Greyhound Racing Beatable?

[execc]

I will try the UK Market (6 Startes).
How to handicap the Greyhounds (pick the Winner)?
Books to read?

[vexel77]

LoL, dont think so. Not unless your at trackside and have some kind of connection with the major trainers, havent came across to many sucessful dog cappers.

[youtalkfunny]

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havent came across to many sucessful dog cappers.

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I have.

For many, the toughest part of their job was finding someone to book their action, as they routinely murdered the books.

When I was in Vegas in the 90's, an arcane state law prohibited the race books from hooking up with the dog tracks' pari-mutuel pools. All dog bets were "booked", with the books paying out at track odds. I was told the law dated back to a time when there were dog tracks in Nevada.

In the late 90's, when pari-mutuel betting became the norm instead of the exception in Las Vegas, we booked to all the tough dog bettors in town. We knew they'd beat us, but we took the beating for a while, expecting the obscure, needless prohibition on pari-mutuel dog betting to be lifted. The thinking was if nobody was "booking" the dogs anywhere, the big dog bettors would have to put their bets into the pools--and hopefully they'd stay loyal to the one race book in town that didn't kick them out.

These guys absolutely destroyed us. Kicked our teeth in, night after night. Many nights, the race book finished the day in the red, just because of these guys.

In 2000, just before I moved out of Las Vegas, we finally gave up, and gave the boot to these guys.

I have no idea if that law still exists, or the current state of dog betting in Nevada. 2000 was my last year of involvement.

[Skipbidder]

About 20 years ago, I beat greyhounds for 2 summers. At first I watched a lot more races than I bet on. The "system" that I used involved backwheeling the exacta. I'd look for dogs that started out very fast but faded. (Later, I added fast-starting dogs that were moving up to a longer race.) I camped out in front of the only exacta screen in the joint and watched odds until just before the windows closed (trying to judge the chance that my dog would actually finish 2nd combined with the odds of varous dogs finishing first (by the big tote board). There was some method to that part of it, but I surely couldn't have given you a precise mathematical formula. I think I was betting about 1 out of 3 races at the end. I don't know if I just caught a run of positive variance (likely) or if this was specific to the (Kenosha WI) track that I was playing (less likely). Could all be an insufficient sample size, and I was really a losing player. I don't honestly know how much money I made, but I can tell you that it sure seemed like great flipping wodges at the time.

[kdog]

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LoL, dont think so. Not unless your at trackside and have some kind of connection with the major trainers, havent came across to many sucessful dog cappers

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There used to be quite a few around years ago. There was a lot less easily available gambling then and the major tracks would handle $500k per day on their card alone. Now the ones still open handle maybe $100k and that includes their simulcasting. Not worth putting in the time for what you can make anymore.

[Sevenfold]

Its very beatable, but like anything else, you have to work at it.

Friend of mine did it for years, and I did it for a while, but got bored.

You need to WATCH every race possible, and keep all the old programs so you can go back further into a dogs history.

One example: I was at the track after a long layoff, and I liked this one dog who had been in trouble a lot, but had finished better.

Lines like 5 8 8 8 5---in trouble early
2 7 6 6 4---jammed etc...

I took a shot on him, and he sure enough stutter-stepped in the first corner when traffic cut him off and was 7 or 8th and was well behind when the smoke cleared. But...He just tore up the track from this point and finished 4th well behind the leaders, but closing ridiculously fast. Without watching this race I wouldn't have known what heart this dog had, though I had suspected it.

Needless to say I loaded up next time he raced, and with a program full of finishes 4ths through 7ths he wasn't bet at all.

He blew away the field of course, paying 8-1 and a tri around $500 which I had twice (I bet him all-all).

And this is my point, you might find one great race every four or five programs. You cannot bet every race and survive.

My friend rarely bet more than 3 races out of 15, usually 1 or 2. (Hence leading to my boredom).

Plus with low handles, you will kill yourself with big win tickets, pushing down the odds. You need to get creative with exactas and tri's.

So....can be done? Easily. Worth it???? Hmmmm

[youtalkfunny]

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You need to WATCH every race possible, and keep all the old programs so you can go back further into a dogs history.

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Of the guys who were beating us in Las Vegas, the best of them was guy named John, who we naturally came to call "John, the Dog Man". He was in the race book every single night.

I asked him once, "Don't you ever take a day off?"

He replied seriously, "I have to see every dog's every race."

Also, he toted around with him a satchel. Not filled with cash, but filled with old Past Performance programs.

Finally, he almost never bet WPS. It was all Exactas, Q's, and Tri's.