Fine Tuning Advice please......

[airtomoreira]

I have created the following “rule” which I would like to trial on certain UK Horse Races:

1) At 20:00 minutes before event start time, place a lay bet on each of the 1st and 2nd Favs, at one tick above the best reverse price available
2) Cancel either / both of the above bets at 19:00 before event start time if either / both are unmatched
3) At 18:55 before event start time, place a £5 lay bet on either / both of the 1st and 2nd Favs, at best price available, conditional on my first lay bet at 20:00 not having been matched.
4) Green everything up at 10 seconds before event start time

There are, however, two situations that could occur which could complicate matters, as I see it:

a) In a market where there are several horses vying for favouritism, the prices could fluctuate between 20:00 and 18:55. At 20:00, I could get both of my original lay bets matched, but at 18:55, for example, the 2nd Fav could have drifted in the intervening 1:05, and there could be a different 2nd Fav, which would then be laid at best odds available. I would therefore have laid 3 horses, not 2. (this may or may not lead to a less desirable outcome when I green up, though ideally I would like to avoid it happening). I believe that it would be possible to avoid this happening if I were to “nominate” the 1st and 2nd Favs, however, if I were to do that, would I not have to manually enter the names of each horse shortly before 20:00? This would mean having to constantly monitor the PC, when I’d like this rule to be fully automated once I’ve set it in place in the morning

b) What happens if my original lay bet is partially matched? (I’m only talking about starting off with very small stakes - £5 – so this is unlikely, but the possibility would be greater should the trial prove a success and the stake increase). The balance of the bet would be cancelled at 19:00, what would happen at 18:55? Presumably, a bet has been matched, and so a 2nd bet, at best market price, would not be placed – but this in theory could leave me with only 1p matched, and £4.99 unmatched. Is there a way of telling BAP to place, at 18:55, a lay bet so that my maximum exposure on that particular horse is £5 x the price available at that time?

I appreciate that I could avoid any such uncertainties if I were to simply place my initial bets at 20:00 at “best price available”, but I would not necessarily be getting the best value in doing so (although there is the argument that, if the price drifts between 20:00 and 18:55, then I’m accepting worse value as a result, so I dare say it’s swings and roundabouts!). I also understand that, if there is no “tick gap” between the bet and lay prices at 20:00, then my bets would be matched at the lay price, the above is to avoid the scenario where there is a gap, and by accepting the lay price, I could be getting poor value.

Thanks in advance!

[Jukebox]

re a) Use the Fix Order rule just before you first bets - this will keep and treat the the 1st and 2nd favs as if they are 1st and 2nd favs regardless of how the order changes subsequently.

[Anbell]

re point B)
You could set a stored value of your net stake and compare that with your desired net stake, and use the resulting figure to place another bet to get you to £5

[Anbell]

also - Dallas had something similar/related the other day that might give you some ideas

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=21256