Getting started - journal

[mrdobalena]

I thought I'd post a journal here to track my progress. I think I'm quite well informed having done plenty of reading around matched betting, however I'm still a little nervous so it would be good to get some pointers in case I'm going wrong anywhere!

First bet:

Back Lyon @ 888Sport - £20 @ 1.95
Lay Lyon @ Betfair - £20.53 @ 1.95

888Sport give me a free £20 bet if I lose. Can someone just run me through the next steps to put my mind at rest?

Cheers

[Admin]

Those odds are a little too low if you're hoping to lose the bet at the bookie. Choose the non favourite team (longer odds bet) if you are hoping to win with your lay bet. Also treat the bet as SNR to guarantee a profit.

[mrdobalena]

Thanks for the advice.

How about this through Betfred as a qualifying bet:

Back FC Twente @ 4.0 - £50 (for £50 free bet)
Lay FC Twente (Betfair) @ 4.4 - £43.57

Sound good?

[Admin]

Not great no. A better idea is to check the oddsmatcher regularly. As I write the draw, Twente v Inter is 3.4/3.4 - this is a much better qualifying bet as your free £50 bet from betfred has now only cost you less than £2. The odds are changing all the time though so you may find an even better deal via the oddsmatcher

[mrdobalena]

Thanks - managed to find back and lay odds of 3.60 on Watford for tonight's game.

I've got my head around this now - despite being very simple it took me a while to properly figure things out, and I'm an accountant

Can sit back and relax now.

[Admin]

No worries Looking forward to the journal

[SharpeShooter]

I'll look in regularly to see how you're doing.

To start with stick to the bookies that offer a free bet rather than a refund. The refund is a little more complicated to get your head around but once you've done a few SNR free bets it's much simpler to do the refund bets.

Always check bookies terms for minimum odds. The lower the odds you can find for your qualifier that meet the minimum criteria, the lower your liability and therefore exposure.

For SNR free bets odds around 7 need to be close, so 7/7.2 or better. Look to return at least 80% of the value of the free bet. As the odds get higher you can get better value even with a wider margin, so 20/22 would payback marginally more than 7/7 BUT your risk becomes much greater. As you become more experienced you'll find 80% easy and 90% should become your target.

Keep good records! Being an accountant I'm sure you don't need telling how to set up a spreadsheet I currently have a float over £30K and within a minute I can tell you where all that money is to the penny.

Finally and most importantly ENJOY IT. If I feel a little sluggish or find it's becoming a grind I don't even look at my spreadsheet for a couple of days. Then when I come back to it I'm usually raring to go.

Good Luck