Betting Strategy / Perfect Punter / 18 November 2009 / 1 Comments

The Perfect Punter explains why bettors need to retain a sense of perspective before declaring his love for a wonky-looking, four-legged phenomenon. Just don't expect him to consumate his affection with a flutter...

"Allow sporting highs to grab you and carry you away but keep them separate from financial investment. Emotional involvement requires stepping forward into the event, while betting is about taking a considered step back."

This is the story of a man and his love for a horse, and yes, I do mean that kind of horse, but no, I don't mean that kind of love. I've just spent another weekend at Cheltenham, and, while the Open meeting didn't give me the winners that I'd normally be after, or indeed the buzz of backing something involved in a thrilling finish up the hill, it did provide something that I'm starting to believe is crucial for all punters: put simply, a healthy sense of perspective.

This is because, or the first time in a long time, there was a race meeting at Cheltenham and I didn't have a single bet. It wasn't a pre-ordained choice, more a sign that I think I'm getting the hang of this quest for punting success. In the past, I'd have hastily thrown together a couple of ideas, rushed to the nearest available bookie, and put on a couple of bets just for the sake of it. Or attempted that life changing yankee and cursed my luck when I ended up with two seconds, a fourth and a fifth. But the more time that I spend reading about punting, about investing and money management, the more boring a punter I become. And boring is good, boring means sensible, and sensible sometimes means not having a bet.

Instead, it was an opportunity to enjoy an occasion for its merits. It's a sad indictment of just where my relationship with sport is, but I can't remember the last time that I got a thrill from a sporting event without having a financial stake in it. Of course, I'm still able to appreciate a great piece of skill, or a personal achievement, but even then I'll attach a price to it.

Example:

"Did you see Yoann Gourcuff's goal against PSG?"

"Yeah, wonder what price France are for the World Cup".

Betting makes marketeers of us all, and a sense of sporting perspective can sometimes become very distant indeed.

And so to the part where I declare my love. I've had some pretty good relationships with horses over the years, with Moscow Flyer and Make a Stand, with Viking Flagship and with the apple of my eye Rooster Booster. And at one time or another, at a variety of prices, they have all made me money and so I loved them just a little more. But Well Chief is fast coming up on the rails, and one day might overtake them all.

The thing about this injury prone, wonky looking, fantastically game little chestnut is that I've never once had a bet on him. And yet on Sunday, as he battled improbably up the hill to defeat Master Minded and Mahogany Blaze, I cheered him as if he was carrying my house on his back and wept with the rest of them when he made his way back into the parade ring. It felt like a key moment, a reminder that sport is there to provide emotion, and that gambling is an offshoot of it, rather than an integral part. If you treat the two approaches in this way, then you'll have perspective, and crucially take the emotion out of gambling. Allow sporting highs to grab you and carry you away but keep them separate from any financial investment. Emotional involvement requires stepping forward into the event, while betting is about taking a considered step back. Both have their part to play in our relationship with sport, and gambling on it.

So, on the second Wednesday in March, the go forward romantic in me will be hoping more than anything that Well Chief can get up that hill one last time and finally win a Champion Chase. But the step back realist doesn't think that he will and so he won't be carrying my money. I happen to think that Big Zeb may just be the bet at a decent price, and may go into the race with my heart nailed to one mast and my wallet to another. It should be a decent test of my new found perspective.

The lesson from my weekend is to fine tune my relationship with sport and remember that, while we should all have a staking plan, and should all bet big when the moment is right, we'd do well to remember that sometimes the best thing to do is to not have a bet at all.

* Having briefly fallen out of love with Twitter, and some of the soulless airheads who stalk its corridors, the Perfect Punter has decided that Twitter is what you make it. So he's stepping back into the twittersphere. You can join him and his soulful band of followers by going to www.twitter.com/perfect punter, and signing up.

Tags: Cheltenham Races, Dave Farrar, Horseracing betting, Horseracing tips, Horseracnig odds, Mahogany Blaze, Master Minded, The Perfect Punter, Well Chief