Handicapping Question

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i don't know, but i was asking a legitimate question. why would you place two bets, knowing one is a loser? when playing exotics, i've seen some put a 1/2,3,4 for example. now, that makes sense. you have your winner, but you recognize one of several can come in second.
or i've seen some do 1,2/over one or more picks.
but, if you have $20 to play, why would you go 1-$10, 2-$10? i guess like some said, it would depend on the odds and how it would pay off. i just didn't think it was the best way to play $20.

Like Dunbar said, it's the same thing. Wheeling means that you're guaranteed to have losing tickets and are looking for one winner. In your 1/2,3,4 scenario, the three different exactas obviously can't all come in, so you're hoping for one of your three bets to be a winner. How is that any different from betting two or three horses to win?

Anything other than a straight wager is guaranteed to have losers in it. The idea is to maximize ROI when you don't have a super narrowed down opinion.