blonde poker forum

On the "Tikay Tips" thread, "bobby1" suggested a "Cheltenham Fessie Tips" competition.

Later, someone suggested that Horneris was best placed to organise or manage this.

I am prepared to donate some small prizes to the winner(s) of this, maybe other betting elders might, too, though I assume they would not be worth as much as the bragging rights.

MereNovice, who is OCD geeky with numbers & spreadsheets, has kindly agreed to create, manage, & Post, Updates as we go along, if all are agreeable to that.

Thoughts, ideas, anyone?

In whatever it is!  ;)

"Surprised"

Like.

In for a laugh. Can you do a heads up comp. One time draw Horseplayer.

If it's going to be the usual "pick a horse in every race" type competition I have a few suggestions:

1) The four Championship races, CH, CC, WH and GC all count double points.

2) You have one "nap" each day which doubles your score and can be used on a Championship race if so desired.

3) Each bet is either 2 points win or 1 point EW.

PS.

In.

Lol, the more complicated it gets, the more Mere will love formatting his spreadsheet!

Why is everyone taking brent horner's threads over!

Betting the draw for profit signed by the author for winner?

:)

In.

But disagree about the double points for Championship race winner.

6/1 winner of the Foxhunters is just as difficult to find as the 6/1 winner of the Champion Chase.

I was just responding to a suggestion, but I'm happy to butt out, if a tried & trusted thing is already done regularly. I mentioned in my OP that Horneris had been suggested, no argument from me to that. I'm new here, see?

Perhaps double is slightly too much but there should be some kind of bonus for getting the four big race winners.

It is a Cheltenham Festival tipping competition and the festival is built around those races.

If it is built around picking winners and odds aren't included I agree with you.

If it is about betting and using odds, I definitely disagree!

+1

If Brent usually does this, it might be worth awaiting his input, I'm sure he must have a regular method & system.

I don't want to run it this year, I have a job now and working full days all days of the festival  :'(. I'd love to enter tho.

This is what I did last year: http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=52366.0 and here is an example of one of the league tables I did: http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=52366.75
 
Could do similar to this but make it for £20 or £25 this year. I'm not too sure I agree about doing double points for the championship races.

In - thanks to those coordinating.

In if its 25 or less

Also in for whatever.

If the competition is purely an exercise in who can win the most money punting during the festival why not just give everyone an imaginary £100/200 to bet with each day however they choose rather than make everybody bet on every race.

I still think that if the competition involves betting on every race at the festival there should be some kind of bonus for the four feature races. I welcome anyone else's opinion on this and alternative proposals as per the thread title.

In whatever is decided.

i would like an entry in this if there is space

thanks

I think it's a better comp if there is no bonus for the big races. I'm in with whatever rules we decide in the end.

The main reason is that if you play double for the Championship races the comp can be skewed with a big priced winner of the Champion hurdle making it tough for the rest of the field should someone find the winner.

The other side is with double points on offer for the Gold cup on Friday you would have all the big priced runners selected by many that are well behind , so you could almost back that winner at a big price on the last day and get double the points and win the tipping comp because of one big result.

am in. Prob make me not abs do it in every race and can rail this instead.

In.
I'm comletely dead money in this either way but I love this festival and will be taking all days off work for it. The electricity in the air on the off for the first race is like nothing I've ever experienced.
I attended for the one and only time in 1999 and myself and a mate rode a couple of unfancied local mares on the 1st night. It was a very competitive race as there was actually three of us vying for those 2 rides and the unlucky one had to spend the night in the car. We all spent the night in the car the following night so our performances were obviously not up to scratch. Just a 3 day festival back then and we were back to London after the last day.
On the suggestions, I quite like the 2pt win and 1pt e/w option and maybe double points on the Gold Cup?

In for whatever.  I like the idea of a £500 (or whatever) float for everyone (total festival float) and they can be as spewy or selective as they see fit.  (All daily picks submitted pre race via PM to limit the amount of gamesmanship with overnight results published perhaps) It would mirror real life quite nicely where everyone ignores their pre-festival fancies in a desperate bid to find a 66/1 winner in the last race to get out of it.

Ultimately, it will be whatever the preferred format is of anyone that is actually prepared to do it!

its an awful lot of work for the person running this if its done via pm. 

simple is best imo. 

prob 2pt win 1pt ew per race all bets at sp.

we aren't looking for the best punter on blonde just a fun comp for Cheltenham?

Agree with Sov, it's just a bit of fun.  Besides, having a budget for the whole festival could just involve having someone bet the lot on a 3/1 that comes in then hoping everyone else doesn't get any results, that wouldn't make them a tipping champion imo. 

So Tony, we are looking for someone that is good with spreadsheets and settling, loves the gambling game and has the eye for detail and might even be a nit for detail.


Does anyone spring to mind?

What might be a nice touch is that whoever puts their hat in the ring to run it gets their entry for free, that way they get the appreciation from us for taking the time.

I'm happy to do the above but beware that I know nothing about racing. Also, I won't be entering because I wouldn't want to embarrass you all by beating you.

I'm happy if everyone PMs me their selections prior to each days racing assuming that the Blonde PM system is reliable!
I don't care if that is the night before or some cut-off time on the day that is agreed by all or a large majority at least.

Does everyone just go with starting prices? If so, then I guess some tipsters lose the option of getting on a horse early at a good price. On the other hand, I don't think that it's possible to validate the prices that each competitor says are available if it is done any other way.

The 2 units for a winner, or 1pt each way bet for each race seems a reasonable (and simple!) way for this to be organised.
It would seem to reward overall tipping ability.
If anyone misses a race (or a days racing) then they are just unlucky.

I don't particularly want any responsibility for money if you're all going to pay an entry fee and winner takes all.
Not sure how the money would be handled generally. Presumably, if these competitions have been run regularly, you have some standard methodology.

Let me know if you want me to do it and please can a grown-up confirm the rules prior to the start.

Sounds complicated already.
Easy format for a laugh is good for me. Need to make it accessible to the average 9-5 Joe

I think you'd have to just run with the starting prices wouldn't you?  Can't be checking that I've managed 50/1 on Long Run at Honest Silo's bookie down the high street.

That's what I thought although, obviously, I trust you all implicitly.

sounds good mate but are you sure you want to do that if you aren't entering?

Yes. I'll use it as a free tipping service.
I'll just wait until everyone picks the same horse and then lay it at every available price. :D

lol.

nice. wp.

In for whatever.

So are we happy with £1 ew or £2 win on each race at SP and if you have a non runner it goes as £2 win on the Fav( lowest racecard number if joint/co favs)

Stakes to be decided, how about £25 quid?

I've got a few questions because I know nothing about racing but I have been doing some extensive research.

1. I've looked at a few sites and they seem to have (slightly) different rules for the place part of an each-way bet and presumably some bookies may be offering special deals. Can someone point me to the definite rules (or make some up).

2. Are the starting prices quoted in results universal (i.e is there some agreed source for them) or do different bookies quote different SPs? If so what site should I use for the official prices for this competition?

3. Are you going to take the "first past the post" as the winner or is it the result after any steward's enquiry (if required).

4. There is no 4 - yet.

Are you regretting let me score this yet?

1.  I will make some up.  1/4 the odds for a place for each horse officially returned on the results for each race on www.gg.com  (in reality the numbers will change depending on actual number of runners and the odds will change 1/4 hcap v  1/5 non handicap)  So even if it is a 9 runner non handicap, 1/4 odds the first 3.

2. Universal SPs

3.  Weighed in result  (i.e. amended if necessary)

4. £25 seems fair

Excellent.
That all seems very sensible to me.


Nothing to do with the competition but just my idle curiosity.
Who decides what the SPs are? Presumably different bookies could be offering significantly different odds at the start of the race. Is there one particular bookie who gets the honour?

sounds spot on that.

The SP is returned on the track Novice, then every bet struck at SP off course is settled at those odds.

Rule 4 is rule 4.

Happy with £25 per man.

Thanks for availing your spreadsheeting skills mere.

You're all very welcome.
It's already been very educational.

Yes, cheers Mere, I'm still in favour of the scorekeeper getting a free entry to compensate for the work

It's not work, it's fun.
I really know nothing about horse racing so I'd only embarrass myself.
Don't worry about it.

Just to clarify my little rule 4 joke Mere.

When a horse is withdrawn very close to the start of the race there is often a deduction of 5,10 or sometimes 20% depending on the horse's price at the time of withdrawal if there has not been enough time to form a new market.

This deduction is known as "rule 4"

Agreed


Neither do I and I'm forking out £25 for it!  Come on, have a free entry, it's only a bit of fun. Pick your horses by names if you feel inclined, there's nothing to lose.

Happy with the rules btw.

OK. You've persuaded me. Thanks.
However, if anyone objects, I'm more than glad to stand down.
I'll try not to gloat too much when I win.

Thanks.
As you correctly surmised, your joke went right over my head.

Cool :)

Are we sending you the money to look after too?

I can do that but only if everyone who enters is happy with it.
I'm conscious of the fact that none of you have met me in person.
If you have someone else who is a trusted bank, then I'd be more than happy for them to take on that responsibility.

For the record, the list of people who have expressed an interest so far are:
tikay
Eso Kral
Girgy85
Karabiner
The Camel
mondatoo
typhoon13
edgascoigne
Silo Graham
redarmi
horseplayer
bobby1
ChipRich
TheDazzler
Simon Galloway
sovietsong
Junior
milligan84

i would like to suggest that silo graham gets to hold the bank as he has been involved in every grim on blonde and it would be hysterically if he grims me after i win this

ps i am in i think just deciding if £25 is too much or not

Anyone think picks should be in the thread on the day of the race? All picks before the first race is off? More fun knowing what to rail/antirail than just finding out at the end of the day who smashed the day?

If we have a cut-off for entries of mid-day, I will ensure that the picks are available through the competition thread by 1pm.

My favoured option is to add a link to a spreadsheet on the thread - mainly because it seems just about impossible to reproduce neat tables of data directly in the thread.

If you need longer to take the mick out of digest each other's selections, we can move the cut-off for entries forward accordingly.

Lol, only just seen this Phil.

I only know one chap with those credentials, he's a crusty old bugger, & he'd ask a zillion questions, pretend to know bugger all about horse racing, then scoop the lot. Oh, & you'd gt Memos & all sorts complaining that you overstated your returns by 0.000003p.

Luckily, someone volunteered.........

I've assumed that you're entering the competition so perhaps you should start studying the form.

LOL,

I don't mind holding the money if no one else wants too

Guess I had better do that, yes. I may just "nick" selections from the tikay Tips thread. Epic levelling awaits.

I assume that, in due course, you will start a dedicated thread for it, with the agreed rules & stuff in the OP?

If we are paying you nothing, we want the job done properly.

PS - Thanks!

In

That's exactly what I was intending to do.
Fools seldom differ.

If there have been no major objections by the end of today, I will create the thread tomorrow.