Originally Posted by beton

Star
the Privateer took his long service leave and went into the library and researched the results of past records. A long and tedious task. He then analysed his results and applied the Pareto principle to them, culling the filters that only marginly altered the result and leaving those that had a major difference on the result. The more filters you have the less selections you have. He looked at the selections and the value. So yes he applied the 20/80 rule. The 20/80 bit is hockum. Most of anything comes from a small portion of what you do, most of your problems come from a small part of what you do. The area inbetween breaks even or a modest profit. Pareto simply said take the small portion that gives you the most and bin the rest.
Privateer did this. From his rules there is no more to do other than run them through a up to date database. Whilst the Pareto principle outlines a course to follow, in the real world most businesses cannot implement it for many reasons. 9 times out of 10 you need the bulk to be able to get those juicy bits. In punting you still need lots of average winners to be able to score that big one. Think of it like fishing. You have to be fishing to catch a big one, in the meantime you will catch a lot of smaller fish that you have kiss and throw back. You also get a lot of average size ones. These bide you over. Thus you have to watch what you cull any further. Beton