BETFAIR - ONE YEAR TO THE DAY SINCE IT WAS SUPENDED

@ englander

but they dont limit your bets.

@ easy

that is very true, an excellent point, and which is why they primarily still have a use for me but for real value, much harder to find these days.

And obviously they have the advantage if you want to lay but the vast majority don't... though with the number of shorties beaten in SA it is something I am seriously considering. I have always had a daily amount in mind, which is by no means huge but of course difficult to attain, I would like to win in a day (average) and that just may well be a very good way of achieving it... I shall start very tentatively though and see if it works!!

@ Scotia... agreed that the concept is great but once the concept is over-run by bookies the original "concept" which was so appealing starts to disappear fairly rapidly.

Taking Tuesday's night meeting into account and the last race in particular which was won by Indian Striker.

On Betfair, you could get 7/1 although most trading was done around 6/1 and 13/2.

On Interbet you would have to go begging on your knees between O.P. & S.P. to get 5/1.


What case are you trying to make Englander???

@ englander

They also DON'T bet to > 110% talking deductions into account

No case really Bashful just my observations on how good BF etc really are. If I were to have a case it would be to ban bookies and computers from operating on exchanges I use BF every day and I struggle to find value a lot of times. As I say, I am increasingly using bookies rather than BF whereas I used to use BF for 90% of my single bets. That is the reality for me. One horse in one race is not a great example. Yes, that can happen and it is not so infrequent but you have to want to do that horse, it is very rare that the top three or four in the market will all be 2 or whatever points above sp. That is certainly the way it feels to me. Apart from the front two in the market, they are normally priced up just below the prices offered by bookies, no doubt fearing a market move which, as everyone knows, can happen with SA markets very rapidly. A lot of the time it is only in the final 10 minutes before the off that you start getting value. And yes there is value to be found on some horses some of the time, but I have been trying to get prices on say a 25/1 shot and often BF are only offering 18, 20 etc. Frequently it will be 24 or 25 with no guarantee, again as I say, I'd rather take the price at B365 and then if it goes 28 or 33 you still get the higher price. And you don't get bored/frustrated etc trying to get the price on Betfair. Very late they can bump them up but for me it is often too late as I don't like leaving my bets to the last moment.

Easy I am not saying they don't have a use etc. I am merely saying that imho they are no longer great for value as once they were but that is not to say value can never be found. And the more control over them that bookies etc have the less value etc there is likely to be for punters.

the unique advantage with Betfair is to be able to lay horses

True Kosbar but you might have to lay 9/2 on a 3/1

I think you will find that BF has always bet to around 101% - 105% at the off so the " value " couldn't have disappeared because they still bet to those %'s. I think what we are seeing is bookies now offering better prices to compete with exchanges.

PL, I thought about this further and I guess a lot depends on what your view of value is. If the sp is greater than that given by bookies then yes it appears to be value. However, that does mask the potential scenario that the value only appears very late. Just as an example, a horse that moves from 16s to 6s might be at 8s on BF at the off but might never have gone above 12s for example. I honestly sit for ages hoping to get what I would consider value on a horse, it often never arrives. Value to me is not necessarily about at the "off" it is the whole process from when the prices are first put up to the final sp. That is all I am saying.

I get what you saying Englander.

Each betting medium offers different opportunities to different style punters( fav. backers vs long shot backers) at different stages of the market development ( ante-post, early betting , at the off betting)

The point is, it's best to have the option of both.

PL... thanks lol And I am not disputing the fact that it would be good for SA punters to have access etc to Betfair etc, I am simply saying in my recent experience it is not really the golden pinnacle of betting some seem to suggest. It can be good i don't deny that but not all the time. I just looked at oddschecker, only (Un)sportingbet and Betfair have prices up at the moment. I have shown the prices for R1 below. R1 can change more than other races being the first but I doubt they will look very dissimilar 30 odds minutes prior to off time, though it is usual those at the head of the market do have more activity. For anyone wanting to get "early" prices or due to work won't be able to get on BF later, they are, for the most part, pretty miserable odds (and I have gone up for the most part with rounding for the BF prices). Just for info I will probably have a small try on High Sierra... 12s, hmmmm lol

Un-s-bet BF
Pretty Caddy 9/10 6/10
Daresay 7 3
Dancing Debs 10 11
Shaki 12 8
Upwards Onwards 14 11
Yellow Brick Road 14 12
Baked Alaska 14 16
Rushmore 16 12
Kalafan 16 13
Chinese Eyes 25 13
Daggons Hall 25 25
High Sierra 33 12
Vangie Pangie 33 25
Ribbons On Stage 66 25
Colonial Glitter 66 28
Sun Goddess 66 28