Betting Exchange BetFair Prize Mountain and offers

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Betting Exchange BetFair, which proves to be popular among experts and punters alike, as they recently picked up some recognition awards, are worth stopping by during the quieter Christmas week. Just check out our expert Authors to see how popular Betfair is. If you are unfamiliar with the Betting Exchange, then read on below for some further explanations. Basically it is seen to have an advantage over fixed odds betting, simply because you can tinker with the prices. The odds you see presented are not the ones you have to take, and as long as someone matches your bet, you can continue as normal. Betfair really are the pioneers of all this, and have one of the largest online betting presences around. There is a good betting forum, exchange games plus a comprehensive sports book which covers football and horse racing particularly well. Want more? Then there is also their live streams to enjoy, so that you can watch and bet live all in one place. For novices, there’s nothing to be daunted by, as you really won’t find too much difference working your way around the website, to that of a regular online bookmaker. Having the Betfair betting exchange on your side as an alternative makes a lot of sense. If there is a price for example with your online bookmaker that you just don’t quite think is good enough value, then you can hit the exchange and see if you can get what you want. Also, because there is no middleman (ie the bookmaker) you can naturally find better value in your odds (you do pay a winning commission to Betfair from your account). With a free no loss bet to start things of with, there really is nothing to lose by exploring the Betfair betting exchange. There are also other goodies to enhance your betting experience, how about pitting your wits against Andy Gray, who offers expert football tips?

Betfair usually have some great promotions going on
, and at the moment, there are special bonus being promoted every day up until Christmas. Simply head to their Advent Calendar and see what is happening for that day. There is also the Betfair Prize Mountain. Things do not sound more enticing than that, and through your regular betting on Betfair, up until January 11th, 2011, you will accumulate points. The more points that you accumulate, the further up the Prize Mountain you will be. You will need to go there to log in, to check the status of your converted points to be eligible for a prize, and there is a serious amount on offer. Just load up their sports book and go to the Promotions tab to find all of this. The menu at the top of the screen will guide you around the great website without any hassle. So, you are new to the Betfair Betting exchange, and you see some betting terms which you are unfamiliar with. Here’s some help.

Betting Exchange Terminology:

 

  • Backing a bet – On the exchange, you have the option in a market to either Back or Lay odds. When you Back a bet, you are saying that an event will happen. It works just like going to your regular online bookmaker with fixed odds, and picking a team to win. You are backing something to happen.
  • Laying a bet – This is simply the opposite of what is above. You are backing an event not to happen. Again, this is something which you regularly do with fixed odds, even though you probably don’t realise it. When you Lay on a football match outcome for example, you are betting that a team won win, that a match will not end in a draw, that England won’t win the 2011 Rugby World Cup, that kind of thing. Is it easier picking a horse to not win a race? Then you want to lay for the shortest odds possible. When you Lay a bet, you also pick up the stake placed by the opposing matching bet (and you could be betting against more than one person on the exchange).
  • BetFair Trading – No, you don’t have to don your best suit and head off to Wall Street. Betfair offer a trading service, something which is just a little bit unique and special. Let’s say for example you decided to lay a bet on Kauto Star to not win the King George IV Chase, and then took a look at the prices later and decided to back Kauto Star to win it. You are trading, because you have all possible outcomes covered, by Laying low and Backing high. What this means, is that you have no liability now on Kauto Star, because you are not going to lose, because you have sat there and managed to get bets which will guarantee you a profit whether the horse wins or loses. This really is a feature that will be worth exploring when you get into live in play betting with Betfair.

Naming your price on the BetFair betting exchange
This is the feature which attracts a lot of punters to BetFair, and it is the ability to name your own price. Just because you do name your own price, it doesn’t mean that it is going to become active. Say, for example, you want to take a bet of Andy Murray to win Wimbledon next year. You see the price as 4/1 and want to back that up, but you think he is worth more of a 5/1 shot than 4/1 (shopping around for prices really does pay off in the long run). When you place your bet with BetFair, you have the option to adjust the price that you want to take the bet at. Submit that, and then it will be a matter of waiting (which is usually a very minimal amount of time, with the BetFair exchange being so incredibly dynamic). Waiting for what? Waiting for someone to match that bet, by Laying it. If someone is prepared to take you up on your odds, then your bet becomes active. It is sort of like betting directly against someone, but of course, all this is anonymous via the BetFair betting exchange. What are the benefits? Well, clearly you may have the opportunity to pick up exaggerated odds over fixed odds, as long as someone is willing to match you, and that means extra profit. Imagine Laying a bet, and having the ability to take shorter odds, which means that you would have to risk less when weighing up against your profit. This really is the main advantage of the betting exchange Betfair, but of course, if you are going to try extravagant shifts in prices, then you simply are not going to get your bets matched. However, for a little shift here and there, it can make a huge different over time to the money you see coming back to you. You can keep on top of shifting prices in the market, helped along by having your potential profit and loss shown. So, you are new to the Betfair Betting exchange, and

Everything which you would expect to find on your regular online bookmaker’s website, can be found on Betfair. If you want to just go in and take odds you are happy with, you can do that, or you can tinker and play around on the exchange looking for value. Value is the key word here, because that is the entire point of being able to set your own prices. Just browse around the Betfair Sportsbook as you would normally do, and pick any of the vast options from the extensive markets available. The Betfair live in play portal is simply awesome, and you can get right in the heart of the action with your trading when live sport is going on. More matched bets are picked up during live in play betting for an event, than is taken prior to the event starting. That is the power of the Betfair live in play service.