Horse lay betting on Betfair
What is lay betting?
With the creation of the www.betfair.com betting exchange (and others like betdaq) fellow sportbook betting fans can now back horses to lose and well as backing them to win. Backing a horse to lose is horse lay betting.
Why Betfair |
Basics of horse lay betting |
Horse lay betting and regular profits |
A simple horse laying system |
How to find horse lay betting opportunites |
How to place a lay bet |
Why Betfair?
A betting exchange must have liquidity. You need lots of poeple backing and laying sorts events to create a good market. Horse racing is one sportsbook where you get a lot of people fixed odds betting.
If you would like an account with the Betfair betting exchange we suggest you look at our Betfair free bet page so you can get a free bet when you sign up.
Horse lay betting basics
Check out our Betfair review
As fixed odds betting fans will know 'the favourite' doesn't always win. Most horse race lay systems involve lay betting that the favourite or next favourite won't win. Say you want to lay a favourite at 2/1 with a stake of £10. If it loses you will increase your sortsbook betting bank by £5 minus Betfair's commissions. Of course, if the horse wins you lose £10.
How can we use horse lay betting to make regular profits?
The best way is to reseach some of the systems out there and tinker with it until it works for you. This option involves a bit of skill. Lay betting tipsters may be worth a look but they are only worth the money if they limit the number of people who subscribe to their service. Other wise the weight of money going into their tips will effect the odds too much.
Another tip when considering horse lay betting is to lay to a fixed liability. As with any betting system the most important aspect is limiting and controlling your loses.
Before we look at a way of horse lay betting we would like to disclude one method. The martingdale. It is a bit like some of the roulette doubling up systems you get. This is a system where you double the amount of money you want to win on your lay bet each time a favourite wins (and you lose). What happens is that the stakes escalate quickly and you can end up bankrupting yourself if you get a run of winning favourites. The mathmatics behind this technique just don't stack up.
You need to learn the tricks of the trade and implement that skills you have learned.
A simple lay betting system
A good to start with something simple. Then start to learn how to spot form and where to get your information from. Lets have a look at a simple lay betting system.
First make sure the following criteria are in place.
- All tack races
- Turf only races
- Handicaps only with a minimum of 9 runners
Then follow these rules. When the price of 1st,2nd,3rd favourites are added together the result must be less than X. When prices of 1st,2nd,3rd last in betting are added together result must be less than X. If conditions are met lay shortest price horse 5mins before start of the race. Lay to fixed liability.
No the skill you need to develop is knowing what figure to use for X. This is where some trial and error needs to come into play. Lay betting to fixed liability will let you run more strict money management rules.
How to place a lay bet
You can see what we mean by betting to win below. If you open a Betfair account this is what you will see when you click on one of the pink boxes for laying a horse to lose. You choose the odds that you think will get matched; that another Betfair member will back that horse to win. You can see what sort of odds are getting matched for each horse so you'll know what sorts of odds are likely to get matched. On the right hand side of the backer's stake box you can see what you will win for those odds. So do get the win amount right you need to adjust either the odds or your stake.
How to spot your own horse lay betting opportunites?
If you decide to spot your own horse lay betting opportunities I suggest following these horse lay betting tips.
Horse lay betting tip 1
To run your own horse lay betting system you need to learn to think like a fixed odds bookmaker. You'll need to hanicap your horses properly. A horse lay betting strategy involves evaluating horses and racing conditions by finding horses that on a balance of probabilities you think will lose. You'll need ot know how a horse runs with types of weather or the condition of the track. Knowing about the jockey is important too because the jockey may not be a good match for the horse.
Horse lay betting tip 2
Make us of widely available "Daily Racing Form" (found online and on the internet). You can use the race result to help you with your horse handicapping, by, spotting horses that are not running at their best. Find out about the breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys, as well as the horses.
Horse lay betting tip 3
Learn to recognise losing horses based on the odds. You may find value in the odds, for example, a horse that actually has a record for winning, but is victim of poorly assigned odds.
Horse lay betting tip 4
Way up the risks. The risk is basically that your horse will win. You could take a big lose, so you need to be able to cover potential loses.
Horse lay betting tip 5
Set up a Betfair account which will allow you to lay horses to lose and kick off with a free lay bet.
