Thanks for the kind words Mancunian.

If one wishes for the better place divs, I feel Betfair is the answer.
The differences can be huge percentage wise.
Example
$1.10 on TAB $1.36 Betfair
1.60 TAB $2.00 Betfair.

What I like to do is convert the selections win price & convert it to fractional odds then divide this figure by 4 ,then add 1pt which will give us the fair price one should try & target.
e.g.
$4.00 win price = Fractional odds 3/1 / 4 = .75 + 1 = $1.75 is the fair price one should try & target for the place div.

Take any less & one is betting under its true value & its a strong idea not to bet the selection if the value does not present itself even if it does get up for us.
With Betfair one can try & hunt for a stronger price which one cant do with the TABs.

Another technique that can work well with place betting is to bet to price.
This is done by having a takeout figure say $10 a race.
We now divide the price on offer into this figure,
e.g. $10 / $1.75 = O/L $5.71 (you will note that such an outlay can only be done using Betfair using the utility tools like Bet Trader Pro or Faibot.

No.2
$10 / $2.20 = O/L $4.54

We are making the assumption that lower prices generally get up more often than longer prices.
Generally place betting usually ends up breaking even or a slight loss.
By betting to price , it usually increases the final return.
Try it out on some past results of at least 50 bets to see if there is a difference.

Cheers.

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Cheers.