Topic: Betting strategies...

As stated elswhere, i've pretty much given up on the dream of using betfair to earn a completely automated living. The concluson i've made is that making decisions based on ONLY the info that we get from betfair isn't really adequote. That information is too readily available and i doubt very much that there are many algorithms that can crunch those numbers and make something useful over 1000's of long term bets. It has to be possible, but only an elite few will have discovered those magic combinations.

For those of you that know me fairly well, you'll know that pre-betfair i enjoyed a regular flutter on the horses and was a reasonably successful form studier. Ironically, form study went out of the window when i started playing with betfair as i dived into 1001 ideas for placing "no risk" bets. A number of years later, i have returned to occasional form study (when i can be arsed). I'm not earning mega bucks but i'm certainly not losing money either. Part of my form study involves official handicap ratings and there still remains some significant patterns within that system. So now i'm wondering if anyone has attempted to automate their form study and/or use handicap ratings to determine selections? My own technique was always excellent at pinpointing losers, however i was only interested in winners because there was no official way to lay a horse to lose. There are parts of my form study that rely on memory, such as "oh yeah, he got trapped against the rail but made up 20 lengths in the final furlong". You can't automate that, but you can automate past results vs curent conditions.

At the end of the day, you must look at it like poker or stocks investment: get your money on the table while you're ahead or have an advantage. Sometimes you hit losing streaks, sometimes you hit winning streaks. It's the long term effect of betting on positive expectation that counts. If it's good enough for Las Vegas casinos, it's good enough for me...