My advice [take it or leave it] about bet amounts is have some fun before trying anything clever. If you can't win with $2 bets, you'll never win with bigger bets, just lose more. Better to slowly move up in bet amounts. Apart from my own serious bets, my wife and I have fun by picking a horse each in Melb. races for $2w bets. It allows one to take risks. Last week we picked 6 of the 8 winners between us and she picked 3 out of 4 quins. [1st and 2nd place getters] as well. I think she is a better punter than me actually:-)