Time or more importantly, lack of it can make handicapping an unattractive proposition and simplicity a preferred option.

Note* As my aim here was not to become involved in system pros and cons, but only to point toward a punting direction for those with limited time, the example system I had provided here has now been removed to allow the reader to use one of their own choice and responsibility [ my original example system can be seen below in a following post ].
I recommend a system of your own making as freely available ones produce losses very quickly for obvious reasons.

The system you use should have a reasonably good SR. providing no more than 3 to 5 bets on a Wed. or Sat.


Modified Martingale for a $100 [ example ] betting day target.

1. Divide your target $100 by the odds
offered on your first selection for the
day e.g. $100 divided by 4 to 1 [ $5.00 ]
equals $25 bet to return $125.
2. This is the bet amount for your first
selection.
3. If the horse wins, collect your money and
stop for the day.
4. If you lose, add the $25 to your $100
target profit.
5. Continue until you get a winner and then
stop.

If a losing day is encountered it can be rolled over to your next betting day or loss can be wiped and a new series started. I would STRONGLY recommend the later for obvious reasons.

The aim is to provide a small but strong group of selections with the betting method designed to require only one winner to reach your target profit amount.

Cheers and good punting.


[ This Message was edited by: crash on 2004-01-15 05:12 ]

Hi crash
You will need a very large bank to do this.
With target betting you will need fixed odds as we all know, soon as they jump the TAB odds change three times after the race before finaly settling down, also the dreaded runouts will kill you unless there is a bottomless bank

cheers

Crash,
I like your modified martingale, but looking at points 2,3,&4 - the horses in question will more than likely be 1st or second favourite, at those odds - you're going to need a huge bank, and one day without meeting your target would wipe out any previous profit, even if you wiped the slate and started afresh tomorrow.

I'm not picking on your idea, I think the basis is good, I've tried what you suggest many moons ago, and just thought I'd add my experiences.

Regards.

Chrome and Good 4th.,

I can assure you that there will not be enough selections to break any bank [ unless the punter is stupid enough to start rolling over loss days ] and you won't end up on favorites all the time either. I didn't, but I only used it on Sat. Metro mostly.

Any system you choose can be used of course, so I have added this obvious point to my original post and put the 'strongly' in my advice against ' rolling over losses ' in capitals. Loosing days weren't common enough to wipe out profits or they didn't when I used this method anyway. I just got bored with it as my leaning was toward handicapping mostly.
I wrote :
'...providing a small group of strong chances' at whatever meeting you are at or following. You might get 2 or 3 selections but even for 4 selections and they all loose, your bets would be [ for for convenience sake say they were all 4/1 ]: 1. $25 2. $31 3. $39 4. $49 Total $144 compared to $100 flat stakes.
Even 5 loosing bets would only be a total of $205 bet versus $125 flat stake. Hardly bank breaking figures.

The rollover option was only included so I could recommend against it, as readers will think of it themselves whether I mentioned it or not.


Cheers.



[ This Message was edited by: crash on 2004-01-14 06:12 ]

[ This Message was edited by: crash on 2004-01-15 04:45 ]