domestic rugby starts this weekend

Bored with the round-ball game yet? The Guinness Premiership and Magner's League rugby competitions start this weekend. Anyone would think rugby players and fans like a drink :)

As a sport which is popular but not rammed down your throat by every form of media, there is plenty of value available in trading and if you do your homework.

Here are some previews for the new season:

Guinness Premiership club-by-club

Guinness Premiership season preview

The experts have their say

GP preview 2009-10

Betfair trading on rugby, domestic rugby in particular, is very different to the rather simple methods on football. As the scoring system varies (try, conversion, penalty,and drop goal), field position counts for plenty, and most crucially, there is no market suspension when a team scores, you have to be on your own toes. But if making things a little more difficult makes it easier for those who do the hard work to make a profit, then so be it. With lower volumes traded, it makes it easier to get a better return on your trading, unless you want to bet in thousands.

Hopefully my mate Rugby Ken will relaunch his blog (Magners League, Heineken Cup and Six Nations), he was nicely in front last season. Look for it in my blogroll to the right.

Comments

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also, ...

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur...

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

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