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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Hello everyone,

I've been reading this thread for a short while, and thought I'd introduce myself! I've been betfairing for nearly four months now, and am quite pleased with a 33% increase in my bank :-). (Much better than what I was achieving with the shares!).
I've learned how to trade rather than gamble, and also to cut losses quickly rather than chase them.
Anyway, I've noticed that there is a book coming out next month ...
"Winning on Betfair for Dummies"
Jack Houghton
ISBN: 0-470-02856-4
Paperback
264 pages
24th March 2006
5.99
==============================================================
The world of betting is being transformed by internet betting exchanges, and theres none bigger than Betfair, the worlds leading online betting exchange. Winning on Betfair For Dummies is the definitive insiders guide, giving you a full picture of the way Betfair works, explaining the terms, lingo and jargon, and letting you in on insider knowledge and know-how. Its the perfect reference for the first time Betfair player, and also reveals tips and tricks to satisfy even the most seasoned punter.
Winning on Betfair FD includes information on:
Backing and laying
Placing more than one bet in a market
Betting in-play
Telephone, mobile phone and PDA betting
Trading, arbing and bots
Making a profession of it

Introduction.
Part 1: Starting Out.
Chapter 1: What is Betfair.
Chapter 2: Starting Out.
Chapter 3: Managing Your Account.
Chapter 4: Choosing Your Market.
Part 2: Lets Get Betting.
Chapter 5: Placing your first bet.
Chapter 6: Having More Than One Opinion.
Chapter 7: Betting In-Play.
Part 3: Getting Serious.
Chapter 8: Low Risk Betting: Trading.
Chapter 9: Low Risk Betting: Arbing.
Chapter 10: Automating Your Betting: Bots.
Chapter 11: Making a Profession of It.
Chapter 12: Problem Gambling.
Part 4: Part of Tens.
Chapter 13: Ten Common Mistakes.
Chapter 14: Ten Top Tips.
Chapter 15: Ten Most Amazing Betfair Markets.
Chapter 16: Ten Betfair Firsts.
Glossary.
==============================================================

I was wondering if any of you have any views on the book, or the Author etc. (OK I know it's not out yet!)
I'll probably buy it anyway, just to see if I'm missing anything!!!
I hope you don't mind me posting the details above, I'm not trying to detract from Scrip's courses, but the book is a tad cheaper!

Cheers for now.

P.S. The eagle eyed amongst you may have seen the occasional post by me on the betfair forum (crunchyfrog).

Hi crunchyfrog, welcome on board.

Havent heard of the book you are talking about though have read the Racing Posts "Definitive Guide to Betting Exchanges" which starts with the basics and then goes on to discuss a variety of potential techniques, one or two of which have become quite profitable for me :-)

For anyone who is interested, there is a new online "paper" for gambling and trading that started up today. It is currently very much in its infancy though may be worth keeping an eye on

http://www.thedailyprofit.co.uk

I have to apologise in advance for the poor quality of the cricket articles as they are written by me! (though if you read the current version you will see my draw lay first test and India series back are well in profit before a ball is bowled)

As for tonights cricket the prices may have over reacted to Englands dire team selection problems. Definitely out are Vaughan, Trescothick and S Jones and there are still doubts over a couple of others. The line up is likely to be:

Strauss
Cook
Bell
Collingwood
Pieterson
Flintoff (capt)
Jones (wk)
Blackwell
Harmison
Hoggard
Plunkett/Udal/Panesar (depending on fitness and the pitch)

The current prices will be about fair value to me if India win the toss and bat however I would expect quite a change if England win the toss and bat on what should be a good batting wicket (at least for the first couple of days). The big worry is the lack of experience left at the top of the order

Softbank(Japanese ) have bought 23% of Betfair valuing whole company at 1.5bn

So when will I be able to buy 0.0001% on the open market ???

:-)

Some very strange happenings on the site after the upgrade and also freezing occasionally, gonna watch and see before getting involved, just a bit too risky for me

Betfair Customer Services 28 Feb 13:46


We are aware that users are experiencing problems in using the website, and would like to apologise to all users for any inconvenience caused. Please be assured that our technicians are currently working to rectify the problem as promptly as possible.

Crunchy....A warm welcome from me. Not heard of the book either but will keep an eye out for it next month. At 5.99, seems like good value even if it's basic stuff.

The book that Fundy mentioned "Definitive Guide to Betting Exchanges" can be ordered directly from the publishers at a discount if you're a betfair member but will need to quote a code. Not got this at hand but can post up tonight if I can find it.

Steve...Thanks for the dailyprofit link. Terrible article! LOL

Bak

i think todays update should be there today - and thats even worse.

that said there are some very knowledgeable people contributing to it and some of it makes for interesting reading

PS have you got updata running yet
PPS have a good day on the course tomorrow
PPPS must be time for another night out to fleece the casino of some more money (and i believe you owe me a beer)

Hi bakko,

Thanks, "Definitive Guide to Betting Exchanges" is 11.21 on Amazon, so any direct savings will be welcome!
Cheers,
Crunchy :-)

Crunchy

List price of the book is 16.99 so i think the amazon price is a saving!!!

Re Betfair today, Main site is a mare but the API is working fine.

Scrip

was just going to post exactly the same comment - i get approx 6 refreshes (ie 6 seconds) on Bet Angel before a requested refresh happens on the normal site.

A lot of pi**ed off people on the forum and a few reporting bets going missing which sound a bit worrying

Still, the colours look nice lol

Hanging on Betangel a bit now at my end - im gonna give it a miss for the rest of today

Everything seems fine over here, four cracking races for me in a row. They appear to have pulled the colours, my theory, the load on their servers was too great when people started caching the colours and other data.

Seems fine now.

Seems better now though a bit late as i got caught earlier when i couldnt submit a bet just before the off - laid off in running but took a hit :-)

Couldnt get a bet laid in running in the last - tried to put in a lay at 2.00 for obrigado having backed heavily earlier - just refused to let me manually submit a lay in running - got matched at 1.77 on the site but my bet didnt

Couldnt get a bet laid in running in the last - tried to put in a lay at 2.00 for obrigado having backed heavily earlier - just refused to let me manually submit a lay in running - got matched at 1.77 on the site but my bet didnt

Steve...Apologies for my late response. Mad busy at work!

I agree that a night out is overdue and will speak with John and Tony tomorrow to organise a date.

Fleecing the casino? Speak for yourself cos I remember we were all on the wrong end of a fleecing session last time apart from yourself. And yes, I owe you a few beers for a recent tip.

Btw, Choccie has expressed an interest to join a betfair boys night out.

Chocs, Are you still up for it?