This past Sunday I had the opportunity to be a guest on Frank Scatoni’s Del Mar seminar. San Diego has been an important place for me in my development as a horseplayer. But that’s nothing compared to what Del Mar and San Diego have done for Frank. I first stepped on the grounds in 1999, a guest of my friend Steve Goldberg. Steve’s brother Bill is a very famous pro wrestler, and we all worked on a book together. As hard as it is to work on a book under normal circumstances, doing so when the main author spends his nights getting hit over the head with chairs and punching through glass windows is . . . more so. The San Diego trip was a reward for finishing the job and it was an instant success. Frank came along as well and on a Friday night after a great day at the races we went to Steve’s restaurant, the magnificent Pacific Coast Grill, and toasted our surroundings. Frank, like me, loved San Diego immediately. At that dinner, he said to Goldberg, “I’d move out here but I don’t know what I’d do.” Goldberg’s inimitably Californian response, delivered with a yogi’s wisdom, “Well, what do you want to do?” Six weeks later Frank had given notice, started his own business, rented a car, and driven across the country. He’s been a San Diegan ever since. On Sunday, Frank asked me to offer my best advice for players considering adding contests to their repertoires. I shared my belief that no matter what type of horseplayer you are, there is likely a contest format that will suit you, whether it’s one of your first trips to the track or you’re a professional player. For the newbies, matchup contests like those found on DRF Tournaments are a great option. All you have to do is pick one horse in each race and you’ll have one opponent who’ll do the same. Then, in most races throughout the day, you’ll have one horse to root for and one to root against, all for a fixed cost with a good chance to walk away a winner. I recently spoke to a pro player friend of mine about the release of the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge plays. He was surprised by the number of competitors, presumably those who qualified, who seemingly played just as they always do, making no real effort to win the contest. As an advantage player, his interest was piqued. Yes, you have to pay takeout in live-bank contests in the form of the takeout on your wagers, but considering the amount of “dead money” in there, the money added to the prize pool more than makes up for that, thus creating a positive expectation for sharp players competing to win. There are lots of points in between those two poles, of course. Everything from low-roller contests at places like Santa Anita and Saratoga to other big money events with player-friendly financial terms like the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge. And that’s not to mention fun Las Vegas events like National Horseplayers Championship and the Horse Player World Series that will suit certain players’ handicapping and betting personalities. Mythical-money and fixed-bankroll contests are great for players who are good at sussing out longshots and terrible at betting them. Las Vegas contests will appeal to players proficient at looking at many tracks at once, possibly because they just love handicapping or maybe because they use a computer program to assist them. Live-bank contests are going to favor players who can treat the actual money on their bankrolls as if it were mythical, like chips in a poker tournament. On the show, I told Frank and his audience that I’d be happy to assist players find events that would suit them, suggesting they contact me on twitter (@loomsboldly) or via the email address for the DRF Players’ Podcast, which I host, podcast@drf.com. DRF Tournaments menu With important races happening from coast to coast this weekend, it’s a smart time for players to have a look at the DRF Tournaments website. One of Saturday’s highlights is a chance to qualify for the Horse Player World Series. Entries cost $94 and one in 19 entries will win their $1,500 seats. The HPWS is a three-day, mythical-money contest taking place at Orleans Las Vegas March 28-30. Saturday’s qualifier utilizes the all-in format, meaning that all picks must be in before the scheduled post time for the contest’s first race. On Sunday, there is a Round 1 qualifier for the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship. Entries cost $220 and one in five win a berth to compete in the $960 buy-in online Pegasus qualifier on Dec. 15. The Pegasus contest itself takes place Jan. 25-26 and is a tremendous opportunity for horseplayers. All the prize money is added by Gulfstream meaning players get to wager their entire $12,000 bankrolls – there’s no entry free and you walk away with whatever is left on your bankroll at the end. For more information about everything happening this weekend, go to tournaments.drf.com.