For smost bettors the bookies have their place and will provide better then the totes and offer a few incentives. This is great if your not a winning punter and you don't bet big.

If you start to want to get on large amounts or you bet consistently and win then there are only 2 options for you. The first is the tote. The best way to do this is to bet the same amount split on as many totes as you can. You will not get the best odds but you won't get the worst odds. You will end up somewhere in between.

The other option is betfair. This is great for horses which are in the market but it can be hard to get $200 onto a $50+ selection. In this case you just have to bite the bullet and go to the totes unless its a Saturday metro meeting. In that case you will probably get your bet covered on betfair.

Most of my betting is in the < $5 range so I can get on betfair nearly 99% of the time.

Oh another isue with betfair is you get hit by their extra fee for winning punters. I have found this doesn't matter that much. If you actually work it out and your strike rate is around 30-40% then it won't affect you at all in most cases. If your a high strike rate winner though you will get stung.