Greyhound handicapping has its own terms. For newcomers, betting terms can seem like a foreign language. Here are some betting terms and their definitions to help you at the dog track.

Bets:

Win (1st place), Place (2nd place) and Show (3rd place) bets usually start at $2. Win bets pay only if your dog crosses the finish line first.Place bets pay if your dog comes in 1st or 2nd. Show bets pay if your dog comes in 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

Quinielas (quinellas and other spellings). This is a bet on which two dogs will come in first and second in either order. The base bet is usually $2, but some tracks have $1 quiniela bets that pay half of the $2 quiniela.

Exactas. While not as common at dog tracks as they are at horse tracks, exactas can be found on some programs. Unlike with quinielas, to hit the exacta, you have to bet the first two dogs to cross the finish line in exact order.

Trifectas. If you pick the first three dogs to cross the finish line, you win the trifecta. If you play a straight trifecta, you must have the three dogs in the exact order of finish. If you box a trifecta, you win as long as those three dogs cross the finish line before the other dogs.

Daily Double. Pick the winner of the 1st race with the winner of the second race to hit this popular bet. It almost always appears on the first two races of a card, but may show up on two of the later races also. The base bet is usually $2.

There are several other exotic bets including several where you have to pick the winners of several races. The Pick-3, Pick-6 and so on are very hard to hit, so they pay much more than quinielas and trifectas.

There are also different ways to play Quinielas and Trifectas. You can “box” them so that you win no matter which order they come in. You can wheel a dog that you think is going to win with two or more dogs in quiniela and trifecta bets. Of course, the more dogs you add to your bet, the more the bet costs and the bigger the payoff has to be for you to make a profit on that race. Bet accordingly.