Hollywood Park offers a bet I had never paid any attention to. I saw a friend at the track playing it a few weeks ago, and he was having a good time with it. I followed along, and then it dawned on me that this was my kind of bet!
It’s called the “place pick all”.
You pick one horse in each of the races run that day, and in each race, the horse you have picked must finish first (win) or second (place). The bet cannot carryover, so it’s paid out to the highest number of successful races. So, on a racing card with 8 races, if people pick 8 of 8 correct, it only pays out to the people who picked 8 of 8. If no one picks 8 of 8, then it pays out to the people who picked 7 of 8. If no one picks 7 of 8, it pays those who picked 6 of 8. Etc.
Recent payouts for the last 5 racing days at HOL:
- $1 Place Pick All [9 OF 9] Paid $733.10
- $1 Place Pick All [10 OF 10] Paid $6,677.10
- $1 Place Pick All [8 OF 8] Paid $387.10
- $1 Place Pick All [8 OF 8] Paid $1,284.10
- $1 Place Pick All [8 OF 10] Paid $1,628.50
For me, this bet is really fun because it requires hard work; you have to handicap all 8, 9, or 10 races ahead of time (before race 1). If I limit myself to, say, a $12 budget, then it’s a pretty cheap bet to play over and over. I played it last Sunday for the first time, and got 7 of 9 correct, and was hooked. I’m trying again today (I’m on vacation, so I had the time to handicap all 8 races today), and hope I do better and get paid.
[Update: I hit 6 out of 8 today. It paid 8 of 8 for over $5k. Looking at these payoffs, this is clearly a good bet to be playing, I think.]
