Trying to find those elusive draws

Football Betting

The basis of this method was initially meant to be used on the POINTS POOL and 12 RESULTS POOL on the old style coupons.
Dragging it into the 21st century we need to find alternative pools (Lists on the Fixed Odds coupons) to use for our deliberations and selection purposes.

The main requirements are, a newspaper tipster(s) and a fixed odds coupon. As an alternative to an individual tipster you can use any newspaper/publication which has a summary table of the tipping totals in home/draw/away form, of all matches on the coupon. This summary will prove useful in later stages of the elimination programme.

The premise of the election method is that the tipster(s), no matter how experienced are more often wrong than right.
Figures from seasons past, tell us that the average newspaper tipster could expect to return no better than 20% correct DRAW selections.

As the present day tipsters have a greater armoury at their disposal with an endless stream of statistics and computer programmes, it is only to be expected that the percentage will rise. Check-out the figures and over any extended period of time, the successful percentage of draws aren’t very likely to exceed 25%, even for the most successful tipsters.

So can we use the fact that the tipsters are 75% wrong most of the time, to our advantage?
The logic tells us that if the tipsters were any better than they arte, the bookmakers would institute some kind of embargo on their selections or the odds of their selections would drop through the floor.

So how do we deal with the tipsters?
Firstly we should stay with the English leagues. Take nothing away from Scottish football but their leagues are not exactly draw orientated. Although this seasons results to date don’t agree with me. Perhaps the best place to look for the hoped for draws is the Sections Lists of any Fixed Odds coupon. How many matches you want to consider is up to your own requirements.

The tightest games are nearly always in the BOTTON SECTION of these lists. So this is an ideal place to start and then if necessary work your way upwards. First thing to do is strike out the DRAW selections as forecast by your tipster. With these out of the way consider the AWAY selections of your tipster. Unless you have a cast iron set of reasons why not to use them, these are your DRAW selections. An ideal number would, in my book, be FIVE selections. However should you not have sufficient selections for your requirements, refer to the SUMMARY LIST and choose the HOMES which are ONLY SECOND CHOICE of the three possibilities.

According to statistics any twenty matches should result as 10 HOMES, 5 DRAWS and 5 AWAYS. Allowing for the odd hiccup these figures are pretty well representative of most leagues through-out football. So assuming you’ve worked your way through the 3 bottom lists of the SECTIONS LISTS your your 5 draws falls well within the expected 10/5/5 expected results.

So having arrived at the selected games, what is the best way to back them. Here it must be a personal choice. We all have our pet methods for backing our deliberations. All I would be against is DOUBLES. The odds offered where the game are regarded as “tight” is usually no better than 5/2, very often 9/4. A double at 5/2 and 5/2 will only return a touch over 12 pts.

The basic ideas in this method of selection is over forty years old. I feel sure that what I have outlined can be put to excellent use by the experienced  members of this website.

Another old chestnut used for trying to find those elusive draws is fairly basic. Use the odds compiler’s brain and choose the games
he considers to be “close run affairs”. Those games where both sides are quoted at evens or greater. A simple idea nowadays but 40 years ago was a new concept as individually priced teams were onlly available from some Northern bookmakers.
You might say “Sophistication in a Flat Cap”.

Let’s assume you’ve found 6 potential draws. 3 from 6 cover would entail 20 bets.
The following was considered a “with it” bet on the 3 Draws Pool in those far off days.
It’s a nice little block perm which was part of a larger Treble Chance perm.
The basic set-up of the block allowed for 6 selections covering 8 lines. Each line made-up of either, 1 odd number and 2 even or
2 odd numbers and 1 even number.

The Block is-

 1  x xxx
 2 xx    xx
 3   x xxx
 4 xxxxx
 5 x     xx  
 6   xx x x

The full Treble Chance perm was made up of three of the 6 match blocks 8x8x8 = 512 lines and each line and each resultant line was then permed any 8 from 9.  Those were the days.

Season 2011/12.

The new season is here at last. There will no doubt be some “turn-ups”. However some of these so-called upsets can often be foreseen with a little diligence and burrowing into past HEAD to HEADS. The unfashionable teams are often available at odds belying their true chances of winning. While this occurs in the PREMIERSHIP it’s often worth delving into the lower divisions.

In general odds-makers have their hands full sorting out the top games. As a result some of the lesser known teams get no more than a cursory glance and consequently offer a GOOD BET for those up to scratch. It may well be worth your while. The bookmaker has to mark-up all of the matches but you have a choice, make it wisely.