You have to dispel myths - like gambling needs luck

Krisitan Strangeway - Pro Punter and Horse Racing Syndicate Owner

Kristian Strangeway runs the popular Koo's Racing Club - a horse racing syndicate based at trainer Brian Ellison's yard. He is also a professional punter who got his big break when he won over a quarter of a million pounds in one race on Betfair. That win took about five minutes to achieve but it took just a bit longer for Strangeway to lose the lot.

Strangeway got lucky on one race. He was lucky enough to be in the queue to snap up one of those crazy in running 999/1 bets. It was a 2m6f race at Thurles on the 8th November 2007 and it was a race where a commentator had mixed up the silk colours of two horses.

One horse fell and the commentator called the WRONG name as the faller. This had the effect of pushing out the price of the incorrect faller to 1000.0 on Betfair. Strangeway spotted the mistake and instantly backed the horse for £270. Of course, the 'faller' goes on to win and Strangeway nets over a quarter of a million pounds.

The first thing to note is that this is not really the modus operandi of a professional punter - this is just a case of profiting from someone elses error. It is not like taking money off other punters because they perceive a price to be X value and you perceive it to be Y value. This is a case of a mistake was made, punters were fooled, and someone walks away with the money.

There is nothing illegal or wrong with this type of bet and it is one which happens often on the exchanges. In running horses do sometimes win at 1000.0 and in running horse do sometimes lose at 1.01. Strangeway just happened to be wathcing the right race at the right time where the commentator was watching the wrong horse falling!

Won the Bet and Lost the Lot

Strangeway started out betting with just £200 to his name. Five years later, he estimates he has won over £1 million from Betfair alone. But it was not easy and that quarter of a million pound was soon given back to the exchange.

I think after that I had too much of a comfort zone. When you win £228,000, if you lose £28,000 the day after what do you say? I am still £200,000 up.

It came to a crunch and I had lost it all. I said to myself "get your zen back and do what you do well again".

You need to know how the races work and you need to know how Betfair works. You have to dispel myths - like gambling needs luck. It's like any other profession. It requires hard work.

That big win and subsequent loss looks a classic example of a gambler's guilty pleasure. You win a lot of money but the victory (despite the collosal amount won) is hollow. Your subconscious knows this and tries all it can to convince you to give it back by making irrational bets.

This is a similar train of thought to "It is the bookies money I am betting with now". This is where a punter has a big win and then procedes to overstake his next few bets as he is convinced he is playing with the bookies money. But he is not playing with the bookies money - it is his money accumulated over the years from all his losing bets!

What happens is that the staking becomes erratic and the bets become more ridiculous like backing the next odds-on runner. If it loses stake double on the next odds-on runner after that. After all, it's not my money that I am betting with.

Betting Discipline

This is the key to being successful at punting. If you don't have discipline; if you don't stick to your rules by only playing your strengths then you will only win when you are lucky.

There was another person(s) who will remember 8th Novemember 2007. He was / they were the one who put up the 1000.0 lay and lost the quarter of a million. I wonder if he / they are now more disciplined? I wonder if he / they have since recouped that loss and gained more?

Related Articles and Resources

• The York Press Article on Kristian Strangeway
• Chris Broom Professional Punter

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• Koo's Racing Club - Kristian Strangeway

Article created 29-Sep-09. Stats may have changed since.