We realise Betfair is not the easiest concept to grasp so we've written this series of articles to improve your betting and help you to profit on Betfair.
Successful people in business will often say that the key to success is more than just hard work, it is learning from your mistakes. Someone who has a lucky day on the punt or strikes it rich in the lottery is highly likely to give it all back in the long run because they don't appreciate how they got rich. If you want to base your success on pure luck rather than strategy and hard work, then you might as well play roulette or slot machines at a casino.
If you do something wrong in your betting, work out why and learn from it. This doesn't mean every time you have a losing bet - not even the best punter in the world wins every bet - gambling simply doesn't work that way.
What sort of things can catch a punter out on Betfair?
Rules - while most rules on betting exchanges are the same as the rest of the betting industry, there are several that are markedly different. A betting exchange takes no risk - all odds offered and taken are done so by the customers themselves, thus some rules need to be different to accommodate both backers and layers.
Here are some of the ones which might catch you out if you aren't familiar with them.
Racing:
Ante-post v day-of-race markets.
Ante-post markets are long-term markets offered before the final field for a race is declared. This could be a matter of days or a whole year. Major races such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Derby etc will be listed well before entries are taken. Ante-post races may have several stages of acceptance/entry/forfeit/nomination where horses will drop out - any bets to win (back bets) on a horse who does not pay up for the following entry stage are lost. With ante-post markets, the odds are usually bigger, often many times bigger, than you would receive on the day of the race - but the risk is that backers lose their money if their horse does not line up in the race.
Day-of-race markets are available once the final field has been declared. Any bets placed on a non-runner are refunded and all bets already placed on other runners will be subject to a Reduction Factor, the Betfair equivalent of Rule 4. Without this rule, layers would not be protected in the event of a late withdrawal, and few people would be prepared to lay significant-size bets.
As the two markets are kept separate, customer liabilities do not link together.
Void bets:
All bets placed on the exchange stand once matched with only a few exceptions.
- Racing: As mentioned above, in day-of-race markets for horse racing, when a horse is withdrawn, all bets placed on that horse are voided.
- Greyhounds: If a dog is declared a non-runner once betting has commenced, the entire market is voided and betting re-opened on the revised field.
- Soccer: First Goalscorer - The betting industry standard is that any player who has not taken the field by the time the first goal has been scored has all bets on him voided. Thus a Lay market of 150% isn't as glorious as it may seem - a significant number of those bets will be cancelled.
- Cricket: Top Batsman - If a named batsman is not selected in the team, then the market will be void.
- Tennis - Match Odds - If the first set is not completed before a player retires, then all bets are voided. There are several sets of tennis rules within the betting industry, always be sure which rules you are betting to.
This is not a definitive list - always check the rules for each market when placing your bets.