Placepot Analysis by David Renham

I have always felt the placepot is something that I should pay far more attention to. The reason for this I suppose is simple – the placepot is one of those rare bets in uk horse racing where you are betting against other people – there is no bookmaker involved, so it is your opinion against everyone else’s opinion. Hence giving a level playing level, and knowing that several ‘placepotters’ treat it as a fun bet, there should be money to be made. However, the Tote make life extremely difficult by taking out about 27% of the pot each meeting. Hence this is the “edge” you are up against. The question is can a knowledgeable and hard working punter succeed? If he works hard enough to stay well ahead of his fellow “placepotters”, can he win enough times to nullify the 27% edge?