That was no consolation to his backers on the day, though, who lost. However, there are times when a 1.01 chance should be. How big are your cojones, though? Always look to take a profit. There are two schools of thought on this. The first is that each bet or trade should be based on its individual merits, and the above is generalized nonsense; the second is that you should always look to take a profit when trading, or at least maneuver yourself into a no-lose position when the price or event unfolds in your favor.

 

The latter approach is best, especially as betting exchanges work to very tight margins, typically 101 per cent, so closing out a position is not as punitive as it can be with fixed-odds and spread betting firms. And the person who coined the City phrase ‘You never see a poor man take a profit’ wasn’t wrong, was he? Specialize.

 

Betfair offers a mass of markets on its site, and clearly the number of people who know their Bandy will be considerably less than those who know their Premiership football. Put in the hours of research and the odds are you will know more than the person you are betting against. Providing you can find someone to match your bet on Bandy, that is… But you get my point. Look beyond the obvious. Take advantage of illiquid markets.

 
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