Bernardini Match-Ups at Pinnacle
 

Bernardini -185 vs Field +169

Bernardini -236 vs Bluegrass Cat +210

-236 vs. BGC is giving away money. Thanks for the tip Rupert!

Why do they always make these types of match ups confusing? Why cant they just have one standard odds system like horse racing. I dont get it.

The Henny Hughes-Bernardini parlay is the free money tomorrow. You figure you can turn $2 into $6 pretty easily. Add a couple zeros and you can make a nice piece of change.

I'd much rather take Bernardini against the field and lay -185. BGC appears to be the only one with any chance of beating Bernardini. I would be shocked to see Bernardini beat BGC and still lose the race. If beat bernardini beat BGC, then he should win the race. so I'd much rather lay -185 than -236.

Most gamblers are used to either kinds of odds. The odds they gave are baseball odds or money-line odds for other sports.

I'll give you the approximate standard horseracing odds:

Bernardini 3-5 vs Field 8-5

Bernardini 2-5 vs BGC 2-1

Thanks Richi. I am ignorant when it comes to betting sports, so very unfamiliar with any kinds of odds besides the system used in horse racing.
Good luck tomorrow.

You are correct sir. I won't take either, but the value is on BGC of the two. Again, I think some of the other races offer more value.

Here is what it means. Let's say that the Yankees are at home and they're playing some crappy team. The yankees would probably -230. That means that you would have to bet $230 just to win $100. In other words, if you went up to a betting window in LAs Vegas and handed them $230 and the Yankees won, you would get back a total of $330. You would make a $100 profit.

If you wanted to bet the crappy team against the Yankees, the odds on the crappy team would probably be +210. That means you would make $210 for every $100 you bet. If you went up to the window and put $100 on the crappy team and the crappy team won, you would get back $310, meaning you would make a profit of $210.

I wasn't saying I would take BGC. I was saying that if you are going to bet Bernardini that you should bet him against the field.

Another way to explain it in "horse odds" lingo:

To Win: $100
Must Bet: $185

Horse Odds = $100 / $185
= $.54 to $1

I have a question....

If you take Bernidini and he scratches, I assume "No Action." What happens if the "field" has one or more scratches including, say, BG Cat?

This isn't really my thing, but if you think Bernidini is going to be 1/2 or less and you are protected if he scratches AND your action holds in a short field if BG Cat scratches, then it's fairly interesting.

Unless they specify otherwise, a scratch from the Field will not void the bet. You will also see something like "Bluegrass Cat must start" as part of the Field line, but Pinnacle did not do that.

When a single horse is part of the matchup, like Bernardini, then you are correct that his scratch would void the bet.

Nice job explaining the odds, btw.

--Dunbar

Maybe I should add that STS's example is for -185. For any negative number, the number is the amount you have to bet to win $100.

When the number is positive, such as +169, then the number is the amount you win if you bet $100.

--Dunbar

-185 is odds of 100/185, or 0.54 to 1. To break even, you'd have to win that bet 1/(1+0.54) = 65% of the time.

-236 is odds of 100/236, or 0.42 to 1. To break even, you'd have to win that bet 1/(1+0.42) = 70% of the time.

So, the question is, do the other horses (besides Bernardini and BGC) have a combined 5% chance to win the race? If the other horses have more than a combined 5% chance to win the race, then the -236 on Bernardini vs BGC is the better bet.

For example, if each of the "other" horses' fair odds are 60-1, then it would be better to take the -236 bet vs BGC. (60-1 means about 1.7% chance to win, and 4 x 1.7% is almost 7%. That's bigger than 5%)

That's ignoring the chance that one or more field horses (besides Kip) scratches, however.

--Dunbar

too short to catch
 

call me crazy but I think Bernardini is a bad bet tomorrow

I see Minister's Bid giving him a target
but then I also see Blue Grass Cat pressing him
with Hesanoldsalt plodding along hoping that Minister's Bid & High Cotton gives him something to run at.

I'm not rooting against. I'm jus saying it wouldn't take a whole lot for Blue Grass Cat to upset Bernardini
and I would be happy if Hesanoldsalt hit the board

could happen

they don't call Satoga the graveyard of champions for nothing

I think what I wrote in that post has been verified by the line movement at Pinnacle. Both Bernardini matchup lines have moved, but the line vs BGC has moved much more.

Bernardini is now -193 (previously -185) to beat the Field. But he is -281 (previously -236) to beat BGC. The bettors have been jumping (more) on the matchup vs BGC. The current odds imply an 8% chance of one of the other horses (besides BGC) finishing in front of Bernardini. I think that's more realistic than the 5% chance that was implied from the odds last night. I think the actual chance is probably bigger than even 8%.

--Dunbar