Are you Interested in Generating Some Extra Cash?


ALEX BIRD

Alex Bird was without doubt the most successful professional gambler since the war. After having learned his trade as a bookmaker working for his father's firm, he decided he could make more money the other side of the book.

In 1947 certain racetracks introduced cameras at the winning post to determine the outcomes of close finishes. Hence the phrase 'photo finish'. Before this, the stewards would decide the winner by eye. This was most unreliable and often ended in disputes.

With the introduction of cameras at the line, bookies and punters alike were often dismayed at the photo verdict. It is often impossible to tell for certain which horse has won the race in a tight finish just by standing at the winning post.

Alex Bird discovered a simple technique that was to bring him a vast fortune. By standing at an elevated vantage point as near to the winning post as possible, he would keep rigidly still; close his left eye and create an imaginary line across the track at the finishing line. For most punters bettingon a photo finish, standing at the line watching the horses go past would create an optical illusion that the horse on the far side had won. This was invariably wrong and Bird would bet the other way. He used this system on and off for the next 20 years.

Another of Alex Bird's shrewd methods involved backing certain horses when the going was soft. Most professional backers avoid betting at all when the going is soft or yielding because horses seldom run true to form in such conditions.

If a horse is to be backed at all in poor going, the general view is that horses with big wide feet (known in the game as soup plates) have a better chance because their hooves don't sink into the ground so easily.

Bird knew differently. He knew from diligent observation that smaller, lightweight horses glided over the ground. Larger, heavier horses, although stronger and faster under normal conditions, would sink into the mud thus slowing them down. The lighter horses would skim across the soft surface. Very few people were wise to this and it made Alex Bird another fortune over the years. Bookmakers, punters and racing journalists would watch, totally baffled, wondering how on earth this brilliant gambler could back skinny little horses in unfavorable conditions and watch them romp home. If only they'd known - itwas because they WERE skinny that they had won.

Alex Bird was anextremely perceptive judge of racehorses and another of his stunts was to create a false favorite.His bets were hugh and often as high as $40,000 a time. Obviously,few bookmakers would accept such bets from a backer of Bird's calibre: so to help him he employed a team of helpers to place bets for him across the country.

If Bird fancied a particular horse and the odds were not to his liking, he would create a false favorite by placing, say $10,000 on another horse at the course. He would then ensure that it was "leaked" that he had placed the bet. Prices would then dramatically alter as the "mug" money poured onto his horse. This meant that the price of the horse that he wanted to back heavily and clandestinely off the course would drift out in the market. His army of helpers would then back the horse off course all over the country.

MULTIPLE HIT

Perms are commonplace in pools and fixed odds betting on football, less so in racing. The nearest everyday approach in racing is the Yankee - 11 bets covering 4 horses - or the Canadian - 26 bets covering 5 horses.

For the same outlay as the Yankee covering 4 horses, this methord covers 6 horses for the same stake (11 bets) and 15 units less than the Canadian covering only 5 horses. Laid out in football-type format the "Multiplan" looks like this:

X  O  O  O  O  X  X  X  O  X  X   Selection A
X  X  O  O  O  O  O  O  X  X  X   Selection B
O  X  X  O  O  X  X  O  O  O  X   Selection C
O  O  X  X  O  O  O  X  X  O  X   Selection D
O  O  O  X  X  X  O  O  O  X  X   Selection E
O  O  O  O  X  O  X  X  X  X  X   Selection F

Bookmakers are always suspicious of this reduced entry and the big bookmakers insist that all bets are made out on their own entry forms. Write the bet out in full. Using the example six selections as above your bets will look like this:-

5 Doubles: AB, BC, CD, EF, FG.

4 Trebles: ACE, ACF, ADF, BDF.

4 Horse Accumulator: ABDF.

6 Horse Accumulator: ABCDEF.

THE JAPANESE GENIUS

Arrange your bets in coups of 8 starting a fresh coup every 9th bet. The complete staking is:-

Coup:     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  

Staking:  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0

The maximum outlay is equal to 28 points. Should 7 successive losers materialise on any sequence, start a fresh coup for the losing operation only, on the 8th bet and increase stakes by the percentage lost. Revert to original stakes for the sequence following the recovery of losses.

Decrease by one point after each loser. After a win, increase the last stake used by the odds or winning percentage of the winner. Then decrease this by one point after each loser until the next winner is found, then again increase the last stake used by the odds or winning percentage of the winner. Bets are under control at all times, as you bet after previous results are known.

This staking methord can be used for most selection systems even with favorites and second favorites.

The following example shows how a straight win bet becomes a double, and then a treble in spite of intervening losers, and is always under control - the sequence of winners being immaterial.

COUP  STAKE  RESULT  PROFIT  LOSS
   1.          7          lost              -          7
   2.          6        won 2/1        12          -
   3.          8        won 3/1        24          -
   4.          11      won 6/1        66          -
   5.          17        lost              -          17 
   6.          16        lost              -          16
   7.          15        lost              -          15
   8.          14      won 4/1        56          -
                              
                   Winning points: 158         55 Losing points
            Minus Losing points:   55
                               Equals: 103

THE NEWMARKET PLAN

This system is for handicaps only and involves form figures. What we are looking for is a horse that hasn't won its last three races but finished second in at least one of them. It is best to wait until a horse has run at least three times before giving it consideration. Allow up to six races in the form figures.

Usually, the more noughts there are in the form figures, the longer the starting price of the horse will be, particularly if nought was the most recent figure.

The reason we are looking for a second in the form figures is because horses that have managed to finish second are, in general, triers. Below are some examples of form figures that you should look for.

EXAMPLE: 3 runs combination: 200       020       222
EXAMPLE: 4 runs combination: 2000     0020     2202
EXAMPLE: 5 runs combination: 20000   02020   20202
EXAMPLE: 6 runs combination: 202000 022020 202020

The selection methord is very simple but very effective, and a whole meeting can be assessed in a couple of minutes. After you have found the correct form figures, check to see if your horse is in the betting forecast in a morning paper. If not, discard it.

If it is in the betting forecast, check to see if it is tipped by at least one of the newspaper tipsters. If it is not, check to see if it has "S.F." after its name, meaning strongly fancied. If the horse does not satisfy these criteria, discard it and go into the next race. This system often produces selections at good prices. Any selection over 5/1 should be backed each way.

THE GENTLE TOUCH

The reason bookmakers make money is because the odds that they are prepared to offer you on a horse are usually rather shorter than the genuine chance which the horse has on winning. If you were to ask a bookie to quote you the odds on a coin coming down heads, the best he would come up with would be 4/5: the real odds, of course, being evens. In every horserace you will find that the overall odds are in favor of the bookmaker. Expressed as a percentage their advantage tends to be in the region of 10 to 20 per cent. Usually it's the case of the bigger the field, the bigger the advantage. So how can you hope to beat them you may ask. In the case of other games of chance where the "bank" also has an inbuilt advantage, such as Roulette, many people would answer - you can't. But horseracing is a special case. Just because the OVERALL odds are in the bookmaker's favor, it does not follow that every single horse in a race will be listed at a price shorter than it should be.

Very often, for some reason or another, the bookmakers have been over generous in their treatment of an indervidual horse. The successful punter is the one who is consistently able to spot such horses and backs only them.

Whatever selection procedure you use, and there are several sound ones in this book, you can refer to the table which follows to make sure that your bet is one of good value. For example let's suppose your selection is in a handicap race and is given as 100/30 in the morning papers or the Sporting Life. Simply find 100/30 in the forcast odds column and read off the equivalent figure in the handicap column. It's 5/1. So 5/1 would be our minimum required price to bet. If the race was a non handicap the minimum price would be 9/2. Handicaps are slightly less predictable than non handicaps, hence the slightly higher difference in odds required.

By betting in this manner the odds will always be in YOUR favor - not the bookmakers. Even if you have to wait several days before a value bet comes along, even though you may miss a few winners on the way, the odds will be in your favor in the long run.

FORECAST                     REQUIRED ODDS
    ODDS                   NON H'CAP          H'CAP
    1/2                             4/6                       4/5
    4/7                             8/11                    10/11
    4/6                             4/5                      Evens
    8/11                          10/11                    11/10
    4/5                            Evens                    5/4
   10/11                         11/10                    11/8
   Evens                         5/4                        6/4
   11/10                         11/8                      13/8
    5/4                            6/4                        7/4
   11/8                           13/8                      15/8
    6/4                            7/4                         2/1
   13/8                           15/8                       9/4
    7/4                            2/1                        5/2
   15/8                           9/4                        11/4
    2/1                            5/2                         3/1 
    9/4                            11/4                      10/3
    5/2                             3/1                        7/2
  11/4                             7/2                        4/1
   3/1                             4/1                         9/2
  10/3                            9/2                         5/1
   7/2                             9/2                        11/2
   4/1                             5/1                         6/1
   9/2                             6/1                         7/1
   5/1                            13/2                        8/1

THE WHITTLER

This methord gives a steady flow of winning outsiders. The idea behind this system is sound, and the proof is provided by the large amounts of money won by following the simple rules.

After reaching their fifth year on the flat, most horses as far as flat racing is concerned hve seen their best days gone by. With rare exceptions, their winning potential declines to such an extent that the expense of keeping them in training for another season cannot be justified. It is on the rare exceptions that this system is based.

There can be only one reason why horses of six years old or more are kept in training: and that is because their connections believe they can still win races.

Methord of selection:

  1. Handicaps are the only type of race considered.
  2. Flat racing only.
  3. Only horses aged 6 and over qualify.
  4. To qualify the horse must be set to carry the highest weight of all the declared runners.
  5. Where two or more horses have been alloted joint top weight there is to be no bet.
  6. Overweight and apprentice allowences are ignored.