I learned how many lemons you could buy for $16 million.

The ADW situation taught me that I am not as big a degenerate as I thought I was. It was quite easy for me to not gamble because the tracks I normally played were not available to me. I found other things to do this summer to keep me busy.

That should be scary to the industry.

I learned to respect luck and gut feelings.

Last New Year's Day weekend I watched some replays and picked out a double digit ML horse that I was confident was going to hit the board here in the Bay Area. Just planned to take $150 for one BS/fun play of the weekend at $50 to place and $100 to show.

I had planned to hit the OTB at opening, but my wife asked I head to my mother in law's house to set up the new electronics we gave her for Christmas. I figured I had time to go across the bay and get it done, and come back and get the bet in. Plans went awry with traffic and unexpected tech issues, and I didn't make it to any place to bet until after the race's post time.

On the drive back across the bridge I told my wife, "if that horse I was thinking of betting placed, I probably shouldn't bet the rest of the year."

Of course it placed. I forget the payouts, but it was like $14 to place and $8 to show.

The superstitious part of me knew that it was something of an omen. Then, about six weeks later I had a premonition that Ryan Newman was going to win the Daytona 500. I made a nice chunk of change with a straight bet on Kevin Harvick at about 14-1 a couple years earlier, and planned to put $100 on Newman, $100 on Junior, and $50 on Tony Stewart. A sideshow bet for a weekend of blackjack, and I knew I would probably make up any loss at the blackjack tables. We had plans to make it to Reno where I was going to bet, but work stuff came up at the last minute, and we didn't go. Ryan Newman won, at I think 35+-1 odds.

Another omen. And I knew it.

I ended up having probably the worst year of gambling of my entire gambling life. I lost at blackjack in Reno and Tahoe like five times, and I have historically NEVER lost at blackjack. I caught my longshot tri's on several occasions, but the chalk never missed the board. I didn't collect a ticket of any significance at the Breeders' Cup.

Now I did probably go somewhere between 45-55 and 55-45 on other horses the rest of the year, but way off my lifetime average.

I'm far from giving up gambling, but I should have listened to my gut last New Year's.

I've learned how to use words like machinations and ensconced in the same sentence. It's really helped with my people skills.

Bet the Euros!

^^learned he is really Scottish:eek:

great point, i only played churchill downs 1 time this year, and that was on derby day. Outta sight, outta mind

i'm gonna work on my ROI and singling more in my horizontal bets

happy holidays

-bt-

I learned that the Fairgrounds has a really long stretch and I should have listened to FGfan.:rolleyes:

Believe what your eyes tell you . Stay conservative . Be Bullish and Tin Cup Chalice are 2 examples .

Tin Cup Chalice going to Japan is not an example of staying conservative.

I believed my eyes when they told me he should not go.

Agreed . Prior to Japan . To be more precise . Pardon moi . Of course I tell myself every year to believe my eyes .

Do eyes improve with age ?

Another thing I have learned and got better at is I can cap a race, watch a race, and not bet on it. I use to think I had to bet every race. I'll only play one card at a time, I don't hop from one track to another, so I use to think I had to have action. Now, I'll have interest in a race without money on it which has allowed me to focus on races I feel strongly about, bet more on those races, and win more.

It only took 38 years playing the ponies to do this!

Spyder

I learned that i can't pick any winners in NY and need to never play it. Stick to places i am solid at picking winners, ie CA, WA and FL.

I learned that after 9 mint juleps I can't walk a straight line.:zz: ...but at that point I may still argue that I'm still ok to have a beer or something.