Part-matched bets not converting to SP

[Bear's The Name]

Hi all,

I’m relatively new to Bet Angel (about 3 months) and have found the information on this board really helpful – thank-you for that.

I’ve managed to set all sorts of complicated rule files up in automation which work a treat for the most part. However, I am experiencing difficulty in one area at present which I can’t seem to resolve. A look through the boards and a wider Google search hasn’t produced any answers.

I play on both UK and US Racing, using a fairly simple dutching method to back various horses in certain races. This often involves attempting to back longshots in some races for small stakes. I set these so that if the bet doesn’t get matched, it takes SP as a fail-safe, Even though the SP is often not that great, the number of value bets taken way above SP more than outweighs this.

The difficulty I have encountered is as follows. I have no problem getting Guardian to place the bets, even though they are often less than £2. They convert to whatever stake my criteria dictate e.g. some odd amount like 33p, and then if they fail to get matched, the whole bet goes on at SP, which all goes through OK, regardless of stake size.

The problems start when a bet gets part matched. What seems to happen then, is that once the bet has become part-matched, Betfair now treats the outstanding amount differently to if none of the bet had been matched. It no longer converts the remainder of the bet to SP at the off, cancelling it instead. This is despite the fact that I have a “Take SP all bets” rule refreshing every second.

Here’s an example:

Last night at Charles Town, requested a small bet (30p or something) on a horse that was trading in the 70+ range, asking for 160, about five minutes before the race. There were 3 possible outcomes to this bet.

a) Nothing matched at 160 – so the whole bet would go to SP (what happens with probably 60% of my bets on longshots).

b) The whole bet matched at 160 (35%)

c) The bet part-matched at 160 (5%) – at which point the remaining money now fails to go to SP and gets cancelled.

What actually happened was c) – I ended up with 3p on at 160 and the rest cancelled. The horse won, which was very frustrating for me. Whilst it is nice to back a winner at 160, 3 pence is not exactly going to set the world alight.

In the ideal scenario, I of course wanted the 3p at 160, and the remaining 27p to go on at the SP of 33.7.

So in a nutshell, once I’ve got any part of my bet matched, the remainder gets cancelled at the off. Why? Don’t know. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this problem and if there was any way around it. I’ve been through the conditions in automation and can’t really find an answer. I am suspecting the problem may be with the way Betfair deal with bets rather than with Bet Angel, but I’d be interested to hear from anyone who might have run up against the same problem and if you found a way to deal with it.

Thanks

[spreadbetting]

You're betting under the BSP limits, remember for the bet to go into the actual BSP pot the minimum stakes are £2 min for back bets or £10 liability for lay bets. Some of your sub £2 bets may be getting matched in the reconciliation process if they're close to the current price but not as BSP bets.

[Bear's The Name]

Hi spreadbetting.

If that were the case for all sub £2 bets, then fair enough, but I can get a back bet into the SP pot at any level below £2 with no problem at all, providing none of it has been matched.

So, if I was to place a bet of 50p and ask for it to be converted to SP if unmatched, then the bet gets placed fine, the TAKE SP rule works fine, and if unmatched, the full 50p ends up being converted for me to SP, every time without fail - even though it is below the £2 threshold.

However - if just 1p of that 50p gets matched beforehand, the remaining 49p doesn't get matched at SP, but gets cancelled at the off. It's almost as if the process of part-matching triggers invalidates the eligibility of the remainder of the bet to be matched at SP.

I've never heard of anyone else having this problem before, so maybe it is just me. I'd like to be betting well above the £2 level, but with a small bank and playing longshots, that is not feasible at present.