Yes, I know I promised to post more here and failed to deliver. But starting today, I will endeavor to at least get one post per week minimum.
If you are reading this, chances are you are one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who got stung by the government’s crackdown on online poker.
You like to gamble. You enjoy the action. You loved the convenience of logging on and finding a game right away.
Yes, you like playing live, too, but it’s not always easy to get to the casino or poker room. You need to replace that rush that came with multi-tabling and constant action.
Or maybe you are a sports gambler, but you have problems finding ways to wager legally.
You might also be a horseplayer looking for some new strategies and ways to increase your action. You like sitting at home watching TVG or HRTV and playing along with the hosts, getting bets on as many races as possible.
Maybe you are just a gambling degenerate who likes to get his/her wager on in a variety of ways.
This book is for all of you.
Let’s face it; most people gamble for the action. Poker exploded in the mid-2000s, going from a backroom, shady collection of gamblers to a mainstream game played by everyone. ESPN made it into a national phenomenon, and sites like Pokerstars and Full Tilt made it cool to play cards.
It is a game that in many ways is a metaphor for life; it’s you against the world. Sometimes you do everything right and lose. Sometimes you can do the wrong thing and come out ahead. In the end, if you do the right thing more often than not, it all evens out, and you come out ahead. It is skill with an element of luck thrown in, just like life.
Other casino games don’t provide the same rush. In craps, blackjack, roulette -- it’s you against the house, and the house always has an edge on every game. Sure, you get lucky every now and then, but long-term, you can’t win. If you did, you would be the one owning the giant, lavish casino instead of visiting it.
There is one other form of gambling that is similar to poker. Like poker, the players place their wagers, the house takes its cut, and the players play each other for the rest.
Like poker, there are a variety of wagering opportunities. Like poker, it involves skill with an element of luck.
It is also perfectly legal to play online in the United States. There are some restrictions, and some states do not allow it, but chances are you can open an account today and begin legally wagering immediately.
Are you a tournament poker player? Many of these legal sites offer tournaments as well, and the skill it takes to win a poker tournament translates very well to winning the tournaments for this form of gambling.
Yes, horse racing offers almost everything poker does.
Unfortunately, it has much the same identity poker did before the online boom; shady old men wearing derbies and hanging in dark rooms. It is seen as a sport for the rich; beautiful ladies in big hats sipping on expensive drinks. Gamblers tend to find it too confusing to try to understand all the elements and nuances. The research seems difficult to figure out in order to have an edge over other players.
All of those are myths.
In truth, the live racing experience is a blast. But thanks to the online sites and cable channels that show you almost every race, you can do what you always did playing poker, too – stay at home, get all the action you want on your laptop and use all the same skills you’ve developed playing poker to make money.
What did you always hear about Hold ‘Em? “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master?”
Horse racing isn’t all that different. Once you understand the basics, you can apply your own poker and wagering skills and develop a strategy that works for you. Isn’t that what you did with poker? Learn as much theory as possible and apply it to your own games?
You will learn that horse racing is the same thing. Each race is like a different hand in poker. How you play it will depend on your bankroll, position, and what the other players are doing.
The concept of this book is not to give you one strategy for playing. The idea here is to give you all the tools you need to get started, provide some high action strategy and theory, and do it in terminology you will understand from your poker life.
We’ll also tell you where you can bet online, where you can watch the races, and provide strategies for action junkies as well as those who simply want to grind out a profit.
And don’t worry; if you are a sports gambler, we’ve got strategies for you, too. Longtime horseplayers who are looking for ways to adjust to the online gambling world will find everything they are looking for here as well.
The idea is not to overload you. Many horse racing books delve so deeply into minutia they lose readers who are just trying to get started. The idea here is to give you a quick overview and basic understanding of the game. The idea is to have fun, not overwhelm you with thousands of wagering angles.
Once you are in, where you go from there will be up to you.
Simply put, this book should be your first step into a new gambling world, one that should satisfy all your needs.
If all that sounds appealing, read on. This book is for you.
