With only a few days until the beginning of the Las Vegas Hilton Pick the Ponies tournament, what do you need to do to get ready?
Over the past 10+ years that I have been entering Pick the Ponies, I have developed some preparation ideas that I want to share in this post. The 3 areas of focus are:
- Tools
- Practice
- Mindset
The first thing I do in preparing for Pick the Ponies is to ensure I have my handicapping tools ready for the intense 3 day "battle". The first area I focus on is the physical tools I use to handicap that include multi color pens & highlighters and post it note pads. These help keep me organized when you have 3-5 races going off at any given time.
The next set of tools are the handicapping tools which include access to include Brisnet tools such as "Winners Choice" reports, the Daily Racing Form and the free tools available from Twinspires.
After I gather all of my tools, it is time to practice. Tournament handicapping is quite a bit different than normal race handicapping in that you are competing against other handicappers not just selecting a horse you think can win. The practice I do is looking at race cards at various tracks and handicap for value not just the winning horse. To win the Pick the Ponies you will need to beat 199 other handicappers.
My practice sessions are reviewing and testing various long shot systems that have worked for me in previous contests.
Mindset is to me the most important of the areas that I focus on in preparation for Pick the Ponies. As discussed above, tournament strategy is different than handicapping a normal race card. The mindset I use is to look at each of the 3 days of the contest as an opportunity to pick the best 10 races that have "long shot"potential. If a race has two or three horses that have short odds, I will skip the race and not even watch it and move on to other races.
Another key is to remember that your entry fee has purchased you 30 entries not 30 bets. I do not consider each entry as a bet as you would at a track or OTB. When the horse you selected does not finish in the money, you did not lose a bet you just have one less opportunity to add points to your overall score.
The last and most important mind set is to have FUN. You are in Vegas, in a great sports book, take time to enjoy the environment, relax and have a good time. Life is too short to stress about things you have no control over, once you select a horse for the contest enjoy.
BTW A good book for more information on Horse Handicapping contests is:
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