Bookmaking

[Cards37]

Hi all

Have been giving the bookmaking option a try, fairly unsuccessfully so far I've been aiming for laying the whole market in a book of greater than 102%, but while I get returns its more than offset by the times I don't get all matched. Similarly I have tried laying all just after the off when the book tends to be over 110% which has a greater margin for error but still producing similar results.

Has anyone else tried using the function - appreciate noone wants to divulge edges but cant help but feeling this is another dead end. Lost quite a bit yesterday

[BetScalper]

Hi all

Have been giving the bookmaking option a try, fairly unsuccessfully so far I've been aiming for laying the whole market in a book of greater than 102%, but while I get returns its more than offset by the times I don't get all matched. Similarly I have tried laying all just after the off when the book tends to be over 110% which has a greater margin for error but still producing similar results.

Has anyone else tried using the function - appreciate noone wants to divulge edges but cant help but feeling this is another dead end. Lost quite a bit yesterday

Be careful because if you have a withdrawal then you can end up in sh!te land.

[Kafkaesque]

Hi all

Have been giving the bookmaking option a try, fairly unsuccessfully so far I've been aiming for laying the whole market in a book of greater than 102%, but while I get returns its more than offset by the times I don't get all matched. Similarly I have tried laying all just after the off when the book tends to be over 110% which has a greater margin for error but still producing similar results.

Has anyone else tried using the function - appreciate noone wants to divulge edges but cant help but feeling this is another dead end. Lost quite a bit yesterday

Not something I've ventured into, but my clear feeling that to do so, your most important factor isn't the book %. You have to find markets, where you have a strong indication that the market remains fairly stable. Which is pretty damn hard to say the least. The slighest movement will leave you exposed, more often than not against what is the true value.

A big book percentage would often indicate to me, that if you leave prices out there "blind", you'll in fact only get matched up when the market moves (often outside of the exchange, with the exchange following suit).

[spreadbetting]

Laying a full book is a fine art especially with horse racing where you have plenty of runners to fill. Most on course bookies will fail to get a complete book and they're playing to mugs with a 1-2% a runner margin.

The margins on Betfair don't really make laying a full book a viable option, certainly not for someone starting out,. Cross matching was the nail in the coffin for many of us picking up free money. You'll have a much easy life picking up your 2% return trading the spread on a single runner than trying to lay the field and get them all filled.

[gutuami]

Has anyone else tried using the function - appreciate noone wants to divulge edges but cant help but feeling this is another dead end. Lost quite a bit yesterday

I'am using this function pretty often along with dutching. I came to it from a lay the field background. At times it's a combination of three. It took me ages and fortunes to find a method that works but it payed in the end. Last year I've had my best result ever.

[Derek27]

I used to make a consistent profit several years ago using this method (pre-race) but it was quite hit-and-miss and I ended up switching to individual trading.

I had particular success on the French group one races.

[Cards37]

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing your perspectives. I did seem to do better on races with less runners - but it was a small sample size.