How to use Betfair and win more money

Whether you bet on horses, greyhounds, football, tennis, athletics, NFL, tiddlywinks championships or whatever you are almost 100% certain to get better odds for your selection by using Betfair.

If you're not already a member click here to sign up and receive a free £30 bet.

After you've registered, you will need to deposit funds before you can bet or lay your selections. If possible I recommend depositing £30 as at the time of writing this blog that was the maximum amount Betfair will match as a free bet (read the terms set out when registering in case the free bet rules change). With money in your account it is time to bet (or "back") your first selection.

Backing Your Selection On Betfair:

For the purpose of this guide I chose to back QPR to beat Tottenham 3-0. I browse to the game by clicking Football at the top bar. Once there I am met with a list of the major games, of which QPR v Spurs is one of them so I can simply click 'View Full Market' to arrive there. If you want to bet on another, lesser game or a different sport entirely you can easily find it using the list on the lest-side of the screen.

As you can see I am already able to back it for 280.00 (which is 279/1 to any old school readers). Or you can offer your bet at a higher price if you think odds will increase. For example by clicking the blue bet icon (in our case, the 280) and look at the right-side of your screen, you will notice the 'My Bets' area has your 280 offer, which you can increase before entering your stake and clicking bet. (Also once you have placed a bet you will notice the option to Discard, Keep or Take SP - these allow you to keep the bet once the race/match has started or take Starting Price or in fact discard your bet if the odds don't reach you expected level.

Laying Your Selection On Betfair:

Laying a selection on betfair is done much the same as betting. The only thing I would say is (and it sounds so obvious but when you're in a rush to place bets it can happen!) DO NOT click the wrong button. Always Blue to BACK and pink to LAY.

Scalping or Trading

Scalping is a short terms trade where you back something at a high price and instantly lay down a price lower and wait for it to be matched. It allows instant profit before a race or game is over (or in most cases EVEN STARTED!).For an indepth guide to scalping visit:
http://betfairscalping.blogspot.com/2011/01/scalping-on-betfair-easy-money-be.html


Don't forget to sign up at Betfair and receive a free £30 bet

Scalping on Betfair. Easy Money? Be Careful

Scalping On Betfair?

What is scalping?

Scalping is short term trading. It is a form of sports arbitrage betting. A scalping trader looks to make lots of small profits, which in time add up. Scalping relies on lots of active participants in the market. Scalping on Betfair on UK horse racing is the best place for this type of sports arbitrage betting. This is because you have lots of liquidity in these markets, in particular just before the start of the race, because you get a surge of money coming into the market.

The concept is simple, if you back a price you must lay at a higher price, or, if you lay a price you must back a lower price to make a profit. Whatever happens your profit is guaranteed and is equal to the difference or spread between the back and lay price. The Betfair betting exchange is an ideal place to trade in this way.

In this article we’ll look at the basics of scalping on Betfair and how to scalp.

Scalping on Betfair basics

You can scalp any betting market. However, you must have enough people participating in the market or enough liquidity. The UK horse racing market on Betfair lends its self to scalping because of the amount of participants and volume of money entering the market. When we talk about scalping here we will be referring to UK horse racing for the reasons mentioned.

Scalping on Betfair involves pre race scalping rather than trading prices when a horse race is in play. The pre race markets is not susceptible to out side events like in play markets, reducing the risk.

Scalping a pre race market involves popping in an out of the market taking quick small profits. These are called scratch trades. With the pre race market there is no danger that the price is going to shot off in one direction, for example, a rider falls of the horse.

Scalping this pre race market on Betfair is good because the race hasn't actually started. There are no physical events happening that are moving the market. But, the price still moves around enough to make money. This movement in the price is really just noise. Scalping this market with larger stakes is less risky because it is not too volatile. Scalping on Betfair with larger stakes is where your profits can really pick up.

The Betfair betting exchange is good for scalping because you can back and lay the favourite horse quickly.

To be successful you expect to take profits and loses of about the same size. The frequency of profits should outweigh your losses. You don't want the losses to get out of hand other wise you are on an up hill struggle to regain them. The worst thing you can do is hang onto a bet because it's losing and let it play out as the race commences. This is not the way and is simply gambling.

How to scalp?

The best form of scalping is to perform scratch trades. Scratch trades are a form of scalping when you are in and out of the market very quickly. This form of scalping is all about money management and involves cutting loses from your scalping trades quickly. Some people don't like scratch trades because they can see the price moving in the right direction after they have exiting and get annoyed about missing out on a profit. But, a scratch trade will get you out if the prices moves in the wrong direction. It's psychology really, a missed profit has a different effect on some people than a saved loss.

Scratching trades may end up costing you a few profits but it will also save you lots of losses. Many people dwell on the times when they scratch and, as soon as they did so, the trade went in the right direction and they could have made a few ticks profit if only they hadn’t scratched so quickly.

Betfair.com opened up their website to software programmers allowing third party providers to offer tools to aid Betfair traders. There are a range of software providers with systems that make scalping a lot easier.

Scalping can be a lot of fun and highly rewarding but it requires a great deal of discipline. You have to be prepared to accept a small lose, knowing that as soon as you do the odds could swing back down meaning you just missed out on a tidy profit. But it will oh so often swing the other way, and if you haven't gotten off that boat you will end up losing a hefty chunk before the race has even started.

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