Quote from Maverick74:
That's false. Very few handicappers bet on horses to win. They bet on horses to place or show.
Quote from Swan Noir:
Mav, no real handicapper goes in with a preconcieved notion of whether the win, place or show bet has the edge. Each of the pools is unique and segregated and as post time approaches they can calculate within a range where the advantage lies.
Without the "order flow" into the individual pools (which cannot be known in advance) there is no way to know where the advantage lies. That said many expert handicappers will limit there calculation to only the win and show pools and have a bias for the show bet when the numbers stack up. The reason they prefer the show pool to be the advantaged one is that they are generally prepared to bet the horse to win but will gladly switch to the show bet if the step down in payout is even a shade less than their numbers show it should be.
Quote from Swan Noir:
Mav, I think you did say exactly this:
Very few handicappers bet on horses to win. They bet on horses to place or show.
Quote from stock777:
lol, cmon guys, you must be putting me on. Is it even possible that the ignorance runs that deep and wide.
Swan, what magic hat did you pull that one out of? Your description has nothing to do with what goes on at the track.
No serious player bothers with show, rarely with place and then only as as a saver bet.
The only ones bothering with the show pool are lunatics, old ladies, and scared money.