First Handicapping Contest

[harrahs8325]

Good Afternoon,
I am entering my first Handicapping Contest this coming Saturday at the Meadowlands.  It is something I\'ve always wanted to do and finally am doing it.  The tracks are Keeneland, Aqua and SA.  I was just wondering if any of you guys who have played in these before have some advice for me.  Anything would help, especially some insight as to how you prepare?  Do any of you set limits to not play horses below a certain price??  Is it bet to focus on 2 of 3 tracks or handicap them all???
Thanks
Rob

[CHOWDERMAN]

mike behchok should reply....i\'ve been playing for 4 years and have managed to screw up and cost me many big placings, not because my picks are bad, because my stategy is usually horrid...the rules change from tournament to tournament....just looked at the format....this one is like the wild west......i would say in this format, bet 2 units to win 8 to place early on to get the some the 10 mininum bets you need to make out of the way....hopefully you cash a few...bide your time until you see a horse you like..then  bet big.... in this format you really only have to hit the equivalent to a huge daily double.....last year a guy didnt hit a race all day...he went all on the second to last race, and won, then parlayed all of it on the final race, hit it, won  3 or 4 g in real money, won the tournament and then collected 10gs for finishing first....not bad for hitting the equivalent of a daily double....good luck....if you have any more questions, post them.....READ THE FORMAT UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND IT.....you HAVE to make a min of 10 bets...once thats satisfied, you can bet MORE than that....u need to bet a minumum of $10 on those races, however if you want you could bet your entire bankroll on the first race if you want, and if you win, you\'re sitting pretty...some people do that....that most important thing with this format is that people sit and wait til the end of the day and go all in on the last race, they nurse their bankroll with place and how bets,....so the leaderboard can change drastically in the last race....good luck....

[harrahs8325]

Thanks for your advice.  Looking forward to giving it a shot.

[CHOWDERMAN]

one more thing....it\'s a good idea to have done all your homework the night before...have your plays...then figure out how to bet them during the tourney....once in a while, call an audible, but it\'s best to stick with your first instinct and let it fly...

[harrahs8325]

That was my plan going in.  I figured I\'d work TG\'s for Kee and Aqu, I can\'t paly California, never get a handle on it.  I\'ll try to come up with 10 plays between the 2 cards and go from there.  Hoping to be able to beat some of this heavy chalk in NY.

[Rick B.]

Whether you are playing 2 tracks or many -- get all the races
you are playing onto a checklist of some sort in post-time order.

(If you use BrisNet Ultimate PP\'s, you can sort the actual PP\'s
in post-time order, too -- VERY handy.)

There is nothing worse than finding out your longshot in the
4th at Prairie Ghettos just romped and paid $53...and you missed it
because you were dicking around with whether to play a 5-1 shot at
PigPenn National.