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Letter of the Week

Learning from experience

 

Whilst I agree with and support most of the comments made by Michael Barton (5/3) I must draw exception to his description of someone who claims to be a winning punter as a charlatan.

Whilst I have little concern for Michael’s or anyone else’s opinion of my claim in my original letter (26/2), I write to explain that my winning average is a gross figure and takes no account of the expenses necessary to achieve my results, which of course significantly reduce my profitability. But as I explain below I have found a way to control and almost eliminate these operating costs.

I also must mention my results (an average over the past five years) have only been achieved after a 55-year apprenticeship. This began at the age of 16 when much to the anguish of my widowed mother I took a job as driver and general "gofer" for a travelling salesman, who just happened to hold a country bookmaker’s licence. As we travelled throughout country NSW and Queensland, it was quite amazing how our schedule always coincided with a bush meeting somewhere every Saturday.

George (his real name) decided to teach me to pencil (remember them). We would bet on Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne races at every imaginable remote bush meeting as we huddled under a crackly speaker whilst Ken Howard, Keith Noud and Fred Tupper colourfully painted vivid pictures of our financial fate.

George was a great teacher in the art of bookmaking, percentages, laying off and numerous mathematical shortcuts to reach a clear picture of the extent of risk we were running with each horse. Remember these were the days when the only computer or calculator we had was between our ears, and quick (almost instant) and accurate figures were essential.

George also provided me with a "university" degree in every aspect of life and the skulduggery involved, particularly in racing and betting.

Race rigging, goers and whoaers were common place, particularly in the bush, but certainly with an unhealthy frequency at city tracks. Again you must appreciate stewards in those days had little or no technology, no video or even scratchy films, no replays, no swabbing and all the other technical assistance we take for granted today. They only had their own observations, assisted by a pair of 10x50 binoculars, a snapshot memory of what they had seen or heard, and their own "gut feelings" from betting sheets. All relatively easy for a determined villain to circumvent.

It was also prior to the TAB. SP was rife in every pub and every suburb, prizemoney was scant, and connections were very dependent on "the punt" to make ends meet, pay the bills, and get a quid.

To be able to back a winner (other than by sheer luck), one had to be in the "know" and be aware of stable information and "plans" for a particular race. I was rarely in receipt of such information, although I have to admit that my honeymoon in 1958 was greatly enhanced by a "one-goer" to which I was privy via my best man, the son of a leading Melbourne bookmaker.

To the great relief of my long-suffering mother, my responsibilities as a married and eventually family man saw me obtain a respectable position in the hospitality industry, in which I spent my entire career in various capacities before reaching a senior level in administration.

My experiences with George, however, saw me "addicted" to the punt, but I was saved from complete disaster by the demands of my newfound career at weekends and holidays. This made it impossible to attend race meetings regularly.

Of course I lost money punting. I hate to think how much over the years, and perhaps it is best I have no idea. But I was learning from my experiences, albeit at a very slow rate.

When I retired, I was able to spend more time on my hobby of punting and attending race meetings, and continued to learn slowly from mistakes, but it was often a case of two steps forward and one step back, as I kept falling back into bad habits because I just had to have a bet. As I described in my original letter, it has only been in the last five years that I have perfected discipline and patience and rejected the desire to bet for betting’s sake. I began losing less and even experiencing winning years.

A big help in this regard has been my decision to retire from on-course punting and take advantage of the many services and bet types offered by corporate bookmakers, which on course bookmakers are prohibited from granting.

I have reduced my expenses considerably since becoming a stay-at-home and internet punter.

No more phone bills, transport and ripoff catering costs. (Believe me, as a retired catering professional I sympathise with on-course catering problems, but there is no excuse for the excessive charges — especially when you consider the poor quality of service and product.)

I have retained my membership for no other reason than the infrequent social occasion I may attend with my wife. At these times I declare a serious punt-free day.

P Connors
Brighton (Qld)
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