How would you like to trade a market where you get large regular price swings every 10 minutes in the afternoon, seven days a week. A
market where all prices are set purely by supply and demand, few transaction costs, no middle men and you only pay commission if you win? Where you can freely act as a market maker and where you have direct market access and where you can create a spread for others to take?

Betfair has revolutionised the betting market and created an open platform for exchanging risk on sports events. This market is now viewed much more like a traditional financial risk market than an old fashioned betting market. Smart users have realised that there are huge opportunities on Betfair because they can buy and sell risk in much the same way they would in a normal financial market but without the burden of cost or the restricted access that is usually associated with traditional financial markets.

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"Yantraman - 28 Oct'04 - 16:13 - 26 of 28
Do you bet in the running?"

No, Not on Horses. I know guys that do and do very well from it but not my style. I think you need to choose to or not. Difficult to mix strategies.

Football is a bit different I do bet in running on football. Thats part of the mix IMO.

I'm sure with horse racing you can catch a lot of mugs out, I know, I've been that mug.

I've backed a horse and the bet is unmatched when the race has started, the horse is well behind and got no chance so someone matches my bet and takes easy money.

IMO, you should cancel your unmatched bets before the race starts.

All unmatched bets are cancelled at the start of each event whether it be a football match or horse race.

Is that true? I'm sure I've been caught out on horse races before

The only thing that could have happened is if you submitted the bet when the market was closed and then re-opened. I've been caught like that before.

Jeff

definitely true - had bets cancelled and f'ed and blinded about it lol

Some events such as manager markets are unmanaged so bets are GTC. When Mark Hughes was appointed as manager of Blackburn Rovers I was listening to five live. So I went into the market and just swept up everything in front of me. It seemed to take ages for the news to filter out.

I think I've noticed on Betfair how you can bet on some races whilst the horses are still running but before the race has finished. Haven't done it though.

I'm not really a horse betting man but I do think I'm an 'opportunist' which puts me into the 'I'm not bothered what it is and/or I'll even leave it alone' category. So Betfair is OK with me and I'll have tickle with anything really, just to sorta kinda put my money where my mouth is.

I quiet fancy this course, would have prefered a saturday though to a working day,and theres lots of sporting events on a saturday too to make it possible for live trades,
Scrip, cant you do 2 days?:-)
And hopefully there is coffee and tea:-)

will be in touch

Ruth,

We will do some live stuff on Horses in the afternoon and cover financials as they will be "live" as such. There will probably be other events we can look at as well. Today there is Tennis and Golf as well as the normal stuff. Often there is a soccer match in the evening as well, so we shouldn't be short on events to look at.

What an excellent idea for a course and who better to run it than Peter - would be interested to see your structured and logical approach to the exchanges.

Dil and I wrote some spreadsheets a couple of years ago - not again :-)

Scrip, its the prising myself away from the ftse futures on the friday,:-)
i didnt put it accross good, i didnt mean there was a lack of events on a Friday to bet on, i meant theres lots on Saturdays too,:-)

Scrip on average how many bets a day do you do, ?and what is the average of winners, loosers, flat etc, and are some sports more profitable than others?

Ive had a betfair account for a year or so, and ive had a guy come round here and do live arbitrage stuff on the horses,but he didnt put it accross very well. :-(

MrE, Thanks for your comments. Glad to see you posting again. I trust things are much better?

Mr Euro, agree, after my last london seminar and dissapointment(not money am related i must add) i decided not to go on any more financial courses ever(unless i personally know the people involved ):-) well got to keep in with the management dont you:-) , but this is something different, and it interests me a alot, and ive met Scrip a few times, and hes a decent honest fella, i reckon it will be worth dipping into my purse for.

Peter, I am still here thanks which is always a bonus :-) Due to take up my position at the EU in 2 weeks, not sure I will be up to it by then but I wont be doing a Kilroy!

Edit: Ruth yes he is.

Scrip, just spoke to the master of the house, hes says he can change his shift for that day, so ive just confirmed my place via email,
look forward to seeing you there,

Right off for a nice romantic meal out shortly,
see ya all tommorrow,

Ruth,

"Scrip, its the prising myself away from the ftse futures on the friday,:-)"

Similar problem over here!!

I change my strategy depending on what's happen but on a busy day I will place hundreds of bets. I guess I am the exception rather than the rule on Betfair. I'm probably not the best representation as you could get away with only 2-4 bets per race on the horses.

The lowest number of bets I placed on one event today was 3 and the most 31.

Depending on which strategy you use you will get varying results. Certain strategies will yield as high as 90-95% success rate. A more "normal" strategy will yield a win 60-70%. There are many variations and contingencies that sit underneath those figures. I have looked at many strategies and success rates and will present those figures so you can at least have a benchmark to measure yourself against.

I win money mainly on football matches, horse racing, financials and tournaments. Those are my main areas but some of that is skewed by the availability and liquidity of the markets.

Ruth, Great, Look forward to seeing you there. If there is any specific you are interested in seeing during the course please request it and I will see what I can do.

No activity today as I went out for my first round of Golf since May. My foot survived the trip so now looking at getting out a bit more often again.

Scrip, i tried golf a few times, bought all the kit, even got the shoes,only problem was i looked the part with me fancy graphite clubs, and everyone was watching thinking ide be some hot shot, and i couldnt even hit the ball, very embarassing,just left loads of divits in the tee off area:-)
i did fill em back in of course, etiquete and all that:-)
Teach me for trying to be a flash cow with fancy equipment,
its in the garage now, good as new, only used about 5 times, its harder than it looks :-)