“Odds and Ends”

“Odds and Ends”

You will quite often here players say something like this, “I never bet on a horse going off at less than 3/1″ (or plug in whatever odds you want). Maybe you’ve said something like that, and believe that statement (or similar) can be made as an overall, all-inclusive, pronouncement.

In today’s game of consistently small fields at many of the tracks, some adjusting of thinking might be needed.

The basic thought here is this: are odds of, say, 5/2 the same value in a 5-6 horse field as in a 10-14 horse field? – “Well, heck yeah – it pays the same in both races, right?!” (I can hear someone say).

Yes – but to my way of thinking, a 5/2 shot in a 6 horse field might be a very good value bet that I’ll make, whereas if my top choice is off at 5/2 in a full field, it is simply far less attractive, and I will most often go elsewhere (using my second or third choices).

Why is it that a player feels (or should feel – and rightly so) that lower odds are generally to be avoided?

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