"Why Should a Punter Be Excited About Losing?"

Recorded October 2025 for Losing Is a Gift: Why Punters Must Embrace the Pain. Any figures mentioned are from that time.

I heard Kobe Bryant get asked what losing feels like to him, and he said it feels exciting. Not because losing is fun. It isn't. He said it is exciting because it means there are different ways for you to get better. Weaknesses got exposed, and now you know where they are. That is a useful way for a punter to think, because we lose far more often than we win. About one in five of my bets win. Across days it is closer to an even split, some good, some bad. If losing flattens you every time it happens, this game will be very long and very unpleasant.

The information is in the losses

When you lose, there are answers sitting there if you go and look at them. Something was wrong in the assessment, or the market read, or the stake. You can find it. Kobe made the point that the answers are there when you win too, you just have to look at them as well. That is the part most people skip. A winner feels like proof you were right, so the review gets a quick nod and you move on. But you should be asking how it worked, why it worked, and how you can make it work again. Otherwise you have no idea whether you were good or lucky.

Keep the process the same

This is the bit I keep coming back to. The process should be identical whether you win or you lose. You go back, you look, you find things you could have done better, and you find things you did well. That applies to analysis and review. It applies to staking. If your staking changes because you had a bad day, or you start chasing after a losing run, then you do not really have a process at all. You have a mood. Consistency is what lets you fine tune the edges, because you can actually see what is working when nothing else is moving around underneath it.

Facing the man in the mirror

Kobe finished by saying the hardest thing is to face that stuff. He is right. The hardest part is admitting you are losing and then getting to work on it. Nobody else is going to do that for you. Nobody is going to hold your hand and make you win. You can get help from shows, from mentors, from bits of information you find along the way, and you should. But at the end of it, you are the one who has to reassess and do the work to turn a losing run into a winning one.

And that is the beauty of the game. It is so bloody hard to win on the punt. That is exactly why, when it does come together after you have put the work in, it feels as good as it does. You know what went into it.

So next time you have a bad day, sit down and do the same review you would do after a good one. Same questions, same honesty, same staking rules. The losses will tell you plenty if you are willing to listen to them.

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More from Kingsley

• Why Betting Against Top Weights Pays in Group Races
• "What Should I Do When My Punting Gets Out of Control?"
• Why Is a Horse $2 When the Ratings Don't Support It?

From the full video: Losing Is a Gift: Why Punters Must Embrace the Pain | The Grind Ep.10

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