Online betting diary – July 2011

July 2011

28th July, 3pm

Good news from yesterdays bet, Manchester United ran out comfortable 4-0 winners over the MLS all star side, with the first goal not until after the 20th minute. The bet at even money was matched for a profit of £20.

There’s nothing on the radar today, check back before the football this weekend for our next selection.

27th July, 10am

A rather uninspiring Copa America finished on Sunday with a deserved win for Uruguay. Overall a disappointing tournament, with the likes of Messi and Argentina failing to shine despite home advantage, and Brazil only managing to score in one of their games. Well done to Uruguay though, who followed up a semi-final World Cup appearance by going all the way this time, largely thanks to their superb forward line of Forlan and Suarez.

We’ve taken a break from betting action for a few weeks, but tonight there is a game with a certain goalscoring appeal. Man Utd take on MLS all-stars in the latest match of their US tour, which to date has seen plenty of goals. Unsurprisingly, the odds reflect this, with Over 2.5 currently trading at just 1.4 on Betfair. Although this does seem likely, its simply not worth it at these odds. Instead I will be looking at Over 3.5 goals, which is currently trading just below even money. My plan will be to place an order for even money and leave the bet to run in play. Barring an early goal, I’d expect this to be matched within the first 10 minutes. 80-85 minutes for 4 goals seems a fair prospect at evens to me, I’ll have £20 on it.

If you fancy getting involved, why not check out the current Betfair promotion where you can earn up to £1,000 cashback!

5th July, 12pm

The Murray – Nadal match started exactly as I had hoped, and after Murray took the first set the bet on 3-2 to Nadal could be layed as low as 3.5. I actually took the opportunity to reduce the possible loss at this point, laying £10 at 3.8. After Nadal quickly turned things around to lead 2-1 things were not looking so good, and eventually I traded out the remaining £10 for a risk free shot at winning a small amount if it did end 3-2 to Nadal. Sadly this was not the case, so the final result was break even. However, this is a fine example of how you can play the Betfair markets to create winning situations. Had I layed to “green up” after the first set, I could have actually made around £19 on any outcome.

There is more about this sort of strategy in the “How to bet at Betfair” section.

This week my main focus is Copa America betting. The tournament has got off to a rather slow start, but there are some decent offers available and I’ll be analysing them throughout the coming weeks. Watch this space!

1st July, 2pm

Today is mens semi-finals day at Wimbledon, and there looks to be some value around on Betfair.

The Murray – Nadal match is due up at about 4pm, and according to the market there is not a vast amount to choose between them. Nadal is favourite, but Murray doesn’t really look value at 2.68. Instead, a look at the set betting could perhaps unearth a bet worth taking.

In the set betting market you can back Nadal to beat Murray 3-0, 3-1, or 3-2. A long close match resulting in 3-2 to Nadal seems entirely possible, and with a current price of 6.8 is worth an investment for me. Because this result involves the full 5 sets, there is also going to be opportunity to trade out once the match is in progress. I’ll be amazed if this bet can’t be layed at less than 6s at some point during the match, so it could be one to approach that way.

More about Betfair can be found in the Free Bet Source “How to” section, where you will shortly find an article all about exchange betting and trading.

£20 on 3-2 in the set betting is todays bet. If you want to get involved, why not consider using a free bet promotion to do so!