1x2 (Match Odds) Market

Of course, the most simple market on Betfair is the 1x2, or Match Odds market. Here, you can do the standard backing or laying of the home or away team, or of course back or lay the draw.

We have already covered the Lay The Draw method and won't be going into it again here. Instead, what I would like to briefly look at, is the laying of a particular team.

Punters use the Match Odds market a lot when backing a particular team to win. However, as we are trading, we're looking to dip in and out of the market as quickly as is possible in order to secure a pre-determined amount of profit, or "green".

Here is where the Match Odds market can come in handy.

The beauty of laying teams in the Match Odds market is that you can keep two out of the three results on your side. For example, in the recent game between Leeds and Cardiff at Elland Road, the only thing I knew with some degree of certainty based on the research I did into the game was that Leeds wouldn't win.


I thought it would be either an away win or a draw. Therefore it was a simple decision for me to simply go into the Match Odds market, and Lay Leeds United. Their odds would be fairly low as they were at home, and indeed they were slight favourites. This makes it a good value lay.

By laying Leeds, if Cardiff won or it was a draw, I would win.

As it turned out, Cardiff won 4-0. However, I had already got out of the trade as soon as Cardiff scored their first.

As I've previously mentioned, when trading, you look to double up and then take the green. What this means is that if I layed Leeds at 2.00 in the example above, for £100, I would be risking £100 if Leeds won the game outright.

However, if it was a draw or Cardiff won, I'd win £100.

As soon as Cardiff opened the scoring, the odds for a Leeds win doubled, and were now trading at around 4.

You have to remember that to make any kind of profit, you must back high and lay low, or lay low and back high. In this case we'd already layed at 2, so now that the odds available to back were up at 4, we knew we were onto a winner.

When the odds double up, the stake halves. Therefore as I'd layed Leeds for £100 at 2, I'd back them for £50 at 4. This would hedge my bets and I'd get a completely green screen.

Backing at odds of 4 for £50 would result in £150 green if Leeds won, but as I already had a £100 red there from the lay I'd made previously, the total available to win if Leeds won the match would be £50.

Because I'd just made a £50 back bet on Leeds, I'd lose £50 of the profit I'd make if Cardiff won or it was a draw. So no matter what happened, I had £50 on every result in the game.
It no longer matters if Cardiff hold the lead, or if Leeds come back to steal it. The only thing that matters is that I can now put my feet up having made £50 and enjoy the rest of the game!

This market works perfectly for those games in which you're not quite sure of a result. You can lay a particular side which means the draw will be a winner.

Remember, in the example above, if Leeds had come back to win the game it wouldn't matter in the slightest! We'd already be long gone as soon as the first Cardiff goal went in.


As it happened, Cardiff did go on to win the game, and many of you may be saying well you could have made the full £100. Trust me, it's ALWAYS better to trade out as you'd be amazed how often you get stung in a game like this.

Trade out, take the green, and build your bank slowly but surely.


Another game which has interested me in the Match Odds market is the Bolton v Liverpool Premier League game. Liverpool are not in good form at the moment, and the Reebok Stadium is always a difficult place to go and get a result.

Liverpool are favourites to win, as the market always over prices the big teams, despite what the statistics may say. I am therefore happy to take on Liverpool at the price they're at for a small stakes lay.

The screenshot below is how the market looks, with my Lay of Liverpool, prior to kick off. It's a screen shot of Bet Trader Evolution - I thoroughly recommend getting a copy of this software if you have ambitions of making money trading. For the small monthly fee that they charge, it will become an essential tool for building your bank. More information can be found on Evolution on my Introduction page.

Picture
As you can see, with 25 minutes to go until kick off (top left corner), I have made a lay of Liverpool for £10 at odds of 2.3 (as you can see in the bottom-left corner).

This gives me a green on Bolton of £10, a red on Liverpool of £13, and a green on the draw of £10.

The -£0.27 shown next to the Liverpool red is the amount I could trade out for now. If I backed at 2.24 (the current available price), then my screen would show -£0.27 on each outcome.

Of course, we don't want to trade out before the game has even started, but this is a useful tool for trading in-play. The beauty of Evolution is that it will calculate the stakes necessary to trade out at the click of a button!

This game went on as 0-0 for a long time and there never looked like being a winner. After 77 minutes, Liverpool's odds hit 4.6 and I traded out for £5 on each result. No sooner had I got out, than Liverpool took the lead through Maxi on 86 minutes.

This shows the value of trading out for a profit rather than letting your bet run. It would have been very easy after a dour 77 minutes of football, to just leave the trade open and watch as the game finished 0-0. Then as soon as Liverpool scored, I'd have ended up losing £13 instead of winning £5.

The only market I would ever stay in on, is if I Layed Under 1.5 Goals and there was an early goal (first 20 minutes or so) in which case I may let it run as a bet for the second goal if it was an open game to win the whole lot. On any other market, I would trade out.

You'll be surprised how often this sort of thing happens, so it's very important to stay disciplined and ensure as soon as your exit odds come up, you trade out for the profit. You'll make more in the long run!