Horse Racing Betting Strategy by HorseRacer

Let's face it. Gambling, in this case, on horse races, comes with risks. And it is probably the one risk we are unwilling to make at times because it involves our money. There is, however, a very simple way to improve your odds of winning. It is called statistics.

In order to make any form of intelligent decision, one must first become acquainted with each of the associated risks and the value of each risk. Especially in the case of horse racing where a win or lose situation could mean a lot of money out of the pot or a lot of money into the pot. To assess the risks involved and to determine their worth, I will give you three simple tips. If, at the end of the article, you feel that you would like to learn more, please click this link or refer to the link in my biography.

Tip #1 - Research the entrants before-hand

Your goal here is to have a good background in each of the horse's history in terms of wins and loses. In order to assess the values of the odds offered (in tip #2), you must be able to pre-judge each of the horses in your own mind as to whether it is a viable horse to bet on or not, irrespective of their odds. This can be done through conventional means or through the internet. Feel free to strike up a conversation with a fellow horse-better to gain some valuable knowledge on the horses' statistics.

Tip #2 - Assess the odds

Each horse will have a specific odds (in the form of a ratio: 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, etc.). The odds placed on horses is created by the oddsmaker, who almost always has good knowledge about the horses, their statistics, and horse-racing in general. Your objective is to beat these oddsmakers at their own game. For now, just keep track of the odds of the various horses, preferably in written form. Both tip #1 and tip #2 is necessary before you can move on to tip #3 and improve your betting.

Tip #3 - Assess the value and type of bet

You have knowledge of each horse and you know the odds placed for the horses. What now? Now that you have the two most important pieces of information for each horse, you can piece together the significance or value of a specific horse and its odds. I will illustrate a purely hypothetical situation (this will never happen).

Assume a horse, Blazing Thunder, has the odds of 3:1. And you know, from researching, that Blazing Thunder has taken first, second, and third place quite a bit more than it has come in any of the other subsequent places. So, you can qualitatively decide that the odds of Blazing Thunder taking a winning position is highly in your favor. Also, referring back to Blazing Thunder's odds of 3:1, you know that if Blazing Thunder does win, you will be paid out at three times your initial bet amount minus any commission costs.

Now, this situation is completely unrealistic. A good horse will have a lower odds offered because too much winning in the better's favour will put the Sports Book out of business. However, this is the mentality you must keep. Gauge the relative performance of a horse in comparison to it's odds. Choose a few of the best horses that you think can win, systematically and logically. Don't leave it up to intuition unless you're clairvoyant.

There are a numerous amount of betting types. I will not describe all of them but I will describe the few which I believe are easy enough for the beginner but still has a decent winning opportunity. The most obvious one is the straight bet. This entire article was more generally focused towards straight betting. Straight betting just means that you bet on horses at given specified odds (created by the oddsmaker). You only collect your pot if your horse wins 1st place. The second betting type which I recommend is parlaying/accumulator betting or double betting. This allows you to choose the winners of several subsequential races all at once. With good planning, you can determine the winners of the races while not having to place bets more than once.

These are just the basic tips to help you become a better horse better. There are so many other things you could do in order to increase your chances of success. For better tips to help you become an expert horse better, I highly recommend the e-book in my biography or the link above. This book covers everything I have covered and tremendously more in great detail to help you become the better you always wanted to be.