Wizardgold is scratching the surface with Soccer Mystic: "After my disappointments with the interface of Soccer Mystic yesterday , I thought I should actually read the user guide. It is good to try out software without doing that first because you get a better idea of how intuitive it is, and mostly it worked well enough.[...]For example in the Bookmaker tab (which only places lay bets) I can set how much I want to stake, how much I want to have as profit or just go by the minimum bet amount and then by using the Margin Maker checkbox on the unders side of the market, see what odds I need to have the lay bet go in at to make the money. It is similar to making a back bet on the unders then laying off as the price comes down when no goals are scored at the start of a match. The difference being that the back bet part of the trade is replaced by making a lay bet on the overs side.[...]The ability to have the stake size determined by the price you want to make per tick is useful too. This is because of the tick sizes not being equal.".

The Gambler discusses the stock markets and FTSE. "Did watch the FTSE going up and down all day. US cut interest rates and markets recovering. I was going to post yesterday that this fall in stock markets is a load of nonsense. Just a few American people getting into negative equity. It really should not cause this world wide panic. Funny enough this rate cut might be seen as a panic measure, and may have a short term negative effect. I would not be surprised if the markets go down again. The FTSE could drop a lot. At some point people will realise how stupid this all is, and buy back into the market. If the FTSE falls to 5300 then I would expect it to rise sharply. A buying opportunity maybe. Anyway it is all quite interesting, and possibly teaches us one or two lessons on how to trade on Betfair and the exchanges."

{mosimage}Cloning Arteta is wondering whether sports betting is a mug's game. "How can any individual expect to win against bookmakers who are spending such resources compiling odds? To a large extent this argument holds, and the simple fact that it is very hard to win long term is no doubt underestimated by punters in general. But there are factors in the punter's favour also. One is the sheer number of markets that bookies have to cover - whereas the punter can focus exclusively on certain areas. Another is that bookies can be slow to react to new developments, such as changes in the balance of power between clubs, players improving etc.".