Laying a selection has always been a popular way to pick a winner on the exchanges. In a ten horse race only one can win, so finding a loser has to be a much easier proposition. If finding one loser is a good proposition then what about two, three or four?
There is a variation on traditional laying that offers frequent reward, slightly lower profits but significantly lower risk. To fully understand this method we first have to do a little maths to show you how you will profit.
What we are going to try and do is offer 100% probability to the exchange market for more than 100%. In any sports event, the entire market is always priced around 100%. Something either happens or it doesn’t. If you can lay 100% for more than 100%, you will definitely profit.
When you look at odds on an exchange, each set of odds represents the implied probability of your selection winning. So something priced at digital odds of 2.00 means that it has a 50% chance of winning. This is because 1/2=0.50% or 50%. In this case we need to lay or back two selections at digital odds of 2.00 to ensure we break even by offering a 100% book to the market. With three selections we will need to lay at odds of 3.00 to break even or odds of slightly less to profit. If we pick four selections, we need to lay of odds of 4.00 and soon on. It’s quite a simple process to understand. Basically you are looking for markets and situations where the odds on at least 2,3,4 or more selections shorten in price to at least odds of 2,3 or 4 etc.
So where can you find two selections to lay at less than 2.00? You are unlikely to find them before an event starts so to find our two selections we have to use a bit of imagination and we also need to use the in-play markets. Usually in-play betting is considered quite risky, but using this method we can have a good play around at little risk with real prospects of a profit.
Horse racing in running is perfect for these types of scenarios. Targeting a price of 3’s in running is effectively saying that the horse has to have a 33% chance of winning at some point in the race. You could envisage a number of ways in which a horse could trade at 3’s in-play. If you had a short flat race the favourite could get off to a slow start and drift slightly before recovering late in the race. Because of this drift, the second favourite will most likely shorten in price and this would give both a good chance of both trading at 3’s. In a football match a team could take the lead and trade under 2.00. If this happens you can lay them at half time and if the opposing team equalise in the second half it’s very likely the draw will trade under 2’s as well and you will profit. You will also get a massive bonus if they go onto score again.
You will be pleased to know Bet Angel (www.betdaqangel.com) includes a number of ways to lay one of more selections that are quick, convenient and easy to do. It also includes a ‘lay all’ button for the less selective amongst you. Bet Angel is free for BETDAQ users.
So next time you have a bet on the BETDAQ, rather than just laying one runner, lay at least a couple and put yourself in with a good chance of profiting.
