Place laying: nice 1/8 loser

Bagged myself a nice 1/8 loser laying in the place markets yesterday:

Sandanski was trading at 1.12 just before the off and I just thought that was way too low. Not often you get these ones right but for a liability of just over a score, I earned myself a nice €171 quid:

The thing to remember about the Betfair place markets is that non-runners don't change the number of places paid. So for example, if an eight runner race became seven runners, there are still 3 places paid on Betfair. I remember being caught out with this years back as a layer!

With a couple of non-runners and still 3 places on offer, Sandanski was being backed like it couldn't lose but anything can happen and it's often worth taking a small risk of twenty quid on these sorts with the chance of a big payout. It doesn't always work of course, but a few of these a month can really make a difference.

Overall, the place market betting and laying is still going well. I'm risking around €20 on each back or lay and after 132 bets, the profit is at €327. Here's a chart showing the ups and downs of the bank:

One problem I'm having (when I place the bets in the mornings) is that non-runners reduce your stakes as Betfair re-arrange the market. So some of the bets were not for twenty quid, but less. I've been a bit busy lately though so couldn't place the bets later in the day. Ideally, I should place them close to the off as the markets become liquid but sometimes I have to click the SP button and take a chance.

Anyway, all told, I'm happy with how it is going although yesterday's win skews the P&L and I don't want to be over-optimistic.

On the financial trading front, people are asking if the S&P500 bull run has come to an end following a load of selling yesterday and overnight:

Personally, I'm not too committed to being a bull or a bear and am happy to trade in either direction. Not sure what to do this morning though. There's quite a big gap trade on offer as the price now is a good deal lower than last night's close. Some decent money could be made if the Americans start buying again when they hit their desks in an hour or so but if I buy, I risk catching a falling knife. I'll see how we are doing around 11.30am but I reckon I'll buy and keep my stop loss around one and-a-half times my stake.