Wouldn't it be nice if you could get yourself a nice little Christmas present of a winning system and head into the New Year all bright and smiling in the knowledge that profits would be coming your way for the next 12 months?
Of course it would-and no-one more than me likes to play Santa Claus to the average punter. This is why I believe I can bring those happy smiles to the faces of P.P.M. readers, those readers who fall into the ranks of what are commonly called 'the little punters', the real backbone of racing in Australia.
The lament of punters everywhere, not only in Australia, is that the small bettor hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of making any big bucks from small bucks outlays. This is true, but only to a certain extent.
There are ways that you can maximise your small outlays. Space prevents me from going into them here, but I am going to pass on to you a staking method I've been savouring for some years now, waiting for the right moment to release it to PPM's faithful flock.
As it's our Christmas issue-the seventh Christmas we've celebrated with P.P.M. readers-I reckon it's the right time to tell you all about it. The headline says it all-19 chances for just a $6 outlay! And all you are betting on are three horses in two separate races!
Can you believe it? It's true. I passed on the idea to my colleague Brian Blackwell a month or two back and he asked a friend of his, the principal of a State primary school, whether he could believe so many chances existed from such a $6 bet and, frankly, he was amazed.
What the staking method calls for is for you to select two races as a double. You can choose any races you like because the double is basically an all-up. You also have three win bets on the horses chosen.
Okay, let's get straight into it and list the requirements. You need those two races. You can, if you like, pick sets of two races if you wish to operate on more than one combination in a day. But for the purposes of this explanation I'll assume just the one 'double' for the day. We call them Race 1 and Race 2 (original, eh!).
In Race 1, you select just one horse. We call it Horse A. In Race 2, you select two horses. We call them Horse B and Horse C. The idea is to bet them for a win and then link them in each-way doubles. Simple so far, right? The next move is to put in the staking and this is going to cost you just $6, using a unit as $1. just $6.
The betting is as follows:
RACE 1: Horse A One unit win.
RACE 2: Horse B Half unit win.
RACE 2: Horse C Half unit win.
So far, then, we have outlaid $2. Horse A has been backed with $1 and you have put 50 cents each on Horses B and C. (Now in some cases you will not be able to place a 50c bet; what happens is that you merely place $1 each on Horses B and C, pushing your total outlay to $7).
We come now to the doubles angle of the play. It goes as follows:
Horses A and B: 1 unit win double.
Horses A and B: 1 unit place double. Horses A and C: 1 unit win double.
Horses A and C: 1 unit place double.
As you can see, the bet is $1 on each double, for win and place. In other words, 1 unit each-way doubles. This makes up your $6 bet (or $7 as the case may be). That's all there is to it. But what fun you can have with such a simple bet, as you will soon see.
What you have done is chosen a 'banker' special in Race 1 and coupled it with two solid chances in Race 2. You've bet for a win and you've coupled the trio in doubles. If that banker gets home you are in with a good chance of coming out of the whole thing with a decent profit.
But first, let's examine those possible outcomes. The possible combinations of results are as follows:
- A wins and B wins--C places 2 win singles, 1 win double, 2 place doubles.
- A wins and C wins-B places 2 win singles, 1 win double, 2 place doubles.
- A wins and B wins--C loses 2 win singles, 1 win double, 1 place double.
- A wins and C wins-B loses 2 win singles, 1 win double, 1 place double.
- A wins and B places-C places 1 win single, 2 place doubles.
- A wins and B places--C loses 1 win single, 1 place double.
- A wins and C places-B loses 1 win single, 1 place double.
- A wins and B loses--C loses 1 win single.
- B wins and A places--C places 1 win single, 2 place doubles.
- B wins and A places--C loses 1 win single, 1 place double.
- B wins and C places-A loses 1 win single.
- B wins and A loses--C loses 1 win single.
- C wins and A places-B places 1 win single, 2 place doubles.
- C wins and A places-B loses 1 win single, 1 place double.
- C wins and B places-A loses 1 win single.
- C wins and A loses-B loses 1 win single.
- A places and B places--C places 2 place doubles.
- A places and B places-C loses 1 place double.
- A places and C places-B loses 1 place double.
What a neat little staking method this is. It combines daring and safety at the same time. It offers you the prospect of some excellent returns, while at the same time holding out much hope that some patterns of results will get you back all your stake or at least some of it.
Why not look now at an example. Let's say your banker in Race 1 paid $5 (place $2) on the TAB. Your other two horses in Race 2 also were paying $5. Horse A in Race 1 wins, as does Horse B in Race 2. Horse C runs a place ($2) in Race 2. You have the perfect result. You are on two win singles, a win double and two place doubles.
Your return would be as follows:
Race 1: Horse A 1 unit win, return $5.
Race 2: Horse B Half unit win, return $2.50.
Race 1 and 2 win double A and B.. $5 x $5 equals $25 return.
Race 1 and 2 place double A and B: $2 x $2 equals $4 return.
Race 1 and 2 place double A and C: $2 x $2 equals $4 return.
Total stake: 6 units, total return 40.5 units.
Profit: 34.5 units.
Admittedly, this is the ultimate scenario as far as the winning combinations are concerned, and I have chosen good prices for all three horses (4/1 chosen only because it's simple to explain). But what if Horse C had lost? Well, you'd still have your two win singles up on A and B, you'd still have your win double and you'd still have one place double. The profit is still very high.
What if Horse B had placed and Horse C had lost? You would have Horse A winning, and you'd have a place double of A into B. Still a profit to be made! If all you got was A placing and B placing you'd have just the one place double but even it would have left you with only a two-unit loss on the whole transaction.
A few friends of mine use this method regularly, and they like to take one good-priced 'value' horse in the second leg, just to add some oomph to proceedings. Your 'banker' should be a truly top chance, though I would refrain from hitting hotpots at very short prices. A cut off point of around 2/1 should be ideal. Don't get below that too often.
If you were lucky enough to score with, say, a $3 winner in the first leg and with, say, a $9 chance in the second, with the third horse in the second race running a place and paying $1.50, the outcome would look like this:
Race 1: Horse A 1 unit win, return $3.
Race 2: Horse B Half unit win, return $4.50.
Race 1 and 2: Horses A and B 1 unit win double, $3 x $4.50 equals $13.50 return.
Race 1 and 2: Horses A and B 1 unit place double, $1.50 x $2.25 equals return $3.30. Race 1 and 2: Horses A and C 1 unit place double, $1.50 x $1.50 equals return $2.25. Total Stake: 6 units, total return $26.55, profit $20.55.
If we took a more cautious appraisal,using short-priced horses, we n-Light get the following outcome, assuming Horse A pays $2 a win and $1.20 a place, and Horse B pays $2 a win and $1.15 a place, and Horse C pays $1.30 a place.
Race 1: Horse A 1 unit win, return $2.
Race 2: Horse B half unit win, return $1.
Race 1 and 2: Horses A and B 1 unit win double, return $4.
Race 1 and 2: Horses A and B 1 unit place double, $1.40 return (approx).
Race 1 and 2: Horses A and C 1 unit place double, return $1.50 (approx).
Total stake: 6 units, total return $9.90, total profit $3.90.
Don't sniff your nose at that $3.90 profit. It works out to 65 per cent profit on turnover. Put it another way: If you'd been betting in $10 units you would have won $39. Translate this to 12 months (52 weeks) and you have a turnover of $3120 and a profit of $2028. In $100 terms ... well, multiply that figure by 10 and you get more than $20,000 profit. And all this from two short-priced winners and a short-priced placegetter!
The cluey punters among you will recognise the beauty of this little 19-Ways approach. It has much going for it. Some of you may like to select a few 'sets' of two races for the day--one double in Sydney, one in Melbourne and the third in Brisbane.
There's a chance you could 'land' all three sets and really come up trumps. I pass on this method, then, as my Christmas present to P.P.M. readers. Operate it sensibly, with solid selections, and you'll have a great deal of fun, I'm sure.
By Statsman
PRACTICAL PUNTING - DECEMBER 1991