General information
Below are some general guidelines that we believe leads to more successful betting. They are a guideline only and should not constitute advice:
Funding
Firstly set aside a pot of money away from your day to day finances for gambling, and set your stakes accordingly.
Always ensure that you keep accurate records of your bets in order to maintain a clear picture of successful strategies and those that require further review.
Never bet more than you feel comfortable losing. If you bet outside of your comfort zone, you are more likely to make a decision based on your own personal comfort rather than on common sense or in line with any system you have been following.
Never chase losses. There will always be another horse race, another day. Don't be tempted to bet a poor race at the end of the day in the vain hope of recouping your days losses. A big part of winning is to accept losing. Nobody wins all of the time - aim to win more than you lose over the longer term.
Race and Horse Selection
It is best not to try and bet in every race. Some races are a lot harder to predict than others and have big variances in value. For example,
A race with a large number of unraced horses is harder to predict, as there is less form available to consider.
Large fields such as the 30 runner super sprint races are difficult races and present poor value
When betting each way, large field, non-handicaps still only pay to 3 places and provide poor value.
Banded and apprentice racing can be notoriously erratic
The draw in flat racing is very important. Different courses have varying levels of advantage from the draw over different distances, and some draws can almost rule a horse completely out of the race. Learn the courses and where the draw advantages lie.
Soft going for flat racing and heavy going for National Hunt racing has in our experience made previous form (and the Racing-Edge ratings) unreliable. Be very wary of betting in these types of going.
Always choose the races you bet in carefully and only bet in the ones you feel most confident about.
When laying, once you have found the horse you think will lose the race, find the horse you think will win the race. Weak horses will still win races if all the horses in the race are weak and there isn't a better one in the race that can beat it. You are not only looking for a weak horse to lay, you must find something that is capable of beating it.
Prices and Value
It is advisable to learn how prices are calculated and how they translate into probability and the subsequent effects that betting volumes will have on prices. A brief overview can be found here, but a more in depth internet search will explain things in more detail.
Always watch the live market in Betfair. If a horse is drifting in the market, it could mean that the horse is not in good form or did not look good in the paddock. Likewise take notice of horses that are bet in. There is information out there that is not readily available to everyone, but will affect the way a horse is traded - be aware of it. Of course on the reverse side of this, it maybe false information or rumour that has caused the price movement.
When looking at prices - look for value. A horse that was initially 4-1 could be said to have a 20% chance of winning the race. If the price is bet into 2-1, this would no longer represents fair value for the horses chances of winning, it represents a horse that has had a lot of money bet on it - this maybe because of people "in the know" betting it in to its true price or it maybe that the market thinks that is the case and the price change is unwarranted.
Never let a big price put you off betting a horse. You want to be one of the lucky few on the 12-1 winner, rather than one of the many on the losing favourite.
Betting Systems
When following a betting system always look for long term consistency. Without consistency, your system will fail. With consistency any starting bank can grow into a substantial sum, providing you maintain the faith to stick to your % stake. Like any system, there will be bad patches and good patches - be patient and keep your faith in the data you have crunched, otherwise you will fall into the trap of stopping and consolidating your losses every time you have a bad run.
Whatever the amount of your starting bank - write it off - this is money you must be able to afford to lose completely. After that, you will have a far easier time struggling with your faith.
If you don't feel happy writing off your starting bank, you are betting too much to start with. Betting outside of your comfort levels is likely to lead to you making a decision based on the fear of losing your money, rather than your knowledge of the system.
Betting a smaller percentage of your bank will enable you to ride out losing runs and recover your losses more quickly than staking a larger percentage. For example, 10 losers on the trot at a 5% stake will take approximately 40% of your bank, and reduce your next stake dramatically. A 1% stake would lose you around 9.5% of your bank and would not have such an impact on your stake. This is important in respect of recovering lost points and ensuring that your "losing" points are not at a stake dramatically larger than your "winning" points.
When crunching data make sure you have as much historic data available as possible, and don't be tempted to back fit a system to produce exceptional results. It is all to easy, to produce an unreasonable filter that makes your historic data look good, but is unlikely to work again in the future. Eg. "Don't bet races where there are 9 horses in the race". There is no logic to these variables, only some historic results that look better when you filter by it.
General
Multiple accumulator type bets are heavily promoted by bookmakers who try to tempt you with high returns for small stakes. These bets are weighted in the bookmakers favour and the chances of you losing become more likely with each multiple that you add.
All ratings go through bad patches. Don't get disheartened - it is long term results that count.
For a guide to different types of betting click here