Traditional betting on football involved placing a wager before the game and waiting until the final whistle when you either ripped up your betting slip or collected your winnings. This is possible on Betfair but why not try splitting the game into a number of shorter periods and trade them in-play?
Trading in-play enables you to guarantee a profit on the game regardless of the end result. You are simply looking to identify a trend in the market during the period in which you are involved.
Before entering a market think about how it will react to certain situations. Do you think there will be a goal or will it be a tight period of play with no goals? How will the market respond to either situation?
Let's look at an example.
How do you think the following market would react if there were no goals in the first 10 minutes of the game?
The following draft graph illustrates how the prices will change for both selections.
To guarantee a profit on this market given the price changes there are two approaches. Both follow the golden rule of trading: BACK HIGH / LAY LOW!
Focus on under 2.5 goals. You back the selection before the game at the available odds of 2.18. In this example we have staked £20. After 10 minutes without a goal the price will be around the 2.06 mark. At this price you would now lay.
You decided to enter the market for 10 minutes and correctly predicted that there wouldn't be a goal scored. To guarantee a level profit use the payout link. Enter the payout from your first bet (green + red) into the box and let the system calculate the lay stake to attain a level position. The payout from this bet is £43.60.
When both bets are matched you are left with a level profit whatever the outcome.
This calculation can be done prior to kick-off. Instead of choosing a time to close your position, select a price. Again using the payout link you can enter the lay bet into the system and then choose to keep your bet when the market suspends at the start of the game. This is a brand new feature of the site. When using this on football please be aware that any bets that you choose to keep will be re-submitted after each suspension and cancelling of unmatched bets.
As soon as your price is met your level position will be achieved regardless of the time.
Why not try out your Tactics on an Over/Under 2.5 Goals Market? Click here.
We hope you find this section profitable, make sure you join us for next month's Tactics!
