Looking for Value in Betting Pools

Author: Neha Agrawal

The availability of pool bets, especially in horse or dog racing, allows you to track the gambling action and possibilities. As your knowledge of each sport advances, you may well become aware of the way in which certain stables are bet in the tote betting pools, whether or not it is their money or just the overall gambling pattern. You will learn to use the knowledge you accumulate in watching the pool bets to know when each stable’s entrant is getting unusual action. You will know what it means and you’ll know what bets to make.

You can also look at several different betting pools for one particular race which will provide you with clues as to what the final odds will be. It’s possible that heavy early betting on a horse will drive his odds down to say, 1-5. But if you look in the multiple pool payoff possibilities, that horse may be getting bet at something like even money.

If you like that horse, you might think that you should put all of your money for that race into the multiple pool that was offering the better payoff. But more likely, the betting on the other horses will start to come in and the odds in the win pool will come up and be more reflective of the multiple pools.

This is important information, because it lets you proceed with a truer picture of what the final odds will be. In any pool bet, the odds being listed several minutes before an event goes off are not necessarily the odds you will end up receiving.

Planning your betting strategy based on what the final odds will be is important for many reasons. Not only might it help you decide on whether to bet through a pool or accept a fixed odd, it will also help you to decide what multiple bet to make.

Of course, sometimes it’s also reversed, with a multiple pool showing a wheel bet as a much worse proposition than a win bet. Chances are, this, too, will change before the race starts.

You should never rush to make a bet in a gambling pool based on what the odds are many minutes before the betting closes. Most of the time, the pools aren’t that large and one big bet will make the odds look strange. But eventually, the odds will usually get back in line before the event goes off.