Grand Slam Bet

[tywizard]

I've played the Grand Slam pretty regularly for almost 2 years.

I agree with most of what's been said but here's my approach.

I like the Grand Slam primarily because the "payoff" leg is almost always the feature race and it allows you to avoid the night cap - which is often some impossible maiden claiming event.

I will only play under when the following circumstances appear to be present based on my opinions:

1. At least 1 vulnerable favorite in the first three legs of the bet (important, vulnerable here means off the board)
2. Strong opinion on Payoff leg - regardless of price/likely post time odds
3. The only time I'll play a ticket and not single a horse in the payoff leg is when the second horse is likely to be 8-1 or higher
*Getting a heavy favorite off the board in one of the first three legs will often boost the payouts much more than having the favorite lose the payoff leg. Put differently, I often use the favorite in the payoff leg if I think I found an earlier race when a horse that's a heavy favorite might run out.

My typical ticket structure is 1x1x1x1 and occasionally I'll play 2x1x1x1 - I will use two horses in Maiden races, especially with many FTS. My typical investment is $25-75

This meet has been rough to say the least. The one place where I've had some success is the Grand Slam.

Sunday is a great example of how this bet can be useful. I singled the Admission Office ($3.60) but the maiden race knocked me out...My approach was the following -

Race 6 - Used 7 We Should Talk - I thought Vitsal was vulnerable and this was the main reason I played.

Race 7 - Used 8 Flatter My Heart - Knocked out here

Race 8 - I used 6 Petrov and 3 Behavioral Bias - I used two horses here. I liked Petrov best and my thinking was that if he hit the board and BB was off the board, I'd have created a ton of value. At the same time, BB didn't really look vulnerable and I thought I would have enough value already if Vitsal didn't hit the board in leg 1, so I included him to avoid getting knocked out. As an aside, this leg was particularly frustrating for me because I used Petrov as a Double Down play in the Huddie Contest and managed to extract $0 from his win.

Race 9 - Singled Admission Office - Again the idea is to use this bet to turn a 4/5 shot into something much more....

It paid $228 for $1

My play for today would be:

6 / 8 / 1 / 9

I think Mrs. Orb could be vulnerable in the second leg - I also think that Chad could get overbet in Race 6...Seems like he's leaving the horse in because they want him claimed away. Jerkens has been on fire the past few race days and Rocketry should be fine with the ground and distance. If the other horses hadn't scratched in the payoff leg, I'd have considered a smaller ticket using Focus Group too.

[jms62]

Can't but would play

1/8/1/8,10

[moses]

Originally Posted by jms62

Not for me...

Originally Posted by knickslions2

That's strange. I don't know how to post photo but I am able to make the bet on my phone.

Knickslion, are you from NJ? Like JMS, I’m from NJ and I don’t see the grand slam option. I’m guessing it could be something wonky about the 4NJBets platform...or something specific to NJ.

[knickslions2]

Originally Posted by jms62

Can't but would play

1/8/1/8,10

Jim it says new on the screen for this wager. I can email or text you a photo

[knickslions2]

Originally Posted by moses

Knickslion, are you from NJ? Like JMS, I’m from NJ and I don’t see the grand slam option. I’m guessing it could be something wonky about the 4NJBets platform...or something specific to NJ.

I'm in Ohio so maybe nj has something against it

[fantini33]

Wednesday August 22nd

$50 Grand Slam

6) 5 6
7) 9
8) 5
9) 8 9

$200

[knickslions2]

I tried it

1
6
4
6,8

GL

[moses]

Good luck all. I can’t make the wager but would bet:

$10
R6: 6
R7: 3, 6, 8
R8: 1
R9: 5, 9

Maybe I’ll figure out if there is a way to wager it.

Mrs. Orb looks extremely vulnerable in Race 7, imo. There should be some value with the 3 Mohanie and the 6 Adorina.

[casp0555]

I cant play the Slam but I will play along. I will play a $20 show parlay on first three races and if I make it to the last split those winnings on two win bets

1($24)/1($31.20)/1/5,8

[jms62]

Originally Posted by casp0555

I cant play the Slam but I will play along. I will play a $20 show parlay on first three races and if I make it to the last split those winnings on two win bets

1/1/1/5,8

Interesting... Will do the same but for $40 assuming a $20 Grand Salami

1($48)/8($55)/1(57.75) /8,10

Moved to 5 due to scratch $29 on 8 and 10 to win. This will fare far worse than the actual Grand Slam I can see that.

[senator L]

Gs $1 2,6 /2 2,6/ 2,3 / 4,10

[moses]

Originally Posted by moses

Good luck all. I can’t make the wager but would bet:

$10
R6: 6
R7: 3, 6, 8
R8: 1
R9: 5, 9

Maybe I’ll figure out if there is a way to wager it.

Mrs. Orb looks extremely vulnerable in Race 7, imo. There should be some value with the 3 Mohanie and the 6 Adorina.

I should add - I have a $5 double 6 with the 3, 6 so hopefully one of them can pull through. Bummer that the NJ folks can’t make the GS bet.

[jms62]

****ing Joke.. They need to get those 2 guys coupled

[moses]

Originally Posted by jms62

****ing Joke.. They need to get those 2 guys coupled

Didn’t catch the race. What happened?

[tywizard]

It seems like several folks on here were relatively unfamiliar with the Grand Slam bet...So, I thought it was worth reviewing yesterday's results.

A quick look at the charts will tell you that yesterday was essentially the worst case scenario for the wager.

Leg 1 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board
Leg 2 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board
Leg 3 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board AND the 1 horse was a late scratch which means, as the Double Will Pay favorite, you essentially had four top choices hit the board.

Focus Group paid 4.30/1 on the Win end and 7.40/1 in the Grand Slam

A few takeaways:

You can create some value using the Grand Slam even under the "worst" scenarios.

You rarely want to just "hit" the Grand Slam, this is a bet that you want to have multiple times - Think of the approach that Fantini suggested and apply to your bankroll, but don't try to have it for $1 increment.

Using multiple horses in the payoff leg really dilutes your potential return - at least when you use multiple horses in Leg 1,2,3 you actually have a chance for multiple horses to hit the board and you aren't guaranteeing loss.

I'd suggest watching the results over a few days before jumping to conclusions based on yesterday's results alone.

One final comment, the Grand Slam starts in race 9 on Saturday. This means the payoff leg is the Ballston Spa, not the Travers. Bummer.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by tywizard

It seems like several folks on here were relatively unfamiliar with the Grand Slam bet...So, I thought it was worth reviewing yesterday's results.

A quick look at the charts will tell you that yesterday was essentially the worst case scenario for the wager.

Leg 1 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board
Leg 2 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board
Leg 3 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board AND the 1 horse was a late scratch which means, as the Double Will Pay favorite, you essentially had four top choices hit the board.

Focus Group paid 4.30/1 on the Win end and 7.40/1 in the Grand Slam

A few takeaways:

You can create some value using the Grand Slam even under the "worst" scenarios.

You rarely want to just "hit" the Grand Slam, this is a bet that you want to have multiple times - Think of the approach that Fantini suggested and apply to your bankroll, but don't try to have it for $1 increment.

Using multiple horses in the payoff leg really dilutes your potential return - at least when you use multiple horses in Leg 1,2,3 you actually have a chance for multiple horses to hit the board and you aren't guaranteeing loss.

I'd suggest watching the results over a few days before jumping to conclusions based on yesterday's results alone.

One final comment, the Grand Slam starts in race 9 on Saturday. This means the payoff leg is the Ballston Spa, not the Travers. Bummer.

Say you play 2x2x2x1 and all your horses hit the board in the first 3 legs. You hit it 8 times right?

[tywizard]

Originally Posted by jms62

Say you play 2x2x2x1 and all your horses hit the board in the first 3 legs. You hit it 8 times right?

In that example, yes.

8 x increment bet.

[fantini33]

Thursday August 23rd

$50 Grand Slam

6) 1 8
7) 6
8) 6
9) 5 8

$200

[senator L]

Try one today. Last two days have been very, very chalky

Saratoga, Race 7, $5.00 GSL 4 / 1,8 / 3 / 10 $10.00

[fantini33]

Friday August 24th

$50 Grand Slam

7) 1 7
8) 2
9) 7
10) 4 6

$200