What is All Weather Racing?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Benjamin_Street]Benjamin Street

While you are probably more than well versed in what horse racing is, there is a chance that you have never heard of the sport of all weather horse racing. Much like regular horse racing, all weather racing, as the name implies takes place all season long regardless of the weather that Mother Nature decides to throw at the racers at any given time during the year. The surfaces that the horses run on are usually made up of Fibresand or Polytrack.

Fibresand is usually considered the slower of the two surfaces and requires the horse as well as the jockey. Races run on this surface usually produce results similar to those run on turf or soft ground. The runners usually finish the race strung out and times are usually slower than those on the Polytrack surface.

Unlike Fibresand, Polytrack is considered a fairer surface, particularly because it’s less jarring and it offers hardly any kickback. Since Polytrack is so much kinder to horses, many US states are opting to have their dirt tracks ripped up and replaced with Polytrack.

While all weather racing may now seem like it has been around for ages, in reality it has only been in existence since the 1980′s. All weather racing was originally designed for national hunt racing and it was in the 80′s that the racing authority made the decision that they wanted to keep racing going, even in the rain and frost. In order to keep the racing going, they needed to utilize an artificial surface that would allow the horses to run when turf running was not an option.

The first surfaces that were used were Fibresand and Equitrack, and while these surfaces were supposed to be kinder to the horses after hurdle jumping, the stats showed that more horses finished lame when running on these surfaces which pretty much put an end to all weather jumping. Regardless of the reasoning why, all season jumping was canceled permanently and all weather racing was put in its place.

While this type of racing gives horse racing enthusiasts access to the racing they love all season long, it has had a hard time shaking its bad image, simply because many thought that the horses that ran on these other surfaces were lesser creatures that could not win running on turf. This image caused many to form the opinion that all weather racing was a lesser form of racing that prevented many from becoming interested in the sport.

Twelve years after the start of all weather racing and opinions are beginning to change, but there is still a stigma associated with the sport. Many still will not bet on the sport simply because they perceive the quality of the horses that run in these races as poor, regardless of the large sums of money and the quality of races that are now run on the surfaces.

This is just a brief history into the background of all season racing. While it may have had a rough start it has the promise of becoming a popular sport, if only it can shake the negative stigma that has been attached to it for so long.

Benjamin Street invites you to read unbiased and genuine betting system reviews by the best people to ask – the buyers. If you would like to know if a betting system works before you buy it, and collect a free betting system whilst you are there, visit Betting Systems World today at http://www.bettingsystemsworld.com

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You read the sales page for the latest Horse Racing System that is convincing. You check out their two years worth of results that are spectacular. You plunk down your hard earned money and wait anxiously for the system to arrive in your email. Once you have the system you log on to your favourite betting exchange and start to place your bets. You then watch your bank start to dwindle.

Sad isn’t it?

So what causes this sudden departure from historical results?

The answer is very simple, the unscrupulous seller has preformed magic with those statistics.

Here is how it works. The seller has analyzed horse racing statistics going back two years. They find a pattern that is profitable but nothing to write home about. They then start to filter those results down. Their initial analysis may yield them five picks a day. They filter those results down to just two picks a day by removing losing bets. The idea is that they start to analyze losing picks to see if they can adjust their criteria and produce a more profitable horse racing system.

The reality is that producing systems this way has nothing to do with future results. This is different from analyzing the form based on sound criteria to pick your horses. Even if the seller started with sound criteria do you believe that they would not be tempted to then filter those past results to make them look better?

Once the seller has a system that looks good on paper they will then contact their affiliates who will write positive reviews based on a short period of time actually testing the system. Those reviews will rely heavily on those positive past results.

How can you tell if a horse racing system has been over filtered?

First, do the criteria seem reasonable. For example, if a horse racing system tells you to only bet certain races where the price is between 3.7 and 7.6 you can bet that they have filtered down their past results. Technically value prices change throughout the period of time before the race starts. A price of 6.5 may be a value bet four hours before the off but racing conditions change. Just before the off that 6.5 may no longer be a value bet.

Second, are these sellers pumping out new horse racing systems every six months. If they are then their business is producing systems, not betting the horses. It is more profitable for them to sell you a system rather than bet it themselves. A Horse Racing Tipster never gives out his system, he protects it, and he bets it himself.

So what is the moral of this story?

Stick with horse racing tipsters who have to bring you profitable results in real time.

Steve Connelly
The Betfair Bandit

The Irish in the Grand National
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Darren_W_Chow]Darren W Chow

The Grand National is one of the most famous steeplechases in the world, and it was two Irish fox-hunting men, Edmund Blake and Cornelius O’Callaghan who came up with the name ‘steeplechase’ in 1752. They did this by running from steeple to steeple in Co. Cork, so it is fitting that Ireland have the greatest ‘foreign’ impact on the Grand National, a race that is run over approximately the same distance as the original steeplechase from St John’s Church in Buttevant to St Mary’s Church at Doneraile. So great is the Irish influence, that the Grand National has become a distinctly Anglo-Irish festivity.

The Irish have been competing in the race since it was first run in 1839, with owner Tony Ferguson bringing over three horses to compete that year – Daxon, Rust and Barkson. Ferguson himself rode Daxon, but fell as did Barkson, but Rust proved such a worthy contender that the course was invaded by opposing punters who brought him to a halt. Needless to say, it didn’t put the Irish off – the following year half of the contenders were Irish with one of them giving name to the second brook – Valentine, so good was his handling of it.

In 1847 the Irish won the Grand National for the first time, with Matthew, a joint 10-1 favourite. Three years later they won again with Abd-El-Kader who went on to become the first horse to win successive Nationals. Since then, even though many are English trained and owned, the majority of National winners have been bred in Ireland – including Red Rum, the Nationals only triple champion; Golden Miller, who is the only horse to have won both the National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same year; Cloister, twice runner up before winning by a record 40 lengths even though he weighed in at a huge 12st 7lb; Manifesto, who ran in a record eight Grand Nationals, winning two, coming third twice, and fourth once.

As well as excellent horses, Ireland has also produced brilliant trainers and jockeys with Henry Eyre Linde, Willie Garrett and Michael Vincent O’ Brien to name but a few of the former group. Things stepped up a notch for Irish born jockeys when four brothers – the Beasleys, rode in the National in the same year – 1879. None of them won that year, another Irishman did, but it didn’t stop them coming back again and again with Tommy winning in 1880, 1881 and 1889 and Harry winning as rider and trainer in 1891.

Since 1995 no fewer than ten of thirteen National winners have been ridden by Irishmen, and they are recognised as a dominant force in the National Hunt. 2006 saw a record number of Irish horses entered for the National – thirty eight. Twentyone made it to the 40 runner line-up, and they took first, second and fourth places , while the third and fifth finishers, though England-based, were both owned and trained by Irishmen, JP McManus and Jonjo O’Neill. http://www.grand-national.me.uk gives you unrivaled coverage of the Grand National horse race.

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Cheltenham Gold Cup Horse Race
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Darren_W_Chow]Darren W Chow

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a three mile, two and a half furlong race with a horrible 237 yard uphill finish. It started in 1924 and was then considered to be no more than a form guide and trial for the Grand National. The reason for this was mostly due to the prizes – the Cheltenham Cup winner received £685, while the winner of the National got a whopping £8,240.

It has always been that horses who did well in the Cup tended to go on to the Grand National but there has been some derision about the correlation between how a horse running in the Gold Cup may fare when handicapped in the National. There is also the issue of the severity of the National so soon after the challenge of the Gold Cup – there are just three weeks between the races, and sometimes due to Easter, they can occur but 15 days apart. Furthermore the National weights are framed before the Gold Cup, so the horses form at Cheltenham doesn’t get taken into account during handicapping. In 1999 Double Thriller was made a well-backed favourite for the National after coming fourth in the Gold Cup.

It was very evident for all to see that if the handicapper could have taken into account his Gold Cup run he would have allotted him at least a stone more than his 10 stone 8 pounds. The National occurred 23 days after the Cheltenham race and he fell at the first fence. Again in 2002 the National included three horses who had run in the Gold Cup – Marlborough, What’s Up Boys and Alexander Banquet. All three were among the top four in the weights at Aintree: Marlborough weighing in at 11st 12lbs, Alexander Banquet 11st 11lbs and What’s Up Boys 11st 6lbs. Marlborough fell at the first, Alexander Banquet fell at the sixth and What’s up Boys finished runner up by just one and a quarter lengths. This really is amazing considering no horse had carried more than 11 stone to win since Corbiere at 11st 4 lbs twenty years previously.

The days have long gone since the Cheltenham Gold Cup has been regarded as a warm up for the Grand National. In fact it is now a race of very high regard and horses who win it are rarely risked in the turbulence of the race that is the Grand National. In 2003 it was noted that the six finishers in the National had missed out Cheltenham as they were being specially targeted for the Aintree race.

In the past decade only two horses have won the Grand National after running at Cheltenham – Bindaree in 2002 and Silver Birch in 2007, but Silver Birch’s victory may have been due to the fact that there was a four week gap between the races. Only one horse has won the Gold Cup and the National in the same season, but six jockeys have managed it: Tommy Cullinan, Gerry Wilson, Fred Winter, Tommy Carberry, John Burke and Jim Culloty.

The Cheltenham racing festival is one of the biggest horse racing events in the United Kingdom. The [http://www.cheltenham-races.com]Cheltenham Races is second only to the Grand National in it’s popular appeal.

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So why do Horse Racing Systems always seem to fail for you?

First, let’s consider the difference between a Horse Racing System and a Horse Racing Tipster.

Tipsters will either sell or give away free tips on specific races. You have no idea how they determine their picks and you do not care, as long as they are profitable.

A System is something you buy, typically in downloadable PDF form, that tells you the criteria on how to pick a particular horse to either win or lose in a particular race. So the big difference is that a Tipster will do all of the work for you. This involves reading the form and applying the criteria to pick the horse. Many prefer a Tipster over a System because it involves less work, i.e. not having to read the racing form.

But there is a more subtle difference, and it has to do with control. A tipster controls his system and makes money selling his tips on a subscription basis. Therefore he has a vested interest in not over selling his tips and ensuring they are profitable. Someone selling a system only makes money selling the system and once sold no longer has control over the criteria used.

How does this cause the system to fail?

First, the system will be oversold and too many punters will be using it, not to mention that punters tend to share with their friends. When too many people bet a horse to win it will shorten in price and vice versa for laying a horse, the price will drift.

This shortening or drifting in price can cause a winning system to suddenly be a loser. For example your laying system is achieving a 90% strike rate, that is 9 out of 10 races you win when the horse loses. You will be profitable if the horses that win, and thus you lose, are obtained at less than 9 to 1. If too many punters are all trying to lay a horse that normally would be trading at 8 to 1 the price may drift to 11 to 1. Now you have a losing system.

Do you think someone selling you a betting system will truly limit how many are sold? I don’t because I have visited sites months after their sales page warned of limited copies and they are still selling to the public.

There is another important reason why Horse Racing Systems fail however I will save that for a future article.

Steve Connelly
The Betfair Bandit

How to Find the Profitable False Favourite Horses to Lay at Betting Exchange
By Eric Y Smith

The most well known gambling pastime in the world is gambling on horse racing, be it backing a horse to win, or laying a horse to lose, but very less people make money on it. There has been a recent change to betting, that is the option to Lay horse to lose which are present in betting exchanges.

If bettor does not know anything about the horse, then he may bet on horse that is less priced and it will be hard to earn profit from that horse. The reason behind this is, the less priced horses win at a closer win rate. That means, price range is more efficient, if the price is shorter.

The fact is that, laying all favourites just on price will not succeed as backing at higher priced horses just on price. However, profits need to be made by laying chances on favourites and these profits are remarkable in a particular type of race. False or over bet favourites are the best ways to earn profits from laying favourites.

One of the profitable methods for laying is over hyped horses, which are frequently discussed by media and bettors in message boards. But these horses do not come out on a regular basis. Over hyped horses such as six perfections are the only horses that come out from time to time.

One of the favourites that appear continuously is over bet favourites. These horses have a considerable jockey booking and are good in form yard. Since, all the tipsters tip over bet favourites, they exert a pull on all the money and due to this, price is enforced below the true value. This increases chances of winning the race.

To earn regular profits, the much better approach is to consider the false favourites. This is the only way by which a bettor can earn maximum amount of profits regularly. To increase chances of winning the race, a bettor needs to find some facts about false favourites, about which other bettors and pundits are not aware of.

If there are chances that favourites will not win, then bettor need to find the horses that have the capability to win the race. This will increase the belief that the favourites are good enough in laying horses.

Some bettors are relying on favourites media pundit who tell them to bet and the other groups rely on tipsters. The further task required to be done is, to find the races where the favourites are over-hyped and are expected to be over bet. Then the bettor need to find horses that might not win the race and then other horses that might win the race and in this way, the bettor will find horse that can be laid to lose. In this way, the bettor may find a profitable favourite to lay.

Do you want to discover the secrets to generate over $10,391 on Winningbetfair? Download this: [http://www.winningbetfair.com]Effective WinningBetfair Techniques

Eric Smith is a professional player on Winningbetfair and he has taught many friends and peers to make money on betting exchange. More cracking information On Winning Horse Racing on betfair can be found if you go see this [http://www.winninghorseracing.com]Winning Horse Racing.

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Matched Betting – How to Take Advantage of the Free Bet Offers Available Online
By Richard Irwin

Matched Betting

Matched betting is the process of converting bookmakers’ free bet offers into real money. When executed correctly there is no risk of losing any money at all, regardless of the presence of the word “betting”. This guide will show you in detail exactly how this is done. A free tool will be included to help you with all related calculations.

First of all, here are some important points to consider. The best free bet offers are available to new customers only and are a one off thing. Of course there are recurrent offers as well, but not always, not with every bookmaker and generally are much less spectacular. So once you go through the process, it is a done deal. This is why it is very important to arrange the process in such a manner that maximum amount is extracted with minimum room for error. Hopefully this guide will help you achieve this goal.

The very first thing to do is open an online betting account with a bookmaker. Which bookmaker? There are hundreds of websites that have lists of all the bookmakers under the sun, this site is no exception, but I would advise you for your very first matched betting to pick a bookmaker that offers the smallest size free bet. Why? Well, it is just common sense really to start with the small offers and work your way up to the juiciest ones, get some practice first so that if you make a mistake (hopefully this will not happen), it will cost you less. Agree? And by the way when I say it will cost you less I don’t mean that you will lose money, but not winning the maximum possible amount is in fact losing, so that is what I meant…

The term “matched” means that the bookmaker matches the amount that you bet for the first time with them, up to a certain amount of course. Now, to state the obvious, the bookmaker is not going to simply give you a free bet for absolutely nothing, they want you to place a bet with them first and only then they will honour their promise. This first bet (or a series of bets in some cases) is known as the qualifying bet, that is the bet that gets you the free bet, and remember it is the free bet that you are after. At this point probably you are getting worried, as the word betting was used a lot in the above paragraph. Do not worry and read on.

To place the qualifying bet you will need to have done two things beforehand.

1) Open an account with the bookmaker and make a deposit. The deposit should be from a debit card in your name (no other deposit methods qualify, like for example Moneybookers or other e-wallets). You should deposit only the amount that is required to extract the free bet. To determine this amount, read point 2 below.
2) Read the terms and conditions of the bookmaker regarding the free bet offer. Do not take anything that you have read on any website for granted, be warned that the bookmakers change the rules as and when they wish, so if website A tells you this bookmaker’s terms are this and this, please double check the information or better still, don’t read it at all and instead go straight to the bookmaker’s website and read the terms and conditions in real time. This is how you find out how much you should deposit in order to be able to complete the requirements and get hold of the elusive free bet. Be warned that requirements can vary significantly from one offer to the next. You could be asked to bet above certain odds, to bet X number of times before you can withdraw, to bet X number of times before the free bet (or the second free bet) is credited, etc. etc. Make sure you are aware of all that before you even deposit, if you find that the requirements make it too hard/not worthwhile, simply move on to the next bookie. Maybe this one will change its policy in the future, so not everything is lost, make a list of the ones that you skip (for whatever reason) so that you can check for any changes later (say once a month).

I hope this doesn’t sound as too much work, because it really isn’t. Reading several paragraphs of text (the T&C’s small print) should not be regarded as work. If you believe that it is too hard, remember – matched betting is not for impatient or lazy people.

OK, you have read the small print and have deposited X amount of your money into your brand new betting account. What do you do next?

Before you place any qualifying bets you need to make sure that you are not actually taking any risks while betting. Yes, you read this correctly, you will not be betting, you will be “matched betting” which is something completely different as far as risk is concerned. So to make the bet risk free you will need to offset the bet by placing another bet covering all the other outcomes that the initial bet does not cover. As this sounds a bit vague (even I don’t like it, and I’ve just written it) I will use a simple example:

Champions’ league football match: Barcelona v. Chelsea
Barcelona odds: 1.8
Chelsea odds: 4.6
Draw odds: 3.8

I am using decimal odds here, and this is done on purpose. Say you want to place a qualifying bet on this match. It might not be possible, as there are certain criteria that need to be met first (explained later), but let’s assume the match qualifies and the qualifying outcome is the draw. So you will be betting on the draw using the amount you just deposited in your account with the bookmaker. But you don’t want to bet, you need the bet to be risk free so that you can collect the free bet bonus afterwards. This simply means that you have to cover the other outcomes-in this case, the home win and the away win-by betting on them elsewhere. The best and in fact the only way to do this is by placing a lay bet on a betting exchange. A lay bet is a bet that something will NOT happen, so laying the draw means you are betting on both the home win and the away win. A betting exchange is a website (behind it is a registered company of course) that provides the environment in which one person can bet against another person anonymously on any given event or outcome, the 3 biggest advantages of betting exchanges are: better odds, the option to bet against an outcome (and not only for an outcome, as with bookies) and no maximum bet limits.

So you need to lay the draw (in the above example) on a betting exchange. This means that you need a separate account with a betting exchange and you need some funds deposited in it as well. The good news is opening an account takes minutes and the betting exchange itself will give you a free bet for becoming a customer of theirs. There are a few betting exchanges, but the one that I would recommend using full time when match betting is Betfair. Later you can open accounts in the other exchanges too, but just to take advantage of their own free bet offers (don’t forget to read the small print, as ever, make a habit of it).

So the framework of the matched betting consists of having a Betfair account to offset any qualifying bookmaker bets by laying the same outcome (betting against it). Once you “exhaust” one bookmaker’s offers, you simply move on to the next one (becoming in fact a betting parasite, but don’t expect me to feel sorry for the “poor” bookmakers). Or your can “work” several bookmakers at a time, as long as you have sufficient funds to cover all your bets. Now let’s move on to the particulars.

The event/sport – which one? It doesn’t really matter, as long as it is not excluded by the bookmaker’s T&C (short for terms and conditions). Most of the time it will be football (or soccer, as known in the USA, Betfair list it as soccer too).

The odds. In the above example I used decimal odds, because that is the format that Betfair and the other exchanges are using. Since the risk offset bets (the lay bets) will be placed on Betfair, this means that for all your matched betting activities the only odds that should be used are decimal odds (also known as European odds). Whoever is not familiar or comfortable with decimal odds should not start to match bet before he gets familiar/comfortable with this format. This is a must. Usually people who are less familiar with decimal odds are those from the UK (where fractional odds are popular for some unknown reason) and those in the USA (where American odds are being used for equally unknown reasons). And don’t get me started on the Hong Kong, Malaysian or Indonesian odds…Anyway, I will justify my sarcasm regarding other-than-decimal-odds by saying this: decimal odds are the only popular ones that use small enough fractions (2 digits after the decimal point), which makes them the only solution when exact odds are required, hence their use on the exchanges, and thanks to Betfair and the other exchanges decimal odds are getting more and more popular and quite rightly so. Bookmakers offer decimal format too, so that is the format used when match betting.

On the subject of odds’ value – in the above soccer example we said that the draw qualifies for the matched betting, with odds of 3.8 at the bookmakers. Now how did we find out that the draw in this particular match qualifies for our bets? There is one thing and one thing only to consider here – the bookmakers’ odds of any given outcome of any event should be as close as possible to the available lay odds for the same outcome of the same event on Betfair. Ideally the lay odds should be a bit lower. Now why is that? Because we want not to lose, meaning we want to collect all our wagers back whatever the outcome, and by doing so meeting the bookies’ requirements for the release of the free bet. So our aim with the qualifying bet’s odds is to lose as little as possible, even better-to break even or even win a little. If we do win on our qualifying bet this simply means that we have found an arbitrage betting situation, thus in fact we have taken advantage of 2 risk-free methods at the same time. Because arbitrage actually brings profit, it can be done on its own, but as the aim of this article is to explain matched betting we will just say that arbitrage could complement nicely the placement of qualifying bets.

I am sure by now you, the reader, start to get a more complete picture of the whole process. The hardest part of matched betting is finding the events that meet our odds criteria. The good news is there are now many free websites that compare odds in real time (they update by the minute or even more often, how convenient is that), and this makes the whole thing possible really, because let’s face it, if we were to manually sieve through all the bookmaker’s markets and then compare the odds with the same markets on Betfair, the whole process would become impractically time consuming and therefore impossible. Long live the Internet then (and the odds comparison websites)!!!

Maybe here will be the best place to explain some calculations that need to be done. Now, first of all, I have prepared an MS Excel spreadsheet whose sole purpose is to perform all the calculations for you once the odds and the stakes are entered. A download link will be provided below.

In our soccer example (from above) the draw was priced at 3.8 at the bookmakers. In order for it to become our selection for the qualifying bet it must be priced as closely as possible on Betfair’s lay column. Let’s say it is priced 3.7, or 3.8, or 3.9. And let’s say our qualifying bet must be £10 and Betfair commission is 5%. The 3 scenarios are:

If lay odds are 3.7
This is actually lower than the bookmaker’s price, and it is the best scenario for us. How much do we need to lay, assuming our bet with the bookie is £10 at odds of 3.8? We have to work out the lay stake, the lay liability (we should have enough funds in our Betfair account to be able to cover the whole liability of any lay bet that is placed), we have to not forget Betfair’s 5% commission on winning bets. After all the calculations are completed the result is:

Lay stake: £10.41
Lay liability: £28.11
Profit/Loss:
if bookmaker bet wins: -£0.11,
if lay bet wins: -£0.11

I have not included any formulas here, as I said all the formulas are embedded in my spreadsheet and once the bookmaker bet size and the odds and the lay odds were entered, I got the above result instantly. As you see, the final profit/loss is automatically equalised, so whatever the outcome we end up with the same profit/loss.

If lay odds are 3.8
Lay stake: £10.13
Lay liability: £28.37
Profit/Loss:
if bookmaker bet wins: -£0.37,
if lay bet wins: -£0.37

If lay odds are 3.9
Lay stake: £9.87
Lay liability: £28.62
Profit/Loss:
if bookmaker bet wins: -£0.62,
if lay bet wins: -£0.62

As you no doubt have noticed all the 3 above examples end up with a net loss on our qualifying bet. We lose even if the lay odds are 0.1 lower than the bookmaker odds; this is because of the 5% commission. Obviously the higher the lay odds the bigger the net loss is. Ideally the lay odds should be either lower or just a fraction higher than the back odds, just as in the above 3 examples. That is why patience is required when hunting for qualifying events/odds.

I am sure you know what follows after this. Let’s say we layed at 3.8 after backing (betting for the outcome) at 3.8. We are about to lose £0.37 on our £10 qualifying bet. Why would be accept a loss? Because once we place the qualifying bet the bookmaker will credit our account with the free bet that we are after (once the event/market is settled that is, in some instances could be within 24 hours of bet’s settlement).

Once the free bet is credited…We simply repeat the process once more, only this time we use the free bet and not our own money, again we lay at Betfair at favourable odds to offset the bet, and all we have to do then is wait for the bets to be settled.

Important: The proportions between the back bet and the lay bet are different this time, as we are using the free bet and not our own money. Again this is all done for you automatically with my free spreadsheet, so no need to write any formulas in this guide. Just for informative purposes though (these are not exact figures) – the lay bet will be around two thirds of the lay bet of the qualifying bet, so this time we are laying roughly a third less. This is when the bookmaker does not return our free bet. Amazingly, there are bookmakers that do return the free bet. If so, the lay bet will be the same as with the qualifying bet. Again, this option is covered in the free spreadsheet.

So what would be the end result, I hear you ask? In our example above, we will lose £0.37 on the qualifying bet. Let’s assume that when the free bet is credited we place it on an event with exactly the same odds-3.8, and lay it with the same odds-3.8. Then, the net profit will be £6.91 (calculated by the spreadsheet), we deduct the £0.37 loss on the qualifying bet and the net result is £6.54. This means our retention percentage on the free bet (£10 in this example) is around 65%, which is not bad at all.

Important: The retention percentage could differ considerably, but is entirely under our control. It is influenced by the odds, but in two different ways. First it is the difference between the back odds and the lay odds, the lower the lay odds the better (if lay odds are not low enough we simply don’t get involved with that event and look for another one). Secondly, not all odds result in the same retention % – the principle here is very simple, the higher the odds, the better the retention % will be. By this I simply mean that if you find an event that offers 2.3 at the bookies and 2.2 to lay at Betfair, but you spot another one – 4.5 at the bookies and 4.4 to lay at Betfair, you should choose the second one, the one with the higher odds, as it will be that one that will result in a better retention/profit. So even if the margin between back and lay odds is a bit smaller, but the odds are considerably higher, the higher odds event should be chosen. Again, I am just being informative here, as the exact figures will be at your disposal once you download my free spreadsheet and enter odds and stake – the table will show you all the figures, so you can compare any number of events in a matter of seconds and choose the one with the highest retention potential. You will know in advance what the result is, if not happy just find a more favourably priced event, there are no time deadlines here (if any, they will be mentioned in the small print of any offer, but they are generous so will not affect you-usually you should place the free bet within a full month of it being credited, I am sure you will agree that such a timeframe is not an issue, so take your time if you need to…but do read the small print/T&C)

As I mentioned earlier, the matched betting process looks much more complicated than it really is. There is plenty of information on the subject online, including the guide that you are reading at the moment, free calculators are available (don’t forget my free spreadsheet), and there are even websites that compare bookmaker and exchange odds, (my favourite is http://bet72.com/oddsmatcher/ , it will save you a lot of time). So if you have never opened an account with a bookmaker, why not do it now and take advantage of all those free bet offers? For a minimal effort you can earn some money to boost your regular income, if only for a while. Please note that I never made any claims as to how much money you can make in total (if you do all the offers at any one time), and this is simply because like any other company bookmakers change their offers and the total figure is not static. Suffice to say that the figure is in the hundreds at all times, simply because there are so many bookmakers competing for your custom.

Things to be aware of (possible problems):
1. Human error – this could cost you a lot, but it is up to you to avoid it. Make sure you lay the same event that you backed at the bookmaker, make sure the event doesn’t start soon and you have enough time to place both bets (if it starts and you have placed only the lay bet, for example, you will not be able to place the back bet and will be left with an open bet, this could lead to a loss as you risk will not be offset). Make sure you are familiar with decimal odds, with the lay liabilities that you will have on the lay bets, make sure you have enough funds to cover your bets (including the lay ones, their liability increases dramatically with the increase of the odds)

2. Technical issues – internet connection issues, computer issues, loss of power etc. Remember that all the time you are placing 2 bets-one with the bookmaker and one with Betfair, so if you place one bet and for whatever reason (technical or not) you can’t place the second bet, the matched betting turns into betting and from risk-free becomes gambling. Now the 2 bets are usually seconds apart, but it pays to be aware of anything that could go wrong, at the same time do not hurry like a maniac, as this on the other hand could lead to human error.

3. Voided/cancelled bets – very rarely indeed, the bookmaker could price an event very wrong, and change the price later to the one that was intended. Your bet with them could be cancelled. When you take a price with them, if it is an obvious mistake, don’t place the bet. Sometimes Betfair voids bets as well, but this is very infrequent too (on racing events most of the time, but probably all your bets will be on soccer anyway). If you happen to have placed your 2 bets at both the bookie and the exchange, and one of them gets cancelled/voided, there is nothing you can do. You could either win or lose in this case, as you will simply have an open bet. So even if it does happen, you could still win, but let me assure you that no match bettor is put off by this, it will be almost like saying “I will never go out on the street as I might get run over by a car”.

4. The bookmaker could refuse to credit you any bonuses if they think you are using someone else’s identity. They could assume this if someone from the same address has already taken advantage of their offers. Basically they link addresses and possibly IP addresses too, so ideally you should be the first one in your household to sign up with them. Again, this is not likely, and some bookmakers don’t mind giving free bets to customers from the same address, and of course you can always ask in advance if you have any suspicions. Simply read the terms and conditions again.

The free matched betting calculator is available for download from http://www.betgem.com/ Matched_Betting Instructions are given on the same web page, right after the download link at the very bottom.

This article was brought to you by http://www.betgem.com

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How to Profit From Laying a Losing Horse at Betting Exchange

If you are a betting fan and still unaware, you may make profits by betting on a horse which possesses highest odds to lose a race. Professional bettors term it ‘lay betting’. Read below to understand how this reverse way of handicapping appears profitable to you.

Think reverse: If your horse race tips indicate that you won’t profit from odds-on favourite, then you may wish betting on a horse that will not win at the race. It is completely a turn-around, as here you will choose to handicap a worst horse. Accordingly, your prediction will depend on how worst a horse performs and on the statistics and figures. In addition, you may seek a horse that runs badly on certain racetracks and weather conditions. Rather than putting money on the fastest, healthiest, and youngest horse, you will bet on the slowest and oldest horse in the herd.

Analyse the race results: No matter whether you handicap in favour of the winning horse or the laying a losing horse, it is advisable that you study the horse race form beforehand. Find those race forms in race tracks, on-line or in news-stands. The racing forms state past stats and figures that help you to handicap. Since you bet on the losing horse, always remember you need to search for a horse that is slowest of all.

Never wish for any miracle to happen: Along with the tips on horse racing, you have your stakes on a horse that possesses highest odds to lose. Suppose, rather than losing the horse you have chosen you win the race. Following this, you will loose enough money, which in fact you were supposed to win. Odds-on favourites lose a race for finishing first. All these happenings are common. This is why you may never reduce the ability of such horses. You may not even place much trust in the tips you acquire on horse racing. However, many a times, the tips on horse racing are far more accurate. You may rest assured the odds, whether losing odds or winning odds, both reflect the outcome of any horse race.

Profiting from laying a losing horse does not necessarily mean you place your bet on the horse that has sure chances to win. Instead, try to win by betting on a horse, which is forecast to lose. This strategy of betting might not sway you easily. However, it is one better option to invest much money into the betting bank you possess.

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Eric Smith is a professional player on Winningbetfair and he has taught many friends and peers to make money on betting exchange. More cracking information On Winning Horse Racing on Betfair can be found if you go see this [http://www.winninghorseracing.com]Winning Horse Racing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Y_Smith http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Profit-From-Laying-a-Losing-Horse-at-Betting-Exchange&id=2523227

A Dutch Bet is nothing more than betting on a number of outcomes to achieve a certain payout or profit, technically known as Proportional Betting.

Punters would place a Dutch Bet because they did not have an opportunity to bet a horse to lose so rather they would bet on a group of horses to win. Of course betting exchanges now allow all of us to place lay bets.

The big difference between a Dutch Bet and a Lay Bet is that there is no liability in a Dutch Bet other than the bet itself.

For example you could bet a total of £50 on a group of horses to win with a guaranteed profit of £100. Your risk is that if none of the horses win you will lose the £50.

In a Lay Bet say you bet £10 on a horse to lose with odds of 10 to 1. If the horse loses you profit the £10, however if the horse wins you lose £100.

There are many Dutch Bet calculators out there that you can download for free, just do a search.

So why place a Dutch Bet?

If you can eliminate all of the non-contenders and then bet the remaining horses you would always profit. Therefore the weakness or flaw in the plan always comes down to eliminating the non-contenders. All you have to do is look at todays racing results and you will see a number of long shot winners.

Another interesting angle is to Dutch Bet horses on different exchanges or with different bookies. The idea here is to find the best odds among your many options out there. If you play this game your dutch calculator should be the best you can find, which usually means you would purchase it. It should be able to handle different commission rates for each horse. You are not only Dutch Betting but you are also practicing Value Betting.

As with any type of betting, there are no guarantees out there you will always profit by placing Dutch Bets.

You can use this technique for backing or laying.

Step one - Place your bet by laying the minimum amount at 1.01 odds (for a bet make it 1000)

For example, place a lay bet for £2.00 at 1.01 odds

Step two- Go to the “My Bets” area and modify your bet by increasing the minimum amount by the amount you wish to bet

For example, if you bet £2 just add the amount to your original bet, ie £2.01. This will split your bet into two parts, one for £2 and one for 1p.

Step three - Cancel the £2 bet

Step four - Now adjust the odds of the 1p bet to what you desire.

Betfair treats all of your bets on a first come first served basis. Because of this Betfair will split your bets based on when they were entered. This splitting of bets allows you to effectively bet less than the minimum.