The book describes a method for rating horses that is very time consuming, with results that do not justify all the work. I did a dry run, handicapping several race cards, and had I bet real money, I would have been very upset with the results. Although I am not an expert, I hold my own when I study the past performances in the track program or The Daily Racing Form. By following the book's method, I did significantly worse than I would have on my own. Not recommended.

Unless your a novice this book will give you little. It is one of the few books on handicapping harness races that is readilly available but this is a weak work. Ms. Kulleck consistently contradicts herself and she seems to only skim the surface on most topics. Also it seems most of her research with her husband were done years ago and have probably become irrelevant over time.

Considering myself a beginner, I find Ms. Ada Kulleck's book one of the best book for beginners. I like Chapter 2 especially because there are some great tips on eliminating horses that don't have the potential to win. By eliminating the potential losers, the few horses that stand out gives you the opportunity to narrow your focus to find the potential winner or to play them collectively on exotic wagers. I combined what I learned from Ms. Kulleck's book and also established my own system. One handicapping system will not work all the time. This is a good [$$$] investment.

the book was intresting with a major emphasis on football betting. the baseball betting section was weak. a good book for an introduction to football betting

no body can tell me that it is hard to win on sports betting. This book is the guide, to become rich.Winnn!

Though not the ideal bok for the novice horseplayer, this book give insight and information most people interested in the thoroughbred racing game have no idea exists. Written by a reporter, the prose is quick and is filled with quotations by trainers, owners, jockeys and track officials in a real time, fast-paced dialog that is powerful but sometimes difficult to keep up with.

There is no glossary or index of terms and many of the terms used are over the heads of those just learning about horse racing. This book is focused toward a betting audience or readers who currently follow racing and want to learn the intricacies of this most captivating sport.

Funny and hard hitting, this is good read and for the most part well done. Again, not for those just making a foray into this unseen world of lovely mounts and high stakes, but a good book to get acquainted with what happens before and after the starting gate opens.

Mike Helm is a writer who happens to be a handicapper and racing fan. In this book he explores all aspects of thoroughbred racing by visiting and speaking at length with all the people that have a role horse racing.

This would include jockeys and their agents, trainers, owners, grooms, hotwalkers, exercise riders, vets including the track vet, stewards, the racing secretary, handicappers, gamblers, and parimutuel clerks.

If I'm making it sound dry, it isn't. The passion for horses and the game is right on the surface all the way through.

He also answers many questions I have asked myself: on what bases does a racing secretary assign weight? Why do they write a well-balanced card one day, and a full card of cheap claimers with an allowance thrown in as the feature on others? Do jockeys pay any attention to what the owner and trainer tell him before a race? Why do horses often run off form when bumped up in class? What do trainers really think? Why do stewards rarely take down a horse based on a jockey or trainer objection? Does anyone make money gambling on horses over the long haul?

This is the kind of book you will enjoy reading, and can refer back to. I wish it had an index though.

Please keep in mind this "book" is not really one per se. It is a rag-tag grouping of previously written columns by McCune and neither the book nor the columns were apparently edited as there are numerous spelling and wording errors throughout. Similar content is repeated throughout the book many times. Also the author feels the need to introduce each section with a REALLY bad poem and often goes quite off-topic in trying to establish a point related to sports betting.

This might be a decent book for somebody who is just starting out in the world of sports betting. You learn what juice is, how a local bookie might shade a hometown line etc. However all the information was written at least 10 years or more ago. As sport-betting moves into a new era, the usefulness of this dated information is questionable but it was frustrating to sit through reading.

In short, there is very little worthwhile about this book for a more advanced player with a semi-decent understanding of mathmatical probability.

I took a gamble buying this book on positive feedback from others - I lost.

Lots of ryhmes, many words in CAPITALS, even a picture of the author circa 1949 but unfortunately very little useful information on how to systematically implement winning sports betting methods.

... I have only been a sports bettor for the past 3 months and this book has changed everything for me. I used to just look at some statistics and I thought I knew what I was doing, but my winning percentage was still hovering around .500. Now that I've read this book and learned how to bet like the pros do, my winning percentage is .765! I've also learned how to manage my money and when to bet big. This is the sports betting bible, and only those that don't know about it are probably just guessing when they bet.

I will never bet on a "hunch" ever again. This book has really opened my eyes to what is possible when betting on sports.

There are good books on horse race betting, this just isn't one of them. You do need to have deep pockets to follow this guy's advice, and a large bankroll at home.

After you strip away that which is intuitively obvious...there's not much here. There are some betting strategies if you're the type to bet $300 on a Pick 3 or $2,500 on a Pick 6. Otherwise, I'd give this book a miss.

For a serious starter in horse racing, this book tells you how you should manage your wagering money and how to bet effectively and efficiently. However, this book will be too simple for a horseplayer who has been serious in horse racing for quite a long time.

This book is pretty basic. The first 23 of the 32 pages are devoted to very basic material such as reading the program, the tote board, types of bets, and how to place them.

If you are going to the track for the first time with a group, and you want to bone up on the sport real-quick, this is the perfect book for you.

If you are a serious handicapper looking for an innovative theory or deep discussion on overlays and handicapping, this is not that book.

Prof. Jones book is a great basis book to use for handicapping. It will help you develop you system, and gives honest, sound advice. (there is another review of a different book under this book I also reviewed, sorry for the mixup)

This book gives pretty good insight and suggestions on handicapping, and the techniques work well with the higher grades.

If you are a serious horseplayer and have read many books about horse racing and betting, this book will just be a summary of what you learnt in the past. You will be disappointed if you want to find new ideas on horse racing from this book.

Sadly this book reveals nothing new.....same old stagnant handicapping methods as previously outlined in most of the authors previous books.....to collect a paycheck they have again hyped each other and their own outdated methods.

Same stuff as outline previously only packaged different . Brohammer is the only one making sense in todays handicapping game

A quick overview of each authors specialty,good reading and allows you the chance to learn all different angles of handicapping.

Poor. Johnston's "The Complete Book of Golf Games" is much better.

Has lots of golf games. Really enjoyable. Highly recmommended!

Have you noticed that many horse racing books contain more pages of charts from the Daily Racing Form than pages of the author's comments? This is another horse racing book that fits this description. This book is selection-oriented and gives little or no insight as to how to construct exotic bet tickets. The level of analysis here is basically, "Bet exotics because they pay a lot of money when you hit one." I have read many better horse racing books. This book is strictly for horse racing maidens.

Bill Heller put lots of helpful information in this book. He even let the best pick six handicaper Steven Crist put in his useful tips. That is why this is a five star book

Actually, this book is amusing and might make a fun gag gift for a golfer, but as a guide to the rules and subtleties of golfs gambling games, it is of little use. My copy goes in my pal's Xmas stocking.

A cute novelty item, but not really useful. Johnston's book "The Complete Book of Golf Games" is much better.

I was hoping to get more information than this book provides. I have found all the same information on the internet, if not more, than is contained in these pages. In fact, most of the book highlights the history of betting and some of golf's more renown gamblers. the actual betting games section of the book is pretty small.

The best part of the book is that it comes with "Don't Choke" ball markers that are great to mark an opponents ball with.

As a stocking stuffer the book is fine, as an end all and be all to golf side betting, it doesn't cut it.