Superfecta betting is one of the most popular systems among horse handicappers. For the newbies, it offers the ability to try out betting with minimal risk. For the experienced, it allows for high payouts with low costs. In the 2005 Kentucky Derby, a superfecta payout was $864,253, one of the highest ever. This case was rare, but is an excellent example of how a relatively cheap horse bet can pay off huge! It is not unusual to see horse bettors win hundreds of dollars for a relatively small investment (just a few dollars). You simply need to know-how.
You do not always need to be an experienced expert to win a superfecta bet. You need enough knowledge and The Wizards selections to get a chance at making the illustrious winning on the 10-Cent Superfecta.
What Is a Superfecta System?
A Superfecta bet is a complicated horse racing wager where the bettor is required to pick not just the Win, Place and Show horses, but also the fourth place position finisher. Picking the first four horses to finish a horse race, in exact order, is no easy task, no matter the size of the field.
The Superfecta requires that the bettor pick out the first four places in a specific order. If their selected horses win in that exact order – they get a huge payoff! If you bet on only one combination, your odds are relatively low. If you bet on a few variations, the odds are slightly better. This approach is precisely what expert handicappers started doing. They bet on several educated combinations, significantly increasing their chances of winning.
However, initially, betting on multiple combinations is expensive. Then came the 10-Cent Superfecta.
The 10-Cent Superfecta
In 2004, at a dog track race in New Hampshire, the 10-cent Superfecta was introduced. This move was to attract more gamblers, increase the pool, and allow the bettors to cover a more significant number of combinations.
With the 10-Cent Superfecta, you can make several combinations and use more than four horses for as little as a few dollars.
To give you perspective, in a 14-horse race, there are almost 24,024 superfecta combinations possible. With a 10-Cent denomination, that is a $2,400 bet. Initially, the betting denomination would usually be at least a dollar, and in that case, this outlay would be at $24,000. Having a 10-Cent option brings down the betting amount significantly. No one includes all 14 horses, but even if you pick out a relatively high number of horses, say 10, your costs are still relatively lower. For example, your cost for all the possible combinations with ten horses would be just $504. AThe 10-Cent superfecta approach is a fraction of the cost compared to the $1 or higher denomination bets.
Sounds incredible, right? Well, it is, and it isn’t.
The Positives of the 10-Cent Superfecta Bets
With the 10-Cent incentive, there is a strong motivation to include as many horses as possible, and rightly so – it is cheap to do so. However, playing with all the horses in the field would not be a smart approach. According to multiple studies, almost 50% of the combinations are unplayed. So most bettors are just playing with the remaining 50% possible combinations. The 10-Cent bets allow you to play strategically with these 50% combinations.
For instance, when you want to buy an insurance wager. Assume that you placed several expensive bets (Superfecta with denominations higher than 10 cents), and those bets chose a few horses very carefully. However, there are a couple more horses you want to bet on but are not confident about this second set of selections. In such a case, placing 10 cent bets to include those horses in your total mix is a good idea. A good combination of higher denomination bets and 10 cent bets can help you cover as many horses as possible, and increase your chances of winning.
The 10-Cent Superfecta helps you take advantage of several other strategic moves, such as the previously mentioned insurance wager.
The Negatives of the 10-Cent Superfecta Bets
The 10-Cent figure is quite tempting. As a result, people use this as a crutch to make up for their bad bets to recover some costs of their other poorly placed wagers. However, it is not the best strategy, and we are about to tell you why.
Let’s say there is a 10-horse field. This scenario means the total possible combinations is 5040. If you are betting money, people will do their homework and find out the likely winners and favorites. This situation means only a select few horses have significant bets. If you look at the popular ratio, usually only 40-50% of the horses are bet. Assuming 50%, out of our 5040 possible combinations- only 2520 combinations would be included in the betting slips. That means almost 2520 combinations are entirely left out.
Even out of these 2520 combinations, a select few combinations will form the majority. Meaning the top favorite horses will be part of most of the combinations. Very few combinations will have the non-favorite horses.
Now there are two scenarios:
Scenario 1: The 2-3 favorite horses finish in the winning positions, which means that the majority tickets win. Although you will win, the payouts will be low because you only get a share of the winning pool.
Scenario 2: The top 2-3 horses do not make it to the winning positions. In this scenario, the select few who did not go with the favorite horses will get a massive payout.
It is important to note that there have been many cases where only 1 or 2 winning tickets have received the entire superfecta payouts.
As you can see, both scenarios are not simple. You might win in scenario 1, but the amount is not significant. If you widen your bet and invest a lot, you could find yourself in scenario 2; however, the odds of that scenario are very low.
Hence, do not let the 10-Cent tempt you, and be smart about using it only as a betting tool in your handicapping toolkit.
The above example also further explains two points:
- With the 10-Cent bets, you can at least win minimal amounts.
- Do not bet on the entire pool. If you want a wide pool, go for 50% of the combination, which is usually unlikely. You will not be able to recover even costs if you bet on all possible combinations.
Understanding How to Plan and Bet the 10-Cent Superfecta
Although the 10-Cent bet is super lucrative, you should be strategic about when to play for it and when to pass. In an ideal world, you should place a 10-Cent Superfecta bet when you are convinced that the crowd favorite will not win. Of course, that is not always easy to know, even for the most experienced handicappers.
That said, if you know the favorites are going to win, you can act smart and place the bets on them in many different ways to increase your chance of winning and also to increase your correct bets placed, and hence to increase your winning share. To better understand this, read on to find out how you can do this.
In the following sub-section, we will touch upon the different betting options under the superfecta system. We will cover the 10-Cent Superfecta, but for other denominations, you can modify the betting amount. The underlying concept remains constant. We will assume horse # 4, 1, 7, and 5 are our favorites for the race.
Straight Superfecta
As is the concept, you must choose four horses you think will Win, Place, and Show along with the fourth-place position. Picking the first four horses to finish a horse race, in exact order, is no easy feat, no matter the size of the field.
So you betting slip will be – $0.10 for 4-1-7-5
Box Superfecta
You still need to select the first four horses in the correct order, but by boxing your selections, they can finish in any combination. This bet also allows you to choose more than four runners, for an increased cost, of course.
Simply put, you will not choose the order of the four horses, but choose the four horses you think will come in the first four positions. You will have 24 possible combinations in this case, and you would have to pay for each one.
So you betting would slip will be $2.4 for 24 combinations of horse number 4,1,7,5 for the Boxed 10-Cent Superfecta.
If you want to widen your selection pool, you also have the choice to do so. You can pick out more horses and have that many more combinations.
Five horses = 120 combinations = $12
Six horses = 360 combinations = $36
Seven horses = 840 combinations = 840
Five to six horses are ideal if you want to at least recover your costs with a strong level of confidence.
Wheel Superfecta
This bet is a cheaper option than Box and yet allows you to have several combinations. As a result, it is the most favored out of the three.
When you are confident about which horse will win the first position, but not so confident about the other 3, you can choose the wheel betting system.
Full Wheel
In this, say you are sure of #4 winning. For 1, 5, 7, you are not as confident. So you bet for all combinations where #4 is ranked 1st, and the other horses are ranked in each of the other positions.
This tactic increases your chance of receiving a payout if you are right about #4. You are insured for all other scenarios as long as you are the #4 horse performs to expectations.
Part Wheel
You can include even more than three horses for the other three positions. This system is called the part wheel betting system. The cost of this is lower than the box system. So even if you bet with 6-7 horses, your costs are lower. For example:
Six horses – $6
Seven horses – $12
Eight horses – $21
and so on…
With this system, you can get strategic. For instance, if you think #4 and #7 have a sure chance of winning, then your part wheel combinations should cover these horses in the first two positions and the other in the remaining two. This further increases your chance of a large payout.
Time to try your 10-Cent luck
To summarize, the 10-Cent Superfecta bet is super lucrative, if you get creative and play smart. Knowing when to play is as important as knowing how to play when it comes to Superfecta. Until you learn how to take a calculated swing at this, you can put in some money and keep experimenting. The stakes are relatively low, and modest payouts are quite in reach. Need to bet with confidence? Get The Wizards picks today and level up your handicapping game.
The Wizard’s Thoughts on the 10-Cent Superfecta
The Wizard’s cardinal rule playing the 10-Cent Superfecta is that no matter how many horses you include in the first-second-third spots, in the final spot (to finish 4th) you MUST use the ALL button. This means you MUST include every horse in the 4th spot because any horse can run 4th and what you are hoping for is for a long-shot to fill out the 10 Cent Superfecta.
The Wizard