Guide for beginners: Trading

Basics about Laying the Draw, Backing and Trading generally

Cyril's Betting Advice
Cyril's Betting Advice

I haven’t touched on TRADING before. If you’ve never tried it maybe this will give you an insight into what it’s all about.
If you’ve tried MATCHED BETTING then you should have an inkling about trading.

Although I will constantly refer to Betfair, any technique I mention or detail can be used on any trading site.
Trading has nothing to do with bookmaking. Nevertheless bookmakers do make use of the facilities provided by these sites. If it’s good enough for them then it’s certainly good enough for us.
Basically when you make a trade on Betfair you’re actually backing against other punters. Sound good? Certainly does but it’s also serious.
Betting or trading, is a serious business. There is a large liquidity (cash being betted) in many matches. The larger the liquidity the more cash to be made by the astute trader/better.
There is a bit of a rigmarole to getting a bet on but it is so set out that it is most unlikely you can make a mistake. It is possible to ask for a certain price for your bet. Sometimes you’ll get it sometimes not but it all adds to the fun. Many punters try their hand at trading. If they are successful they may decide to delve further into the possibilities This is where it becomes interesting.

The idea of trading is to bet in such a way that whatever the result of a match you WIN. Traders call it GREENING UP. However there will be occasions when it’s not possible to Green up and a loss will occur. When this happens the astute trader will minimise his loss. A good method of trading, it’s as old as the internet, well almost, is to use the method known as LAYING THE DRAW. Anyone who hasn’t heard of this method and there will be some, should grab as much info as possible before they try this method.

Laying the draw is quite safe forward. Find the match you want to bet on. Then go on to Betfair call up the game and the odds available with be there for you. You then decide on your stake and make your bet. You LAY the draw. So far so good. At this point the only result you don’t want is a 0 – 0 draw.
So you’ve made your bet and you wait for a goal to be scored. It’s best if you are actually watching the game but if not don’t worry. All you need is a stats site that gives up to the minute scores. As soon as a goal is scored you get straight back on to Betfair and have another bet. This time you BACK the draw. Sounds daft. Maybe but just think about it for a minute or two. If the game stays at it’s present score you have a winning bet. If there is an equaliser, you again have a winning bet.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? Unfortunately it’s not that easy all the time. But I’ll hit on these “faults” soon.
In the early days L.T.D. was all the rage, however when the smart guys starting making their wads the odds soon began to shrink. There is still value in these bets but you need to dig deep to find them. As soon as the odds began to shrink the smart traders became smarter and various adaptations were made and many became known as Lay the Draw Revisited. I’ll delve into this further, soon.

Remember, only bet with money you can afford to lose. At least until you become a proficient TRADER.