Common matched betting mistakes

I have been matched betting for 2 years but find I still make mistakes which cost me money.. These mistakes are 99% my fault and caused by either rushing, being disorganised, or not reading the offer properly.

I thought I had got to a stage where I was minimising my mistakes but I had a mistake-ridden weekend and thought it would be a good idea to post a log of my mistakes as a learning exercise. Please feel free to add any of your own.

Corals – Bet 20/get 10 on Winter Derby or Betbright Chase. For some reason I placed a qualifying bet on the Lingfield 1.45 ( which won). Cost of mistake £8

Betsafe – League Cup Final. Bet 25/get 10 free in play. I was having trouble getting the site to change prices from fractions to decimals for my qualifying bet. I input £10 to see the decimal equivalent and then forgot to change the bet to £25 so inadvertantly bet £10 instead of £25. so did not qualify for the free. Cost of mistake £6

Corals – League Cup Final £10 free bet. Did not confirm my lay on Smarkets, only realised 20 minutes later. Cost of mistake £3

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Mozzer
1

February 29, 2016 at 9:34 am

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Jeff Heaney 1 February 29, 2016 at 10:17 am

We all make mistakes. Sky bet yesterday cup final I placed my bet at over 1.5 as am so used to it being that and it was over evens this cost my 80p. Using my phone on Saturday to lay West Ham because I was in work I ended up backing them on smarkets and then had to double lay them which cost me some money too. Think you will always make mistakes more so on busy days

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Gilbs 16 February 29, 2016 at 10:55 am

I placed my bet £25 get £10 free prematch instead of in play so didn’t get free £10 bet. I also failed to confirm sufficient liquidity when placing a lay bet. This resulted in the bet not being taken up. I only discovered this later and it cost me £13. The number one thing I have learnt is to be organised and don’t rush when placing bets, particularly in play bets where the odds are regularly changing.

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patrick
Blocked
6 February 29, 2016 at 11:13 am

Mozer to be a competent match better you should be able to convert decimal odds to fractions in your head instantly.

Its like dart players who cant do normal maths but are wizards at working at their scores and whats needed to finish on a double.

In my mind that ability is a tool of the trade,especially as odds can change rapidly.

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Mozzer 1 February 29, 2016 at 11:35 am

Patrick – I can convert decimal odds to fractions and vice vera in my head instantly however the fractional odds shown on Betsafe for the bet I wanted was something weird like 27/11 – not a price you see every day.

I just needed a decimal so I could accurately calculate the lay.

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Mozzer 1 February 29, 2016 at 11:36 am

The point you make is a good one though. Matched betting ( and betting in general IMHO) is not for people who struggle with maths

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BobbyP 1 February 29, 2016 at 12:10 pm

My biggest mistakes are usually just around forgetting about an offer, especially when there’s so many different ones with different bookies. Last weekend for example I placed my will hill in play bet on Saturday to qualify for the free bet on Sunday…then just completely forgot to use it! No biggie but I guess I just need to improve my system for being organised!

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Hatehorses 4 February 29, 2016 at 12:37 pm

Researching the odds for the W Hill footie offer on Sat, I found such a great odds match that I just did it straight away. Then I realised it needed to be in-play. Lost about 5p and a free bet! I’ve started adding more detailed notes to my bet tracking spreadsheet to combat this stupidity.

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Digibets 0 February 29, 2016 at 4:04 pm

My mistake was thinking half time bets counted as inplay 😐

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dekoder 1 February 29, 2016 at 4:25 pm

@Hatehorses I’ve done a pre-match bet once by mistake as well but then put one in-play as well and received the free bet.

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Hatehorses 4 February 29, 2016 at 4:34 pm

Ooh, good point. I should have tried that.

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bfc19 1 February 29, 2016 at 4:45 pm

Half time does count as in play doesn’t it?

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patrick
Blocked
6 February 29, 2016 at 5:14 pm

Yes they do bfc, Digibets must mean he placed on half time result market before the match I guess.

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Digibets 0 February 29, 2016 at 8:01 pm

Im sorry, my mistake. How do i delete a post?

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Mark 1 March 1, 2016 at 1:29 am

I make mistakes all the time, you’d think you would learn from them but I still make the same ones time after time.

Sometimes they work in your favor sometimes not. I think they’ve probably evened out over time.

Forgetting to put free in play bets on. Twice this weekend.

Forgetting to lay horses after putting bets on the night before. Once on Saturday with a free bet which won.

Forgetting to lay football bets, cup final yesterday and tonight, both won.

Sky darts acca on Thursday, luckily that won.

And the costliest mistake, backing a horse and waiting for the lay to drop by 0.1 only to find it goes up by 1 and i either don’t get the lay on at all or it costs me much more. 4 times today!

All comes down to organisation and with all the best intentions, I have an A4 sheet each day with all the bets on, life gets in the way, kids, the missus, work, the bloody tesco man bringing the shopping.

You can only try and not male the same mistakes over and over again and hope for a bit of luck if you do mess up.

If I had enough time ideally I would put Google calender reminders on my phone to remind me of bets.

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Jeff Heaney 1 March 1, 2016 at 10:29 am

I set alarms on my phone to go off a certain times as a reminder to quickly put a bet on so I don’t miss out

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