A Birdcage?

[BIG RED]

I remember a few years back a discussion of a birdcage came up with a few older fellas. They talked how it used to be used in baseball and horseracing. I listened but they came up with different definitions. Does anyone remember exactly what a 'birdcage' bet is in horseracing? I know they both agreed that the bookies stopped taking them because it was a good way to beat them, if you knew what you were doing.

[BetHorses!]

Its a round robin bet

Horse A parlayed to Horse B
A " " C
B " ' C


Not many people know that term

[JustMissed]

Got this from the Dictionary of Gambling:

Bird Cage
The enclosure or place on a paceway where horses are marshalled and paraded for events. The identity brand of each horse is checked during the marshalling period. Also known as the enclosure.

They also gave the definition of round robin which is what the guy gave above.

The dictionary is pretty accurate so I don't think Bird Cage is a betting term. Since both terms are related to 'birds" maybe people get them confused.

JM:)

[BetHorses!]

Originally posted by JustMissed
Got this from the Dictionary of Gambling:

The dictionary is pretty accurate so I don't think Bird Cage is a betting term. Since both terms are related to 'birds" maybe people get them confused.

JM:)

See what I mean not many know it.

Its definitely a betting term. Mostly wiseguys use it.

[JackS]

Being from the west coast, it was only a few years ago in LV ,I heard the term "round robin". Must be common to the east coast.

[Jeff P]

Partial Win Parlay or Round Robin

You can still use the idea even if you can't find a bookmaker willing to take the bet. What you end up doing after cashing a winner is structuring a partial win parlay or round robin to subsequent plays you may have later in the day on the same card.

Why might this be a good idea? And why don't bookmakers offer this type of bet anymore?

Because if you get hot at one track you can make a killing.

How many times have we all run into the following scenario? You are playing several tracks on the same day. For whatever reason, biases, luck, etc. fate decides to smile on you and your selections do really well on ONE of the tracks you are playing. But your selections at the other tracks, perhaps for the same reasons, biases, luck, etc. just don't find their way to the winner's circle at all that day. When you average out your play for the day over each of the tracks you played you find that your results were typical and pretty much in line with historical expectations.

But what if you had a semi-mechanical way of playing that caused your attention to focus in on any track where your selections are performing really well on a given day?

You can do this using a partial win parlay or round robin. Let's say for example that you are a $10.00 win bettor (adjust the amount up or down based on your own bankroll and/or comfort level.) Let's also say that you are playing four tracks today. Let's say you arrive at the track or OTB having handicapped today's races and have identified four potential plays at each of the four Tracks for a total of 16 plays. Let's further say that experience has shown that you win about 25 percent of your win plays overall; so you might expect to hit 4 of your 16 plays on a typical day.

Let's say that your first win bet at Track A results in a win. Using a round robin or partial parlay approach what you do is skim off a profit (say 50 percent- but you can use any percentage that suits your taste) from that play and spread the rest equally among the remaining three plays at Track A. Meanwhile, your bets at Tracks B, C, and D all remain at the flat $10.00 that you would normally play until you have a win at that track. In that case, begin a new round robin at the new track.

At the end of the day, a likely outcome might be two wins each at Tracks A and B, and no wins at all at tracks C and D. If that is the case you end up substantially better off using a partial win parlay or round robin approach than if you had just bet $10.00 to win on all 16 plays.

Obviously there are many variations to this approach. What I like about it is that it tends to make me focus in on tracks where my selections are doing really well and bet less at tracks where my selections are faltering.

Food for thought.

[BIG RED]

OK, thanks guys. The guys I actually was talking to about this were 'wiseguys'. I can see why the would rather not cover something like this, people who keep their own records, most don't, could do well. And It is a type of bet.