Lay Betting: How to do it right – some essential punting advice

Ever since the arrival of Betfair back in 1999, punters like you and me have finally been able to act like bookmakers and try our hand at making money from laying bets.

However, the reality is that laying can be a very difficult game indeed (as many a wound-up bookie will attest) and it’s crucial you fully understand how laying works prior to getting heavily involved.

And with a rise in the number of people and tipsters I see laying these days, I wanted to pen a few key pointers to help shed some light on the subject.

Because whilst laying can offer a profitable angle when done right, it can also be a nightmare if done wrong or without an understanding of the risks involved.

Here then are a few essential points from me to consider when laying….

Why laying a 3/1 shot is like backing a 1/3 shot

Most people wouldn’t back too many short bets at odds like 1/3, yet that is exactly what you are doing if laying a bet at 3/1.

Because when you place a lay at 3/1, you are risking 3 units to win 1.

It’s the same as if you were backing a bet at 1/3 as you would need to risk 3 units to win 1. Many new layers are not aware of this fact, especially if laying at larger odds, yet it’s a crucial point.

Would you back a 1/10 shot or 1/20 shot as readily as you might place a lay at 10/1 or 20/1?

Probably not, which leads me onto my next point…

Know what your worst-case scenario laying is

When laying you must always be mindful of the worst-case scenarios that can occur – even if you are hitting a high strike-rate of successful lays.

After all, losing lays can and will happen to even the best punters out there.

To give a real-life example – one profitable football laying tipster we work with here at SBC has an 83% strike-rate laying teams up to a max price of 9/1.

The average lay price comes in at a shade over 4/1, yet even with this high strike-rate and low average odds you still need to be prepared for worst case scenarios.

One easy way to calculate this for yourself is to use a table like the ‘Don’t Go Broke’ one from the excellent CD Systems website. This valuable table tells you how many losers on the trot you can realistically expect given a particular strike-rate (You need to register your email to view the content, but it’s worth it)

From this table we learn that even with an 83% strike-rate, we can expect over a series of 600 to 650 bets the following sequences:

  • A 75% chance of 3 losers on the bounce
  • A 50% chance of 4 losers on the bounce
  • A 25% chance of 5 losers on the bounce
  • A less than 1% chance of 7 losers on the bounce

So, assuming we are laying at average odds of 4/1, here is what we can expect:

  • A 75% chance of 3 losers at 4/1 on the bounce: -12 units
  • A 50% chance of 4 losers at 4/1 on the bounce: -16 units
  • A 25% chance of 5 losers at 4/1 on the bounce: -20 units
  • A less than 1% chance of 7 losers at 4/1 on the bounce: -28 units

If you don’t have a betting bank setup to expect a loss of AT LEAST 28 units then you run the risk of going broke at some point or being in for a nasty surprise.

Ideally your betting bank should be a lot bigger than this, especially if your losers are at bigger prices than 4/1. What if you get a series of losers at 9/1? It’s unlikely but then the whole point is that these things do happen (FYI – the recommendation is for a betting bank between 150 and 200 units for this service).

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No betting strategy is fool proof

Now you might say to yourself – ‘Oh my laying strategy is fool-proof, I will not get caught out’ – yet you will be wrong to do so.

For example when football betting, you are only one red-card, bad team performance or mad refereeing decision away from an unlikely result.

How many of you had West Brom to beat Man United or Roma to knock out Barcelona recently?

The truth is the best punters don’t have some silver-bullet, never lose betting strategy. Far from it. They lose just like all of us do.

They simply know how to handle losing in the context of a betting bank and the type of strategy they are utilising.

Consider fixed-loss staking to reduce your exposure

One option for you to reduce the risk when laying is to consider using a fixed loss staking strategy.

So rather than place a £100 lay on a bet regardless of the odds – instead you place a lay to lose a maximum amount of £100 should the bet go south.

To give a real-life example, one laying horse racing tipster we work with here at SBC advises a series of lays each day up to a maximum price of 15.0 Betfair SP (14/1)

Now the average lay price stands at just under 5.0 so it’s not often you lay at large prices like 15.0 but to reduce the risk of a big loss, he suggests you cap losses at a max 3% of your bank.

At the start of the day you simply work out what 3% of your betting bank looks like.

So, if starting with a £1000 bank, this would be £30.

If laying one of his tips at odds of 2.27 for example, you would risk losing £30 as a maximum as follows:

  • If the layed horse goes onto lose (you win) then you would be up £23.60 before commission (this is £30 / 1.27)
  • If the layed horse goes onto win (you lose) then you would be down £30

Where it comes into its own though is when you lay at larger odds, say at 5.52 (another recent example). Here are the scenarios:

  • If the layed horse goes onto lose (you win) then you would be up £6.71 before commission (this is £30 / 4.52)
  • If the layed horse goes onto win (you lose) then you would be down £30

Your winnings are capped with this staking plan but equally and more importantly, your losses are too.

It’s also very easy to place bets like this at Betfair SP – you simply place a lay on the horse and set your liability (max loss). You can also set the maximum price you will take – the rest will be calculated for you.

The horse racing tipster in question has used this 3% risk method to great success since August last year, growing his bank from £1000 to £3432.99 through it. For more on his method and how you can currently follow free with SBC, read about The Accountant Laying System on this free tips page.

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Be a Bookmaker or Exchange-Tart

If laying at Betfair SP, then naturally you are restricted to using Betfair, yet for those of you placing lays in other markets, I want to encourage you to look at alternative firms.

Just like people who chop and change credit cards are ‘rate-tarts’, I want to encourage you to be a bookmaker-tart (or indeed exchange-tart)!

SmarketsMatchbook & Betdaq offer low commission alternatives to Betfair and the difference between Betfair’s 5% base-line rate and the 2% with Smarkets and Betdaq can be vast.

Take the aforementioned football laying tipster available to SBC members, who’s results we record at Betfair’s 5% commission rates as standard. During 2018 from 188 lays, it has made a 55.8 point profit at 8.4% ROI to this metric.

If you had placed each bet with Smarkets or Betdaq and enjoyed their 2% commission rates, this profit would have risen to 60.27 points profit at 9.0% ROI. An extra 4.47 points profit in your pocket, simply for using a different website to place your lays.

Forget brand or company loyalty when it comes to bookies – it can hurt your bottom-line. Simply use the best value exchange on offer. Be an exchange-tart.

For More Expert Advice…

I hope a few of the points I have raised in today’s article have provided some food for thought for those of you interested or involved with laying on a regular basis.

When done right then laying can be a fantastic angle, but when done badly, it can be very costly indeed. Don’t get caught out!

If you are after further advice and expertise with your betting, you might like to consider a Smart Betting Club membership. It comes with a 90-day-money-back-guarantee as standard and is at significantly reduced prices for 2018.

Join the Smart Betting Club now and see what all the fuss is about!

See you on the inside

Best Regards,

Peter Ling
Smart Betting Club Editor

Asian Handicap Betting Guide: What Are They & How To Use Them!

One of the most popular (and shrewdest) forms of football betting is Asian Handicap betting and in today’s blog post I want to explain what they are, how they work and why you should start using them.

Loved by football betting syndicates and many shrewd punters alike – Asian Handicaps can be rightly off putting for those of you baffled by its terminology and talk of half goals, quarter goals and other strange phrases.

So with that in mind, I have prepared this special updated guide to Asian Handicaps – full of tips for beginners and hints that even experienced bettors will benefit from, so I hope you find it of use!

Learn how to make money betting with instant access to the Smart Betting Club.

Asian Handicaps: Just What Are They?

The Far East’s interest in football is matched by an almost insatiable appetite for gambling on the big games, especially the Premier League. The difference between Asian punters and most European punters is their preferred means of having a flutter. Asian gamblers prefer to level the playing field by covering the draw, through the use of handicaps while most European punters prefer the straight home or away win.

There are essentially two main reasons to use an Asian Handicap:

1. Cover the draw: With Asian handicaps, you will see two lines on offer instead of three. This is because the draw is incorporated into the bet. Depending on the handicap used, this might refund your money on a draw or even return a profit.

This first example shows the odds for a (0) handicap on a Man U v Man City game. This would have provided a refund (whichever team you backed) if the game had ended in a draw. The number 1 is always the home team (Man U) and 2 is always the away team (Man City).

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2. Level the playing field: In most leagues, there can be some very lopsided games with the favourite very small odds and the underdog given very little chance. To make the game a little more interesting, you can give either team a multiple goal handicap. The aim is then to predict the number of goals a team might win or lose by.

This next example shows the (+2) handicap for a Malaga vs Real Madrid game, with the +2 handicap applying to the home team and the -2 handicap applying to the away team.

Madrid were 1.50 to win the match, but the -2 handicap had odds of 3.20. As the favourite, -2 means Real Madrid had to win by 3 goals or more for you to win. In fact they won 4-nil. A Real Madrid victory of exactly two goals would have returned your stake unharmed.

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One of the best things about Asian handicap betting isn’t necessarily the type of betting but the bookmakers who specialize in this field. Bookmakers such as Pinnacle and Bet365, plus Exchanges such as Matchbook and Betfair offer huge limits and excellent odds.

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Asian Handicaps: What Do All The Numbers Mean?

If you use our recommended football odds comparison site www.oddsportal.com, and click on the “AH” tab for the Asian Handicap odds for any game, you’ll see that with each game has a number of handicaps on offer.

The screenshot below is from a Zaragoza (1) vs Valencia (2) game that showcases a large number of handicaps:

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The ‘main’ handicap is the one with the most bookmakers pricing up. In the example above, the +0.25 handicap is the most popular with 23 bookies pricing up, with the +0.5 also popular with 19 bookmakers putting up odds. The main handicap might change based on team news or weight of money. You don’t have to take the ‘main’ handicap, but more bookmakers pricing up usually means more competition and higher odds generally.

Handicaps are expressed as half or quarter goal numbers to eliminate the tie option. For example the -0.5 handicap is the same as a standard home win. The home team has to win by one goal to beat the half goal handicap. The away team is given a +0.5 goal advantage cushion, meaning you still win if there is a draw.

I could write reams about Asian Handicaps, but best way for you understand them is to look at the odds for some upcoming games and cross reference this page to double check you are understanding them correctly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_handicap

Here are the most common Asian Handicaps taken from the page above:

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Note: The quarter ball handicaps such as -0.25 might also be expressed as -0.5, (0) because these bets are half a (0) handicap and half a -0.5 handicap.

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Asian Handicaps: Why They Are More Familiar Than You Think?

One of the quirks of Asian Handicap betting is that they can be exactly the same as other bet types, just with a different name.

Confusing I know, but it’s worth being aware of the differences!

For example, the -0.5 handicap is exactly the same as backing a team to win yet you’ll sometimes find different odds on what is effectively the same bet. This often happens if some bookmakers cut the win odds, but other bookmakers don’t move the -0.5 handicap as quickly.

The (0) handicap is exactly the same as a Draw No Bet and again you can get different odds from the same bookmaker despite this being the same bet.

The +0.5 handicap is the same as a Double Chance Bet and exactly the same as laying the opposition on Betfair. Laying the team you don’t fancy is a very popular bet on Betfair, but in our experience you can get better odds 90% of the time by using the +0.5 handicap if it’s the main line.

Summary:

  • -0.5 Handicap: AKA Win bet
  • (0) Handicap: AKA Draw No Bet, AKA ‘Pick’.
  • +0.5 Handicap: AKA Double Chance, Lay opposition.

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Asian Handicaps: Why Bother?

Using an Asian handicap on a football match is similar to the reason you might use an Each Way bet in horse racing. 

You think that the selection might ‘go close’, but being realistic it’s still a long shot. By using an Asian Handicap you can still profit from a game even if the team you backed didn’t win.

Asian handicaps can help you reduce the volatility in your betting returns and shorten losing runs by allowing you to profit or get a refund if an underdog ‘goes close’.

On the other hand, if you think the favourite is going to smash the underdog, then you might want to juice up the odds by giving the favourite a handicap of a goal or two.

For example, in this game below featuring Liverpool and Norwich, you might have fancied Norwich to get something from the game, but with best odds of 13.50, a Norwich outright victory was something of a long shot. A good option might have been the (+1) handicap with odds of 3.06. This meant you would have won your bet if the game ended in a draw and even had a refund of your stake if Norwich had lost by just one.

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Asian Handicaps: When Not To Use Them

Sometimes covering the draw and adding ‘insurance’ to your bet is not actually to your benefit and it’s worth being aware of when this is the case.

Think of it in similar terms to say, buying a new fridge at £100 and being quoted a three-year warranty for £45. Just as you would have to question whether taking this ‘insurance’ is in your best interests, so to do you need to when Asian Handicap betting.

That is because if you always cover the draw when you don’t need to, you’re going to be out of pocket.

In most leagues across the world, the draw odds are generally bad value, because most bookmakers push the out the odds on the home and away team to attract business. They don’t compete on the draw as much because there is less interest in this outcome. After all, how many people do you know that back draws? Not many!

So yes, using a handicap might provide some comfort of a returned stake or profit in the event of a draw, but your bottom line might suffer if you use them all the time regardless of the match.

There is a price you pay for your insurance and that is lower odds. If you always pay for insurance when you don’t need it or over pay for it with poor odds, then in the long run you will lose out even if you do have shorter losing runs. It’s about getting the balance right.

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Asian Handicaps: In Summary

Like many things in life, once you start to fully understand Asian handicaps, you can quickly discover that they are not that complicated after all.

Once you get to grips with the terminology of what +0.25 or -0.75 means for example, it will quickly start to make sense and it can really add a major string to your betting bow.

After all, the Asian Handicap markets are loved by betting syndicates and professional punters for one simple reason – they can be very lucrative if you get it right.

This is because Asian Handicap markets are very competitive with low bookmaker margins and great odds. All told, they are ideal for shrewd punters.

I hope this article furthers your understanding of this field and ultimately improves your bottom line – which after all is why we are here – to help you make money betting.

Join the Smart Betting Club today and learn how we can help you and your betting.

Best Regards,

Peter Ling
Smart Betting Club Editor


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SBC Guide: Getting Started With Betting Banks

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Today I want to explore the topic of betting banks, how they work and just why it’s so important you operate one for every tipster or betting system or strategy that you follow.

Betting banks might not be the ‘sexiest’ topic in the world to discuss but believe me – they can make a massive difference to your betting bottom-line.

I have seen many people fail at betting or make silly mistakes simply because they didn’t use a betting bank.

And the daft thing is – it’s so easy to understand and implement, that once you start working to a simple betting bank, you won’t look back!
 
After all anything that can help minimise losers and enhance winners has to be a good thing right!

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WHAT ARE BETTING BANKS?

A Betting Bank is a set amount of money that you put aside for each tipster that you follow so as to make you the most effective returns. For each tipster that you follow, you should have a separate and designated betting bank.

A good betting bank will:

  • Protect you from losses caused by inevitable losing runs.
  • Help to maximize effectively how much profit you make overall following a tipster

Without a betting bank in place, the dangers of not coping during a bad run and giving up far too soon are that much higher. Nobody wants to give up on a tipster just before they hit a purple patch, yet this happens all too often for punters without a betting bank in place.

The good news is that setting up a betting bank is extremely simple and here at the Smart Betting Club we provide advice on doing just that for each tipster we review and report back upon.

But first of all, here is how to set up a betting bank…


HOW TO SETUP A BETTING BANK

Betting Banks can be split up into two distinct types as follows:

  • Points Betting Bank
  • Financial Betting Bank

Points Betting Bank (PBB)

Most tipsters will advise staking in terms of ‘points’. This generally varies from 1 point up to 10 points. A Points Betting Bank will tell you how much to stake in real £ or (euros) on each tip.

E.g. If you have £1000 and follow a tipster using a 50-point betting bank, 1 point would equal £20. More on this later.

Points Betting Bank: Rule of thumb

For each tipster we monitor, we calculate the optimal amount of points you need to assign into a betting bank. This protects you from losing runs, enhances winning runs, and keeps staking consistent over time.

Each tipster stakes differently so this Points Betting Bank (PBB) is optimised for each individual service. This allows you to stake efficiently with the confidence that your Financial Betting Bank (see below) will not go bust.

The PBB for each tipster should at the very least take into account the historical worst losing run for that service. A general rule of thumb is to double the previous longest losing run, so that should such a poor run happen again in the future, then no more than at worst 50% of any betting bank should be lost.

To generate the Smart Betting Club’s own betting bank recommendations, we actually use a special in-house ‘betting bank simulator’ which comes up with a highly tuned figure for optimal returns. So as a member of SBC you know we have your bank and back covered!

Financial Betting Bank (FBB)

Of course the amount of money you can actually make from following a service depends on the real-life Financial Betting Bank (FBB) you can apply to it.

This refers to the amount of money you set aside to follow a service, when considering the Points Betting Bank. This FBB amount is related to the PBB as we will go on to demonstrate in the example below.

This FBB amount should be an amount of money you feel comfortable risking in following a particular service. This should be a lump sum of money you have available for investment and should be separate to funds needed for living expenses.

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BETTING BANK EXAMPLE

To illustrate all these points let’s use a few examples.

For each tipster we recommend, we list the Points Betting Bank required for optimal following. You can find this listed each month in our SBC Magazines & Tipster Profit Reports.

Let’s take an anonymous example from our archives, a profitable racing service we’ll call Top Racing Tips.

If you were a member of Top Racing Tips, we recommend you need a PBB of 100-points. This 100-point figure takes into account historical losing runs, and the current method of staking that Top Racing Tips investments utilises.

If following Top Racing Tips over the past 12 months this service would have brought you 235.58 points profit to their advised staking.
 
Let’s say we decide to follow Top Racing Tips with a FBB of £2,500 in real money.

  1. We then divide the FBB by the PBB to get our staking per point.
  2. 2,500/100 = £25 per point…. £25 is our stake per point.
  3. If you had made 235.58 X £25 over the past year that brings a £5,889.50 actual profit.

This particular tipster charges £155 per quarter or £430 for a lifetime membership so even if deducting a full year’s subscription, you still would end up nicely in profit.

Profit At Lower Betting Bank Sizes

Of course, you don’t need £2500 to follow this tipster and you can make a tremendous profit with much lower betting banks as follows:

  • £500 bank = £5 per point. Annual profit of £1177.90 (before tipster subscription fees – we recommend the £430 lifetime membership option)
  • £750 bank = £7.50 per point. Annual profit of £1766.86 (before tipster fees)
  • £1500 bank = £15 per point. Annual profit of £3533.70 (before tipster fees)

 

A Very Simple Ruling For Effective Staking

As you can see it is very simple to calculate your own staking.

To calculate the financial value of 1pt in your betting bank, all you need do is divide your Financial Betting Bank by the recommended Points Betting Bank, which gives you the amount per point you can financially risk.

It is as simple as that!

BUILDING UP GRADUALLY

There is also no harm in starting small with your betting and developing it over a number of years. By doing this you are building a platform for long-term success and it provides a foundation on which to develop your betting further.

Our advice is to not feel pressurised to instantly start making thousands of pounds in your first few months, and instead allow the returns to gradually evolve over time.

Many of the tipsters we recommend have been with us for some time and will still be here for a number of years at least, so there is no rush to make large sums quickly.

A realistic level of expectation will especially help you get to grips with any new services that you decide to follow. By betting to smaller stakes to begin with, you can ensure that each service fits into your lifestyle and that you are able to get the bets on at the required odds. This way you can ease yourself in to each service, become comfortable with their way of working and increase your stakes in line with your confidence in their methods.

Smart Betting Club

PRO GAMBLER BLUEPRINT

This article has been summarised from the in-depth Pro Gambler Blueprint we supply to all new Smart Betting Club members, which provides everything you need to set up your betting properly.

This 100-page blueprint features advice and guidance from seasoned professional gamblers in seven easy to follow sections:

  • Part One: Solid Foundations – Avoid common newbie mistakes by getting your betting off on the right foot.
  • Part Two: Money Matters – Betting bankroll management and how to maximise your profits
  • Part Three: Mindset and What Makes A Winner– Key lessons on what really matters from betting pro’s
  • Part Four: What To Bet On – Football and Horse Racing absolute essentials
  • Part Five: Being Realistic – Tipsters or Systems? How to decide what suits you best
  • Part Six: You’re The Boss – How to develop your own betting niche and become your own expert
  • Part Seven: Bookie Bashing – How to keep under the bookmaker’s radar
JOIN SBC TODAY AND ENJOY A NO QUIBBLE 90 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!
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Your 5-Point ‘Bet-Fit’ Profitable Plan For 2016


Your 5-Point ‘Bet-Fit’ Profitable Plan For 2016

Get your betting in shape for 2016 with the help of our Punting Personal Trainer Plan. Simple, easy to follow advice that can give you the edge over the bookie…

2 days into the New Year and if you are anything like me, chances are you have already taken yourself off to the gym to try and burn off some of those excess mince pies.

January is always a bumper month for gym owners, but the sad reality is that most people signing-up to get fit will never stick it out and give up within the first few weeks, out of pocket and out of breath climbing the stairs!

One of the best ways to stick at a fitness regime is to sign-up with a Personal Trainer, somebody who has the expertise and motivation to get you fit (and who you don’t want to let down).

And this is where the parallel with betting comes in, because if your New Year’s Resolution involves making more money punting, you can really benefit from an expert betting ‘Personal Trainer’….Someone to help get you Bet-Fit!

So whilst I can’t be there to place each bet for you or shout at you to do that difficult 66th sit-up, here is my simple 5-Step Betting Profits ‘Personal Trainer’ Plan for 2016 to get you started…

The Tipster Profit Train

1) Follow A Good, Genuine, Free Tipster With Achievable Odds

The easiest step to make money betting in 2016 is to hook up with one of the genuine, free tipsters that we track here at SBC.

Take for example the profitable record below from 3 different free racing tipsters who each have been operating for several years.

Free Tipster Overview SBC

Their results are outstandingly profitable, whichever way you look at it and they offer a great solution to get started in 2016. You can read detailed analysis on all 3 (and several other free tipsters) as a Smart Betting Club member.

2) Follow A Paid-For Tipster With A Long-Term Profitable Record

Whilst there are some good free tipsters out there – there are far more paid-for tipsters, many of whom will return you far more in profits than cost in subscription fees.

Some people dislike the idea of paying for tips, yet if they are going to make you outstanding profits over and above what they cost, why wouldn’t you stump up?

Take for example, one of the most popular racing tipster services in our Hall of Fame and their record below.

Paid Tipster Overview SBC

Once again, it’s another immensely profitable service, both over the past 12 months and longer-term. Perhaps best of all are the Return on Capital growth figures, which stand at a whopping 267% over the past 12 months and 915% long-term. This guy’s tips are making serious profits.

The cost to you for following his advice? As little as £33 per month and just over a £1 a day for his quality tips.

You should never be scared to pay for tips, provided you know the tipster supplying them is genuine and has a proven long-term record of success (as any service in our Hall of Fame naturally is!)

3) Don’t Feel Pressured To Bet At High Stakes

Just as you wouldn’t expect to run a marathon the first time you step on a treadmill, so it’s the same with betting as you can be just as effective by making incremental gains to achieve a big goal.

Forget about placing £200 bets, instead try simple £10 or £20 stakes, which won’t break the bank and will help make you a clear profit.

Just look at what staking both £10 or £20 per point on each bet with the tipster highlighted in point 2 would have made you in the past 12 months: £3337.00 or £6,674.00.

Paid Tipster Stakes

Even when taking into account the monthly cost of following his tips of £33 per month, the £3,337 or £6,674 profit from the past 12 months easily dwarfs this and shows why it’s worth paying for tips from the right sources.

4) Follow SBC’s Free Forum Tipsters

As a Smart Betting Club member, you can also follow a series of free tipsters that post exclusively on our forum. You can simply login to the site and follow their tips every day.

Our most popular free tipster would have to be the racing expert Chris Patti based on his outstanding record of 65.23 pts profit at 27.76% ROI from 235 bets. Best of all, this record is based on Betfair SP, so perfect for those of you limited by bookmakers. As an SBC member, you can follow Chris both via the forum and through a special email sent out every day to SBC members only.

Not too far behind Chris in the popularity stakes would have to be ‘Paceman’ with his ‘Short but Sweet’ racing tips, which also continue to impress.  Focusing in on short priced racing tips, he is sitting on a 23.5% ROI profit with a 49% strike-rate from his long-running forum thread.

Other top tipsters posting on the forum, include the profitable Premier League tipster, Jason Mills & busy racing expert The Form Analyst, alongside all 12 of the contestants in our ongoing Britain’s Got Tipsters Football contest.

5) Recruit A ‘Betting Mate’ To Keep You On The Straight & Narrow

My final tip is more of a practical one but it’s one I personally swear by to help you maximise your betting profits.

Just as a good Personal Trainer will often act as your fitness sounding-board to keep you on track, so I firmly recommend having a ‘betting mate’ to do the same. By this, I mean somebody trusted such as a good friend, relative or even partner who you are accountable to for your betting.

If you know you have to run all your major betting decisions by somebody you trust and who has your best interests at heart, it will stop you making rash (and often incorrect) decisions. Not only this but they can also help keep you motivated in tough times.

I have my own ‘betting mate’ with whom we each honestly discuss our own punting and the key decisions we both make. Just the simple act of having another pair of eyes or somebody outside your betting bubble can at times be invaluable, even for the most experienced gambler!

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More Expert Help Winning In 2016

Of course, one of the best ways to make any new year’s resolution a success is in having proven experts to guide you along the way.

Here at the Smart Betting Club, we have over 10 years experience of helping people make money betting and have plenty to help you make 2016 your best punting year yet.

So if looking for a betting ‘Personal Trainer’ why not give us a try as with our risk-free money back guarantee you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

After all, we might not be able to make you fitter, but we know a thing or two about making money betting!

Sign-up For Your Instant SBC Membership

The Secret Diary of a Professional Gambler

Professional Punter Insights

Those readers of a certain age (in the UK) will remember the wonderful book by Sue Townsend –The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ . The book follows the travails of teenager Adrian as he navigates typical problems such as acne, girls and his neighbour seducing his mother.

Here at the Smart Betting Club we have our very secret diary, but in this case focusing on the ups and downs of professional gambling. Our Mole in this case is Rowan Day, a pro punter who is well past his teenage years, but still has to contend with issues such as cricket matches interfering with bet placement.

Rowan writes his column exclusively for Smart Betting Club members and not only is it a good read, it also provides a useful insight into the life of a pro punter (and SBC member). With April now behind us, here are some excerpts from Rowan’s latest missive…

The names of tipsters that Rowan uses have been removed for the benefit of paying Smart Betting Club members. To find out more about an SBC membership click here.

April Update: I Loved That Hamster…

Nine winners from nine on Saturday, and Justin Rose winning on the PGA Tour yesterday meant that for a second weekend in the month, [TipsterH] had a stormer.  Shame I missed out on the first weekend, eh?

This will have been a bumper month for [TipsterH] followers.  That it is not as big a month for me as it will have been for others is, as you can tell, really winding me up.  I need to let it go and move on.  Honestly, I’ve not grieved so much since family pet ‘Hammy’ the hamster died back in ’79.

I loved that hamster.

*cough*

Still a good month…

Still, even without this boost [TipsterH] has had a month to savour and was by far my best performing service for April.  Although the figures don’t go into last month’s totals, it was great to see a long term bet on Brentford landed on Saturday, one of the few antepost bets I was able to place at fairly decent odds at the beginning of the footie season.  I’ve had a couple of antepost losers too, but I’ve been fortunate in that the long term bets I have been able to place have come in, and some of those I wasn’t able to have gone on to be losers.  Swings and roundabouts I guess; the betting equivalent to that well worn football mantra of luck evening itself out over the course of a season.

[TipsterH] April: Staked 102.5pts, +24.172pts

A Gut Feeling on [TipsterJ]

At the risk of tempting fate, and touching wood whilst offering a silent prayer, it is to be noted that there have been one or two signs of life for [TipsterJ], a service that has lain dormant for some time.  I’ve made a lot of money from this service in the past, and although my faith hadn’t completely dwindled, I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps it had seen it’s best days.  Although not a huge profit in the month gone, I did get the feeling that there was more consistency in their approach and it “felt” more like the service of old.

[TipsterJ] April: Staked 27pts, +2.816pts

Mr Consistent: [TipsterT]

My most consistent service by far is [TipsterT], and April was another solid month for the South American expert.  It’s not the simplest service to follow – far from it in fact, with odds crashing fast – but happily for 80% of the bets that come through, I tend to be at the laptop at the time of release and so generally speaking, I’m ok.

[TipsterT] April: Staked 169pts, +11.536pts.

Dodging Bullets

One of the more inspired decisions I’ve made about my betting recently was to drop the football Combo bets this month.  I made this decision not because I felt the system has no merit (indeed, on the contrary), but because I hadn’t fully settled on my own Combo strategy.  Experience has taught me that if there is any lack of certainty in my method of following a service or tipster, or in this case a combination of tipsters, then it is better to stop putting the money down and wait until there is 100% clarity in terms of the way forward.

What I can’t claim is some great foresight that told me that [Tipsters X & Y], two huge contributors to the Combo method, would each suffer a torrid April. I can’t imagine they would be great results and I feel I’ve dodged a bullet here.

Feeding the Fink Tank

Rounding up the summary of football services, and we come to the seemingly ever-reliable The Fink Tank.  I know that, like any service/system, it has bad spells (seemingly the 2013/14 season was one of them), but this season it has been great.

[Fink Tank] April: Staked 59pts, +3.945pts

Find out more about Fink Tank here

Smarkets Betting Exchange

Basketball Foul Times

It hasn’t been such a happy time for [Tipster B], but previous heroics prevent there being too many feelings of reproach for the NBA specialist.  There’s not too much to say, other than it would be nice for what has overall been a highly successful season if it were to finish strongly through May.  Here’s hoping. (Staked 148pts, -17.242pts).

[Tipster B] April: Staked 148pts, -17.242pts

Big Ups & Downs With This Tipster:

There’s no escaping the fact that [TipsterTT] had a shocker of an April.  Looking at previous months’ results, it was due one, and something I have learnt already from following this service is that losses can, and have been previously, recouped at a rate of knots.  In simple, black and white terms, this service has dragged my overall monthly profit right down, but therein lies the problem of splitting overall performance into monthly chunks.  30-31 days really is no sort of time period to evaluate performance.

[TipsterTT] April: 301.8pts, -92.916pts

Horse Racing Profits:

It was good to see [Tipster O] embark successfully upon the beginnings of a recovery mission to regain points lost through the early part of the year.

[Tipster O]: Staked 40.15pts, +9.199pts

Staking Management & Much More

As a Smart Betting Club member Rowan has benefited not only from our in-depth reviews of profitable tipster, we also supply dozens of articles on professional betting topics such as bankroll management and betting psychology.This means that Rowan is able to manage his portfolio of tipsters effectively so that no tipster dominates his profit and loss. His final tally for April shows an ROI of 1.34% and a Return On Capital of 1.13%. As Rowan says – Not the best month in the world, but not the worst either.Some tipsters stake more than others and some may take on higher odds selections which means if you had £1,000 invested with each tipster you would stake dramatically different amounts per bet / per point.

If you want to find out more about professional punting and the tipsters that really make money then take up a Smart Betting Club subscription today.

Make Money Betting - Join the Smart Betting Club today

Win The Battle Of The Betting Mind


Find Out How You Can Master Betting Psychology To Build Long Term Punting Success

Today sees the launch of an extra-special edition of Smart Betting Club – How To Get The Betting X Factor

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  • Have you ever wondered how the professional punters do it?
  • Or what makes them good enough to earn a part or full time income from betting?
  • Or maybe how the top 2% of punters keep going through tough periods?

If you’ve ever struggled with these questions or issues like them, then our Betting X Factor report is a must read for you.

In this special report written with betting expert and author, Jeff Smith, you’ll learn exactly what it takes for you to become a betting success. It’s available immediately for download for anyone joining the Smart Betting Club.

Why You Are The Key To Success

There are four factors that go into betting success:

Strategy

A Smart Betting Club membership can help you with each of these areas:

  1. Strategy: We track dozens of tipsters and systems with regular results updates so you can sort the wheat from the chaff.
  2. Money Management: Not only do we reveal the best tipsters, we also show you how to follow them. We show you how much you can safely stake on each tipster to maximise profits and minimise risk.
  3. Capital: We all have different betting budgets, but a Smart Betting Club membership can help you define realistic targets, whether this is to make an extra side income or serious investment returns.
  4. You: The final ingredient is how you pull it all together and take your betting to the next level. For this you need the Betting X Factor

Even the best punter in the world won’t win with a poor strategy or tipster – BUT give 25 people the same winning system and you’ll get 25 different sets of results!

Why? Because it takes more than a good strategy to make betting profits. It takes the ability to handle losing runs, to keep perspective after a big win and to maintain focus year in year out.

This is where our special Betting X Factor publication will help.

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How One Member Got the Betting X Factor

Over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of our members obtain long term betting profits. Here’s what one member had to say:

“I had often heard of SBC but after my experience with tipsters I was very sceptical. Eventually after mulling over it for a few months I decided to subscribe. Now some months later I have to admit it has been the best decision I have ever made from a punting point of view.

First of all you get an insight into how pro gamblers work and more importantly how you should not punt. SBC offer an excellent tipster league table of the top tipsters around and they constantly scrutinise these tipsters as well as always looking out for existing tipsters who are providing an honest service. You are taught how to manage your betting bank and from my experience these tipsters offer excellent services and customer service. I started by joining one recommended service and have gradually built up a small portfolio of tipsters. I am now achieving profits that are very pleasing, I realise that there are bad days which I have had but in the long term their selective approach is definitely worth following. I now only bet what I am told to and thanks to the SBC I feel I am a much better punter.”

L.P. SBC Member


What You’ll Learn In The Betting X Factor

In this special edition, you’ll learn how to win the battle of the betting mind with insights in the following areas:

  • The Success Formula.
  • Continuous marginal gains in sports betting.
  • Key questions to ask yourself.
  • How to build your betting investment plan.
  • Money management – stake size and psychology.
  • The power of beliefs.
  • How to remove limiting beliefs.
  • How to think in terms of probability.
  • How to develop yourself for betting success.


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Join Today & Grab Your Copy Instantly!

Access to this Betting X Factor Magazine is only available with an exclusive Smart Betting Club membership. The instant you join as either a Silver, Gold or Platinum subscriber, you can gain immediate access and download your copy!

So don’t delay, sign-up today and get started on the path to better betting profits!

join-now

P.S….Free Profitable Football System Tips

As a Smart Betting Club subscriber you can also access in full our profitable football system – the ‘Fink Tank’.

You can either read our updated 2014/15 season guide on how it works or simply pick up all qualifying system tips every week via the SBC Forum.
With 4 profitable sub-systems to choose from (Asian Handicaps or straight 1X2 bets) its so easy to follow even Robbie Savage could figure it out!
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Each Way Or Win Only: What’s The Best Way To Bet?

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If you have ever placed a horse racing bet then there is a good chance the age-old dilemma of to whether to bet win only or each way will have reared its head.

After all, there can be nothing worse than putting £50 down on a horse to win at 20/1, only to see it pipped in a photo finish for second place.

Yet if you backed the same horse at 20/1 each way and it duly obliged, chances are you might be wishing you went in for the kill and backed it to win.

Without a time machine, it’s impossible to know the right way to bet all the time, but today I have some stats to showcase some of the ways to judge whether to bet win only or each-way. In doing so, I can hopefully help shed some light on which way to tackle this perennial betting hot-potato.

72% Better Profits Betting Win Only Continue reading

Value Betting Explained – How ‘Shrewd’ Gamblers Win

With the growing popularity of our Fink Tank Football System, over recent weeks I have been fielding a few questions on just how it (and many other tipsters and systems) actually make money betting.

So I thought today would provide a great opportunity to explain the concept of ‘value betting’ a little bit more and just how shrewd punters get one over the bookies regularly by using it.

As a great example of the type of question punters are asking, below is an email I received last week:

” Hi, I am a little confused as to your system and perhaps you could please clarify a point.

In your example of Arsenal v Norwich you refer to an away win by Norwich at odds of 8.0, and to back it with Totesport having the best odds.

Why would I back Norwich to win the match, when with virtual certainty Norwich will lose the match against Arsenal ?”

Well, this is a very logical question for many when starting off betting and it all revolves around the concept of ‘value betting’

In short, value betting basically means the bet you are placing is available at odds you consider to be too big. Continue reading

How To Calculate The Value Of Your Bets

How much exactly would you pay for a plain old cup of coffee at Starbucks?

  • Nothing, I’ll make may own and I like tea anyway!
  • £2.50
  • £5.00
  • £20.00 (if you bought it from the Olympic Park!)

Unless you’re particularly desperate, most people will choose the first 2 options. We all have similar ideas of the value of a cup of coffee and so do Starbucks.

Charging £20.00 for a cuppa will soon put them out of business, but what exactly has this got to do with betting?

It’s All About Value Bets

The biggest transition I see in new Smart Betting Club members is when they stop thinking in just terms of what will win and start thinking about value bets.  Continue reading

How To Bet: Football Betting Essential Beginners Guide 2

Welcome to the second part of our essential football betting beginners guide, as we continue our focus on some of the more popular football betting markets and just where you both should and shouldn’t bet.

In this section we explain the following bets: correct score, half-time/full-time, to win to nil, clean sheet, both teams to score, corners & bookings, draw no bets and asian handicaps. Continue reading