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No matter how good you are at the downsides, sooner or later you will end on a losing streak. It’s really daunting when you do what worked for you before and doesn’t work now. You start to question your ability to choose dogs and wonder if you will ever choose a winner again. Unless you have radically changed what worked in the past, you will re-select the winners. But it may take a while, and some changes, to get back on track.
When I get to a bunch of lost races, the first thing I do is take a break. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can’t dive into dog racing without getting out for some fresh air every now and then. It becomes stale if you have no other interests in your life, something to balance the stress of brushing up on programs and the stress of gambling money on your own judgment.
Sometimes losing streaks can happen when you move away from logic towards momentum. Are you picking dogs with good handicaps, but then gambling on other dogs without thinking? Or are you betting dogs that you choose with a good handicap method, but then “cover” them with “insurance bets” in case they don’t come in? This is a quick way to lose money and pick winners, while losing at the same time. That is not something you want to do, because it makes you feel like a fool.
If you’re spending more money on a race than your bets can reasonably recoup, it’s time to stop and take a look at your methods. Sit in a quiet place with a cup of coffee, preferably decaf, and really think about how you’ve been gambling lately. Are you spreading your bets all over the place? Are you betting on races that don’t interest you, just because you want to have something in every race?
Do you know how much money you are spending and losing on the track? Or are you overlooking it so you don’t feel too bad about how much you’ve wasted lately on bad bets that you didn’t think too much about first? Perhaps what you need is a fresh start. Perhaps, it is time to change the way you operate before spending all your funds.
A good way I have found to do this is to take a break for a few days. Then go to the track on a day when there is a good program. Take a small amount of CASH with you. Credit or debit cards or any other source of money are not accepted. Cash only. Pick the dogs you want to bet on and bet the moment you hit the track. Then eat and drink something and sit back and watch the races.
Do not get up except to go to the bathroom or to leave the track. There are no outside bets, insurance bets or bets because “dog 7 looks great” and someone tells you that it is child’s play. Just watch the races, collect your money and go home. If you lose all bets, at least you didn’t spend more money than you planned to spend. Sometimes it is more important to do what you promised yourself you would do, to show some self-discipline, than to make money.
Do this several times and you may be back in a winning mindset, picking dogs and gambling with them with smart money management, and you win. Do this as a regular routine and you may find that, on most trips, you return home from the track a winner and losing streaks are few and far between.