The life of the late Clive Holt, a professional bettor on horse racing, has one of the most fascinating histories of anybody in the sport.
At the racetrack, Holt was a complete beginner who had no idea how to handle his money. This was in contrast to many of the eventual winners, who came prepared with well-crafted plans.
He had a run of good fortune, which allowed him to maintain his winning streak and develop his pastime into a rich profession.
But despite all of Holt’s success on the racetrack, he ultimately found more fulfillment in his careers as an author and betting expert.
In light of the aforementioned, let’s continue our discussion of Holt’s life by looking at his childhood, his path to being a professional gambler, the illustrious Fineform method, and the several publications he authored.
Early Years in Clive Holt’s Life
About the beginning of Clive Holt’s life, not much is known. However, before he started gambling for a living, he worked as an employee for the Electricity Board in England.
His father was a gambler in the 1960s and used to wager on greyhound races. He was the one who first got him interested in gambling. Intrigued, Holt began going to racetracks in the early 1960s and had a decent amount of success for someone who was just starting out.
Holt managed his money in a more carefree manner and didn’t even bother to keep track of his previous results, in contrast to more strategic gamblers like Phil Bull. In later statements, Holt would concede that in the beginning he did not have a plan and simply gambled whatever money he had on hand.
Despite this, Holt continued to rack up wins, some of which were valued as much as a thousand pounds.
Gaining Knowledge about How to Manage Your Money
Even though Holt may have had Lady Luck on his side during the first few years of his career, he eventually started to acquire a keen knack for betting on horse races.
However, Holt continued to struggle with the same poor behaviors throughout the 1970s that plagued him throughout his early betting career. To be more specific, he refused to maintain accurate records on his betting, and the only form of monitoring that he employed was the amount of money he brought to and took away from the race course.
Holt made the decision to start keeping better track of how he was performing after a streak of outcomes that were less than stellar.
Holt was able to ascertain, with the help of his analytics, the many kinds of wagers that brought him the greatest returns. Because of this, he was able to more effectively manage his bankroll, endure losing streaks, and finally become a winner over the long run.
Clive Holt Begins His Career as a Professional Gambler
As Holt stopped going to the racetrack without a game plan and wagering whatever cash he happened to have on him, he began to develop a greater sense of self-assurance in his abilities.
Around the middle of the 1970s, he went on a winning streak that lasted for several weeks and earned him more money than he could make working for the Electricity Board for a whole year and a half.
This was the last straw for Holt, and he decided to give up his day job and seek a career in professional gambling instead. After many years of frequenting Haydock Park in Merseyside in his capacity as an amateur, he was now making a fortune as a bettor there.
The gambler who would risk everything on a single hand in the hope of racking up huge wins is a thing of the past. As a matter of fact, even while he was working as a professional, Holt never had a run of wins that totaled more than £1,000 at a time because of his methodical approach and modest wagers.
In 1978, Holt’s accounts at William Hill and Coral were canceled because he had become too successful at betting on horses. Unfortunately for Holt, this led to his financial difficulties.
In the past, it was not unusual for betting shops in the UK to terminate the accounts of winners who had made a profit on their wagers. However, because of this, it became more difficult for Holt to get activity, and he was obliged to place the bulk of his wagers at racing tracks.
A Lifetime Spent Traveling and Driving Supercars
Holt liked talking about all of the material items that he was able to acquire as a result of his success in professional betting maybe more than any other gambler.
He said that he had acquired many high-end and historic automobiles, including a BMW, De Tomaso Pantera, Jaguar, and Lotus.