It is often said that all of life is a game – one which can be played in any number of ways. The same can also be said of horse racing, with owners, trainers, jockeys, and punters all trying to find ways to stay ahead of the competition.
It therefore makes sense that there are principles and strategies borrowed from classic online games which can be applied to horse racing, so that race goers can get even better at predicting which thoroughbreds will romp home to victory, be it in a steeple chase like the Aintree Grand National or a flats spectacle such as the Kentucky Derby.
Field Size Matters
One of the things that always matters in an online gaming tournament is the number of players you will be up against. This is true of a battle royal tournament or even in a Texas Holdem poker tournament, where upwards of a thousand people can be involved at any one time. It is always worth considering the size of the field when preparing for a big online gaming event or a huge race day like the Aintree Grand National, because the more runners that line up at the starting gate or in the gaming lobby, the less chance you will have of winning. Of course, the larger the field in any event, be it online or offline, means that there will be more at stake. This is obvious at steeple chases like the Grand National, where 40 thoroughbreds line up to tackle Aintree’s fences and the odds applied to each runner usually stretch to well beyond 10/1. That same sort of value can be found at online gaming tournaments where there are high numbers of entrants, with large fields of players often meaning bigger prize pools to duke it out for.
Conditions on the Day Can Make All the Difference
You would think that online gaming doesn’t suffer from abrupt changes in conditions, because it is not open to the elements in quite the same way that horse racing is. However, that is just not the case because there is a whole heap of mitigating factors that can impact on gameplay. These range from varying internet connection speeds, all the way through to what standard of player might be sat to your immediate left or right at a card table.
Just as online gamers constantly have to keep these variables in mind, so too do horse racing aficionados, needing to be abreast of how changes in the weather will affect a race, as well as how well a horse has travelled and whether a last-minute change of jockey will impact where the horse finishes.
Think As Far Ahead as Possible
Horse racing fans can sometimes get a little bit too caught up in the moment, as emotions swirl on a big race day, and sure-fire favorites fall by the wayside, only to be ousted by rank outsiders. It is this level of unpredictability that ultimately keeps people coming back to the sport.
Unfortunately, this can lead to some fans becoming a little too results orientated – forgetting to enjoy the racing for what it is: a day in the great outdoors, spectating some of the best horse racing that the sport has to offer.
The same is true of online gaming, with some players taking competition so seriously that they can let their emotions get the better of them. This can then lead to some rather spicy and unnecessary comments in a chat section or made via a gaming headset.
At the end of the day, both online gamers and racing fans need to adopt a long-term mindset, where they accept that they may lose some and win some, but that if they keep learning about their respective passion, they will probably come out on top in the long run, or least get maximum gratification along the way.
