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If you want to succeed like a professional, you first need to begin acting like a professional. This means that you must equip yourself with certain essential “tools of the trade” and start developing some basic working habits which will help you to increase your income as reliably and safely as possible. Essential Tools Of The Trade A Place To Work To begin with, you need to organise a place where you can “work” in comfort. Since your work will involve nothing more than a computer and perhaps a calculator, a pad for making notes and perhaps a copy of your daily newspaper or the Racing Post, this work space can be as simple as you like. Personally, I began my betting career at my kitchen table. At the time I did not even have a laptop, and placed all my bets over the telephone. But it gave me a wide desk-like space where I could spread out. If you happen to have a spare bedroom then by all means use this as an “office” if that is your desire. Eventually – when the profits are rolling in thick and fast – you will probably want to have an office anyway. These days I operate from a home office equipped with a powerful personal computer, three large display monitors to view information, satellite television on a big flat screen television, plus a number of other luxury mod cons. None of these are essential tools – they are simply time-saving devices I have purchased using some of my racing profits. If necessary, I could easily start all over again from my kitchen table! Access To The Internet Strictly speaking, being able to access the internet is not 100% essential, as most of the information you need can be gained from either the Racing Post or your daily newspaper. But personally I think it makes perfect sense, and a lot less time and effort, to take advantage of the internet to get all your racing data, and place bets as well. The Racing Post web site lists the full race cards for each race. Even if you do not have a computer, access to the internet is often provided at your local library, and often for free. A Calculator Many of the methods you may use to make your selections will require you to make a few arithmetical calculations. There will rarely be any call for complex mathematical equations, but you will undoubtedly find that using a calculator will help to speed thins up and perhaps make the calculations more reliable – and thus profitable. A Note Pad A professional bettor always has a pad on hand to make notes, keep track of bets, and generally record his day to day business. I learned this the hard way, when I sometimes had to resort to making notes on the backs of betting slips at the race course! Any pad will do, although it has to be said that an A4 student pad which is ready-punched so that pages can be filed in a loose-leaf binder is ideal for our purposes. Obviously you will also need a pencil or pen! A Storage Unit I don’t mean you need to rent one of those small rooms in an industrial unit designed for storing excess household items. I mean a place where you will keep your records, calculator, and all your reference material. The storage unit itself could be as simple as a spare drawer, a box file purchased from any high street stationery store or whatever else you can find as long as it helps you to keep your working materials together and easily accessible for use on a regular basis. Optional Tools Of The Trade None of the following items are absolutely essential, but you may wish to use them as your betting operation grows and profits start flooding in. A telephone This is essential if you want to make telephone bets. Even if you intend to use your local bookmaking office to place bets to start with, you will eventually have no choice but to resort to telephone betting as you become a successful winner. Bookmakers do not take too kindly to the elite group of people who make money week in week out, and one way to spread around your bets is to use telephone accounts or give instructions to something called a ‘betting agency’. Both of these methods will require the use of the telephone. Satellite television If you want to watch every horse race run in the UK, you will need satellite television. The BBC and Channel 4 cover many of the most important meetings throughout the year, but if you want to see each and every race, especially during the week, you will need to be able to view channels such as At The Races and Racing UK, broadcast only on satellite television. A television to watch racing is not just for entertainment, for that you can watch racing on screen at your local bookmaker. As long as you have a digital TV recorder you will benefit from being able to record and study races for future reference. I have a whole database of horses I have noted purely from watching them race on television. A computer Although not an absolutely essential tool of the trade, if your household does not have a computer already, it should perhaps be top of your list of things to buy from profits you make. To me a computer is almost indispensable, but I leave it out of the “essential” list because you can get by without one, and you would be better off investing the 500 pounds a new one may cost into your betting bankroll to start with. The business of a professional bettor really can be started on a shoe-string. The computer allows me to do a wide range of things which would normally require a lot of loose leaf pages, such as keep track of my betting accounts, record notes for future reference and calculate returns I can expect to make from winning bets. Of course, with the advent of internet betting accounts, a computer also allows me to spread my bets around online with many more bookmakers, including the betting exchanges such as Betfair. If you already have a computer at home then by all means use it, but if not then do not worry. As you can see, you do not need much by way of physical equipment to get started on your new career as a professional punter. What are more important are your attitude, your discipline, and your skills. All of these personal attributes can be developed over time.
Article Source: http://www.horseracingarticles.co.uk
About the author: Henry McAnenly is a horse racing writer and expert author of several best selling gambling systems. His latest betting guide Going The Extra Mile is available at Profits4Punters.com
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