
Straight bets - Betting to Win, Place and Show
By Kenneth Strong
Betting to Win
Many experts consider playing a horse to win
to be the best bet in horse racing. If you bet on a horse to win,
your horse must finish first.
The reasoning behind betting to win stems from
the fact that you can see what your horse’s odds are by looking
at the tote board before the race runs. You can then determine
whether your horse’s odds represent good value based on your own
judgment. This is extremely important.
CLICK
HERE FOR WIN, PLACE AND SHOW BETTING USING YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT
TO DEPOSIT FUNDS AND TO GET A 30% BONUS!
Why? Because the real key to making a profit
betting on horseracing is finding horses which represent good
value - whose chances of winning are better than the odds displayed
on the tote board (which are made by the public) - and betting
enough of those horses to produce a profit. Successful horseplayers
win by taking advantage of mistakes in judgment made by the public.
For example, the public determines the post-time
favorite in every race. These favorites win approximately 31-33
percent of the time at a flat bet loss of between $0.08-$0.15
for every dollar wagered, depending on which study you care to
look at. This is a universal maxim in horse racing proven by the
analysis of hundreds of thousands of races – yet still argued
over by inexperienced horseplayers.
What you really need to understand is the fact
that if you bet only public favorites to win, many of which represent
poor value - you will lose. Also consider the fact that the public
is wrong 66 percent of the time. To win betting on horse racing
you must take advantage of the public’s errors in judgment.
If your handicapping tells you that the horse
you like has a 2-1 chance of winning and the odds displayed on
the tote board say the horse is paying off at 5-1, you have found
yourself an overlay – and good value. If your handicapping tells
you that a horse you like should be 12-1 and the tote board says
the horse is paying off at 2-1, this represents an underlay -
and poor value. While favorites do represent good value on occasion,
horseplayers looking to make a profit when betting to win should
take note of the following percentages.
To make a 20 percent profit on each dollar
wagered you must:
· Win 50 percent of your bets at average odds
not lower than 7/5
· Win 40 percent of your bets at average odds of 2-1
· Win 30 percent of your bets at average odds of 3-1
To make a profit of 40 percent on each dollar
wagered you must:
· Win 50 percent of your bets at average odds
of 9-5
· Win 40 percent of your bets at average odds of 5/2
· Win 30 percent of your bets at average odds of 7/2 or better
Solid handicapping and the discipline to wait
for good value plays make the above percentages achievable.
Betting to Place and Show
If you bet on a horse to place, your horse must
finish first or second. If you bet on a horse to show, your horse
must finish first, second or third. Betting to place or show offers
you a better chance to cash more tickets, but the payoffs are
lower due to the fact that the pool of money must be divided among
more bettors.
In the case of betting to place, payoffs are
made to those who bet the winner of the race to place, and to
those who bet the second place finisher to place. In the case
of show wagers, the payoffs must be divided even further, among
three groups of bettors – those who bet the winner to show, those
who bet the second place finisher to show, and those who bet the
third place finisher to show.
If you do choose to bet to place or show, you
are probably better off playing the lower-priced horses. Horses
with higher odds tend to be underlays in the place and/or show
pools, and produce better value when bet to win. Horses with lower
odds, particularly favorites, tend to be overlays in the place
and/or show pools.
Straight bets to place on public favorites will
produce an average loss of between 8-12 percent. Knowing that
the payoffs for place and show are lower, handicappers who bet
horses to finish in these positions generally try to overcome
the lower payoffs by picking a higher percentage of winners.
That being said, if you can pick a higher percentage
of winners, you can probably make a better profit betting on horse
racing - by betting to win.
CLICK
HERE TO BET ON HORSES NOW!
|