Anyone qualify for DRF/NTRA Handicapping Tournament 2007?

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Bravado2112

I did not qualify this year, but have in the past and have had some degree of success in other tournaments. Tournaments require a big learning curve - especially these days when the competition has gotten tougher and there's far less "dead money" and a lot of sharp people/teams playing these things. The hardest thing to do is to shift your focus entirely to a tournament-play mentality and not a betting or profit mentality. Passing on a sure 4-1 winner or placing a max bet on a horse who isn't your top choice is counter to what you're used to doing, but it's often necessary in tournament play. You're playing to outfinish 200 people on a random isolated day, not show a profit. Maximizing the non-mandatory races is essential.

There are many different types of structures (live money, mandatory races, odds caps etc) and being flexible enough to adjust your play to reflect the rules is required. So is having an idea of what type of score is necessary to win and being clearheaded enough to focus on getting to that number without distraction from the leaderboard and the people screaming every time a longshot wins. At the same time, you also have to be able to adjust your play later in the day to reflect where you are in the standings and do what's necessary to give yourself a chance to get near the top or to protect a lead.

Just like in regular betting, prepare to pay for an education. You're not going to show up and beat 200 veteran tournament players simply by handicapping well. There are resources available for some degree of help and ideally some time spent playing on paper and simply watching a couple of tournaments to learn your way around them would probably be helpful. There are some cheap online tournaments that are probably worth playing to get your feet wet as well. That's just a start but the most essential component is understanding and adjusting to the difference between betting and tournament play.

Great advice, and as a side note I think I've found the other "world's biggest Rush fan"...

[Bravado2112]

Originally Posted by philcski

Great advice, and as a side note I think I've found the other "world's biggest Rush fan"...

Haha...I was wondering if anyone was going to pick up on the Rush In Rio dragon picture!

I'm a bit down on the band these days and they're usually not at the top of my playlist anymore, but they're still clearly my #1 band and I would definitely qualify as a diehard. Seen them 31 times over the years including 8 shows last tour! Definitely looking forward to the new album and remain (foolishly?) hopeful that it's a good one and better than the past few. My ultimate wish is to take some trips over the summer where Rush shows and big handicapping tournaments happen to take place in the same week in a fun city. One can dream...