Betting Strategy: Learning Your Trade Online

Some online betting sites offer the punter the opportunity to be both the punter and the bookmaker. You can lay the selection or back it, thus giving a multitude of opportunities to bet or even trade markets for profit. There are many strategies and many systems that people say to follow, giving the punter lots of options to try to see what works for them. The only real truth is that there is no easy way to beat the exchanges, as with most things in life hard work is required.

A recent article in the Daily Mail cited a professional gambler who had profited to the tune of £17 million from online gambling. His strategy was laying favourites of horse racing, along with another horse further down the field to share the liability. The paper did not mention that the risks involved in this strategy were huge and that this gentleman was obviously in the top 1% of people who are willing to lay the favourites. Anyone who uses this strategy is going up against experienced and well informed people who have installed the favourite. This will be either through large bets causing price changes or the price setters who have done lots of research before offering odds.

Betting exchanges offers people the chance to take advantage of the king of betting – value. As the exchanges are influenced quickly by both volume of money and opinion the price fluctuations can often be volatile. As the markets are changed in real time on the exchanges value opportunities can come and go so your knowledge and research give you an advantage as you can see an opportunity as they happen and make your bet accordingly.

A good quote I heard sums up well how you should approach this form of gambling.

“To be a real pro, gambling ends up becoming almost like a form of accountancy, with a good staking plan, and calculation of value as and when it arises.”

There are many software programmes you can buy that connect to betting exchanges through API and supposedly highlight betting opportunities. You must be able to spot these windows of opportunity yourself, as the market changes very fast and you are competing against those with some of the sharpest minds who can make gambling pay. A winning exchange gambler is not lucky, they are as good at their job as a doctor, lawyer or accountant is at theirs.

You must put the time and effort in to researching how the exchanges work and develop your own strategies and staking plan. Guessing is the route to disaster. How you manage your bankroll, make your selections, when you stop betting, are all parts of your gambling management that will make or break you.

This may sound harsh, but there is little in the way of cautious advice. One gambling site send me a video to watch that was five minutes of big houses, cars and gorgeous woman with nothing about how to win. The truth in winning is from research and knowledge that the normal man has not got the ability to have or access to. You have to beat opinion, Betfair markets are not people but a collection of opinions. If you go against it make sure you have a solid reason why.

Certainly the benefit of the exchanges are it gives the person with skill a huge advantage, with luck eliminated as far as it can be when betting. If you are knowledgeable on the FTSE for example, you may be able to make a killing from the markets on Betfair that predict FTSE price movements. If you genuinely have ability in regards to betting the exchanges can help make it pay.

You should be fine so long as you research and do not bet randomly hoping the old saying “bookies never lose” helps you profit. It will not. What will help you profit is developing your skills, bankroll management and selections. Then there will be no stopping you. Do your homework and you will reap the rewards.