BETTING COMBINATIONS VS. BOXED BETS

Betting on the horse races requires a degree of skill - it is not just left to chance.  Even a person with the most basic of handicapping skills at some point realizes that certain horses in a given race have a BETTER chance of winning than the others.  Each horse in a given race does NOT have an equal chance of winning.

With that being said, the same should hold true for the horses in a 10-cent superfeca boxed bet.

Each horse in the boxed bet theoretically does not have an equal chance of winning.  If each horse had an equal chance of winning, then the results would be left to chance and boxing bets would make perfect sense.

Let’s take a look at a 10-cent superfecta four-horse box bet which costs $2.40.  It is made up of four $.60 betting combinations as shown below:

 

Combination #1

Combination #2

Combination #3

Combination #4

A

B

C

D

B C D

A C D

A B D

A B C

B C D

A C D

A B D

A B C

B C D

A C D

A B D

A B C

Cost: $.60

Cost: $.60

Cost: $.60

Cost: $.60

 

This boxed bet gives each horse A B C and D an equal chance of winning which is hardly ever the case.  Let's do a little reasonable handicapping and come to the simple conclusion that maybe Horse D has no real chance of winning the race.  You could now save the $.60 that was invested on Combination #4 above.  That is 25% of your money.
 

Let’s take this one step further and now conclude that Horse A and B have the best chance of winning the race, that horse C will finish no better than 2nd and that horse D from above will finish no better than 3rd.   Using this information we can build the 10-cent superfecta betting combination shown below:
 

New Combination

A B

A B C

A B C D

A B C D

Cost: $.80

 

As you can see we still used the same four horses, but the cost has been reduced to only $.80 because we did a little reasonable handicapping.  Now let's take the remaining $1.60 and build on this new combination created above.  I have selected two $2.40 betting combinations to illustrate:

 

Example #1

Example #2

A B

A B

A B C

A B C

A B C D E

A B C D

A B C D E

A B C D E F

Cost: $2.40

Cost: $2.40

 

 

In Example #1 an extra horse (Horse E) could be added into the third and fourth positions to get more coverage.  In Example #2 a fifth and sixth horse (Horses E and F) can be added into the fourth position to get more coverage.

By doing some reasonable handicapping and investing your $2.40 in a betting combination you can give yourself a "margin for error".  This is much better than investing in a four-horse box which is "all or nothing".


If you want to learn more about building 10-cent superfecta betting combinations, be sure and get my booklet, The 10-Cent Superfecta Betting Guide.

 

Paul Lambrakis

December 10, 2006