Try telling your family that you’re going to quit your job and make a living punting. Go ahead!…tell them that you either have a system that is earning you more money than you’re making going to work every day and see if you don’t wind up on a morning tv show where your loving family has an intervention with you, telling you that they are worried about your sanity…at worst. At best, your family and chances are your mates will tell you that you’re nuts. That if it was that easy everyone would be doing it and that you shouldn’t quit your day job.

But what if you actually COULD learn to be a successful punter? If you could hone your punting skills to the point that your betting bank was slowly growing instead of shrinking on a monthly basis. What if before long your betting bank had grown from a hundred pounds or dollars to a thousand? What if on a weekly basis you were clearing an easy 100 to 200….more than if you had a part time job. How long would it take before you took your punting to the next level? Enough money to pay the bills every month and three months worth of funds in your bank account for those losing streaks that are bound to come along….how would it feel to not have to live paycheck to paycheck? To have the security of basically having your own business…and a business doing something that you love!

Personally, I can see myself waking up each morning when I want and not at the urging of my alarm clock…no grueling drive to work each morning or commute back at night, realizing that more than half of my time is spent doing what someone else wants me to do when they want me to do it…basically slavery to a job that I despise. I can imagine the freedom of going on holiday when I want, where I want and for as long as I want.

Is this just a pipe dream or can this be your reality? It is honestly up to you…how hard are you willing to work?…will you take the time to find a system that works for you or create your own system?…will you have the patience to wait for your betting bank to grow and make safe bets along the way and throughout your career as a professional punter? Can you treat this like a real business and put in the time to grow your business slowly but surely? Will you continue with your ‘education’ just like any successful professional?

The fact is that close to 95-99% of all punters lose money. What makes you think that you can be amongst that elite 1-5% that don’t? What is going to separate you from the crowd? Is it going to be a superior betting system or will it be your patience, character and determination? Everyone has access to the same information and betting systems…it is all in how we use this information and these tools that will keep us in the money in the long run. We won’t win every bet and every day won’t be filled with big wins but as we hone our skills and become wiser…and with patience…we will become a member of the elite who quietly make a handsome living at their leisure while enjoying time at the track or by betting on a few select races each week.

For most the dream of making a living betting on horse racing is just that….a dream…but people just like you and me DO make a handsome living doing just that. Day in and day out they quietly wait for their race…they see opportunities and with the skill and precision of a successful stock market trader they place their bets and receive income. If you listen to the crowd you will never live the dream…but if you dare to dream it you can live it.

Visit our main site, Horse Betting Systems, to read our reviews of popular betting systems and books to see what might suit your betting style and keep from getting ripped off. I assure you that, just like the races, not every system is a ‘winner’ and there are quite a few folks out there wanting to separate you from your money. Basically…anything with a rating of three stars of less is not good….we got sick of these guys trying to hack our site or sending us nasty emails so anything three stars or less is bad….four or five stars is good. Get it? And good luck!

I did make a few bets when I first started the Puntology course and was somewhat successful but I am seeing that there is much to learn and I’m excited about really learning how to handicap a race and thus improve my edge.

So, without much more messing about…

PP3 – Mindemoya – I like this horse but she’s not my picks. She seems to like to run out front and set the pace but she’s stepping up a bit in class so I don’t know if this in addition to the added distance might hurt this filly. She does run pretty much “in the money” most of the time

PP4 – Not Just A Rumor – I like this filly and she is my pick. She has the best speed rating of anyone in this race when running in her class. Last time out she finished 4th while in the mix while way out of her class so I’m thinking that she is here to win. She set the pace last time also and I think she might have tired a bit…same distance as today’s race but I think she’s gonna run away with this one.

Other horses that I think will be there in the end are the 2 and 3 horses…so I would  probably bet:

3-4  Box Exacta

3-4-5 Boxed Trifecta

The #1 filly (Beauseant) looks ok also but she’s been on break since October…

The #2 horse (Forcefully) could be there in the end and did well when she was in her own class.

The #5 horse (First Circle) should be there at the end and was outclassed last race but ran well when within her own class with good speed at this distance.

The #6 horse (Gigolette) ran with Forecefully (#2) and finished behind her.

The #7 horse (Class Gem) seems to be clearly outclassed here…sorry. She hasn’t run near the front since she broke her maiden (12K)

I’ll let you know how they finished. This is FUN!

I hope to post some of my handicapping so you can see how things progress with me as I strive to become a Professional Gambler this year. I will tell you that I’m not a horrible handicapper but I think we will all agree that each of us could use some improvement…I mean, given enough time and a couple of pints I’ve always been able to tune out those around me voicing their opinion of the next race and asking me what I was going to do….and on a winning night I usually don’t have trouble in passing on a race that doesn’t seem quite right to me…and if things turn really bad I don’t have a problem with saying “Sorry…I’m done for the night”

My problem has always been achieving that delicate balance of having my wits about me while being relaxed enough to see the whole picture when I look at the racing form. On these occassions I can usually pick two or three trifectas with two of them being winners….but when I overhandicap and try too hard (or drink too much lager, on the other end of the spectrum!) I wind up trying to find a good bet…and that always winds up biting me in the arse!

I am enjoying this process of working through Michael Wilding’s Puntology…and if you’re game I’d welcome anyone who wants to work through it with me. We can either communicate through email or create a group of some sort….a “study group,” so to speak! I was thinking of asking Michael if he would be interested in starting up a message board of some sort on his site that could be accessed by those of us who are reading his lessons. The only problem that I can think of is that it is human nature to want to read ahead and rush things which I think might hurt more than it would help.

Let me know what you think and in the meantime check out Puntology and think seriously about getting your education in punting.

The fact is that if you ever wish to become a successful punter you are going to have to work in a different direction than you have been. Even if you are seeing some sort of success chances are it will be short lived if you are relying solely upon an “off the shelf” betting system. Betting systems or handicapping systems have their place but only as a tool. You will never be able to call yourself a real punter if you don’t know what makes that tool or system work. On the flip side of that, if you know how each particular system works you will know which one to use given a particular situation. A real punter also knows that no system can ensure a 100% strike rate and when to sit out a race and just enjoy watching the horses run.

The long and the short of it is that if you love horse racing and want to take some pride in your handicapping….if you are into this for the long haul and you want to set yourself apart from the pack there are some things you’re going to have to do.

Work On Your Mental Game – There is nothing quite as important as how you deal with the wins and losses as the mental component of punting. It can be quite a roller coaster ride with severe highs and lows and the only thing that is going to keep you from crashing when you come across a long losing streak is how well mentally you are prepared to deal with this stress. You might also want to look into how you are going to deal with the losing streaks financially…will you have money set aside to get you through such times?…will you go on vacation for a bit until the season changes?…will you lower the size of your bets until you feel more secure in your handicapping and your betting system?…or will you become frustrated, like many punters do and either walk away or blow your entire bank trying to recoup your losses? Likewise, big wins and long winning streaks can do the same thing in a round about way. You might feel invincible and start spending money like a rock star or become sloppy in your handicapping. It might feel like the good times will never end but life seldom plays out this way.

The above are a few of the things that you might want to think about and the results should be enough to tell you whether you want to take your handicapping to the next level or if you are just dreaming about what it might take to make a living at betting on horse racing. It definitely can be done but it’s not as easy to get from here to there as most people might like to think…but with a little determination and some passion for the sport you will be successful.

I have to say that up until recently I had never considered betting on the ponies for a career…and as a matter of fact, when I was younger I used to answer “Professional Gambler” when people I didn’t know asked me what I did for a living, but I was a wise crackin’ young kid. But even back then I never thought that I would seriously consider the possibility of working in that direction nor did I think that it would even be a possibility! I had no idea that folks actually made a living betting on horse races.

All of that changed not too long ago and I can’t even remember how I came across this information and began looking deeper into punting or betting on horse racing in order to make a full time living. Even writing this it sounds absurd but there are indeed untold numbers of ordinary folks just like me and you that are doing just that. How you ask? Well let me fill you in a little bit on my past…

When I was younger I always enjoyed going to the races with my father and his buddies. My Dad was pretty good at handicapping and liked to bet on trifectas and other exotics. He was the one that taught me about how to lay your bets…how to box a trifecta and what the daily double was and he would almost think out loud and this is how I learned. It wasn’t too often that we went home empty handed and on the rare occasions that we did he would say “well, I look at it as paying for a good night out” if anyone remarked that he lost at the track.

Years later I had occasion to go to the track from time to time with friends. Some were better punters than other and some were just plain lucky….but I always managed to walk away with a little bit more than I went with and people were amazed that I could pick trifectas like I did. That was years ago though and I know now that my system wasn’t anything great. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t a system at all! I would read the racing form and look at the past performances as if it was a novel. I would sit and just run all the information through my head and I would get a “feel” for how I felt the field would finish. Like I said, I had no real system…

These days, as I ponder actually building a betting bank and learn about money management and the like, I look at a racing form a little different. I have a plan…I am looking for certain things in a horse’s past performance before I lay my money down. It is no longer a gut feeling or any sort of “feeling” at all any longer. Yes, different factors are taken into consideration as I read over the form…some of the indicators that I used to look for are a part of my “betting system” and each of them carries a certain amount of weight. You see….I am no longer really gambling, as strange as that sounds. Yes, technically I am gambling but not in the traditional way that most of the general public would view it. I am not looking for that long shot that is going to pay a big dividend. I am looking for a horse that is almost a sure thing. I am looking for a low risk, low reward horse that can almost guarantee me a return on the money I lay down. My profit margin may not be huge but I would rather make ten bets where I make a little than make ten losing wagers as I wait on that longshot to run into money. Those horses are few and far between indeed.

So I hope you will follow me as I learn more about this exciting past time and live the dream that I never thought I would have the opportunity to follow.

By the way…the system that I use now is called How To Place Bet on Favourites For a Living or “How $15 Safely Makes $157.28″ It is a very simple system and is perfect for both novices and those that have been around for a while. You can actually try it risk free from the publisher, Mohammed Ali at www.PublishersParadise.info