Exotic Betting: How to Make the Multihorse, Multirace Bets That Win Racing's Biggest Payoffs [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Written on a narrow topic and advertised as dealing solely with bet structuring (as opposed to selection), I expected the book to emphasize and detail strategies for maximizing potential return at appropriate levels of risk through the use of exotic wagering - the key principles of a disciplined and winning approach to the races. Simply put, I wanted to know when to add that extra horse to a trifecta ticket or when it made financial sense to leave off a vulnerable favorite in a leg of the Pick 4. In contrast, however, Exotic Betting is styled more as an introduction to exotic bet structuring for the beginner, and could be described as simply an extended and more in-depth version of a pamphlet handed out a track explaining simple horizontal and vertical strategies. This is, by no means, intended as an insult to the book or to Crist, and is more a warning to the veteran/professional player looking for advanced treatment of the subject. Indeed, the book is geared more toward the reader of Handicapping 101(which, incidentally, is a great introductory book) who routinely boxes trifectas and three-horse exactas than the reader looking to apply the principles of Fooled by Randomness or a hearty statistics tome to their wagering.

At its core, Exotic Betting contains a discussion of the basic strategies for both vertical (exacta, trifecta, and superfecta) and horizontal (daily double, pick three, pick four, and pick six) wagers. For the most part, the strategies are sound and provide a good, launching pad for deeper thinking about the exotics. In particular, Crist mentions the single, most important piece of advice for the exotics bettor: Exotics can not be used as a means to profit from an overall lack of clarity. This was a lesson that I learned in the early days of wagering, believing that I could use these bets as a replacement for difficult decision making. While you may occasionally reap the reward from this method, the bettor is typically not getting a return in accordance with the risk undertaken. And, at the core, that is what exotic betting is about -- finding ways to increase the return while managing risk -- all based upon your opinion and analysis of the race.

Unfortunately, Exotic Betting does not delve deeply into this fundamental dilemma - one in which the handicapping literature desperately needs more work. Indeed, one problem I have had in the past with other handicapping books was the failure of the authors to explore the rationales underlying certain decisions and attempt to discern general principles from specific examples - a key ingredient in the rigorous pursuit of knowledge. While Exotic Betting serves an introduction to the subject, more guidance and detailed exploration of the relation between risk and reward is sorely needed in any future text dedicated to exotic bet structuring. In looking at Crist's work, we can see the questions that need to be answered in an advanced treatment of the subject. For example, in devising his tickets for the Pick Four and Pick Six, he normally divides his horses into four groups - A's (likely winners), B's (horses that can win if the A's fail), C's (horses that could conceivably win, but are unlikely) and X's (eliminations). Based on these classifications, he then creates tickets with various combinations of the non-eliminated horses to cover a vast range of possibilities. While Crist gives some examples of his "Chinese Menu" selection process (e.g. three from Group A with one from Group C), there is no discussion of the reasons why certain combinations are used. As a result, the reader is left wondering why he determined that financial rewards are best served by these combinations, and how to make these adjustments to their wagers. The same problem occurs in discussing the amounts to bet on certain combinations. In fashioning his tickets, Crist mentions that when he plays a Pick Four ticket with four A's (the likeliest winners), he buys it four times to compensate for the lower payoff. Yet, much like the earlier discussion regarding the selection of combinations, no explanation is given on why or how these amounts were calculated. To the participant in the handicapping life, there is nothing worse than putting out capital at an undue amount of risk for the range and likelihoods of various returns, and, consequently, the horseplayer needs theoretical tools to help him assess when he has either overplayed or underplayed their capital.

Unlike the poker or chess player, whose shelves are filled with intellectual discussions of the finer points of the game, the advanced horse player looking for rigorous approaches to betting the game is still without much hope. Hopefully, in the coming years, an author - perhaps even Crist himself - will begin to develop the potential of the ideas in Exotic Betting, and bring much needed new insight to the advanced participant of the horse playing game. But, until that day, any player who finds himself boxing trifectas, baseballing exactas, or filling out a Pick 4 ticket with 2 horses in each leg, would be wise to pick up Exotic Betting to begin the process of deeper critical thinking.

I recently read this book. Even though nobody is going to read it and say, "Eureka! I can finally quit my job!" it still qualifies as a must-read.

His explanation of exotics will help a lot of people understand how exotics really work. (You probably think you already know that. <G>) I think more than a few people will see where they are going wrong and, perhaps, how to correct their approach.

I buy just about every horse racing book that comes along. The $20-30 is not important. It is what I may learn from a book versus the time it takes me to read and digest it. Most books I read are a total loss but admittedly I often check out by the third chapter. This is one I was glad I read.

Simply put, there aren't enough high quality books out there from a source such as Crist. Just order it.

Dave Schwartz

If you've ever picked nearly 37% winners over three months, or picked nine in a row, including a 15-1 shot, and still have gone home stooping for tickets in your Hanes, this book is for you.

Wise, relentlessly tested,"Exotic Betting" has an almost Buddhistic approach to thoroughbred wagering: Lose the ego, the King-of-the-Handicappers mentality, allow yourself to be wrong in the right spots and then bam, you're on your way.

Not since Andrew Beyer's "Picking Winners" 30 years ago has a book given horseplayers more hope. An obvious must.