Win Place and Show wagers
 

Does anyone know of a book or a paper on a GOOD on WPS strategy?

Thanks

RDSS users have spoken well of Sartin's "55% Solution"


I haven't read the book yet.



Mike

Sartin was quoted often to say, if the win odds are 9/2 or better, a place bet is a good move. I would DOUBLE the wager to place myself in that situation.

From what I understood from Howard, if one of your selections is over a certain odds, I can't remember the exact odds he told me, I want to say like 6-1 or something, but the idea is that you make your win bet on the longer odds horse, then you make a place bet of the same amount on that horse. He told me enough of these longer odds horses place that it is worth the bet. I typically bet exactas, so I do not make specific place bets.

I have known a couple of people that make show and sometimes place bets, and the ones that seem to be the most successful with the show bets use the parlay method over the course of a day. So they will pick 5 or 6 races off the card where they are pretty confident in a horse, then when the race comes up, if the horse is ok odds, like 2-1 or 3-1 or more, they will make their itm bet. They will then take the winnings and use that to bet on the next race. And so on. They either end up with nothing, or if the day goes well, end up with 3 to 5 times their starting money. I am not really into this type of betting, but some people like it and if they are successful with it, good for them.

Thanks, that helps I have a friend who bets WPS and I’m looking for a book about WPS money management
Thanks to all!!

FYI. the book 55% solution deals with exactas.

I would recommend the following:

Bet Smart, Win Big by Prentice Mannetter

Money Secrets at the Racetrack by Barry Meadow

Horse Racing Logic by Glendon Jones

Beat the Racetrack by William Ziemba

Basically, you should strive to have any bet you make show positive expected value. These books explain this concept in more detail.

Regarding place and show bets, the Ziemba book describes how to look for place and show overlays relative to win odds. Most of the time perceived overlays are arbitraged out by the time the odds are final.

Also, you are better off playing exactas on high odds horses rather than betting them to place and show. Reason: when a low priced favorite wins and your high odds horse places or shows, your payoff is dramatically affected, made even worse by breakage. Much better to use them underneath in exactas.

Bottom line, you need to overcome a roughly 20% takeout betting WPS. The betting public needs to make a significant mistake betting someone other than your horse (or horses) in order to achieve +EV. Good luck.

Richard

On occasion I will play a Win/Insurance wager I stumbled across online somewhere. If the horse i like is at least 5-1 (preferably higher) I would wager $2 win, $4 place and $12 to show. If the selection only shows and pays at least $3 you break even.

That is something similar to what Howard used to say.

Correct. Thank you. Just read the book. :)