Best Odds Guaranteed, Starting Price, Betfair Starting Price.
These are all options you can take when placing a bet on the horses.
But where is the best place to place your bets?
The correct answer is whichever is offering the best odds.
There are some general trends as to which will usually be the best option depending on what you are betting on and the time of day.
Usually Best Odds Guaranteed is going to offer the best value.
You can place a BOG bet at most major bookmakers on the day of the race and sometimes in the evening before the race. (BOG is not available on Ante-Post bets)
A BOG bet means if the horse goes off at a Starting Price which is higher than the odds were when you took the bet, you will get paid out at the higher odds.
Best Odds Guaranteed doesn’t mean you will get paid out at the best odds available on the market though.
Some bookmakers may offer higher prices than others, but you will only be paid out at the best odds of the bookmaker you placed your bet with.
So make sure to shop around on oddschecker.com and other odds comparison websites to see who is offering the best odds before betting.
But BOG is not always going to be the best value. Especially when you are wanting to place a bet on a long shot.
Horses priced at 20/1 and above at the bookies quite regularly trade at up to double those odds on the betting exchanges, so the Betfair Exchange is always worth checking before placing a bet.
Another instance where Best Odds Guaranteed isn’t likely to be the best option is when you are placing a bet shortly before a race starts.
In this case, the odds are not as likely to change a great deal, so if you place a bet at a Best Odds Guaranteed bookmaker, you will just be taking the bookmaker starting price in most cases.
In this situation you are going to be better off placing your bet at Betfair Starting Price at the Betfair Exchange.
The Betfair Starting Price, more often than not, will beat the bookmaker starting price.
And that’s even with the 5% exchange commission taken into consideration.
If you need proof of this, just look at some of the previous days result here which displays the difference between BSP and SP next to each horse. – http://form.horseracing.betfair.com/daypage
Bookmaker SP tends to offer the worst value of all. The only reason to place a bet at SP would be if it were very close to the off and the Betfair Exchange Odds were significantly lower than the bookmakers current price.
Always check an odds comparison website and a betting exchange before placing your bets to make sure you are always getting the best odds.
Getting the best odds can often be the difference between making long term profits and long term losses.
That’s all for now.
For quality tips from some of the best tipsters around, take a look here:
http://winnersodds.com/tipster-portfolio
Until next time,
Kenny Turnbull
