Which is Best Fixed Odds or Skill-Based Betting?

When gambling, an important question you need to ask is whether your wager is fixed odds or based on skill. There is an important reason for this because it indicates your chance of winning and losing.

Betting on slot machines, roulette, black jack, three-card poker etc are fixed odds. The odds are carved in stone and cannot change. The odds are less than the actual chance of winning which means you only win by luck.

In fact, the longer you play the more you will lose.

For example, the casino is paying less than the true odds for a given win. A roulette wheel has 1 – 36 compartments (and the zero) but pays 35/1. This gives the house a 2.7% edge. It is worse in the US as they have a double zero (5.25%). Your best chance of beating house edge on fixed odds gambling is to win early and put the money in your pocket and leave. The longer you play the more likely you are to lose.

Skill-based betting, in theory, gives you a greater chance of winning as you are using your knowledge against the layer who thinks they know more. In horse racing this gives an astute gambler a fighting chance of winning. Although, it should be mentioned that the bookmakers will not have their book (betting prices) at 100%. For most horse races the betting market will be around 118% SP (starting prices). So if you bet on every horses in a race, long term, you would lose. That’s why it is important to have a level of skill which exceeds the bookmakers edge and their skill level.

No easy feat.

Out of the two methods of gambling, skill-based is by far the best option.

What are the Benefits of Using Betting Exchanges over Bookmakers?

What are the Benefits of Using Betting Exchanges over Bookmakers? In the good, old days of gambling you bet with bookmakers.

In fact, I can remember my Dad going to the local bookies up the road, Fred Scotney, and you placed your bet and had to listen to the commentary. They didn’t even have TV coverage. It wasn’t until 1986 when Satellite Information Services (SIS) broadcast live horse racing in bookmakers for the first time.

The first betting exchanges hit the headlines in 2001. Betfair changed the way of gambling opening up the betting industry so individuals could bet and lay in essence any individual could act like a bookmaker.

Betting exchanges has afforded bettors and layers some freedom which conventional boomakers didn’t offer. For example, a gambler can bet and lay. This means individuals could trade on the exchanges. Also, outsiders in any given races are generally considerably bigger odds. A 33/1 shot with the bookies could be 100/1 on the exchanges. It also allowed gamblers to cash out if they wishes. Bookmakers have added this to their platforms as it is a popular option.

Betting exchanges have led the way and helped transform the traditional bookmakers to offer more in the way of promotions.

One of the greatest advantages of using betting exchanges over bookmakers is that even if you win big money your account will never be closes.

Bookmakers do not give this guarantee. In fact, many have been criticised for their practices.

From a personal view, I would much prefer betting with exchanges although there are occasions when a traditional bookies can be used as an advantage just as taking early prices which may not be available elsewhere.

Who is the most successful British Flat trainer?

The most successful British Flat trainer of all time is Mark Johnston who, since 1988, has been based in Middleham, North Yorkshire. On August 23, 2018, Johnston saddled Poet’s Society, ridden by Frankie Dettori, to victory in the Clipper Logistics Handicap at York; in so doing, he took his career total to 4,194 winners, thereby breaking the previous record set by Richard Hannon Snr., who retired from the training ranks in November, 2013.

Johnston began his training career in 1987 and saddled over a hundred winners in a season for the first time in 1994. Remarkably, he has achieved that feat in every season since, surpassing the 200-winner mark in 2009, 2010, 2012-2015 and 2017-2019. Indeed, in 2019, Johnston sent out 249 winners, thereby setting a new record for the number of winners trained in a single season – Flat or National Hunt – in Britain.

Johnston has never won the trainers’ championship, which is decided on prize money won during the season, and it would be fair to say that, compared with the likes of John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien, truly top class horses have been few and far between. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, Johnston has 26 Group 1 victories, in Britain, Ireland, France and Germany to his name. He won the 2,000 Guineas with Mister Baileys in 1994 and the 1,000 Guineas with Attraction in 2004.

Which were the only two horses to beat Golden Horn?

Owned by Anthony Oppenheimer, trained by John Gosden and ridden, on seven of his nine starts, by Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, Golden Horn was named Cartier Horse of the Year in 2015. That year, his three-year-old record included wins in the Derby, Coral-Eclipse, Irish Champion Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. However, for all his success, he was awarded a Timeform Annual Rating of just 133 and, therefore, adjudged to be 7lb inferior to the truly great horses of the Timeform era, such as Shergar, Dancing Brave and Sea The Stars.

All told, Golden Horn won seven of his nine starts and earned nearly £4.5 million in prize money. Unbeaten after five starts, he missed an intended engagement in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in late July because of unsuitably soft ground and waited, instead, for the Juddmonte International Stakes at York three weeks later. Sent off at 4/9, Golden Horn pulled too hard for his own good in the early stages and, although he drew upsides the front-running Arabian Queen inside the final furlong, he could find no extra close home and was beaten a neck.

Three starts later, fresh from a ready, 2-length win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe under a fine ride from Dettori, Golden Horn headed to Keeneland, Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, for which he started hot favourite at 4/6. Once again, he took a keen hold in the early stages, but was driven into the lead coming off the home turn, only to be caught in the last half a furlong or so and beaten half a length by the filly, Found, whom he had previously beaten in the Irish Champion Stakes.

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