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Since no one goes to sporting events, what to do in Miami?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by bigpern23, Jan 24, 2013.

  1. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    Harness racing too.
     
  2. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Excellent. Exactly.
     
  3. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Don't really get it. It's pari-mutuel, meaning the "house" gets the same percentage no matter what.

    If it is indeed crooked, all you have to do is guess the crooked winning combination instead of guessing the on-the-level winning combination.

    And the odds of guessing each are the same. Roughly.

    All that being said, those industries are barely breathing today. Doesn't seem like there is enough handle to make it worthwhile to make it crooked, let alone the risk of driving away the handful of customers you have left.
     
  4. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    Not when the players are fixing the matches and betting on the winners.
     
  5. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    But you have the same chance of picking the "fixed" winner as you do any other winner. It's all combinations and rotations anyway. The "best" player or team may not win simply because it was No. 7 and didn't get a second chance through the rotation. And 80% is coming back to the bettors no matter what combination wins.

    If I like the 5-2 . . . maybe the 5 is fixed to win. I know it sounds crazy to say "It really doesn't matter," but in jai-alai it really doesn't matter.
     
  6. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    I honestly don't know. I've just heard that jai alai and dog racing are crooked.
    I don't know much about either one.

    If I'm betting on something that I don't know much about, I'd rather it be on the level. Existing info is likely to make more sense to me.
    Seems like you would have to have more understanding of a crooked event to wager on it.

    Granted, wagering on events about which you know very little automatically sets you up for a very low success rate.
     
  7. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Jai-alai is like no other sport in that the win-place-show players are rarely the 3 best players.

    In jai-alai, in theory, the 5-6-7 players are the best. But because the 5 (if he wins) has to play the 6, one of them has to lose, knocking that team to the bottom of the rotation with 1 or 0 points. That player may never get a chance again, because the game may be over before his next turn comes up. Thus, a 5-6-7 winning combination is extremely rare. It's mathematics and rotations.

    The weaker 1-2-3-4 players also knock each other off in the first round, but they almost always get a second chance in the rotation, and because points are doubled after the first round, they can often win the game on their second go-around.

    I was addicted to this game for a few months many years ago. Highly recommend it as a way to kill 2-3 hours in South Florida.

    The great thing about jai-alai is that the games take about 15-20 minutes, and there is only 3-4 minutes to bet between games.

    Horse racing is the opposite. Races take 2 minutes, and there is a godawful 20 minutes between races.
     
  8. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Horse racing is the one wagering event I enjoy even though migh understanding is not great.
    I'm better than the average person off the street, but far from knowledgable.
    But horse racing is fun because you go with a buddy to the track or the parlor. You have some drinks and make some small wagers.
    At least that's how I do it as a dabbler.
     
  9. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    Greyhound racing is the easiest to handicap. Just bet the last dog to pee.
     
  10. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    I've been to the dog track a couple of times, but the most recent times was almost 15 years ago.

    Been to cock fights several times, but only in places where it's legal.
     
  11. waterytart

    waterytart Active Member

    Stone crab shortage this winter. They're pricier, when available, in the fish shops. Don't know if Joe's menu reflects this.
     
  12. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    There's this Spanish-speaking Weis I walked into after taking two or three inopportune turns one night in downtown Miami. That was good for a story or two.
     
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