Horse Racing Articles

 

SPORTS ARBITRAGE WORLD TRADERS

I’m a full-time sports arbitrage trader. This involves placing related bets which are combined in such a way as to eliminate the risks that each bet would have on its own. The result of each properly executed trade is a risk-free profit of 1% – 10%. It’s perfect for me as it lets me work from home on my own terms and the profits are tax-free.

The trades are often called arbs or surebets. To make money this way you need a reliable method to find large numbers of arb trades. You can actually do this manually but it’s better to use software.

If you do a search online for sports arbitrage software, you’ll find that there’s no shortage of offerings. Some are good, some are mediocre and many are complete rubbish. The problem for most companies in this business is that there is a lot of maintenance involved in keeping their software up-to-date. This costs money and requires the services of skilled programmers. Most of the companies out there simply don’t have the resources to keep up.

However, there is one company which has been established in sports arbitrage for more than a decade. They’ve always been at the forefront and are, to my mind, most responsible for bringing this type of trading to the public’s attention over the years.

Sports Arbitrage World are now in the process of releasing the next generation of sports arbitrage software and from what I’ve seen so far, it is going to take my trading to a new level of profitability.

The first thing that struck me about Sports Arbitrage World is the design of the website. It’s a good-looking Web 2.0 site with clear navigation and beautiful graphics. It’s a good indication of the care that this company has put into every element of their customers’ experiences.

Signing up for the free trial is easy; there’s a ‘Free Trial’ button on every page of the site. They just asked for my name and email – no hassle. After submitting the form, I received an email asking me to confirm. I just had to click the link in the email & I was in. The log-in codes I got allow me full and unrestricted access to the TraderZone. As a bonus, I’ve been given access to some pretty cool sports arbitrage videos; more on those later…

It seems that the TraderZone has been designed to be a central trading hub and it’s very user-friendly.

On the left side of the screen there are a few buttons which I’ve described below. The rest of the screen is made up of mini windows or panels which are supposed to contain different types of trading data, but I couldn’t see any trades to start with.

There are 6 buttons on the left panel and I’ve pressed them all!

1. My Free Trials

When I pressed this button, I suddenly understood why I wasn’t seeing any trades in the main window. You actually have to press this button and then choose to start the 5 day trial of the service. I can see the sense of this; if I was brand new to sports arbitrage then I might not be ready to make any use (or even any sense!) of the service straight away. This option gives me time to make some preparations beforehand, taking the pressure off. Since I can time exactly when the trial starts it means that I can synchronise it with any other trial I may have with other services so I can make a direct comparison.

As well as the free 5 days worth of arbs and middles, there’s a second freebie available in this section – free arbs on Fridays for life. Nice; even if you decide not to subscribe to their services, you can still use it every Friday for free.

There’s also link to download the free Starter version of ArbSurfer. I’ve done this this and I must say it’s quite impressive. It probably deserves a review to itself but for now it’s enough to say that if you haven’t opened all your bookmaker accounts yet then you should get this software. It will save you hours because it semi-automates the filling out of the application forms.

2. My Paid Services

Pressing this button opens a window which lists the software, subscriptions and packages they have up for sale. Interestingly, they offer some of their starter-packs with personal tuition. Once you’ve made a purchase, this window contains your download links and information about the time remaining on your subscription.

3. Support

Press this button for direct access to the Trader Support Desk. I like this feature and think that it’s especially important for anhone who’s new to sports arbitrage trading. The support agents are very friendly & seem to know their stuff. They’re also very responsive. If they are online & you contact them with the Live Chat link, they’ll answer your questions immediately. I sent a support ticket at 21.30 last Thursday, whilst the Live Chat service was offline, and received a detailed reply after 53 minutes.

4. Filters

I’m impressed with the way the filters are set up. It’s very easy to use but there are some hidden powers lurking amongst the simplicity. Blocking arbs with bookmakers you don’t use or in sports you don’t want to trade is as simple as ticking the boxes next to the relevant bookmaker/sport.

I tend not to trade any arb below 0.50% profit and setting this was also easy.

It’s very important to be able to block arbs in tennis and baseball where the bookmaker rules are different. You can do this with just one click. But what’s interesting is that you can also choose to mix only certain types of rules together, for example in tennis I prefer to block all mixed rules except those arbs where the rule “Action after 1st set” is combined with “Action after 2nd set”. Fixing this setting in the TraderZone took less than a couple of seconds!

The last filter is one I haven’t seen anywhere else ever before and it’s clever.

By comparing every bet that it scans with the market average, the TraderZone can identify potential palpable errors.

In the filters section, you can tell it what to do with arbs that use bets above a certain threshold. For example, if an arb is 30% above the market average you might want it flagged as ‘Caution’ so you take a bit more care before trading it. If it was, say, 75% above the average then you might just want it to be blocked automatically. You just tell the software your preferences and it takes care of it for you!

5 / 6. Report A Bug / Request A Feature

This is another unique aspect of the TraderZone and one that I love. These buttons give you a direct line of communication to the Sports Arbitrage World programmers. If you report a bug, it’s fixed almost immediately. If you request a feature, it’s added to a list which you and every other trader can see. You get to vote on features (and other traders will vote on feature requests you’ve made) and the requests with the most votes go to the top of the list and are worked on first by the programmers. This is a fantastic concept as it allows us, the trader community, to have a direct impact the evolution of the software. Looking at the list as it stands right now, there are already some amazing new features in the pipeline; go see for yourself!

The Trader Screen

Apart from the buttons, the rest of the screen is dedicated to displaying live trading data in different ways. The information is displayed in panels and each panel has a different function.

For example, one of the panels displays a list of the most recent arbs whilst another displays a list of the top 5 arbs in terms of profitability. Another panel displays all Middles trades whilst another displays alternative bets for the arb you have selected. Very useful when you miss a prices and need to hedge your exposure.

The calculator sits in a panel all to itself and updates automatically as soon as you click a trade. It does everything you’d expect: rounding of bets to the nearest 1, 5 or 10 and automatically recalculating stakes for you if you want to bias your trade to a particular outcome. Once you’re ready, pressing a single button will open up the bookmaker sites for you, letting you get on with the business of trading.

I’ve not seen arb software using this type of user interface before but I think it’s the way forward. For a start, it’s very flexible as you can change the layout to suit you.

I think that the main benefit, though, is that it lets the programmers add new functions very easily. All they have to do is add a new panel.

For example, there is a panel called “Bonus Hunter”. With this, you first list any bookmakers that have given you bonuses which you need to trade out. Then the Bonus Hunter window lists all trades, whether they are actual arbs or break-even trades, that include those bookies.

This is really clever thinking and I wonder whether they have even realized the true value of this feature. I’m now able to take advantage of virtually every bonus I get and it takes almost no effort because the best trades to use are highlighted by the software. It’s made me look at bonus-scalping as an ongoing profit-centre and I reckon it will add about £500 a month to my bottom line, some months much more, when the bookies are handing out reload bonuses left, right and centre.

If you’re in any way interested in either sports arbitrage trading, middles and sides or bookmaker bonus hunting, I strongly recommend that you take up a trial at the TraderZone. There’s nothing to lose and even if you don’t decide to subscribe to their services beyond the trial you’ll still have free arbs every Friday! The developers add amazing new features virtually every month and it will be interesting just to see how some of the ones in the pipeline turn out…

Oh, and i nearly forgot…

When you sign up for the trial, you’ll get access to a series of cartoon sports arbitrage videos starring a little character called Trader Tim. Watch them, they’re pretty entertaining & extremely down to earth about getting started as a sports arbitrage trader. It’s all good stuff.

Register for your free trial now

 

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race	time	meeting	selection	price	place	profit	loss	bank
1	10.31	romford	Trap 1	06-Jan	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£9.50
2	10.46	Romford	trap 1	09-Feb	won	£0.00	£45.00	£35.50
3	10.53	crayford	Trap 5	06-Jan	2nd	£9.50	£0.00	£26.00
4	11	romford	Trap 2	09-Feb	3rd	£9.50	£0.00	£16.50
5	11.16	romford	Trap 1	09-Feb	2nd	£9.50	£0.00	£7.00
6	11.31	romford	Trap 1	11-Apr	2nd	£9.50	£0.00	£2.50
7	11.37	crayford	Trap 4	05-Jan	3rd	£9.50	£0.00	£12.00
8	11.44	romford	Trap 1	03-Jan	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£21.50
9	11.51	crayford	Trap 5	05-Jan	2nd	£9.50	£0.00	£31.00
10	11.58	romford	Trap 1	09-Feb	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£40.50
11	12.08	crayford	Trap 4	07-Feb	3rd	£9.50	£0.00	£50.00
12	12.17	romford	Trap 1	09-Feb	3rd	£9.50	£0.00	£59.50
13	12.33	romford	Trap 3	07-Feb	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£69.00
14	12.39	crayford	Trap 6	07-Feb	2nd	£9.50	£0.00	£78.50
15	12.47	romford	Trap 6	03-Jan	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	88
16	12.57	crayford	Trap 5	05-Jan	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£97.50
17	1.04	romford	Trap 4	03-Jan	3rd	£9.50	£0.00	£107.00
18	1.11	crayford	Trap 5	07-Feb	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£116.50
19	1.19	romford	Trap 6	07-Feb	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£126.00
20	1.44	crayford	Trap 3	03-Jan	3rd	£9.50	£0.00	£135.50
21	1.58	crayford	Trap 2	04-Jan	u/p	£9.50	£0.00	£145.00

 

 

Betting on Horse Racing Using Betting Exchanges Explained

There’s no doubt that they’ve created a new era in the betting world. Betting on horse racing via betting exchanges has revolutionized the way that we can place a bet now, but are they everything that we think they are?

You’ve most probably heard about them and you may have even seen them, but why has there been such a buzz about betting on horses using betting exchanges, rather than the traditional bookie?

In this article, I will explain the basics of what a betting exchange is, and why I think that using them gives you a better chance of increasing your horse racing profits.

What Exactly Is A Betting Exchange?

A betting exchange is essentially a betting arena if you like (Betfair being the most popular at this point in time), that enables individual punters that have opposing views about, for example, a particular race, to bet against each other.

This is very different to how it works with a traditional bookie, where everyone is betting on horses with the aim to beat the bookie himself. Betting exchanges are different, and in a sense they have cut out the traditional bookmaker altogether.

All bets placed on horses via betting exchanges, fall into two categories generally; some bets are placed by users who may want to bet in the more traditional way – by backing a horse to win the race. So in this type of bet, you select a horse that you think can win its race, and you place a bet on it to win.

Other punters however, may think a horse will not win its given race and prefer to offer odds to other punters. This is known as laying, and I will explain how this works in a little more detail now.

The Difference Between Backing and Laying

Backing a horse to win works in essentially the same way, whether you are using a betting exchange or a conventional bookmaker. So as I’ve just mentioned, you are betting that the horse will win the race and if it does, then you win your bet.

However, if you feel that a certain horse can not possibly win its race, then you can place what is known as a ‘lay’ bet on the horse in question.

What this simply means is that you are betting against the horse winning its race, and you are also hoping that there are punters out there that disagree with you, and so they will back it to win.

Its this type of scenario that has enabled betting exchanges to take betting on horse racing, as well as other events too, to a different level.

Look At This In More Detail

Here’s an example – You may well be betting on horses and feel that a particular horse, lets call it ‘Three Legged Donkey’, cannot possibly win its race.

What you are doing by placing a lay bet is essentially offering odds to other punters who may wish to back the horse, as they think that it will win.

So you think the horse will lose, but they think the horse will win.

In the event that ‘Three Legged Donkey’ doesn’t win its race, you pick up their (the backer’s) stake and so your bet is successful. However, if the horse does somehow win the race, then you must pay out to them.

How much you win or how much you have to pay out in the event of a loss is determined by how much you’ve bet and what the odds are, much the same as in conventional betting.

This is discussed in more detail in a subsequent article, but I hope that this gives you an idea of what betting exchanges are, what they offer and why if you’re someone who likes betting on horse racing, you really need to have an account.

Racing Tips to Use With Handicap Horse Racing
This article will look at how you can profit from handicap racing, plus I will cover the differences between handicap racing and conditions racing, as not everyone will know the difference.

In fact the writing of this article came about from a request from one of my members, and so I thought that maybe you would also benefit from looking at how handicap racing differs from conditional racing, and how not knowing the difference could potentially cost you money.

Confusion Can Lead To Disaster So Don’t Make These Mistakes

As you may know, I am a real advocate of information being power when it comes to betting on horse racing. So with that said, if you want to drastically improve your chances of taking money from the bookmakers with your racing tips, you need to arm yourself with as much quality and relevant information as possible.

And this is where some novice punters fall at the first fence (pardon the pun), because before you place any cash on a horse you need to make sure that you know what kind of race you are betting on. That is to say, is it a handicap race or a conditions race?

And if you’ve been to watch live racing before, then you’ll know what its like. If you haven’t by the way, you really should its a great day out, and this will explain what you can expect when you go for the first time.

You’re looking at the different races and who’s riding on what. You get to the parade ring and there are already whispers going around about this horse and that horse. It’s easy to be influenced by what you hear. And everyone thinks they’re an expert when it comes to horse racing tips don’t they?

And so with all the jargon and gossip that you hear at the racecourse, is it any wonder that punters end up getting thoroughly confused, and betting on a horse simply because they like the name, the way it walks, the colour of the jockey’s silks or because they overheard someone in the pub mention that it had a chance?

I’ve seen it many, many times, but the truth is it doesn’t have to be like that it really doesn’t.

Your Horse Racing Tips Are Useless If You Don’t Know This

So the key is having a bit of background knowledge, even just the basics, which will enable you to get started. This will ensure that you are a bit more savvy than the average punter, and therefore you will have a little advantage that will hopefully give you that edge over the bookmakers.

So having given you that bold statement, what are the most important factors to consider when betting on horses? Of course, there are many, many variables that affect the outcome of a horse race, and there’s no way that I could cover all of them in this article, but let’s start with one of the fundamentals of horse racing. Handicapping.

This could be perhaps the biggest error that punters make, as they have no idea what kind of race they are betting on. In the UK, all races come under one of two categories. The first category is a handicap race, and the second one is called a conditions race.

The reason that distinguishing between these two different classes of race is important, is because the bookies pay different amounts on each-way bets gained in the two different types of race.

So for example, in a handicap race of less than 16 runners, you are paid one-quarter the odds on the first three finishers for an each way bet. You are also paid for the first four places in a handicap with 16 or more runners, so this in itself is worth knowing.

In conditions races however, you are only ever paid one-fifth the odds for finishing in the first three places, so can you see where I am coming from now? It’s crucial to be able to tell what type of race you are betting on.

Handicapping Explained

Essentially the handicap that I’m referring to, is additional weight that is allocated to a horse based upon its ability. The better the horse, then in theory the greater the weight that is carries compared to its fellow horses. This is done so that each horse potentially has an equal chance of winning the race.

The British Horseracing Board meets each week to look at each qualifying horses form and to assess its rating. Not every horse in the UK qualifies for a handicap. At the time of writing this, a flat horse for example must have either won a race, or participated in three races, to enable the handicapper the opportunity to look at the horse’s form.

To the layman, the details of the ratings system may be a bit confusing, but essentially it boils down to the higher the rating, the better the horse. Of course, the reason that we don’t just go and lump our money on the best rated horse is that it will be carrying the most weight, so from our point of view as punters, the key is to loom at the weight as just one factor of a horse’s potential in winning a race.

It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than this to being with. You now have some background knowledge of the differences between handicap races and conditions races and I hope this will stand you good stead when looking at the list of races in the paper tomorrow.

Is a Horse Racing Tipster Service Better Than Horse Racing Software?

Every since the advent of the internet, the World Wide Web has opened up many opportunities for people who want to bet on the horses. You have the choice of using the human element in a horse racing tipster, or a horse racing software package, but how they compare?

The purpose of this article is to assess the differences and benefits of these two different means of obtaining horse racing tips. Certainly there are many options available online now and I do get asked regularly which system works the best, so I’ll run through this with you now.

No Such Thing As A Dead Cert

Of course, the first thing I must state is that there is no one method that can ever guarantee you selecting a winning horse. Certainly, there are ways to make a more informed choice of which horse to bet on, which means that you have a better chance of winning – the aim of every gambler at the end of the day.

However, with so many different ways to get advice about betting on horses, there are many people who are now confused as to what the difference is in terms of the benefits between a horse racing tipster service and other software horse racing systems.

Horse Racing Tipster vs Software

Well, simply put and to look at the fundamental aims of each, essentially a horse racing tipster service, horse racing software or any horse racing system all aim to achieve the same thing.

Achieving winners or at the very least eliminating horses that are not suitable to back is a process that takes into account many factors, and so the principal difference between the three aids is basically the way in which they help you formulate your selections.

For example, a horse racing tipster service will generally come up with their top selections by interpreting previous racing statistics together with additional background information that they may have on the horses, racecourse, jockeys, trainers and other associated factors.

In a sense this can become a very scientific approach and it can be as detailed as you want it to be. I tend to look at the items listed above and see what looks favourable. It is possible to get what is known as ‘analysis paralysis’ in this business, so over analysing of information, although often tempting, is not recommended.

Does Racing Software work?

Essentially, if you purchase any of the horse racing software products on the market (and there are a lot), the hope is that you will be getting the same results as a horse racing tipster in terms of analysis, but that you will be getting the information yourself and therefore you must interpret the data yourself to make your own selections.

There is also some doubt as to the accuracy of how a piece of software can fully assess all the relevant factors than are involved in successfully betting on horses, and this is just one of the reasons why people prefer to use a horse racing tipster service.

Garbage In Garbage Out

Of course, neither can be right one hundred percent of the time, it would be foolish to think so, but it is widely recognised that generally tipster services have a better chance of correctly predicting the outcomes of races. I suppose that this is because of the human element. Software relies on the information that you put into it just like a computer does, so if the information is wrong, not accurate or out of date then the end result will mirror that.

In racing, information is ever changing and factors such as the weather which affects the going of a race, a change in jockeys that are riding particular horses, and a horse’s health or recent training performances are capable of affecting the result of a race.

The better racing tipsters out there who do this for a living will generally have a firm grasp of what they are looking for and what is happening in the industry, while a software program does not have this ability of reasoning.

This is why many feel that a horse racing system based upon a software program simply cannot accurately predict a race winner, whereas a racing tipster can look at all of the up to date factors subjectively, and try to give an accurate assessment of the likely winner of a race.