If you are good at picking winners you may make a little money playing the horses. If you are good at picking bets, then you are almost guaranteed to make a profit betting on horse races. They say that Texas Holdem Poker is a betting game, not a card game. What they mean is that the success comes from how and when you bet, not how you play cards.

The same is true of making a living betting on horses. You may be good at figuring out which horse is going to win the race, but it takes more than that to make a profit. Even if you pick the winner half the time, but the bets pay less than even odds, you will still be losing money even though you cash many tickets.

I have known some good handicappers in my time, but they often lost money. On the other hand, I’ve known a few good money managers and bettors and they made a profit. It is a combination of those skills that you will need.

I recommend that you get the past performances as early as you can, preferably the night before the races. Read them and make notes about horses or races that might present opportunities. Then read them again the next morning and make a morning line for yourself. Don’t let the track handicapper’s morning line influence you very much. You must think for yourself, that is how you’ll make money.

Next, make adjustments for any scratches that have occurred and then watch the odds before the race. By two minutes to post you should have a good idea of whether or not a horse is a good bet. When I do this I often find that I am biased more toward one horse than another when both horses are good bets according to my own morning line odds. The problem is that if any horse is over my morning line odds, it means it is a good bet and I should play each one, unless of course there are too many to make it profitable.

There have been too many times when I have bet on the horse I thought would win and let a good bet slip by me, only to see a horse that I should have bet win the race at a good price. Now, I bet anything that offers value and don’t let my personal feelings get in the way. I advise you to practice first, until you can make a good morning line that really does spot good bets, and then make real money bets that you can afford. It takes practice, but this is how you make a profit on the races.