On Xpressbet.com there is a weekly tournament under way right now that is fun and very affordable. It is called “Beat The Host.” It is conducted every Saturday (having started on January 4th) and runs for eight consecutive weeks thereafter. So, at the time of this article three of the eight weeks have been completed. But not to worry, each week is an individual contest, so you can jump in at any time. Read More >>
In a prior article we introduced the wagering strategy of High and Low Superfecta wagers, where you key a “High” horse that you think is a serious win threat over a “Low” horse that you suspect can’t win the race, but might land in the lower rungs (say 3rd or 4th) to complete a Superfecta wager. Click here for a review of that article, and in particular for the mathematics for calculating the cost of the wager.
After a 3-day weekend at Gulfstream Park (GP), I’ve decided it’s time to put this strategy to the test in sunny Florida, because it seems like the conditions are right; large fields, double-digit horses landing in the top four spots, and predictable winners (defined as one of the top 3 betting choices). I put the following chart together that shows eleven such examples over the weekend, with only one (#11) not exactly fitting the criteria of the winner coming from the top 3 betting choices. I’ll explain later.
In a prior article we introduced the idea of a “Saver Ticket” and included a story of the author involving just such a ticket on July 27, 2013 at Saratoga. Click here for a review of that article. In that article we mentioned the story of a Saver Ticket that saved the entire season for our handicapper friend (Vince) at Saratoga in 2011. Today we recap the story, in Vince’s own words.
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Sanity bets are completely different than Saver Bets. While Saver Bets can save your day, Sanity bets can save your mind.
Picture this scenario. You’re studying the races one morning, and land upon a horse that you label your “Best Bet of the day.” Everything is right; experience at the distance, loves the surface, been very competitive at today’s class, 2nd start off a layoff (an angle you like). To top it off, the Morning Line favorite is 2-1, and you think he’s quite vulnerable. The morning line for your Best Bet is a juicy 8-1, and now you’re thinking, this is going to be a good day!
Fast forward to the afternoon at the racetrack. The race preceding your “Best Bet” completes, is marked official, and the early odds for your feature race displays on the Tote Board. The 2-1 morning line favorite opens up at 5-1. And your Best Bet opens up at 9-5. Ahhhh!
How can this be? You grind your teeth, frustrated at the price … hoping that it’s an anomaly. Hoping that the price will rise as you get closer to post time. And it does … up to 2-1. Ahhhh!
Saver Ticket
Spend enough time with horseplayers, and you’re bound to hear, “Had that one on a Saver ticket.” Saver tickets are often last minute, “I’m not getting beat by this horse, trainer, or jockey again.” In simple terms, it involves making wagers on horses that are not your top picks, or even your second best picks. Sometimes it’s throwing horses in the mix that seem like they have no chance at all.
Most of the time you end up crumpling these tickets up, but at least with some peace of mind that you covered the bases. With a race coming at you every twenty minutes, there’s something to be said for keeping your “peace of mind.”
And for the times you do cash one of these saver tickets, it’s usually a windfall return … because chances are the majority of the betting public didn’t have these horses on their radar either.
So, two Saver Ticket stories come to mind. One last summer at Saratoga, relating to an article about a race involving a 2-5 favorite that I thought was beatable. Click here for a full recap of that story. The other a couple of years ago, that is not my story, but one of my horseplayer friends, Vince.
In a prior article we provided a Trifecta Part Wheel example using a key horse in the first position and introducing the mathematics for calculating the number of combinations of a Part Wheel wager, Pyramid Style. Click here to read that article. In this article we’re going to explain the mathematics when more than one horse is used in the winning position. And, we’re going to go over the math involved with a similar Superfecta Part Wheel wager. Read More >>
In a prior article we introduced the wager known as a Part-Wheel; and demonstrated how to use a Part-Wheel instead of Boxing horses in a Trifecta wager. Click here for a review of that article. Today we are going to expand on this type of wager, and provide some examples on how you might construct a bet using a Part Wheel Wager – Pyramid Style.
Let’s begin by explaining that a Part Wheel is a wager that is recognized by tellers at a race track. You would say a Part Wheel wager to a teller like this:
$2 Trifecta, Part Wheel, 2 with {4,6} with {4,6}. (This results in two Trifecta bets: 2,4,6 and 2,6,4)
This is a very simple example, but can be expanded to include much more sophisticated wagers. Read More >>
In a prior article we introduced Exacta and Trifecta (Triple) wagers as a type of Intra-Race wager. Click here for a review of that article. Today we’re going to expand on these two wagers and discuss a very common question relating to them. Should I box my bets? No doubt, if you’ve been to the track more than once, you’ve witnessed the circumstance where a newbie bets an Exacta of 4-2, only to have the result come in 2-4 … and then get hammered by his/her more experienced friends.
Well, after reading this article … you can tell your friends that you know a better way! Read More >>
On Xpressbet.com there is a tournament called Dime-a-Day. It is offered for two race tracks (Del Mar and Saratoga) during the summer months. There is a one-time registration fee of $25. After the initial fee, you make “live” wagers of $10 per day on a single Win, Place, or Show bet. Live meaning the money you are betting is real money from your account, not mythical money as in some tournaments. Of course that also means that if your bet wins, you get the money added to your account regardless of what happens in the tournament.
The format is fairly simple. Each racing day you place a single contest wager of $10 to Win, Place, or Show on a any horse in any race. At the end of the day Xpressbet awards $1,000 to the person(s) who won the most money with their $10 wager. In the event of a tie, the $1,000 is evenly distributed to the winning players. At the end of the season a $5,000 grand prize is awarded to the highest earning player for the entire season. Last year (2012) I gave this tournament a shot for the first time at Saratoga … and despite failing to cash any of the daily payouts, I can’t wait to sign up again this year. Here’s why. Read More >>
In a prior article I introduced one of my horseplayer friends, Vince “the Volcano.” I explained that Vince is predominantly a Pick-3 and Pick-4 player. He prefers to focus on multiple contenders in successive races rather than single out individual horses for a Win bet. He explains it like this:
“The benefit in these is my 3rd choice can win the first three legs and my 6th choice wins the last, and I win $2,000. If I bet those four races solo, I lose all of them. This works for me.”
On Belmont Stakes day Vince sent me a text message: “Do you think Point of Entry loses? Other three legs are awesome races. I see a (3 x 7 x 1 x 6) Pick4 play in here.” Read More >>