Betting Exchanges – Finding Good Value
Betting exchanges are truly the Holy Grail of betting. The advantages they offer over bookies have made them the most desirable place for placing bets, as well as for investing your money and trading for a profit based on your knowledge about sports. Lower commission rates compared to the bookmaker’s built in advantage in their odds have allowed more punters to become successful and make a living from betting. In the past when punters were placing bets only on bookmaker sites or in betting shops a very small percentage of people were successful in betting. Times have changed. Betting exchanges have appeared and this ratio of successful to unsuccessful punters has changed dramatically, although the skills required to win consistently have stayed the same.
Discipline, Strategy, Money Management
These are 3 basic qualities of a successful betting exchange trader. If you are looking to learn more about the hacks of trading, then see below for more information.
Discipline
The most important one and is something everyone lacks to a certain level. If you are passionate about sports, being cool-headed when betting proves to be the hardest thing. Without discipline you can kiss your bankroll goodbye. Most of the time trading for a profit on betting exchanges consists of finding “value”. Value in betting is the difference between the offered odds and ones you find to be realistic. When you figure out that the chances of a certain event to happen are underestimated you have found value. If you are good at finding this value, in the long term you are going to win more than you lose.
Finding value does not mean you place bets when you think someone is going to win, but when you prove that with objective data. This means research and data collecting. Punters forums, betting analysis sites, official clubs or players forums and social networks sites can provide a lot of free data already collected by other punters and fresh, first hand information that can help. You should research for any indications strong enough to influence the final result of a match, game, or race. Not every piece of data on a game is decisive, so you have to be disciplined and think carefully whether to ignore or include the data you found. Don’t react on it instantly. Let it “simmer” instead. Sometimes even fielding a reserve team actually boosts a club’s chance of winning because reserves get motivated to show what they’ve got. Sometimes a red card results in the game closing down and having fewer goals, instead of more, as it is generally presumed.
When you find your value, select the strategy you’ll apply. Decide whether it is better to wait for an event to kickoff and then place a bet, or to bet right away, then later hedge yourself from risk if things don’t go as expected. Use betting exchanges rather than bookmakers as they offer higher odds. When choosing your betting exchange take time to research which one suits you the best. Betfair is one great option because winning at this exchange gives you a higher return.
Betting Strategies
There are various strategies you can use for every market. For example, you look at an NBA match and believe that the score will go over 200.5 points. The first half plays out and one team races out to a huge lead of 70-38. Going by the total points scored it is still on pace to reach the over as the game would reach a total of 216 points at that rate. However as games with wide margins tend to lead to key players getting a lot of rest and the bench players coming in and playing at a lower level there is a strong chance that the 2nd half is low scoring.
Also in blowout losses, teams will not try to score and foul quickly to extend the game as many possessions as possible, and the game is also very unlikely to go into overtime. If the odds have increased for the under you may decide to play it safe and lock in a small profit. There is no reason why someone should strictly divide his attention to either pre-match or live betting as well as to stick to only one strategy. It is better to implement a suitable strategy based on the situation and the odds available.
Money Management
Strategies should always be applied with management of your bankroll in mind. Think about how much you should risk, not how much you are willing to. Always use mathematics, some kind of formula that will suggest your investment. A very popular tool used by a lot of punters is Kelly Criterion. This is a simple money management formula that keeps your bankroll safe and maximizes your profits over the long term at the same time. If you apply all 3 rules: discipline, strategy and money management correctly on your found value, you should have no worries. Otherwise you can keep bragging about how you almost won.
Betting Exchanges
Take your money to where it matters the most. Cherish one of the basic rules of economics: value for money. Who buys a computer for $1000 when across the street the same one costs $700? Betting exchanges are that shop across the street. They offer much higher odds than any bookie. They don’t limit your bets nor do they put a time delay when you win a bet. For example, Betfair offers a competitive commission rate with odds near a perfect 100% of return. Betfair will give you better odds meaning bigger wins.
