1st 3 The three I liked were between 5-2 and 7-2 in odds. Very tight. (One of the three won, and Vince was on his way).
Now let’s review the mathematics of Vince’s winning ticket. A (3 x 7 x 1 x 6) Pick-4 play is 126 combinations. Played in $2 tickets, that’s an investment of $252. This might be higher than some people’s budget allow. However, the nice thing about playing the Pick4 in New York is the minimum bet is only 50 cents. So, that same 126 combinations costs only $63 on a 50-cent ticket. Averaged out over the four races that equates to only $15 per race. Affordable for even beginning horseplayers.
And the payoff … for Vince’s $2 ticket the payout was $1,788 – equating to a return of almost exactly 6-1 based on the initial $252 investment. Had he played a 50-cent Pick-4, the payout would have been$447, still a 6-1 return.
Click here to read an article that explains the mathematics of Pick-X wagers and provides some examples of Pick-4 wagering strategies.
The important thing about this story is to demonstrate the variety in different horseplayer styles. Vince found one horse he could hang his hat on, then spread out in two other legs that he considered wide open. Finding a “single” in any Pick-4 sequence brings the cost of the ticket down considerably and with 50-cent minimum wagers, it can be made affordable for nearly all horseplayers.
I personally did not play the Pick4 on Belmont Day, and rarely do. My style is more geared toward Intra-race wagers (click here for more information on Intra-race vs. Multi-race wagers). Vince’s example shows there is more than one way to get the job done. The common bond that successful horseplayers share is understanding the sport and the fundamentals of handicapping races. From there the possibilities are endless.