There are quite a few friends who pool their money each week into a betting syndicate. The general idea is to contribute $10, $20 or even more amongst half a dozen or more punters and each week one person bets as they wish. At the end of the year there is a split up and each punter walks away with a dollar amount that helps pay for Christmas presents or a trip away. Last year I watched one such syndicate lose about 30% of the years betting pool very closely because I was a member. Why did we los
There are quite a few friends who pool their money each week into a betting syndicate. The general idea is to contribute $10, $20 or even more amongst half a dozen or more punters and each week one person bets as they wish. At the end of the year there is a split up and each punter walks away with a dollar amount that helps pay for Christmas presents or a trip away. Last year I watched one such syndicate lose about 30% of the years betting pool very closely because I was a member. Why did we lose so much?
Basically, each punter could bet any amount on any bet form and it was not uncommon for our $100 to be split into 5 bets of $10 each way on horses that paid $1.70 for the place. This year I suggested we should have a syndicate that bets $120 per week only on a trifecta at any meeting the weekly punter chose. I also suggested we take selections ABCD for the first position, add another two for second thus having ABCDEF and add another two for third therefore having ABCDEFGH. In discussions with the lads I said I expected us to collect 5 to 6 times per year out of the 43 weeks we would be betting and our success depended simply on the dividends.
Well, so far, we are losing much more than 30% and I am looking like General Custer who led his men to the slaughter called the Little Big Horn. Have I done the same thing punting wise? In the short term it sure looks like it but on Saturday I was at a mates place and his syndicate lost two bets before 1.30 pm and he was not a happy chappy. It wasn't the money, as like me it is a friends thing, but it was more the ad hoc approach taken. The key comment he made was that in all syndicates he had run over the past four or five years had either won or just lost because he "forced" them to have a "go", at odds, in one bet rather than spread the weekly amount available. So far this year they are losing quite handsomely in this particular syndicate (he has three going each week) and he is spitting chips.
I agree with his stance and this Saturday my syndicate nearly proved me right when one of the boys had a crack at the Doncaster. Sadly, for the syndicate, he had Road To Rock in the third position and if he had him for second (in his first six selections) we would have received a dividend around the $2000 mark and all of a sudden we would be all involved in a successful syndicate. I must admit to having been terribly disappointed in our bad luck, if you can call it that, for the guys involved because a couple of them aren't exactly keen punters but joined for the fun of it. I would have liked them to feel the winning experience. It has taken a few weeks for them to understand what the combinations were actually all about. We have been a fraction unlucky in that a couple of other excellent dividends around the $500- $600 mark have just been missed as well but as I told them, "that's punting".
When I see them this Friday all I can say is "keep the faith".