Hey Fairmount,
To answer your questions, it depends.
90% of the time I\'m really more of a Win plus Exacta player in the vertical pools. Depending upon the situation I\'ll probably use the Exacta to try to make some more money if I am dead right about the race, or as a saver in case my win bet takes 2nd. Other than big days or big races I probably don\'t play a Tri very often. For me there\'s no need to, I can\'t see the will pays and there\'s always IRS paperwork to consider on anything over 600-1 or $5k on one ticket.
With respect to the Tri example, in this context I was talking about a situation where you really like a longshot. I would typically not go the ALL button route with a favorite. And no matter what, if I hit all I probably also have put a few other tickets in with more money on the combos that I actually like. And even then, If I am playing the Tri I am probably playing a Win Bet and an Exacta Bet as well. Not always (such as big racing days), but probably.
The big thing to remember is that once a horse is beat they often spit the bit or the jock will try to save something. The object of the EX or TRI is not to pick the 2 or 3 best horses. It\'s to pick the horses that are going to finish 1-2 or 1-2-3. So in general, I think there can be more chaos for the underneath spots.
I would consider a backup B/A/B depending upon how much I liked the A horse, the B horses and what their odds were. It just depends. But I am usually willing to just lose and move on rather than try to cover myself. You can\'t spread your money out all over the place or you will win and lose at the same time. And if you stay focused, you may hit less often but when you do hit it will pay more. A lot of how you play really depends upon your psyche. Can you handle going 0-20 on a given week and still not go on tilt, or do you need cash a few tickets along the way. For me, I\'m usually pretty good about letting go and moving on. But some beats are worse than others and for whatever reason I seem to be sort of streaky at times.
With regards to your 2nd point, it\'s tough to say which pool will offer the most value. It really depends upon the situation and what you are trying to do. But in general if I really like a 10-1 or a 15-1 that I don\'t think is going to get a lot of play from the crowd, why not play it win, in the EX, TRI, Pick 4, Pick 3, DD and try to crush the race. By spreading your money in the pools you aren\'t playing against yourself as much. There\'s nothing worse than dropping a 10-1 down to 5/2 with a big win bet. Why not drop it down 7-1 and put some of your money in the other pools and try play against the crowd as much as you can. And if you want to it\'s ok to back yourself up a bit as well in case they you run second so long as you still feel the payoffs will be decent.
As an aside, I rarely box anything because a box is a balanced bet, and it\'s not often that I have a balanced opinion on two or more horses. And even when I do rate them equal they usually aren\'t paying equally. So to me a box is usually a bad way to do it, or at least a lazy way. If you\'ve got a balanced opinion on and EX that is paying $50 one way $80 the other, instead of boxing why not bet 8 units on $50 and $5 units on the $80. Or if you are leaning a bit more one way than the other why not play it a little more that way. Especially if that is the way that is paying higher $.
Hope this makes sense.
