Howdy Crash,
Good to hear you're a convert. Soon enough you'll forget all about the TAB's and wonder where this service has been all your life, LOL.

As for your questions, personally i prefer to use the bookies fixed price markets as a comparison, as the tote can often be difficult to judge with all the jumping around. Plus you know that should the tote be displaying a large overlay to the bookies market, plenty o' moola will be acomin'. Similarly, Bowhunter (Col Tidy + IAS) opened at 8's and 7's respectively, drifted to 9's before shortening to close at 8's. Under this arrangment you might set a price of 10's on betfair and should things move against you, take the 9's with the bookie etc etc. Certainly should you see $10.50, you would be inclined to have a nibble. Just my preference, but seems to work. (EDIT: I should add that the above would apply to the more fancied runners).

Oh and don't forget to include a 5% premium in your betfair prices to compensate for the commission.

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I like Bing Lee.