Horse Racing should go all-in?

[asfufh]

http://www2.dailynews.com/kevinmodesti/ci_3033593

[TGJB]

Excellent, excellent column, not only agree with all points but was making some of them on Post Time back in 92. The Poker comparison is especially apt, and it would be really nice if people in racing paid attention.

As for his idea of a reality series featuring pro horseplayers-- I know someone who wrote a screenplay with a very positive portrayal of a pro horseplayer in it, one that explained the game to civilians. It was good enough to get a serious director and producer attached. When the project was taken to people in the industry for support, they basically yawned.

[razzle]

Asfuth,

Thanks for a couple of very good article cites.  The Dr. Catlin(that name is awfully familiar) article is especially interesting.  Here\'s hoping the funding materializes.  Maybe we could all donate a play or two for the needed lab equipment?  

There is one major difference between poker and horseracing.

It \"IS\" a lot easier to beat poker.  

I\'ve spent a lot of time over the last 24 months reading and studying David Sklansky\'s books on limit holdem (plenty of others too). I will grant you that I\'m not best poker player around, but it doesn\'t matter. I routinely bury the small stakes games I play in because I know the level at which I can compete successfully right now and I plan on staying there until I prove to myself I am ready to move up to the next level. I am playing against people a lot worse than I am. IMHO anyone with a reasonably high IQ/aptitude for gambling and a determination to beat poker can do so very quickly as long as he doesn\'t move up in class until he is ready.

You don\'t have that option in horseracing. The odds are almost always fairly efficient because there\'s a ton of informed money flowing into the pools correcting any mistakes that the casual uninformed fans make. I can\'t go to the $2 window and just play against other $2 players for awhile. I have to play against the Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan of horseracing as soon as I step up to the plate.

Granted, lowering the take would make the game easier to beat and might encourage more players to try to beat it. But you would have to lower it enough to create substantially more winners than exist now because horserace handicapping requires a lot of daily work. With poker, once you know something and are at a good table, you just sit down and play and you have the edge. There are tons of relatively recent poker converts that are making money playing poker. Some are making a LOT.

Obviously I love this game or I wouldn\'t put so much time and energy into it, but I think it\'s going to take a lot of change to produce the kind of success that Poker has.  




 

   

[marcus]

I doubt whether Poker\'s relatively new found popularity and celebrity will endure over the long haul at that high level as horse racing has done as a result of a quality product ( meaning the horse\'s on the track ) , dumb luck and additionally many other factors that probably include good business decisions made a long time ago ... Racing will rebound and overtake the Poker pheonominum in time . Poker on that grand level and ESPN for that matter have a limited shelf life and limited appeal .  To help make a point let me say that cable networks like ESPN bantied around pocket billards ( another pastime w/ more than it\'s share of negative connentations )  and since have basically religated the sport back to it\'s former status . I started playing pool at 10 and to this day can beat top players when in stroke .  Recently in a 9 ball session w/ a friend , the #1 & #2 ranked players ( as I was later informed by the house boy ) where watching our game but declined to approach me for a game . I didn\'t know who they were but they new who I was and apparently would have little to gain by getting taken apart by some guy in a potential Apollo Creed/ Rocky Balboa senario . I quess one point I\'m trying to convey is that Pool like Horse Racing does have alot of people in powerful positions who know that things can be  vastly improved on but that would mean that many of them would be looking for new jobs ( and in new industries )  had racing been managed efficiently . I remember a fellow at MTH who was later escorted off the premisis that was hitting Jerry up for a several hundred dollar shake down fee to sell the TG product at that track . Of course Jerry didn\'t go for it and sold the sheets off track at a nearby location with many sheets players passed on  MTH that meet due to the unavailabilty of sheets on track which help greatly to diminish the MTH handle that season is just one example of the very short sighted gutting and ravaging of a great sport , The Sport of Kings . Unfortunately ESPN and some of the even bigger players in the sport aren\'t much better than that character at MTH . Perhaps Racing would need to shake out like the way the NASDQ did when the bubble burst a few years ago before improvement can be realized .  

marcus,

Where do you shoot pool?  In NY?  We may know each other (by sight at least).  

I\'m out of stroke these days, but I spent most of my teens and early 20s playing every day in the Golden Q in Queens. I still play once in awhile in Queens with Gene Nagy in Maspeth Queens. I can still run a 50-60 once in awhile, but I can\'t threaten 100 anymore.

The biggest problem with pool is the players themselves (at least on the men\'s side). They think that just because they play great pool it means they also know how to promote and run a business or tour.

IMO, poker will decline a bit from here. THis is the manic bubble phase. Eventually all the fish and wannabees will fall by the wayside, but I think the game has a lot of appeal because you can find \"attractive\" action 24 hours a day at any stakes you want from the privacy of your home.  

[marcus]

The Cable Networks had lot\'s of time to fill with the cancellation of the recent NHL Season and were unquestionably pleasantly surprised w/ the TV Poker Pheonom . It would be nice to see Racing get alot more out of networks like ESPN ( when they come crawling back ) that would include 24/7 racing coverage , commentary , news etc .

So far as the biggest problems w/ Pool Players you might be on the money , I definately value and appreciate professional management in any endevour but it all does start in the \'ole ticker ...

Most of the tables from the former Julians Billard Academy wound up at SOHO Billards on Houston just east of B-Way so that is where I go often times .
 
I\'m thinking about Sundays Woodbine races this evening , I like the TG ROTW and in 2 PH Handicapping Contest Races at Woodbine , the 6th + 9th , I\'m using Spotlight in the Bell Canadian and Mobil in the Atto Mile .