How to improve your betting/profitability

So you have backed Manchester City to win the Premier League at 11/4. You’ve had a big wedge on City and, all of a sudden, a spate of wins sees Manuel Pellegrini’s team go odds-on.

This is an example of where you can hedge your bets. Many bookmakers will give you the cash out option which means you can make a quick buck without seeing the bet through to the end of the season. Alternatively, a partial cash out allows you to claim some cash and stay in the bet – the best of both worlds providing your selection does the business.

Hedging your bets can also refer to making more than one selection for a particular event. So you might think that Republic of Ireland will beat Georgia either by a scoreline of 1-0 or 2-0.

Backing both scorelines reduces your overall potential profit but is a classic example of dutching the two selections to cover your bases if you think the Republic will achieve a slender win without conceding.

Betting In-Play is all the rage and we’ve provided you with some tips

Kick-off is just the beginning for many betting customers thanks to the widespread availability of In-Play markets, with bookies now reporting they take more bets during a football match than before.

Betfair are the leading sports betting exchange operator in the world, with this firm offering customers the chance to not only bet on winning selections but also lay losing selections. The latter option effectively sees customers playing the role of bookmaker, while backing and laying the same football team or tennis player can also be done.

For example, you might back Manchester United at odds of 5.00 to win away to Real Madrid, although a goal for the Red Devils could see their price shrink to 2.00. Therefore, you can “go green” on betfair by laying back your original stake and making a profit whatever the outcome at the final whistle.

With exchange betting, the choice is yours. You can bet in the traditional way, lay selections as per the bookmaker or trade In-Play to try and make a profit irrespective of the outcome.

Customers will bet In-Play on their mobile devices every weekend on the Premier League

Ten years ago, it was still pretty common for betting customers to call up the bookmakers on their phone and place bets with an operator.

Wind the clock forward and every bookie worth their salt has a first-class app which can be downloaded so that bet placement is always at your fingertips.

Mobile betting has never been more popular, with this type of wagering massively convenient whether you are at home, in the pub or on the move.

You can register a new account through a bookmaker mobile app or simply use your existing details if you are already registered. Navigation through the likes of Ladbrokes, William Hill or the Paddy Power app is really simple and it is especially good for In-Play betting.

In-Play betting is live wagering when a Premier League football match kicks off. So rather than place your bets before the game, you can wait for the match to get underway and use your judgement and skill.

The advantage of live betting is that you can work out which team is in the ascendancy and the tactics that each side is employing. You might be witnessing a cagey game which leads to a bet on Under 2.5 Goals or you might see that a certain player is getting into scoring positions which could lead to a Next Goalscorer bet.

Mobile betting still allows you to deposit money into your account safely and securely using a variety of methods. This includes PayPal which is the fastest-growing way of getting cash quickly to place those all-important bets.

We take a look at the football markets that will yield the best return on investment

Football betting now comes in all shapes and sizes. Not only can you bet on a team to win a football match, you can bet on a player to score first, the correct score and whether both teams find the net.

So which markets will give you the best chance of a profit? Asian Handicap is often the way to go, with bookmakers betting to tighter margins with this particular wager due to the Asian preference of eliminating the draw.

So you can often bet on Team A or Team B in a football match with a particular handicap. Alternatively, there is goals betting and this is usually done to 103% which means the house take just the 3% margin.

Match betting can be fun although there are alternatives to consider depending on the odds. Draw No Bet is great when you fancy an outsider but want to have the insurance of money back should the game end all square. This is pretty similar to backing a team with a 0.5 goal Asian Handicap.

You can also do something called Double Chance where you actually get paid out on Team B and the draw.

If you fancy a team to win but think the odds are too short, you could considering backing a team winning to nil or a team winning and both teams scoring. Both of these latter options will always be bigger than the actual win price.

Finally, if you think the game will be a goalless draw, then be sure to back No Goalscorer on the First Goalscorer list rather than 0-0 on the Correct Score list. That’s because own goals don’t count with the former so you can get paid out if the game finishes 1-0 and the only goal of the game is an own goal.

Several bookmakers now give you the option to cash out your bet. So for example, you might have a £100 bet on Arsenal to beat Tottenham at odds of 2/1.

Say the Gunners take a 1-0 lead, and then the bookie in question might offer you a cash-out value of £150 which represents a £50 profit on your original stake.

The option is then available to press “CASH OUT” or alternatively continue to let the bet ride. If you do cash out, then your betting balance is immediately credited with the winnings.

Some bookmakers such as bet365 offer something called partial cash-out which gives customers the chance to take some money out of their winning or losing position while keeping some of their stake in the bet.

To find out whether a particular bookmaker offers cash out, then it is usually indicated. When it comes to match betting on football, this is a common area for cashing out although some bookies extend this service to several sports and even antepost markets.

Cashing out is a relatively new feature among bookmakers and has effectively been introduced to compete with betfair, whose exchange was the forerunner to being able to close out a bet.

This function can also be useful should you have a losing position that you don’t want to get worse. Alternatively, you might change your mind about a particular bet or opt to free up some funds to bet on something else.

The million dollar question! You don’t want to cash out a bet that ultimately goes on to win as you would clearly secure a bigger profit from staying in the wager. However, you also don’t want to miss out on making some money if your selection is getting closer to a payout.

Ultimately, you need to use your judgement each time and decide what the correct decision is going to be. Once you have pressed on that Cash Out button, you are committing to taking the money from a winning or losing position.

It can be especially difficult to take a loss from a bet by cashing out, although if you have staked £100 and claim £50 back before the bet loses, you won’t feel half as bad.

It is clear that nobody places 100% winning bets with a bookmaker and it’s all about minimising your losses and maximising your winnings. Cashing out enables you to do this.

You want to be targeting a profit come the end of the month rather than on a day-to-day basis. So don’t get too bothered if you’ve had a bad day’s punting and taken the wrong decision on cashing out. You won’t always get it right as betting on sport is an unpredictable business.

However, cashing out can be great for bets like accumulators where you might make a number of selections that are playing through the space of a few days. If the first few come in, then your cash out value will look tasty and the decision is then yours!