fun article on show betting

[dilanesp]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/more/la-sp-santa-anita-show-bet-20161221-story.html

[thespaah]

Never gave this a thought. However, on Whitney Day lest summer, seven of us decided to do a show parlay.
Normally those guys leave it up to the guy holding the ticket, this was done in rotation, we decided to make it a community decision. We were three deep in the parlay and up a combined $1,000 or so. We decided on a horse. Most of the guys walked away to do their thing. Make other bets as did i...Well the horse we decided on places third and pays $4. However the guy holding the ticket decides on his own to change the horse on which to bet. Needless to say, 2 grand divided by 7 is nice pocket money...The change of the horse did not bother me. it was the why. This guy said " I could not bet that ( our horse) because the jockey "effed me last race"...I thought to myself "you stupid (expletive) this is not personal. This is business."
I lost just $20. That wasn't the point. One clear path to failure in betting on the races is taking things outside the actual science of handicapping. Once one starts adding in their personal views and allow that to interfere with the cold hard reality of making money, they are doomed.
I really wanted to down dress this guy, but ya know my inner Mr Discretion took over and I buttoned my lip.....Anyway, show parlays CAN work.

[pondman]

However the guy holding the ticket decides on his own to change the horse on which to bet. Needless to say, 2 grand divided by 7 is nice pocket money...The change of the horse did not bother me. it was the why. This guy said " I could not bet that ( our horse) because the jockey "effed me last race"...I thoug.

That's one of the issues of playing in a group. i belong to a group that was ahead $145,000 (verticals) and one of our group members was getting a divorce. His soon to be ex got a court order for our paperwork. Served us and sued us. We had to pay of this guys ex wife.

[098poi]

From the beginning of the article. Referencing Felix and Oscar from "The Odd Couple".

“Felix and Oscar go to the races,” White recalls. “And Oscar tells Felix he can make a show bet and his horse only has to finish in the top three.”




"So Felix says, ‘You mean you can bet on a horse and he can lose the race and you can still win money? And you’ve been losing money all these years?’”




Classic!