Exchange Betting

Introduction to Exchange Betting

An individual intrigued in any type of betting, not limited to golf, cannot overlook the betting exchanges any more. Some prices you can back players at are incredible; this is because individuals, not bookmakers with profit margins, usually offer them. And, in case you weren’t aware of this, there is the capacity to LAY a choice on the exchanges that you either think won’t win or where you have to ‘trade’ back some of your original wager so that you may ensure a return, or at minimum, get back your original bet. And because outright golf markets, along with a few others, are completely available, 'in-running' during each tournament is superb.

Please be mindful that no credit is offered by the exchanges so you must have enough money in your account with the exchange to cover any potential complete loss on a bet.

Which exchange?

You simply must have an account with one of them if you have the computer skills to be reading this. Betfair leads by a wide margin when considering popularity and liquidity. Others, like Betdaq and Sporting Choices, operate markets on some, if not every one, of the golf games we like and are putting forth a lot of effort to be competitive, but currently the only thing they are good for is getting the odd standout price, and this inadequate for us to advise an account with them as being beneficial. On the other hand, you can never have enough accounts. Because of the liquidity of the markets and the predictability of price movements, the next most important move is to open an account at Betfair.

You can open an account with Betfair just by clicking here.

Is using them a simple task?

If you have not utilized them in the past, you should definitely practice but the time spent doing so will be more than worth it. Each market will present prices in blue and prices in pink (when using Betfair as an example). The best available prices to back your selection are located in the blue column, while the best prices to lay the selection can be found in the pink. The stake that is presently available at the price will be contained in each box in each column. Each column is supported by two extra columns revealing the next best chances expected to be accepted, and these will move into the colored spotlight if the first best offered is accepted or matched. Place a bet to sit either in front or behind the current best offers, and see in the "my bets" section whether or not it has been matched. If you desire a bet matched as soon as possible, you only need to match the price in the colored box, depending on how you are leaning. Don't be in a hurry to match prices that are not good for you, though, especially if there is a long time to the start of the event (at that point, all unmatched bets will be cancelled, the market wiped clean, and a new one introduced for the 'in-running' fun and games!). The markets and offers are constantly changing; other individuals are constantly placing bets to sit on the market's front end, and sometimes someone will match your bet at a better price than you requested, although it will never be lower.

All amounts shown on the exchanges are in the format of decimals and not in fractions such as the majority of bookmakers who follow traditional methods. It may take some time to get the hang of it, but it is fairly simple. 5/1 is shown as 6, 5/2 is shown as 3.5, Evens is represented as 2, and 4/5 is shown as 1.8 and so forth -- maybe the simplest method of conversion is to consider what the profit of the partial price would be to a 1 unit stake for example. One unit at 4/5 returns 1.8 units, while 1 unit at 5/1 returns 6. As an aid, there is a very helpful odds converter here along with one found on the Betfair home page.

Additionally, the odds you can trade in on Betfair are more accurate than the standard fractions. For example, in the middle of Evens and 6/5 there is something else besides 11/10; Evens becomes 2 and then you could pick 2.02, 2.04, 2.06, 2.08, the 2.10 of 11/10, 2.12, 2.14, 2.16 and 2.18 before we come to the 2.20 of 6/5. Practice is needed to get used to this, but once you have it down, more choice can only be a good thing.

In what way do you utilize exchanges in order to give advice?

We have already witnessed how 'trading' can be accomplished in our introduction to using the exchanges throughout the initial weeks of the season. This consists of standing behind a player through the regular bookmakers when we are absolutely certain that it would be feasible to put our player on Betfair, an action I like to call 'closing the bet'. By backing 6 points at 20/1 and laying 5 points at 19 (18/1), your enhanced-odds bet is 1 point staked at 30/1. At the Bob Hope, when Mickelson won, we had 20/1 on day two and virtually immediately a lay at 5 points shorter. Take a look at the trades archive page and view how it worked.

If we do not think a player or group will win, we can easily lay a player or a group of players. Is laying a loser really easier than backing a winner? Well, without a doubt, it may be... However, what that would mean is that the odds we would be providing would risk a large amount of our bank if incorrect. Likely, we would rather suggest putting a lay up on a player at a short cost in the event he reaches that price during action. This might happen on a person who is suspected to be under a great deal of pressure, and too big when play begins on the last day to lay. A decent example of this was when Chris DiMarco, in the last round of the FBR Open, which is shown at the bottom of this In-Running page.

Another superior advantage of utilizing the exchanges is the huge odds available on players who are unconsidered. Great players trade at great prices every week, so we can offer small speculative bets on them, with the reassurance that if they do well, we can lay them back during play on Betfair. Some players top-priced at 100/1 with the bookmakers will be trading at 50% (or even higher odds), and sometimes, if they are proven winners, they are simply too big to be ignored. Players could still look good to us at this time.

So, how are prices bet on the exchanges actually recorded?

This is an excellent question because the exchange prices are constantly changing. I will keep a record of what the trades are at the suggested cost or better than the suggested cost, and if there has been a minimum of a 'few' hundred pounds of bets made when a lay has been suggested, then I can confidently say that the suggested play was accomplished successfully. It goes without saying that if you are a particularly big bettor, it will not be easy to get all you want on at the advised prices because, in the market, large amounts of money have an impact on other people's actions or can simply be too big for everyone else to absorb. Normally, I would suggest to either match a bet already waiting or put up a bet priced so that it will virtually be guaranteed to be taken. If the advice was for prices that are not eventually matched, no bet will be recorded.

The commission that Betfair takes on any eventual profit is not factored in on any of the bets. They keep as much as 5% of your net profit on an event -- that's the price you pay for being able to play in this way. We have to go where the liquidity is even though the other exchanges generally take less than this. In order to simplify the numbers, I disregard the commissions, which vary from person to person.