is Betfair a Myth?(without prejudice)
 

WITHOUT PREJUDICE


I've suspected the worst for a while, but now I'm convinced its a case of "Smoke and Mirrors"

here is the comparison for the last 13 days from my returns from a place system that I've run for 5 years +

Its the best tote that I ACTUALLY got, -V- the best price that I COULD HAVE GOT from BF (not accounting for commission)

Best Tote.....................................BFAIR
19.54 ...................... 18.25
18.6 ...................... 18.15
12.14 ...................... 12.04
9.1......................... 8.6
19.91 ...................... 19.26
12.6....................... 12.01
22.30..................... . 21.42
21.9....................... 22.04
8 ......................... 8.47
17.4 ....................... 17.9
19.10 ........................ 18.78
19......................... 19.81
19.30........................ 17.88

218.89 ...................... 214.61


just wanna warn fellow punters for most of us its NOT what its cracked up to be, when it comes to the actual horses that you back you'd be far better off getting BOB/Best Tote/sp,/ Best tote/ Country Best in that order, (all in my substantiated opinion.

Since they began In-Play running i find the figures all stuffed up and the final amount is not always what you get, i have seen prices in your range fluctuate from 15 to 25 in a matter of 30 seconds, but i will agree that is is not always the best.

Where did you get Betfair's top fluc from ????

Hi Partypooper,

I definitely don't see Betfair as the ultimate answer, however, it is often handy when backing longer priced commodities for a win.

I have had several instances of the betfair price being double that of best tote in the odds range of $15+. The longer priced horses can drift and drift. The SP feature can also throw up some strange div's.

One thing I do like is that you can set a minimum acceptable price on SP and go to work and forget about it.

My bets are generally around the $10 mark for longshots so I can get set easily.

The Schmile

Have they ever advertised that their place prices are better?

Good point Mark, I only back (this method for the place) but I find the same situation for the win in fact even moreso when you can get BOB, but of course most of my bets are shorties.

Literally sat in front of the comp, if you use the WAP thingo its a joke as you would never be able to actually get on for my standard $100 bet (max $200)

Well I suppose in a pinch, this could be taken as advertising ,
directly from their home page

"*20% better odds figures based on direct comparison of Betfair weighted average prices (less 4% commission) against the price available from the totalisator"

On the other hand, who am I to judge?

.......

My guess is that would be win markets.
Place prices seem to be all over the place. (no pun intended)

Having said that it's still not (I think) an accurate statement, which I guess is what Party is getting at.

A good example of big overs from yesterday.....Testarhythm, official flucs 2.80, 3, 2.80. I backed it at 4.30, that's 43% over best odds. Laying off at 2.90 makes for nice free money.

BF is great for trading and for laying (of course), but have to agree everything else is smoke and mirrors. And don't get me started on the Premium Charge. grrrrrrrr

Did not want to place the whole ad. because I'm not sure if it's proper to do so here, after all they are sponsors of this site.
But fair is fair they definitely tell you they do better!

------------------------------------------
This ad from elsewhere, not from their site.

By betting against other punters, you invariably get the best odds. This includes an average of 20% better odds on win & place markets than the TAB on horseracing.

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They are good in the long shot range provided you only want to bet a few dollars.
Good luck

The operative word is "AVERAGE", many people have iterated that BF is good for long shots, and that's where the smoke and mirrors comes in, eg. 8 races 8 winners 7are @ 1/1 one is 50-1, so the average price is 7-1??? HUH?

Also the statement 20% better odds (AVERAGE) than ANY of the 3 totes, more smoke more mirrors as we are not backing at any one tote we are backing BEST TOTE.

What about a comparison of winners say, 3-1 and under BF-V-BOB or Best Tote/SP (as available)

I'm not saying that BF hasn't got some good points, any serious punter should use them as I suspect most bookies and/or professional punters do probably more so in the UK, but I am saying that its a case of the missing shilling!

Shows you how much of their advertising I take notice of.