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Point Blank: AK Bets Was Always a Prick

This might just be the best one I've read so far - and that's some statement as I've enjoyed (and often hugely enjoyed) just about all of them.

I like this one in particular because there was a time when I behaved like an "AK."

Obnoxious, but doing well so didn't care what others thought of me.

I'm IMO a lot milder now in older age, I still think caring overly what others think of you can be a debilitating personality trait, but it only took one robust character many years ago to answer me with: "I'm sorry, I don't recall asking you for your opinion" to make me realise there was only one cool person in that particular encounter - and it wasn't me.

I've learned to cut offering unsolicited opinions out of my (real) life, I'm a lot more quietly reactive in recent years and I'm a lot happier for it.

However, I digress.

What did he actually think the coins on the table were for?

Why did he even ask?

If he didn't already know the answer he's none too bright.

And if he did he was just being crass and overbearing - the world doesn't need his unsolicited opinion on literally everything he sees.

I agree with so much of the general thrust of this.

Social media brings out the worst in so many and racing betting social media is full of people who think they are more intelligent than they are.

There are no "geniuses" in this game.

Not Aidan O'Brien or even Willie Mullins and certainly no one in the betting industry.

It's also full of vested interests.

Pro punters trying to argue why them being allowed to win fortunes would be good for the image of racing, bookies trying to argue why them instead continuing to be allowed to win fortunes would be good for the health of racing.

And bitching - lots of bitching.

You have to wonder about people who spend more time trashing others than offering their own take.

I've been in and around this game for literally 44 years and it's absolutely rammed with people I wouldn't cross the road to do the proverbial on if they were burning to death.

It's why I don't accept invitations into private boxes any more - they always contain at least one individual I could happily see fall off the balcony by the second race, so best I steer clear.

AK sounds awful, absolutely awful - not least because (whisper it quietly) the more I read Slim the more I realise we have some (not all, but enough) shared value systems.

Slim's take is often my take - only more contemporary than mine and that's what makes it interesting, he frequently brings me up to speed on an industry I'm thankfully only on the periphery of nowadays.

Essential reading this, because it doesn't just tell you about AK - it tells you (if you need telling) about Slim and how to have a bit of empathy (putting himself in the financial shoes of a waitress).

Cracking.
 
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Ian_Davies said:
This might just be the best one I've read so far - and that's some statement as I've enjoyed (and often hugely enjoyed) just about all of them.

I like this one in particular because there was a time when I behaved like an "AK."

Obnoxious, but doing well so didn't care what others thought of me.

I'm IMO a lot milder now in older age, I still think caring overly what others think of you can be a debilitating personality trait, but it only took one robust character many years ago to answer me with: "I'm sorry, I don't recall asking you for your opinion" to make me realise there was only one cool person in this particular encounter - and it wasn't me.

I've learned to cut offering unsolicited opinions out of my (real) life, I'm a lot more quietly reactive in recent years and I'm a lot happier for it.

However, I digress.

What did he actually think the coins on the table were for?

Why did he even ask?

If he didn't already know the answer he's none too bright.

And if he did he was just being crass and overbearing - the world doesn't need his unsolicited opinion on literally everything he sees.

I agree with so much of the general thrust of this.

Social media brings out the worst in so many and racing betting social media is full of people who think they are more intelligent than they are.

There are no "geniuses" in this game.

Not Aidan O'Brien or even Willie Mullins and certainly no one in the betting industry.

It's also full of vested interests.

Pro punters trying to argue why them being allowed to win fortunes would be good for the image of racing, bookies trying to argue why them instead continuing to be allowed to win fortunes would be good for the health of racing.

And bitching - lots of bitching.

You have to wonder about people who spend more time trashing others than offering their own take.

I've been in and around this game for literally 44 years and it's absolutely rammed with people I wouldn't cross the road to do the proverbial on if they were burning to death.

It's why I don't accept invitations into private boxes any more - they always contain at least one individual I could happily see fall off the balcony by the second race, so best I steer clear.

AK sounds awful, absolutely awful - not least because (whisper it quietly) the more I read Slim the more I realise we have some (not all, but enough) shared value systems.

Slim's take is often my take - only more contemporary than mine and that's what makes it interesting, he frequently brings me up to date on an industry I'm thankfully only on the periphery of nowadays.

Essential reading this, because it doesn't just tell you about AK - it tells you (if you need telling) about Slim and how to do have a bit of empathy (putting himself in the financial shoes of a waitress).

Cracking.
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There is a massive disconnect. I genuinely don't know who the Racing Post thinks it is writing for anymore. Last week’s article is a perfect standalone example.

How can you put a front-page piece discussing government policy, legislation, and the future of the industry… and then, on the very next page, publish 1,641 words explaining the Arkle as if the reader has never heard of the race?

It’s embarrassing that an editor let that piece go to print. It perfectly sums up the disconnect running through the industry.
 
Obviously, he's a lot younger than me and his target audience isn't me, but I think he's the worst Editor they ever had (and tbh I never had that high an opinion of any of his predecessors).

Founder Brough Scott always liked to kid himself the RP was a serious newspaper so the "news" desk was always a source of Editor material for him.

Tbf Alan Byrne was a proper journalist - he was Deputy News Editor of the Sunday Independent in Ireland at one point - and not many racing journalists could hold down a job like that.

But a racing paper is essentially cards, form, results and betting-related news.

The "editorial" - news and features - is just window dressing.

They've never really known their target audience because they've got this deluded lofty idea about themselves and a market demand that doesn't exist.

My six years there were the biggest bubble years of my life.

Racing papers need to be run by betting people, not "news" people.

And Kerr isn't even any good at that anyway - he was years behind the curve on where racing is heading financially.
 
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Punters are the plankton that underpin the whole horse racing eco system but are shat on and given least consideration for, and when they are it's only because the comfy existence of others is threatened
 
Ian_Davies said:
Obviously, he's a lot younger than me and his target audience isn't me, but I think he's the worst Editor they ever had (and tbh I never had that high an opinion of any of his predecessors).

Founder Brough Scott always liked to kid himself the RP was a serious newspaper so the "news" desk was always a source of Editor material for him.

Tbf Alan Byrne was a proper journalist - he was Deputy Editor of the Sunday Independent in Ireland at one point - and not many racing journalists could hold down a job like that.

But a racing paper is essentially cards, form, results and betting-related news.

The "editorial" - news and features - is just window dressing.

They've never really known their target audience because they've got this deluded lofty idea about themselves and a market demand that doesn't exist.

My six years there were the biggest bubble years of my life.

Racing papers need to be run by betting people, not "news" people.

And Kerr isn't even any good at that anyway - he was years behind the curve on where racing is heading financially.
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And that’s the elephant in the room. The boomers are dying off, and with that comes the very real possibility in Ireland of a left-wing government that won’t fund racing.

You certainly won’t read that in the Racing Post.
 
Nice one, slim, but it’s a very narrow and somewhat iffy description of the common man. I’m off to Newbury this week and it’ll be full of common people who are there because they enjoy seeing horses and watching them race. - many of them won’t even have a bet. And it’ll be full of common people who enjoy trying to work out the riddle of racing and backing up their conclusions with a modest flutter. And there will be some less common people for whom betting is the be all and end all and who play at mouth watering house and furniture levels. So, trying to work out who your audience is from that wide spectrum of “common” isn’t the easiest job in the world and maybe catering for all tastes leaving the reader to pick and choose as their fancy takes them is not the worst route to take.
 
"Tony Calvin’s 3,000 words on what the ground is"

Mint. I have an account with AK, don't use it much. He or whoever runs the account blocked me on Twitter for a mild criticism. Nobhead.
 
Quote "It was no surprise to see him dripping with the same condescension that defines punters of his type — the ones who think they’re smarter, sharper, and more knowledgeable than everyone else. As if they invented betting"

Unfortunately mate, there are plenty of them around. And most of them wouldnt know the head of the horse from the tail if truth be known. Every betting shop back in the day used to have one or two and they were the ones who usually headed home skint halfway thru the afternoon. I try to steer clear of them whether it be in the street or on a forum because it is just a waste of my valuable time (more valuable than ever as i get much older) and it is time i will never get back.
I dont know the bloke nor have i ever come across him and having listened to a few people about him, i dont wish to.
He should sit down one day and look at the facts and see where he actually sits. And that is with EVERY other punter in the land. I know the lads on the old forum (i do miss them) probably got pissed right off with me repeating a line that i used to come out with on a regular basis but in my eyes it is perfectly true and if anyone disagrees they should maybe think about it again.

We are all guessers !!!!!!!!!!!

If you dont agree with that then i reckon you think too highly of yourself !!
Not a single one of us know a horse that WILL WIN today. We think we do. Or we hope it does. And we may have all used whatever method we resort to in the hope of finding a winner or two but at the end of the day we are just guessing. Some people spend far more time than others looking at a race than others but at the end of the day, does it guarantee them a winner ? Of course not. They can be said to be having an educated guess. But at the end of the day, it is still a guess and at the end of the same day, we are ALL GUESSERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And that includes that AK bloke whoever he is !!!!!!!!!!
 
I've never heard of AK Bets. I've no idea who AK might be but it sounds like he deserves every or any misfortune coming his way.

I would have to admit to never tipping a betting shop employee in my life. Then again, at the time I was using betting shops £2w would have been a big bet for me.

I worked on the board and behind the counter in betting shops when I was a student. I never got a tip and I've never, ever seen anybody give any employee a tip.

Around the same time, I also worked in pubs and hotels, where tips were very much the order of the day and you did your job well you half-expected some sort of tip, more so in the hotel restaurant.

I'd have regarded tipping a betting shop worker as no different from tipping a post-office worker. Who would tip a post office worker?

Different perceptions, maybe, but the betting industry isn't the hospitality industry.

I'm much more comfortable asking a shop worker to stick the change in the Cancer Research can on the counter.

As for 'the common man', who exactly would that be?

Is it my dad's best pal whose Saturday consisted of buying his Daily Express (for the pullout racing section) and five Castella as a treat to replace his Senior Service Full Strength untipped, heading into the pub with his mates (not my dad - he wasn't a pub goer) for a few lagers and a blether before spending the best part of the afternoon in the bookies before going back to the pub for a couple more before going back to his widow?

Or my dad's brother, a teetotal (like my dad), who spent all morning poring over the racing pages and writing out multiple multiple bets to penny stakes, which probably amounted to a few quid, then spent the afternoon in the bookies listening to the races without having any more bets?

Neither won.

Yet my dad's sister watched the racing on TV avidly, taking everything in, and writing out a few three-crosses and ITV7s on a Saturday for my dad to put on for her... and she won regularly.

I really don't know myself just who 'the common man' is but AK sounds more common than any of them.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I worked on the board and behind the counter in betting shops when I was a student. I never got a tip and I've never, ever seen anybody give any employee a tip.
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I saw it.

I also worked in betting shops as a student and a notorious punter (I could tell some right stories I heard about him) used to tip after a win (of which he had many).

I never accepted them (to his surprise) because I reckoned I knew what it was about - IMO it was hush money to the manager (I was just a cashier or board man so liaising with head office was nothing to do with me) for not ringing his bets through to head office so he could do all the shops without the price getting cut and to not flag him up to head office as a consistent shop profit taker either.
 
Ian_Davies said:
I saw it.

I also worked in betting shops as a student and a notorious punter (I could tell some right stories I heard about him) used to tip after a win (of which he had many).

I never accepted them (to his surprise) because I reckoned I knew what it was about - IMO it was hush money to the manager (I was just a cashier or board man so liaising with head office was nothing to do with me) for not ringing his bets through to head office so he could do all the shops without the price getting cut and to not flag him up to head office as a consistent shop profit taker either.
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I've worked in many Betting shops and they're are plenty of customers who tip the staff.
 

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