Pinnacle Woes

[Jeff P]

Pinnacle Site is Down

Pinnacle site went down at the exact moment I was trying to catch the 2 in race 6 at AQU. Horse won and paid $21.40.

Site was up and running 10 minutes later. A case of the site being down just long enough and at the right time to shut me out of one good play and the AQU late pick-4.

Intersting thing is, while they were down, I called them wanting to phone in some bets for the remainder of the day just in case they can't get the site up and running again. Even though their site is down, and I asked for special consideration I was told that phone bets don't qualify for a rebate.

Oh the joys some days of playing online.

[InsideThePylons-MW]

A word to the wise......

Someone who is remotely serious about betting horses should always have more than one option.

You are obviously new to the game. This happens everywhere. I can't tell you how many times I've been on track and couldn't bet because the machines/tote system was down. Online it happens. Phone it happens.

What happens if your ISP would go down? Would you blame Pinnacle for that too? Obviously you like the 7% rebate but that doesn't mean that you can't keep another account funded. You live in CA so obviously you have numerous wagering options.

Stop whining about Pinnacle and blame yourself for putting all your eggs in one basket regarding options to place your bet.

[toetoe]

Jeff,
Whine all you want, it's what we horsey types do, after all. As to rebates, I heard of a site that gave up to 5% rebate on phone bets. Thought it was Pinnacle, maybe it's history. Anyway, very pistifyin' to get shut out like that.

[Jeff P]

You raise some good points. I actually have a backup ISP just in case. Funding a second account somewhere else as a backup is a pretty good idea. Thanks for the suggestion. And yes, I've been shut out numerous times in the past both online and at the track. Mostly at the track. Which is partly why I started playing online. It happens less often online. But it still happens occasionally. And I'll even bet that it will happen again. More often than not, at least resently, it seems to be happening with winning tickets- not losing tickets. Trouble is, I'll never get used to it and I'll never like it. Sometimes whining about it helps me to blow off a little steam.

[keilan]

There were a couple races I wish I’d have gotten shutout of today, I was pistified.
Gotta get me a pinnacle account. :cool:

[kingfin66]

There were a couple races I wish I’d have gotten shutout of today, I was pistified.
Gotta get me a pinnacle account. :cool:

I feel your pain.

[Zaf]

I was one of the lucky ones tonight, I was shut out twice at Pen :D

ZAFONIC

[legs]

How did you come up with the #2 in the 6th. I was using out of the box udm and it gave me the #1. Am I doing somthing wrong.I see it was 3rd choice.Thanks

[midnight]

In addition to Pinnacle, you might consider BetEhorse as a second offshore and possibly YouBet for a U.S. source.

As for another ISP for a backup, MaGlobe offers a dialup $15 account that's good for one year or about 1000 minutes, whichever comes first, --- probably more than anybody with a reliable primary ISP would need as a backup. It's no good for streaming video, but it'd work for betting online. A good cheap monthly is All2Easy ($5 a month). It's slow, but it will also get the job done for betting.

[Buckeye]

http://www.viphorses.com/

[Zaf]

Been with Betehorse for over a year now, no complaints.

ZAFONIC

[Jeff P]

Legs,

I'm gusessing you're using a TSN file.

Using a Bris File, the 2 was the program's 2nd choice with estimated fair odds of about 3-1 and was also picked up by one of my personal UDMs. At 9-1 on the tote board I thought the horse was a great bet.

The 1, the program's top choice with estimated fair odds of about 5-2 was only 7-5 on the tote board. To my way of thinking this would be a situation to avoid.

So I played the 2 (or tried to anyway.)

[legs]

I,m using bris but did see it as the second pick. Where do I find the fair odds of the second pick or any other horse with your program. the Text report only gave me the top picks fair odds of which I did laid off because of the low odds. thanks Phil.

[Jeff P]

Legs,

When I say the program's second choice, I'm looking at assigned probability on the HTML Report. Fair Odds derived from that probability is shown just beneath that.

Here's how the top 4 in the field were rated according to fair odds:
Horse Prob OL Final Odds Result
1 +SHAKE YOU UP 0.2191 3.5 1.45 2nd
2 +CHOSEN HERO 0.2105 3.8 9.70 1st 21.40
1A SILK SPLENDOR 0.1828 4.5 1.45 3rd
5 GOING COMMANDO 0.0921 9.9 3.85 4th
Looking at the race this way, the 2 offers the most value. Thus, my attempted bet.

As an aside, the 1 and 1A were coupled. I've often wondered about the best way to set an odds line for an entry. I suppose you could make the case for adding the two probabilities together and deriving an odds line for the entry based on the sum. Doing it that way, fair odds for the entry could be thought of as 1.49 - 1 calculated as follows:

Fair Odds = [1 / (.2191 + .1828)] - 1

= [1/(.4019)] - 1

= 1.49
Personally I never look at entries that way. Playing short priced horses makes me nervous. Really nervous. I'm one of those guys with a mantra of bet a little to win a lot. I just really hate to rate anything lower than 5-2. So in my head (not my software) fair odds on the entry becomes 2.40 - 1 which is just a shade below 5-2.

I hope I'm making some sense.






.

[BIG RED]

Jeff, when you tried to place a bet by phone with pinny, did they say you had to bet a min. per race? I thought I read like $100 or $200 in their rules, but haven't been forced to phone one in yet. And, I have 4 different accts.

BIG RED
.....spreading the wealth all over

[Jeff P]

Red,

When I called in I knew ahead of time about their min amount per call. I just wanted to avoid getting shut out the rest of the day and mistakenly thought, given they knew the site was down, they would have been offering the rebate on phone wagers while the site was down.

[Valuist]

A friend of mine who just opened up an account there about 10 days ago was told that his account has been suspended. The only thing I can think is that he used a credit card, and the CC company found out. I don't know of too many US credit card companies who will allow sending money to an offshore wagering outlet.

[BIG RED]

Some CC's won't do it, others it comes up as a cash advance, and some as a purchase. That I was told. Of course, you would want it as a purchase.

[GMB@BP]

But most allow you to put money into western union or a nettellar service, from there its none of their concern anymore.

[kingfin66]

It's really irritating how the CC companies work. They won't let you make a transaction with an offshore gaming institution, but they will will let you take cash advances no questions asked. With that cash advance, you can do many wonderful, or not so wonderthings, such as but not limited to: going on a nice vacation, improving your home, fine dining, buying a car, buying drugs, or gambling.

[Valuist]

I guess it wasn't the credit card. They said he needs to change his password. I wonder if somebody tried to hack his account.

[cj]

My experience with credit cards on line is they either take them or they don't, but you find out right away. I used my check card with Pinnacle, a VISA, and didn't have a problem.

[BillW]

It's really irritating how the CC companies work. They won't let you make a transaction with an offshore gaming institution, but they will will let you take cash advances no questions asked. With that cash advance, you can do many wonderful, or not so wonderthings, such as but not limited to: going on a nice vacation, improving your home, fine dining, buying a car, buying drugs, or gambling.

I thing the credit card cos. got tired of people refusing to pay bad gambling debts run up on the net. Even with the interest they charge, some loans are considered too high of a risk.

Bill

[Valuist]

CJ-

Is that a Visa from a US bank or a European bank? When I opened my Pinnacle account, my Visa card was denied. From other sports bettors I've talked to, only a very few US credit card companies will allow this. I ended up Western Union-ing the money.

[cj]

It's US, though like I said, its a check card. It is my money, not credit, so maybe that is the difference. I remember trying to use a credit card with BRIS online, but they wouldn't take it until I called on the phone, then it was fine.