To many people, playing the state lottery is as far as their knowledge goes on how gambling works. Most do not understand poker or blackjack and think all other forms of gambling are complicated ways to lose money. For this reason, they do not realize that exotic horse wagers are a lot easier. Exotic wagers might not be as simple as playing the state lotto, but that does not mean that they are incomprehensible. With a little bit of advice, you can move from beginner to advance just by familiarizing yourself with the exotic horse betting ideas.
Beyond your basic wagers
When you are just starting out at the track, you may visit in person and place your bet with the clerk. Those first bets are often oriented around your basic win, place, or show. Once you have these general principles under control, you can move on to your more advanced bets to what are known as exotics. These can be intimidating at first but do not need to be compared to checkers versus chess.
Are exotic bets easier to win?
When it comes to upping the ante and going through with placing your first exotic horse wager, you can start to wonder what the odds will be. In general, you can assume that you will not be able to master the ways to win an exotic wager right away.
Since you are only investing a few dollars, betting a low amount can be the best way to ensure you do not make any serious mistakes. Regardless, after a few tries most people find that they have mastered the exotic system of horse betting.
What to expect from exotic wagers
In horse racing, there are many standard terms that you will hear when it comes to placing a bet. For example, the types of exotic wagers are superfecta, trifecta, exacta, pick six, pick three, and the daily double. All of these are variations on the standard wagers that are called win, show, and place.
If you do not understand the standard wagers, it can be difficult to know how to interpret the terms win, show, and place when they are used to describe the exotic wagers.
Your first exotic wager
The first thing that most people understand about exotic versus standard wagers is that exotics tend to pay off in a higher dollar amount and that you accept more risk. For beginners, most will move up into exotic bets with the exacta bet. Exactas are a combination of the standard win and place wagers. In exacta, you bet two horses and they must finish first and second in order.
Once you are feeling confident with the exacta, you can move on to the tripling and quadrupling options of trifecta and superfecta. A trifecta will involve betting on three horses to finish in first, second and third place in that exact order. This means that you make a win, place, and show bet. A superfecta is four horses that you must pick how they will win, place, and show.
Variations on basic exotic wagers
There is one type of exotic wager than many people will wonder about due to the out of place name. Exacta makes a lot of sense to most people because you are placing a precise bet and that is very “exact”. However, when you hear the term quinella, you should not be alarmed.
It is simply a part of the exacta realm of wagers that is based on the exacta. To place a quinella bet, you are still picking two horses to finish first and second, but they do not need to be in that order. In other words, it is an exacta bet without needing to be exact.
Covering your tracks with the box
If you are having a hard time making up your mind, there is one way to place an exotic horse wager that involves paying a little bit of extra money in order to ensure they you corner every possible win. Naturally, this will cost you a little bit more money. However, when it is difficult to decide with so many good horses in one race, a box is the way to do it.
For example, you bet a trifecta on horse 5 to finish first, horse 9 to finish second, and horse 2 to finish third. If you are not sure if they are going to finish in that order, you can buy a box that covers all the angles. This way, if horse 5 finishes third, horse 7 finishes first, and horse 2 finishes second — you still win. Of course, instead of costing you $3 for 3 plays, you would bet $9.
Multiple races mean multiple picks
Once you get a handle on exotic horse wagers, you can start to win, show, and place with other races at the same time. This, naturally, can be difficult for a beginner and takes a lot of organization. With a pick 3 wager, you pick the three races and designate the first place winner of each. For pick 6, you do the same thing. Of course, this is a good place to start taking learning about favorites seriously. In general, a favorite has a 30% chance of winning.