Several years ago one of my friends said he was Field Betting every day with the TAB and was making excellent profits. He sent me a print-out of his bets covering several months and it showed very good results. I did not look too closely at it as I had no interest in that type of betting.

But now looking again at the print-out it strongly suggests that the results would be even better if he limited the fields to a maximum of 11 runners (and had bet with Betfair). Unfortunately I cannot contact him as I would ask him how much he would increase his betting or to what extent if he had restricted the fields to 11 runners.

Has anyone had any experience with this type of betting or have any suggestions as to increasing the stakes after a losing race?

I'm interested in checking it out "on paper".

Thanks.
Michael.

Explain to me what you mean by field betting be cause it is not possible to back the field for a profit.

Hi,


there are days when backing every winner and every looser will yeald a profit. One such day was yestrday, (Monday 10/112008), over all its a terible lose however 100% strike rate.

Fun aside most days are about 20% loss, that I can see when I run my day end routines.

Michal

Occasionally, if I think there's a race with a good chance of an upset result, I back the whole field. I did it with the Melbourne Cup this year and made a profit. Wouldn't have had Viewed any other way. But I certainly wouldn't recommend doing it in every race.

I've often wondered about small fields though. You know the ones. Where there are only 5 runners or something and the rank outsider gets up paying $25. It seems to happen so often in small fields, or is that just an illusion? The figures probably don't back it up at all.

Shaun, you're right. But my friend used a loss-chasing method which performed very well.

Sportz, according to the print-out, the fields with a maximum of 11 runners provided a higher rate of instances when the TAB divvy paid more than the amount of starters (and outlay) per race than the races with 12-plus runners. Also, the progressive increase to the outlay was not as harsh.

I have been testing today's races "on paper" with the same progression method my friend used but it has not fared well. Of the 12 races I've so far looked at, only 2 races paid more than the outlay. The faves have had an above average strike rate. I'll continue to monitor the upcoming races.

How great would it be if you could make something like that work!!!
No form, ahh that would be the good life!
What about just backing teh top five regardless? Your still gonna have a high strike rate (80% or so if my memory is correct) , but more likely to make a profit on more races (all you need is a $5 plus winner). Still, I think it would be hard yakka making that work, would need a pretty aggressive staking plan, and then the days where the short priced horses continually get up would pretty destroy you.

There is a considerable variation in favourites winning at different tracks. For instance at the Gold Coast favourites win 40% of the time whereas at Doomben they have a strike rate less than 25%.

Could you use this with your selections ? Favourites/course strike rates are available on the 'Racing and Sports' web page.

Robert

Just looking at that site on R&S, interesting statistics there. But I note Doomben fav's have a win strike rate of 29.7%. Am I reading something wrong.?

Paul

Probably not, I approximated figures I was using about 6 weeks ago to make the point, they do fluctuate according to conditions.

I generally look up the latest figures before the days racing, but Doomben was abandoned today.

Robert

About a week and a half ago I decided to Field Bet with a max of 11 runners using my friend's loss-chasing staking plan but after a few days I changed my mind and began to lay. Now going through the results since then, Field Betting would be showing a very good profit, not just with Betfair but surprisingly even with the NSW and Qld TABs.

So from today I'll recommence the method and see what happens.