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by Rich Nilsen
If someone were to ask you what your return on investment
(ROI) was from wagers in 2003, could you give them an accurate answer?
How about your win percentage? Could you tell them what percentage of
your Pick-3 wagers you hit? As horseplayers looking to make a profit,
we need to know the answers to these critical questions and much more.
Record keeping is a vital component in understanding your
wagering tendencies. By logging your wagers daily in a ledger or
spreadsheet on your PC, you will have at your fingertips a history of
your activity.
There are advantages to recording your wagering activity
daily. Your account history will help you uncover the weaknesses in
your wagering. You may love to play the Superfecta, but this enticing
wager may be draining the profits earned from other wagers.
If you are betting on multiple tracks during the year, your
record keeping will provide you with the details on each track. More
likely than not, you will find that you have a better handle on certain
tracks. Record keeping also encourages you to make spot plays, arguably
the best way to turn a profit.
Documenting your wagering can be a tremendous tax aid. It will
serve as the basis for writing off any losses if you have any �big
scores� to report to Uncle Sam.
Reasons why few players take the necessary time to log their
wagers is the amount of time it takes and the discipline required. For
those who wager online or by phone, there is a solution.
TwinSpires.com offers �Detailed Account History Report� under
"Manage Your Account." With a click of the mouse, one can quickly see
not only all the wagers made since a certain date, but also a wagering
result summary.
One can go back and look at their entire account history since
the account was opened. The report includes not only the amount wagered
and number of bets placed but also win % and R.O.I.! Queries can be
done based on the racetrack(s), date, type of wager, and any
combination of those three.
A recent enhancement includes the ability to track wagers by
dollar amount. For example, maybe a $2 win wager is an 'action' bet for
you. You can now analyze just those wagers to see how they are
affecting your bottom line.
Use TwinSpires.com this coming year and make manual record
keeping a thing of the past. Good luck!
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