The Liability of it all One of the most
important things to be aware of when you lay a bet is your liability.
A lay bet is like an odds-on bet but in reverse, if you
consider that you could back a horse at 1.1 (1/10) put £10.00 down and if
it wins you will make a measly profit of £1.00 on top of your stake, not
much for the risk.
1.1 - 1 X 10 = £1.00
Try out my Liabillity calculator by clicking
here.
If you laid the same horse then your liability would be just
£1.00, but if the horse losses, your profit would be £10.00, a lot
better.
But in the real world it doesn't often happen like that,
backing any favourite to lose is risky (not as risky as backing it to win!) but
the lower the odds the higher the risks become.
I come from the school of thought that anything under a 1.7
is a risky lay bet and anything over 3.00 becomes expensive.
Although there are other factors to consider (see my lay betting
guide) these figures give you a range of safety to operate in and you will
find plenty of losers within these two figures. 1.7 - 1 X 10 = £7
Liability
3.0 - 1 X 10 = £20 Liability
£20 Liability on £10.00 is an expensive bet and
I agree with that, but you must also consider that the higher the odds of the
horse the less likely it's chance of winning.
Although betting exchanges are not run by bookies the odds
pretty much reflect what they are doing and we know that over the years the
bookies have learned how to cover liability, so if they think a horse has a
chance of winning then the odds are going to reflect this!
At the end of the day you have to find your own comfort
zone, let's face it we see plenty of short priced horses that lose so if you be
patient and cover your liability until you get a win then this may work for
you.
I prefer to get payback a bit quicker so I am prepared to
bet the upper limit if not even higher (see July email), but that doesn't mean I bet on the
first race that is trading at that price, no way, I take as much care in
picking my lays as does someone looking to back, but I bet I win more often!
You can reprint this article as long as all links are kept
in place and the following is added directly underneath... Malcolm runs
two websites dedicated to horse racing systems,
http://www.laybetting.com and
http://www.horseracingsystemsuk.com,
he also sends out a FREE daily tips news letter that you can join by visiting
either of his sites. |
