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SMARTsig: not just a magazine
John Kaye, Publisher
Betting can be a solitary occupation. Even in the betting shop, the decisions made are, ideally, not influenced by peer pressure. So to bring a bit of community to the business, in 1994 Stef Perry founded Smartsig magazine. Up until then there had been no regular publication which adopted a analytical and deliberative approach to the short- and long-term issues involved in making selections and backing them. The aim of SMARTsig was to rectify this, and the 'Smart' comes from the mnemonic for: Systems, Methods And Rational Thinking.
For over ten years the magazine has been publishing a wide range of articles covering betting on horse racing and football, and more recently on other sports as well. The emphasis is on providing readers with approaches, methods of thinking and tools to improve their betting performance. We leave the coverage of individual horses and trainers stable tours to others, but we will cover methods of making sense of the outpourings from other sources. And the majority of articles come from the subscribers themselves: this is the true community spirit which means that good ideas can be exchanged and discussed. Of course, where there are ideas there is controversy, and Smartsig encourages those involved to put their thoughts down on paper for all to read.
Sometimes the controversy is urgent, and so the arguments need a more immediate forum than a monthly magazine. Which is where the other feature of Smartsig comes in: the online email group, open to all ongoing subscribers to the magazine. Unlike most other betting and horse racing forums (well, fora if we are being pedantic...) the Smartsig group doesn't go in for tipping or debating the performance of horses (well, just occasionally), nor name calling (well, just occasionally). Sometimes the online debates are intense and also revelatory, bringing experience to bear not just from the UK but from around the world as well. Recent topics have covered approaches to analysing ratings services, the management of funds, various methods of measuring the performance of favourites and the construction of personal odds-lines. The online forum also acts as a repository for some innovatory software and shared spreadsheets which have proved useful to subscribers.
While the magazine has a new publisher/editor from 2004, the principles remain the same: we don't champion any one approach, we take a sceptical eye to commercial and non-commercial services providing data and services to the betting public, and we leverage experience and knowledge to benefit the reader. And as betting on horse racing and other sports generates more and more data, we provide coverage of computer-based techniques both straightforward and advanced, with a community behind the words which is supportive of others' attempts to both learn and push the boundaries. But we still cater for, and have contributions from, those for whom pencil and paper still provide adequate tools for profitable analysis.
With 76 non-glossy pages every month devoted to all aspects of betting methodologies, and with a supporting website and an email-based forum, if you want to take control of your betting, improve your returns or just learn how others do it, a subscription to Smartsig magazine has to be the place to start.
Subscriptions at: www.smartsig.com/new_p.htm