Place Pick All Is a Winner

One of the most successful horse players of all time was a man who went by the nickname 'Pittsburgh Phil.' He made millions of dollars wagering on horses at various thoroughbred tracks around the country -- yet he rarely bet on a horse to win.

Phil's gimmick was the place bet.

While he never revealed how he arrived at picking a horse to run second, he made huge wagers on horses in certain races and he rarely lost.

Pittsburgh Phil also had a reputation as a fixer of horse races, but he did it in a way that was quasi-legal. During his era after the turn of the century, jockeys were not paid a large amount of money. Phil, who owned race horses, would go to the backside of the track where the jockeys and trainers congregated before the races and pull aside the best jockeys.

He would make them a proposition: for every race they won, he would pay them a certain amount of cash in addition to the money they won as part of the purse. Since jockeys are motivated by money, they would make an extra effort. Phil would bet their horse to place and he rarely lost

When a newspaper reporter once asked Phil details on his betting philosophy, he shrugged and said, 'A race horse doesn't know the difference between winning and running second. Races are often determined by a nose or a neck. I just give myself an extra edge that the average person who bets a horse to win doesn't enjoy'

A growing number of race tracks around the country have added Place Pick All wagering to their other exotic bets like pick threes, pick fours, pick fives and pick sixes. To win a Place Pick All, you must select a horse in every race to finish first or second.

Unlike the better publicized pick six, where the minimum bet per race is $2, a Place Pick All minimum wager is $1. The largest amount of money I ever won on the horse races happened at Santa Anita Race Track a couple of years ago.

Santa Anita is one of the thoroughbred tracks that offers Place Pick All betting. I began handicapping about 15 minutes before the first race. That doesn't give you much time to rate the horses, but I knew the jockeys and trainers at Santa Anita and raced through my selections.

There were eight races on the card that day. I picked one horse in four races and two horses in the other four for a total bet of $16. Then I sat back with a cool drink and watched the fun.

My first three horses finished first or second. In the fourth race, I had two selections and they finished first and second, giving me two 'live' tickets going into the fifth race. And these were not favorites.

I hit the sixth and seventh races To say I was excited would be an understatement. I had made the bets at the horse book at Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. While the races were being run, I was playing poker and viewing the races on a television monitor in the poker room.

As the horses came onto the track for the eighth race, I looked at my choice. The horse's name was Olliman and he was going off at 9/2 odds.

'You're pretty excited about those horse races, aren't you?,' said a woman at the table. She and her husband were playing poker and they were friends of mine.

'I guess you could say that,' I declared, smiling. 'If the number four horse, Olliman, finishes first or second I am going to treat our table to Dom Perignon Champagne.'

Her husband whistled. 'That costs over $150 a bottle, doesn't it?,' he said. 'What do you have going for yourself that would let you spend that kind of cash for a bottle of the bubbly stuff?'

While the rest of the table listened, I told him. His wife, a redhead, called the poker room manager. Jimmy came over and she told him what I planned to do.

Jimmy grinned as the horses entered the starting gate, he turned to a waitress.

'Rita,' he said, 'bring a bottle of Dom Perignon to this table. If Geno's horse doesn't win, it's on me.' Everybody at the table applauded Jimmy. The dealer stopped dealing as we watched the race.

Olliman broke dead last.

At the turn, the horse began moving up on the outside. I was pounding the table shouting, 'Olliman, get your arse in gear!' much like the scene in 'My Fair Lady' when Audrey Hepburn was at the race track in England and lost her composure. When the horses hit the finish line, they were so bunched up, I couldn't tell if Olliman had finished second, third, fourth or fifth -- it was that close.

'I think he finished out of the money,' I said.

The redhead shook her head. 'No, honey, I think you won. Your horse placed.'

She was right. A 20-1 longshot won and Olliman came in second. My two winning tickets were worth $6,000 each and Jimmy didn't have to pay for the champagne.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter. If you have a unique gambling story to share with him, you may qualify for a cash award. Send your story with all the details to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).