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Underlaying on qualifying bets

  • Good Evening Matt, thanks for your brilliant guides and Academy!

    I’ve just received my free £50 bets from Bet365. For my qualifying bet I used Dortmund v Copenhagen, backing Dortmund at 1.32 and laying them at 1.33 (2% commission). I should have layed a stake of £10.08 which would have meant a qualifying loss of 12/13p. Instead, I underlayed at £9.19 which gave me a qualifying win of 17p (if the exchange bet won it would have been a £1 loss). My question is – is this a good or bad practice on qualifying bets?

    Could the same also be true with Free bets? Overlaying to increase profits on your lay bet whilst breaking even on the back bet?

    Thanks for your time.

    +0
    Neustron
    0
    September 7, 2022 at 11:58 pm

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    Matt
    Keymaster
    1495 September 8, 2022 at 11:11 am

    You’re very welcome, @neustron! I hope they’ve been helpful.

    I recommend sticking to the standard lay strategy for qualifying bets, so you know exactly how much your qualifying loss will be. It doesn’t matter too much during the early stages when you’re working through the ‘Bet X, Get Y’ sign up offers. As you get further down the line, though, there will be offers where you need to know your qualifying loss to gauge whether an offer is worth doing.

    I hope that helps.

    +1
    Neustron 0 September 9, 2022 at 10:10 am

    Thank you for taking the time to reply Matt,

    I understand on the qualifying bets now, thanks.
    One other question, when credited with a £10 free bet, when using high odds that are close together, is there any issue or risk involved with tweaking the overlay on the calculator to potentially increase profit on the exchange?

    For example, Free bet (SNR)
    Stake – £10
    Back Odds – 8.0
    Lay Odds – 8.1
    Commission – 2%

    Standard Lay – £8.66 = £8.48-£8.52 profit
    Overlay – £9.86 = £0 profit from bookies but £9.66 profit from exchange. I understand its more risky and ideally you would make your overlay so that the profit if the bookies bet came in was the same as your qualifying loss.

    I haven’t undertaken any overlaying in this manner but I am curious as to whether or not it’s a good idea on events such as the horses where the horse is 4th or 5th favourite or football when you’re backing maybe a Bournemouth against a Man city.

    As always, thanks for your time.
    Matt ( Neustron)

    +0
    Matt
    Keymaster
    1495 September 12, 2022 at 11:48 am

    It’s entirely up to the individual, @neustron.

    My preference for free bets is to lock in an equal profit no matter the outcome.

    4th or 5th favourites do win horse races, and teams like Bournemouth will occasionally beat teams like Man City.

    +1
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