Great post there Michal, to answer one point, regarding Boogie Business, yes that is the question hence my title of smoke and mirrors, mind you I doubt that my $50 would have altered it that much.

Peter Pan, I also am mainly a place bettor invariably $100 bets, I manage to eke a small profit, but a few years ago I tried to up the ante with fairly aggressive staking, plan I can't quite remember what the bet size got up to but they didn't close my account, they didn't have to; cos my small profit disappeared. I regrouped and reverted back to $100 bets and "presto" back in the black (after a while) my conclusion was that even my relatively small bets found their way into the pools somehow; enough to affect the divvies?

As far as spreading it around is concerned, when best tote is not available, why not just use Sportsbet Country best ( i.e. best of NSW&Supertab) half your stake and Unitab half your stake to arrive at the best possible average?