Trevor Lawson is a pro golfer turned pro punter who has focused on Melbourne racing for almost 20 years.

We invited him on to the podcast to explain how he goes about winning in Melbourne.

Punting Insights:

Why he relies on his own timing technology

How he uses videos, times and weighst to compile his own ratings for each run

The importance of speed maps and walking the track

Where and how he places his bets

He has had a group of private clients for almost a decade but has decided to join Champion Picks and offer his expertise and knowledge.

Today's Guest

Trevor Lawson

Dave Duffield: G'Day Trevor, thanks for joining us. Can you fill the guys in on how you got started in the betting game?

Trevor Lawson: Well, it was a long time ago. My first boss when I was a young bloke, he bet and so we sort of started to bet. I'd probably go back to the days of Rancher and things like that. Like everybody, you sort of don't know much about it and you win and lose, win and lose and along the way, probably in the late 90s I met some smart guys who had a database and I got involved with them for about two years.

Then probably since the early 2000s, I've had my own database in different forms. Since about 2005, I've sort of imported everything into one database with Southcoast, and I've sort of been using it for about eleven or twelve years now.

Dave Duffield: Back in a previous life you were a pro golfer?

Trevor Lawson: Yeah, seems a long, long time ago now. Yeah. I think it's just over twenty years since I stopped. A lot of kilos ago.

Dave Duffield: Why did you get out of that life as a pro golfer?

Trevor Lawson: I just couldn't make enough money at it. It was a bit similar to now. I think you've got to be a good 4 round player and I was a fair pro-am player at best, and I didn't play well over four days and that's where all the money is. I just couldn't sustain a living. I did it for thirteen years or something, off and on.

So I just looked at different avenues. I'd always been interested in the punt, and as I say, I met a couple of smart guys and learned a fair bit and then sort of branched out on my own. Been quite successful for the last fifteen years.

Dave Duffield: The guys that you did catch up with, what kind of stuff did you learn from them?

Trevor Lawson: Back then, it was all basically weight-based ratings, but they had a database, so just sort of how to do ratings and things like that. Over periods, I read a lot about the Hong Kong guys and Benter and a couple of the Asian Syndicates and you sort of just come up with your own way of doing it. It's sort of like the litmus test is if you're winning at it probably what you're doing's probably half correct. Just sort of kept whacking away.

Dave Duffield: So what is your process for doing the form?

Trevor Lawson: Well, the major base of it's all ratings based. I do my own ratings. I basically just bet in Victoria, and I just mainly bet on the metropolitan tracks. I find they're the most consistent.

It's all ratings based. It's time, probably and a percentage of weight that they carry. I sort of have different weight variations for the distance and all that, that I do myself. So I do all my own ratings for Victoria, Sydney Metro on a Saturday and Adelaide on a Saturday, just so I've got some sort of base for when horses come from interstate.

Dave Duffield: Basically on a Monday, you're reviewing the videos and you're assigning every horse a number for that run?

Trevor Lawson: Yes, I do my own times. I like to work to my own sort of framework. Like this morning, I've done the times for half of the meeting yesterday at Ballarat already. I like to be on top of things, so I've done the ratings for Friday and Saturday already. Just do my own sort of ratings, I suppose.

Dave Duffield: Why did you decide to do your own times, rather than get one of the commercial products?