Rensselaer native at NTRA handicapping challenge
LaSalle alum Dave Nichols earned two seats at horse racing event in Las Vegas
TROY, N.Y. >> Rensselaer native Dave Nichols will be doubling down on his betting this weekend in Las Vegas as the LaSalle Institute alum will be participating for the fifth consecutive year at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s National Handicapping Challenge.
Nichols earned not one, but two entries into the prestigious horse racing handicapping event and will be putting his skills up against 521 other strategists, including 145 other ‘dual-qualified’ competitors.
Nichols earned his initial entry at Saratoga Race Course during the Fourstardave Challenge in August and then earned his second entry at the NTRA/Belmont Super Qualifier.
“I play a decent amount online,” Dave Nichols said during a phone interview Thursday evening from Las Vegas at the Treasure Island Resort and Casino. “There are tournaments every weekend on-line where you can qualify, so that’s a good way to go about it because a lot of the live tournaments aren’t easy to get to from wherever you live.”
After graduating from LaSalle, Nichols went to college in Boston and eventually moved to Wayne, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, with his wife for the past 15 years.
“I played the NYRA tourna-
ments, I play Monmouth, places that are fairly easy to get to,” Nichols said. “Giving yourself as many opportunities as possible is always good, but I would say being able to play the on-line tournaments consistently, that’s probably the best way to go about it.”
There is no exaggeration that Nichols is a numbers guy. He has had a career as an actuary, measuring and managing risk and uncertainty along with handicapping at Saratoga Race Course since he was nineyears old. It truly is in his blood. “That’s my Twitter handle @gamblingactuary,” Nichols said. “The gambling used to be the hobby and the actuary used to be a real job. This is the first year that I’ve kind of pursued handicapping as my primary job, which has been very difficult. You have to be ultra-successful to make a living of just doing this.
“I don’t know if this will be a long-term thing for me, but this year it has worked out and I think the results have shown that the more time you spend on it the better things will work out for you.”
Nichols said he had to take his shot at handicapping full-time.
“A lot of people I know kind of pursue their passion and I wasn’t doing that,” Nichols said. “I’m kind of a numbers nerd, so once I got my hands on a program I kind of became entranced by all that. I decided to go after my passion this year and hopefully it’ll lead to big things this weekend.”
On Friday and Saturday each handicapper will place mythical $2 win and $2 place bets on eight mandatory races at various racing venues. The players will then have an opportunity to place optional wagers on races at one of eight NHC tournament tracks, including Aqueduct.