment on what I consider to be the basics. I didn't buy it looking for handicapping advice(which is fortunate it has none)but I did expect some detail about wagering based on the books title. Instead it is a bunch of philisophical ramblings from a few well known handicappers and some who chose not to be identified. You'll laugh,(not really) you'll cry, you'll kiss 20 bucks goodbye. I can't reccomend it.

This book uses the words from the mouths of successful bettors to tell the readers what the essential factors on horse handicapping and betting are. These essential factors include edge, track bias, record keeping, money management, and some psychological factors etc. This book is good in the sense that it offers the readers a quick look on the factors that lead to successful horse handicapping and betting. It is then up to the readers to explore in details each of these factors in other books so as to strengthen their horse handicapping and betting skills.

As an experienced horse player who have read over 20 books on horse handicapping and betting, I cannot find any more secrets from these successful bettors. However, this book refreshes me and reconfirms my knowledge again.

This book won't teach you how to handicap thoroughbred races. However, if you are already an experienced handicapper, it will give you some interesting comments to digest, all from well known professionals.

The six secrets aren't very secret anymore, but the views expressed are worth reading, and are particularly entertaining when the pro's disagree.

These handicapping books are all pretty much the same. Tell you how to build the atom bomb, but you know you can never get the material to make it happen. Some fun stories and idea's but will not help you pick winners.

This isn't a book that will greatly improve your handicapping, but it does explore the insights of professional gamblers and how they are able to make a living in the game. I found this was a more relaxing read than usual handicapping books that keep my nose in the pages for fear of missing some nugget of information. Though the subject matter is a group of professionals, it works for the recreational handicapper who gains a better understanding of what the pro's do to approach their business.