Have you ever gotten ticked off when you picked five winners out of 12 races and got beat by someone who had one or two longshots? Then our new “Points Based” tourneys may be just what you’re looking for.

These new games pay off the winners based on points. You get 100 points for each winner you pick, 50 points for each runner up and 30 points for each 3rd-place finisher. (If you pick the winner, you get 100…not 180).

You also get a bonus kicker in each race based on the parimutuel payoff if your horse comes in first or second. Bonus points kick in (in the win pool) as long as your horse goes off above even money. Place-horse bonus points are awarded for place payoffs above $3.00. (Only one bonus is awarded per horse.) Here’s a look at the bonus-points payout schedule.

These bonus points are designed to do two things. 1) Break ties. and 2) Break ties in such a way that a 6-1 shot will pay more bonus points than, say, a 3-1 shot.

So it’s simultaneously a game that rewards the picking of winners…and in the case of ties (such as three people who each pick 4 winners, 2 places and 1 show horse, for example) to elevate the 4W, 2P, 1S player whose seven cashes came at higher odds than the others’.

As an example. a cap horse winner (greater than 20-1 odds) would pay a 32% premium in points over a horse going off at odds-on (which receives no points). Make no mistake…you still need to pick winners, but you will get an extra push the higher the odds those winners (or place horses) are.

The bonus formula, such as that shown above, can be found on the contest page of all such “Points Scoring” tourneys.

Mind you, our traditional $2 win and place scoring system is not going away. This is simply being offered as an additional option for those who prefer to be rewarded based on consistency rather than just cumulative payoffs.

Another thing to keep in mind…we’ve geared these bonus points conservatively. The idea is not to turn these tourneys into ROI competitions (which we already have via our traditional $2 win/place games), but to offer an alternative scoring method to those who simply like going for what they view to be the “best horse” in any given race.

So far, we’ve just used the new scoring format in free games. Next week, we will offer them in selected paid games. You can look for them in $12-$100 gtd. cash tourneys, in $100-$250 Winner Take All tourneys, in $40-$400 Head to Head tourneys, and in NHC and BCBC feeders.

It’s just another way to enjoy contest play at HorseTourneys. We hope you like it. And if you don’t…the traditional $2 win/place tourneys will still be there in full force–just like before.