Yesterday I went over to the Los Alamitos race track to bet on the 135th annual Kentucky Derby.  This was the second time in my life that I had bet on the derby.

My First Bet On The Derby

A few years back I bet on it when a horse called War Emblem was racing to win the triple crown.  The way I almost always bet is I bet a few dollars on the highest odds horses in the race.  I don’t pay attention much to the names and all the other information there is.  Of course people would tell me that I am crazy to bet that way but so far, it has worked lol!  So while everyone was betting on War Emblem I bet the 3 longest shot horses in the race.

It turns out one of the three horses ended up winning in a big upset.  I remember that when it got far enough into the race where War Emblem was sure not to win, all of the crowd chanting died down and only my voice could be heard as I was cheering on my horse.  Everyone was looking at me with a confused face as I was shouting for a horse no one else bet on apparently.  One guy turned to me and said, “Did you bet on that horse?!”.  I said, yes!  He just laughed.

An Interesting Thing That Happened

Both my brother and dad were with me at the time and had bet on the race as well.  It turned out that both of their horses won the place and show positions as well.  If we would have put on exacta on them we could have won some serious money.  We swore from that day forward we would always put an exacta on our horses in the future.

Yesterday’s Derby

Horse race betting is unique because you can litterally win hundereds, even thousands, of dollars just by better 2 dollars.  You can of course do the same thing with a slot machine but I think the odds are much better with horses.  In yesterday’s derby I placed 3 bets originally from my TVG account.  This time I decided to be superstitious and just let my daughter pick three horses she liked.  I bet $10 on each of them.

I got invited from my dad and brother to go to the track and watch the race from there so I went.  When I got there I told them what I had bet and they said I should bet on the horses to place and show also because I could still win decent money because the derby purse is so large.  So I took their advice and placed those bets as well.  Later on I felt like I wanted to bet even more, so I went and did my normal bet of 2 dollars on the three biggest long shots in the race.  I just had to add on my favorite type of bet, haha.  This turned out to be a good idea

The horse that won the race was the #8 horse called “Mine That Bird”.  It came from way back at the last minute on the rail to get the win.  If it wasn’t for my last minute bet I would have won nothing.  So I ended up winning $103.20 from a 2 dollar bet.  Of course I really didn’t win that much because of the other bets but it was a lot of fun for basically free.

When it comes to gambling I always assume I am going to loose.  The odds are almost always against you so you should pick an amount to spend and plan on losing it while trying to have as much fun in the process.  I got to go watch an exciting race, hang out with some awesome family members, drink a fews beers all for free.  In fact I actually earned money from doing it!

I decided to head on over to Las Vegas this year for my birthday.  I turned 30 on the 15th and planned this weekend so I can celebrate my birthday at the same time as my big sister.  This is the first time we have done this and I am sure it is going to be awesome.  Not only do I get to hang out with the awesome people that is my family but we get to party it up in Vegas!

The gambling scene is what I enjoy when I go out there.  I do enjoy the shows and other stuff as well.  I have a few strategies when gambling in Vegas to prevent me from losing my ass.

First, only bring the amount of money that you are willing to lose on gambling.  I gamble for fun.  People make the mistake of gambling to win.  You are not going to win.  The odds are in their favor, not yours.  They set it up like that on purpose.  It’s a business designed to make money.  The trick is to get over on them whenever you can.  Try to get on low minimum tables so that you can gamble longer without losing all your money so fast.  The longer you stay on the table the more drinks you can get.

Second, keep your principle and winnings in separate pockets.  Let’s say to have $200 to gamble with.  Put it in your left pocket and as you gamble put the winnings in your right.  Now only draw money from your left pocket as you bet.  Once it runs out then it’s time to go home.  If it is too early to leave then you should start using the winnings pocket.  If you manage to make the money in your left pocket last until you have to leave then that is good.  Take what you won and think about all the fun you had and didn’t lose all of your money.

Gambling is a terrible addiction that has caused people to ruin their lives.  I met a guy one time in Vegas that said he had been there for two years.  One day he went for a weekend trip and ended up getting locked into a gambling and drug addiction lifestyle where he has to rely on gambling to live there.  He said one day he may be sleeping in a suite and other days he may be sleeping on the street.

He said he may go back home someday but he is stuck.  There was also a park near my hotel that had people sleeping all over it with back packs as if they were all stuck there in the same thing.  The homeless people there make you wonder, were they there to begin with or did they come there one day and lose everything and get stuck there.  I certainly don’t want to end up like them so I try not to take too many chances.