Hi,

The World Cup kicked off this week, as did my World Cup Live chat,
and it has been a very interesting experience.
If you have not joined in the fun, you will have missed much
gloating from the Irish live chat contingent in the happy
coincidence of a team in Green beating the French without cheating.

You can join the fun here - it's all free:

Clive's World Cup Chat

In fact the live chat acted as consolation for one poor member,
Avril, by providing her with the French Samaritans phone number
after last night's result.

Generally speaking, all of the participants in the live chat have
one thing in common - they have caught the trading bug!!

Yes, any bet placed by live chatters, it would seem, are placed with
one thing in mind - to trade!

These guys are a bookies' nightmare. Not a mug punter in sight!
Instead we have a group of punters who place their initial bets with
a predetermined plan to trade out after a certain period or when the
odds have reduced sufficiently.

As one chatter so aptly put it "Green is the new black"
What did he mean? He meant that trying to create a green screen (see
the 3rd screen here if you want to see a "green screen") is
the way to go these days for punters in 2010!

The opening matches of the World Cup were tight, nervy affairs.
After the first 2 matches, it became apparent that there was a
pattern, and that pattern was for tight, close games where the first
goal was scored late on.

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So how did our intrepid traders approach these first opening
matches?

In a number of interesting ways!
* If you feel a match is likely to be tight then why not back 0-0?
As the match progresses, and remains at 0-0, the odds will reduce
for that scoreline
* Dutch the correct scores 0-0, 1-0, and 0-1? Again, these are the
most likely scores for a tight match. Using software such as Fairbot
can enable you to load profit on the team most likely to score and
create a break even bet on the 0-0, and 0-1 for the opponents. This
is called variable profit dutching.

* Back 1-0 for the team who, in your opinion having watched the
opening salvos, are most likely to score. In a couple of matches,
1-0 has actually dropped considerably in price while the score
remained at 0-0.

* Back under 2.5 goals with the express purpose of trading out
either at a predetermined time (such as 23 minutes (¼ of the match),
½ hour, or at half time) or trade out when the price reduces to a
level to allow you a reasonable profit. The more adventurous trader
can take a chance at under 1.5 goals , but will be scuppered by a
goal scored ( where the 2.5 goal bet requires 3 goals to be scored)

* Back a team at enhanced odds if the first half has been tight. Did
you know that , just after half time, Brazil's odds were 1.43 to
back against South Korea ( their original pre match odds were 1.12)

The old adage "there's more than one way to skin a cat" may not be
to Peta's liking, but it is very relevant to the live chatters and
their varying approaches to trading football matches.

I must say that I have learned a couple of trading ideas from the
contributors in the live chats.

Do feel free to join in the fun tonight - you might actually learn
something!

Clive's World Cup Chat

One live chatter asked if there will be a live chat for the Premier
League - who knows? It's a great idea! So any Algerians out there
who fancy a bit of banter, come along tonight and anyone who fancies
seeing some traders at work in real time, well you might learn
something about trading.

For complete novices, I would recommend a google search for key
words " betfair trading" "football trading on betfair" " betfair
trading techniques " and so forth. http://www.betexchangetips.com is
a good starting point for the basics of Betfair trading as it
applies to horse racing and to football.

I hope to see you live chatting sometime this World Cup.

Have a great weekend.

Clive