Twin Spires Players Pool. What's your opinion?

[andymays]

Twin Spires is doing another players pool for the Kentucky Derby. They are capping it at 75K. Players can put in as little as $10 for a piece of the pool. I will not participate because it's not for me but I think it's good for people that like this sort of thing. The last time I remember them doing this was to invest 50K in a pick 6 and they ended up with two tickets with 5 for a few grand (I think).


http://www.twinspires.com/content/cu...cgi?affid=2800

My advice would be to put 50k to win on I Want Revenge and then key Tri's, Supers, and Super High 5's with him on top but that's just me.

Anyway, agree or disagree at least Twin Spires is innovative and it will be interesting to see the tickets they come up with prior to the race.

[startngate]

Originally Posted by andymays

Twin Spires is doing another players pool for the Kentucky Derby. They are capping it at 75K. Players can put in as little as $10 for a piece of the pool. I will not participate because it's not for me but I think it's good for people that like this sort of thing. The last time I remember them doing this was to invest 50K in a pick 6 and they ended up with two tickets with 5 for a few grand (I think).


http://www.twinspires.com/content/cu...cgi?affid=2800

My advice would be to put 50k to win on I Want Revenge and then key Tri's, Supers, and Super High 5's with him on top but that's just me.

Anyway, agree or disagree at least Twin Spires is innovative and it will be interesting to see the tickets they come up with prior to the race.

If memory serves, the biggest score was the first time they (AmericaTab at the time) did it. They had 5/6 several times at the '04 Breeders' Cup (it only paid 5/6 that year). Only horse they missed was Wilko, and if I remember the ticket he was the only horse they left out of the Juvenile.

Since then it's been a mixed bag. They've had a few that lost money and a few with decent scores. They also had the California Horse Racing Board refuse to let them do it on California Pick 6's, so that's why you don't see the pool very often anymore.

I always throw some money in for fun, but I hope they don't take your advice. I'm not that big a fan of IWR ... certainly not big enough to put 2/3's of my bankroll on his nose ...

[andymays]

Originally Posted by startngate

If memory serves, the biggest score was the first time they (AmericaTab at the time) did it. They had 5/6 several times at the '04 Breeders' Cup (it only paid 5/6 that year). Only horse they missed was Wilko, and if I remember the ticket he was the only horse they left out of the Juvenile.

Since then it's been a mixed bag. They've had a few that lost money and a few with decent scores. They also had the California Horse Racing Board refuse to let them do it on California Pick 6's, so that's why you don't see the pool very often anymore.

I always throw some money in for fun, but I hope they don't take your advice. I'm not that big a fan of IWR ... certainly not big enough to put 2/3's of my bankroll on his nose ...

With that much money they will have to spread. In my opinion it should be played the same as if it was $750 and not 75K!

[ryesteve]

Originally Posted by andymays

Twin Spires is doing another players pool for the Kentucky Derby. They are capping it at 75K.

Historically, how have they fared? I think if you just took your 10 bucks and made a show bet, your expected return would be higher.

[andymays]

Originally Posted by ryesteve

Historically, how have they fared? I think if you just took your 10 bucks and made a show bet, your expected return would be higher.

It's kinda fun to see what they play. As I said earlier I will not participate in it but the reason it's notable is that every Horseplayer wonders what it would be like to bet that much. Especially in the Pick 6.

[ryesteve]

Originally Posted by andymays

It's kinda fun to see what they play

Same here... and I love to see the discussions that go like, "How could they spend $75k on a ticket, and leave out <fill in the blank>?!"

[kyle2227]

I put $25 in just for the hack of it. But I am not holding my breath.

[rrbauer]

Originally Posted by kyle2227

I put $25 in just for the hack of it. But I am not holding my breath.

What part of $75K is $25? Do the Math: You would get more action giving the $25 to charity and taking the tax deduction. Everyone talks about how stupid the player pool thing is....where does the $75K come from....duh?

[rrbauer]

Well? Who got rich in this year's Player's Pool good thing? Haven't heard a peep from anyone let alone a crow! And, I know that nobody had six.

And, what about the big future-pool payoffs?

[andymays]

I completely forgot about this. I went to the site and didn't see any mention of their bets on Derby Day. Since we have Pick 6 and Super Hi-5 carryovers I assume they blew $75,000.

Update.. they hit 8 Pick-6 consolation tickets (5 of 6 payoff) for a gross return of $13,750.40

This Wednesday they want $100,000 for the carryovers at Churchill. I'll pass again and play it on my own!

[BombsAway Bob]

Originally Posted by rrbauer

What part of $75K is $25? Do the Math: You would get more action giving the $25 to charity and taking the tax deduction. Everyone talks about how stupid the player pool thing is....where does the $75K come from....duh?

IMO, It's Great marketing by TWIN SPIRES... they get their cut taking the bet regardless of outcome... BOOKIES shoulda thought of this one a long time ago!

[cmoore]

I've played in it a few times...Actually made a profit once. I think...They need to play more singles and just go for it..

[rrpic6]

As some of you might know, I was in the original Player's Pool in 2004, started by the fine folks at Beulah Park and Winticket.com. When Churchill Downs bought out Winticket and BRIS a few years ago, they kept the Player's Pool concept. I'm proud to say we had quite a run. In the years that I was involved, I'm estimating we doubled everyone's money, collecting 500K and giving back about a Million dollars. Some say "'BIG DEAL"! I say find any stockbroker in America that has doubled people's money in approximately 14 days, which is about how many times I was involved with Rich Nilsen from BRIS, along with Brad Anderson from Columbus, Stanley Bavish, and a few others that helped out. In the 2006 KY. Derby the Pick 6 paid about 125K, in 2007 we had 2 of the 4 tickets for about 500K. I always enjoyed the banter here on PA the times we did not win. I also tried to explain how the time constraints and computer problems encountered during the process.

In 2008, Twinspires made quite a few changes, including replacing myself with a different handicapper. Rich and myself hade tried to incorporate the Superfectas previously, as its payoffs were enormous in many Derbies. IMO, the Hi-5 is not a good idea, as the pool money is not enough to generate a big payout. I know Rich does the best he can to contruct the tickets in the allotted time. As the clock ticks, he must spend all the money collected. We would have liked to have had a computer program made up to separate our "A", "B", "C", selections, to have made hundreds of smaller tickets, but it never happened. I agree the "caveman ticket" sometimes looks ridiculous. However, we did single Street Sense in 2007 on one of the two winning tickets. We've also made blunders by singling Dylan Thomas on most tickets in the 2007 Breeders Cup! (Maybe that's why I got the boot)! Hope this helps out a little.

RR

[andymays]

As of 5:42 PST on Tuesday. Current Pool Total: $63,165.00 for Wednesday 5-6 @ Churchill Downs.

[andymays]

As of 4:50 am PST the Current Pool Total: $73,950.00.

Fields are kinda short so it's gonna be interesting how they construct their pick 6 ticket(s).