The Basics!
Welcome to the tennis section. Here, we'll cover the most essential elements of tennis trading on Betfair, the strategies most commonly used, and the tools you'll need in order to profit regularly from the huge Betfair tennis market.
Firstly, if you are completely new to trading, you'll need a Betfair account. You can get one at www.betfair.com and click the sign up button.
Betfair often have deals regarding free bets on their site, so keep your eye out for those as they often provide great value for new traders.
The second thing which I strongly recommend is an API application.
The best by a long way is Evolution, made by Racing Traders. You can get this at http://racingtraders.co.uk/affiliates/evolution.php?id=155.
I can't overstate how important this piece of software is. Subscription is just £14.99 per month - that's less than 50p per day - and you will make that back easily within your first few trades if you follow the guidelines on this website.
So what does it do? Well, it has a ladder interface which enables you to view the amount of money in the market at that time, place your back and lay bets with just one click.
Not only that, but Evo allows you hedge your bets, or "green up" at the click of a button. It will work out the required stake you need to make an even profit on all outcomes and that is VITAL to traders. It will save you doing any calculations or trying to get a bet in on Betfair before the odds change and you have to calculate it all over again.
Once you have a Betfair account and Evo, you're ready to go!
Before we proceed to the strategies, there are certain things which absolute beginners need to understand with regards to Betfair.
On Betfair you can "Back" a team or, in the case of tennis, "Back" a particular player. This is the traditional bet, where you're backing something or someone to win. For example, if you back a team or player at odds of 4 for £10, you'll make £40 - £30 winnings plus your £10 stake.
However, the beauty of Betfair is that you can also "Lay" a team or player. That is basically saying that you DONT think they will win. However, the betting is reversed.
What do we mean by that? Well using the above example, if you instead LAYED that team or player at odds of 4 for £10, and they go on to lose, you'll WIN £10.
If you LAY the team or player at odds of 4 for £10 and they end up winning, then you will LOSE £30.
Think of a lay bet as the complete opposite of a back bet. You're saying that the team or indvidual will lose, and at odds of 4 you'll win £10 but risk £30 in the process.
So how do we trade? Well, essentially you always need to remember this: BACK HIGH, LAY LOW or LAY LOW, BACK HIGH.
If you can do this, you will take home the profit every time!
It doesn't matter which way around you do it, if you back first, you'll be looking to lay at a lower price than you backed at to bring in a profit. If you layed first, you'll be looking to back at a higher price to bring in the profit.
It is essential that you understand the concept of laying and back high, lay low or lay low, back high before you start trading. If you're not sure, trade with small stakes. Evolution will allow you to trade for 1p or 2p if you want to, unlike Betfair which has a £2 minimum bet, so if you want to practice with pennies first, go for it!
Throughout the website, I'll use the phrase "greening up". What that means is that you've already done your back or lay, the result is going your way, and you're looking to lay lower or back higher to lock in the profit. Once that profit is locked in, it's done and dusted. You can sit back and enjoy the match knowing you have a profit no matter what the result!
The vast majority of the time, I and most other traders will lay first and look to lock in a profit by backing higher.
As a rule of thumb, you'll look to back at double the odds you layed at, for half the stake.
For example, if Nadal was playing Federer and I layed Nadal at odds of 2 for £100, my screen would show:
Nadal - £100
Federer - £100
Then if Federer went two sets up in a best of five match and Nadal''s odds to win went up to 4, I would back Nadal for £50 at 4.
I am backing higher - at double the odds in fact - for half the stake (£50).
I would therefore lower the green on Federer to £50 (as I've spent £50 backing Nadal at the higher odds). However, as I backed Nadal at odds of 4, that would win me £150. That wipes out the £100 red I had on him before, and adds £50.
My screen would therefore look like this:
Nadal - £50
Federer - £50
I could sit back and enjoy the rest of the match without worrying about if my bet would win in the long run, as no matter what happened, I'd be bringing in £50 by the end of the game. This is known as "greening up" and is the main aim of a trader!
An important part of trading on tennis is that you know the live score. You must make sure that you are either watching the game or have a decent scoreboard on your computer. I strongly recommend the Bet365.com scoreboard. It's by far the fastest to update which is really important if you're trading the match. Ideally, you want to be watching the match on the TV.
So having got the theory out of the way, use the drop down menu above to check out the different tennis trading strategies!
Firstly, if you are completely new to trading, you'll need a Betfair account. You can get one at www.betfair.com and click the sign up button.
Betfair often have deals regarding free bets on their site, so keep your eye out for those as they often provide great value for new traders.
The second thing which I strongly recommend is an API application.
The best by a long way is Evolution, made by Racing Traders. You can get this at http://racingtraders.co.uk/affiliates/evolution.php?id=155.
I can't overstate how important this piece of software is. Subscription is just £14.99 per month - that's less than 50p per day - and you will make that back easily within your first few trades if you follow the guidelines on this website.
So what does it do? Well, it has a ladder interface which enables you to view the amount of money in the market at that time, place your back and lay bets with just one click.
Not only that, but Evo allows you hedge your bets, or "green up" at the click of a button. It will work out the required stake you need to make an even profit on all outcomes and that is VITAL to traders. It will save you doing any calculations or trying to get a bet in on Betfair before the odds change and you have to calculate it all over again.
Once you have a Betfair account and Evo, you're ready to go!
Before we proceed to the strategies, there are certain things which absolute beginners need to understand with regards to Betfair.
On Betfair you can "Back" a team or, in the case of tennis, "Back" a particular player. This is the traditional bet, where you're backing something or someone to win. For example, if you back a team or player at odds of 4 for £10, you'll make £40 - £30 winnings plus your £10 stake.
However, the beauty of Betfair is that you can also "Lay" a team or player. That is basically saying that you DONT think they will win. However, the betting is reversed.
What do we mean by that? Well using the above example, if you instead LAYED that team or player at odds of 4 for £10, and they go on to lose, you'll WIN £10.
If you LAY the team or player at odds of 4 for £10 and they end up winning, then you will LOSE £30.
Think of a lay bet as the complete opposite of a back bet. You're saying that the team or indvidual will lose, and at odds of 4 you'll win £10 but risk £30 in the process.
So how do we trade? Well, essentially you always need to remember this: BACK HIGH, LAY LOW or LAY LOW, BACK HIGH.
If you can do this, you will take home the profit every time!
It doesn't matter which way around you do it, if you back first, you'll be looking to lay at a lower price than you backed at to bring in a profit. If you layed first, you'll be looking to back at a higher price to bring in the profit.
It is essential that you understand the concept of laying and back high, lay low or lay low, back high before you start trading. If you're not sure, trade with small stakes. Evolution will allow you to trade for 1p or 2p if you want to, unlike Betfair which has a £2 minimum bet, so if you want to practice with pennies first, go for it!
Throughout the website, I'll use the phrase "greening up". What that means is that you've already done your back or lay, the result is going your way, and you're looking to lay lower or back higher to lock in the profit. Once that profit is locked in, it's done and dusted. You can sit back and enjoy the match knowing you have a profit no matter what the result!
The vast majority of the time, I and most other traders will lay first and look to lock in a profit by backing higher.
As a rule of thumb, you'll look to back at double the odds you layed at, for half the stake.
For example, if Nadal was playing Federer and I layed Nadal at odds of 2 for £100, my screen would show:
Nadal - £100
Federer - £100
Then if Federer went two sets up in a best of five match and Nadal''s odds to win went up to 4, I would back Nadal for £50 at 4.
I am backing higher - at double the odds in fact - for half the stake (£50).
I would therefore lower the green on Federer to £50 (as I've spent £50 backing Nadal at the higher odds). However, as I backed Nadal at odds of 4, that would win me £150. That wipes out the £100 red I had on him before, and adds £50.
My screen would therefore look like this:
Nadal - £50
Federer - £50
I could sit back and enjoy the rest of the match without worrying about if my bet would win in the long run, as no matter what happened, I'd be bringing in £50 by the end of the game. This is known as "greening up" and is the main aim of a trader!
An important part of trading on tennis is that you know the live score. You must make sure that you are either watching the game or have a decent scoreboard on your computer. I strongly recommend the Bet365.com scoreboard. It's by far the fastest to update which is really important if you're trading the match. Ideally, you want to be watching the match on the TV.
So having got the theory out of the way, use the drop down menu above to check out the different tennis trading strategies!
