"What Has Punting Taught You About Getting Through Bad Runs?"

Kingsley on SEN radio with racing.com. Segment courtesy of SEN x racing.com.

If you want to know what punting has taught me about life, it is resilience. Not picking winners. Resilience. Around 80% of my bets lose and 20% win. That means I am wrong far more often than I am right, and that is normal. It is not a flaw in the method. So the skill that keeps a punter in the game is not the ability to find a winner on any given afternoon. It is the ability to keep getting up, keep doing the work, and manage a bad run logically instead of emotionally.

Being wrong most of the time is the job

I have said it before and I will keep saying it. I do not care who you are, you will go through bad runs. There are far better judges than me out there. There are smarter people than me, and there are more successful punters than me. The one thing I do have is an enormous belief in my own ability to get out of a hole. That does not mean getting out of it on a single day. It means getting out of a bad run over time, doing the work I need to do, and trusting that the process still stands up.

That belief is not blind. It comes from doing the analysis, getting down and grinding through it, and knowing the work has been done. When you have been wrong a lot and you have come back from it before, you stop panicking the moment the run turns.

Sometimes the right move is to stop

Managing a bad run in a logical way can mean taking a break. A month or two off, recalibrating the model or the system or the way I am betting, and looking back over it properly. That is not quitting. That is maintenance. It is very hard to think clearly about your own method while you are still firing bets into it every day.

I have been punting seven days a week for about twenty five or thirty years. I am 51 now. That kind of schedule can weigh you down, and it does. So the ability to step away, clear your head and come back with fresh eyes matters more than most people think.

There is no last race

Of all the gambling messages out there, the one I like most is that there is no last race. It is true. We get so caught up in the day of winning and losing. You are in a hole and you feel like you have to get out of it before the last jump. You do not. Take a breath, get through to the next day, and it all starts again.

A bad day on the punt feels like the world has ended. It has not. It is one day.

Bankroll is the hard part

The question I get asked most is about bankroll management, and there is a reason for that. It is the hard part. Even if you have a winning system, you are still going to cop a big downturn. That is built in. Add the cost of living to it and the pressure gets real for people coming through now. Belief in yourself only counts if the bankroll is still there to back it up.

So if you are in a bad run, do not judge yourself on the day. Look at how you are managing it, look at whether your bank can absorb it, and give yourself permission to stop and recalibrate if you need to.

Every race on the card, rated, with Kingsley's selections and the speed maps behind them. Your first day is free, no card needed.

More from Kingsley

• "How Do You Stop Chasing the Money You've Already Lost?"
• "Which Punting Edge Have You Lost Over the Years?"
• "How Do You Analyse Your Losing Bets?"

Gamble responsibly. 18+. If gambling is a problem for you, call Gambling Help on 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au