MN Matched Betting Society - all welcome!

[titchy]

New thread!

Well I made just short of £100 in 8 days but I seem to have already run out of all the easy offers. God knows how everyone is making all this money week in and out.

I need to build my exchange balances back up, I've been spending a bit lately!

Just had a look at the Oddsmonkey instructions for Betway and it's changed to bet £30 get a £30 free bet. Didn't Betway used to have a different new customer offer? Was it better or worse than bet £30 get £30?

@HeyRoly! Don't forget to opt into Coral.....

Thank you! I haven't yet but blooming will now

I also joined Betway and see they have a bet club, but it's an accumulator one. Looks like I really will have to get my head around them now!

I too will have to master accumulators. Betway were good for Acot although I read on PA that gubbing from them is par for the course. Today I'm going to get my head around price boosts. I managed to balls up the only one I've done and they seem to be a good money spinner.

I think you have to be quick to get the price boosts. They're basically an "allowed" arb I think. The only ones I've seen recently are where more than one thing has to happen like someone scoring first and a particular team winning so they're multiples.

I did the first race risk free with Betway for Ascot too. I didn't manage to hit any of the second place refunds from other bookies, but then I didn't do that many. I also couldn't do the Ladbrokes bet on 14:30 and get a free bet in the next race because of the school run .

I've opted into Coral and done a bet but wasn't particularly happy with the QL. Paddy power bet club is working quite well for me - and sky bet.

With price boosts, I tend to find that the lay odds are still higher anyway. I guess some bookies are more competitive with their boosts than others. So I tend not to bother!

I had an issue with an unmatched Smarkets bet today, even though there was plenty of liquidity in the market. I read the Smarkets help files and it turns out that if the odds change (they went up in my case) you're kind of screwed. Not only that, but they went and cancelled the unmatched portion of the bet as soon as the match kicked off - since it was football and you can bet in-play, I figured there was still a chance of completing the match. Nope!

Anyway, I went to the Tricky Bet website and calculated how much I'd need to lay at Betfair to cover myself, so it worked out OK. I still feel cheated by Smarkets though! I'm sure Betfair will still complete an unmatched bet even if the odds change?

I have always had all my bets matched on betfair even if odds change, Roly.

I have never used smarkets... How do they compare?

Smarkets only charge 2% commission compared with Betfair's 5%. Their odds are usually comparable to Betfair too. But I think I'll make sure to use Betfair for larger lay bets from now on.

Thank you :)

Smarkets also send me an email whenever the bet has settled (not sure whether that's a feature on betfair)

It is not as far as I can tell, I've never got one from betfair for settled bets!

And - one thing I'd completely forgotten - Betfair and Paddypower are owned by the same group and some people therefore advise laying any Paddypower bets with an exchange that isn't Betfair.

Having said that, I've been laying PP bets with Betfair for weeks and I haven't been gubbed yet

Ive only ever used betfair in laptop so far but have apps installed on iPad and android just in case, I get betfair notifications on my iPad when an event I've laid is about to start but nowt on my phone.

I had similar with smarkers @heyroly. Was horses for ascot though and just a total fluke that I noticed they'd cancelled it.. I wish I'd thought about laying at betfair instead as I just kept trying on smarkets. It was matched eventually but I was thinking fuuuuuuckkkkk, for a long while

How many bookie accounts do you have? I have 15 and wondering how many more to open. Do you just grab the welcome bonus and leave some? How can you must bet so many! Already thinking that! Doing pretty slow. I'm not a star at this 🙄 After 18 days only £270 up. In awe of how you do the big numbers. Quite enjoyed my first 5 fold acca. But placing a will hill one before football season throws up some weird teams! Don't want to attract attention betting on the Singapore teams!

*mug bet so many

Aloe - I've just checked and I've got 20 bookie accounts but I'm only really using about 5 of them at the moment (v. part time MB currently!)
I just want the football season to start again - it seems more straightforward than the horses!

I've had a quiet week this week. All I've done is place my qualifying bets for the Sky/Coral/Paddy Power bet clubs.

I really need to figure out extra place races (I haven't even sussed how to lay an E/W, or how you profit from them) because they're so common. I have been looking out for Paddy Power money back specials (free bet if horse 2nd/3rd) but I question the qualifying losses sometimes. I looked at one last week and, for a £10 bet, the best option QL was nearly £1. That's fine if you get the free bet out of it, but there's a good chance that you won't. All those qualifying losses add up, don't they? So I'd love to hear about about how other people approach MBS races - only do them if you can get a good match?

If you can find a few bookies doing 2nd place refunds, or extra places, on the same race then you can increase your chances of at least one horse coming where you want. E.g. The 3.30 at Newcastle I have three horses at three bookies all offering an extra place, so hopefully at least one of the three will come in fifth (or sixth as Sky paying two extra places).

Did you opt in to Coral?

Each way bets: place £10 each way means your total stake is £20, £10 on the win and £10 on the place (how many places depends on how many horses, and the place payout is a quarter or a fifth of the win payout).

Both smarkets and betfair have win and to be placed markets listed separately so you're laying on both markets according to the OM extra place tool.

If the horse finishes in the extra place you win at both bookie and exchange.

I did opt into Coral, thanks Fingers crossed I do it next week too...

Free bet already done. First time I've managed to get one in a couple of weeks!

I hadn't considered doing money back specials across multiple bookies, that's a great idea.

I was just reading up on e/w bets on the Oddsmonkey tutorials. I think I get it. Will have to try one out ASAP.

I managed to opt in to Coral too - must remember next week too!

I've placed my first EW bet this afternoon. I'm not convinced it will give me profit but we shall see. I too seem to only placing qualifying bets at the moment. Will see if I can get the hang of the extra places thing to move matters on a bit.

Don't know how people feel about greyhounds but Coral have a bet £20 get 4 x £5 free on Towcester dogs tonight.

Honestly the thing I find the most stressful about matched betting is the spreadsheet. I hate it! It's horrible to scroll, can't find the right place for the info to go, not calculating for no obvious reason..

I think I need to find a new spreadsheet and transfer all my past bets onto it because I have no idea how much profit I've made. Are all spreadsheets annoying by definition? I haven't used one before so I don't know if this one is especially irritating.