Betting tips / John Harms / 10 June 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now

John Harms rubs his hands in glee at the prospect of big wins and lays, coming in from all over the world, thanks to Betfair's global reach and markets aplenty...oh, and the Poms!

One of the many great things about using Betfair to satisfy your deepest punting needs is that you are betting with the world.

The entire world.

It would be brilliant to get a print-out of who your bets were matched with: fifth-at-Cranbourne wagers matched with the blackberry-using Telstra technician parked under a mango tree in Cairns; cricket bets matched with the Indian call-centre operator in Birmingham; baseball bets matched with the stock exchange junkie from New York.

Studs Terkel could have written a book about it.

But if you are serious about trading on sports betting markets, you have to be rubbing your hands together here in Australia at the moment. Or, indeed at any moment.

One of the keys to winning here in the Antipodes is in understanding that a lot of Betfair customers are Poms, and there is a lot of Pommy money looking for Pommy conveyances on which to plonk. So it makes a lot of sense to trade in those volatile markets (Wimbledon, The Open, and the FIFA World Cup) where beer and scrumpy mix with British emotion to provide a delicious scenario.

It's almost criminal.

You can see the British punters from here: all red-faced and roly-poly and spawned in the same pond as Phil Taylor.

You (the damned colonial) can see them at their computers as you log on at 9am on a Sunday morning in Wagga Wagga , without even needing Skype and webcam.

Their midnight bets are so obvious. It's like they've got a little Union Jack in them.

These Pommy punters have staggered home from the Slug and Lettuce (with a couple of cans of Newcastle Brown), up the lane-way to the flat in Kilburn, tripped up the steps, struggled to get the key in the door, stumbled over the (plastic) bust of Bobby Charlton, put the Chelsea scarf over the knob, and sat down free-spiritedly at the IBM they got up the high street pawn-brokers. At that time of night, and with that sort of heritage ("We had an Empire you know"), England will win the World Cup. Andy Murray will win Wimbledon. And the golfers can work it out among themselves.

The top's ripped off the Brown, and they're ready to punt.

They take your bait. You've just got to put the bets there. Lay Murray at $3.75. Thank-you. Lay England at $7. Thank-you. Oh, and I'll see if I can back the Germans at $20. There it goes now. Snapped up by the 57-year-old bus driver from Tooting Bec.

You can tell the Hooray Henrys. They're betting in four-figure amounts. But their judgement is no better. It's just cost them more to get hammered.

But Poms will be betting all over the planet this World Cup. And so you will find some ripper bets at all hours.

It is, indeed, a super time for a punt. Especially if you like to put the slippers on, get the single malt out, stoke the fire and put on Foxtel.

Those markets where you can trade during running (even in Australia) are especially appealing, notably:

The 2010 FIFA World Cup (overall) winner's market
Wimbledon (men and women's) winners markets
The British Open from St Andrew's winner's markets (and numerous exotics)

I'll be laying England and Spain, and backing Argentina. The value is definitely there in the $100+ teams. Greece is $360 for example, and they are ranked far higher than that. It will only take a draw for one of the more favoured teams and the market will adjust quick-smart - a loss here and there will send it all over the place.

It doesn't matter who you start with at Wimbledon, although laying the shorter-priced players gives a pretty good foundation.

Individual golf prices to win the tournament are much longer so it's probably a backer's market and hope you snag someone in the top few at the end of the second round.

The options are plenty.

Then you can throw in a few Australian markets:

AFL premiership market
NRL premiership market (ridiculously even comp this season)

There is also the option of a few late-night punts on the English races.

That's punting heaven.

It might be winter in Australia but the Poms will be at their computers and there'll be opportunity aplenty.