Alan Woods

It’s always interesting to read about professional gamblers. Compared with many punters they have somehow cracked the code to beat the layers. Learning from their individual stories can help understand how they managed such a feat.

As the quote goes: ‘Success leaves clues!’

I know that’s like a soundbite from snake oil seller from the net. You know the sort, talking about the next shiny object.

However, it pays to remember that Alan Woods was a real person with hopes and dreams like others who have followed his path into the hardened life of professional gambling.

I’ve read a few articles about the Australian mathematics genius and how he used his, and others skills, to win millions with his horse racing systems.

It’s interesting how many and varied approaches professional gamblers employ. Often they compare with each other but very often they have no similarity at all. However, it is worth noting those gamblers who are ultra successful and follow the same path.

As I have mentioned in a previous article on this website, blackjack and following the insight of Edward O Thorp played a significant part in the life, learning and success of Alan Woods. In fact, it saw him bump into his one-time associate Bill Benter. This actually happened in Las Vegas when they were both employing their card counting to make good money.

Somewhere along the line, I’m not sure whether Bill Benter or Alan Woods, had the idea of creating a computerised system to pick winning horses. They decided upon Hong Kong simply because they only had two racecourses to understand. A small number of horses competed against each other and from a data-driven perspective there were fewer variables to measure. Compared to many countries with idiosyncratic racecourse, Sha Tin and Happy Valley were a gambler’s dream. Well, a gambler with a dream of creating a computerised horse racing system to crack the code. How could the superstitious gamblers beat the best system without the hazards of emotions and all that stuff?

The problem was that the system was far from a money-making machine. It was losing money fast and it was very much the case of which would last the longest. In fact, times were so hard and money was short, that Woods headed back to Las Vegas to try and build his bank by card counting which didn’t go as expected. He was so convinced he could make his horse racing system work he asked for funding from his old gambling friends. However, even willing to give away 70% of future winnings he couldn’t get anyone to invest. I’m not sure if this is the point that Bill Benter put his hand in his pocket, but at some point thereafter the pair had a falling out and went their separate ways.

Perhaps this was a blessing as both went on to build a computerised horse racing system which won hundreds of millions and made Benter a billionaire.

Woods said that he really should have kept his mouth shut about his system as it simply encouraged other syndicates to play their hand. He said that up to 95% of the money bet (which was substantial) was from the five or six syndicates. If that was the case, some of them must have lost their shirt.

Woods had a team of workers who spent all their time updating the anlaysis which saw them make a fortune.

Sadly for Alan Woods, he didn’t have the longest of lives, passing away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 63.