Planning ahead - Cheltenham 2020

[Hezzy]

So I am a very new matched better. I’ve seen some talk elsewhere about what a big opportunity the Cheltenham race meet (in March?) will be for matched bets. My question is how best to build to this point , and is it worth taking some time out of work that week to make the most of it?
What are the things I need to be confident in ready for that week?
With some focus have others made good in previous years?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Jon]

So I am a very new matched better. I’ve seen some talk elsewhere about what a big opportunity the Cheltenham race meet (in March?) will be for matched bets. My question is how best to build to this point , and is it worth taking some time out of work that week to make the most of it?
What are the things I need to be confident in ready for that week?
With some focus have others made good in previous years?
Thanks in advance.

Ive booked the week off work

Last year I made £500-£600 in 4 days

Year before I think I hit £700

You basically need to feel confident with horse refund offers

So using Match Catcher if you're with PA to get a qualifying loss of a few pence and hoping you hit the refund.

In previous years William Hill etc have had offers about wagering £200 odd in bets in Feb on horses giving you yet MORE free bets to use during cheltenham.

Trust me, it's literally raining offers for 4 days straight! It's a great week! The likes of PA offer extended support hours as well over the phone to give you any help you might need.

 

[rninja]

@Hezzy, Cheltenham is pretty good for boosts.
It's worth perhaps taking the Tuesday to Friday off work.
I'd say you need to be familiar with all of horse racing matched betting - rule 4, re-laying unmatched bets, Pricewise, all the different types of horse racing refunds, Fred's Pushes, price boosts, each-way, and there's loads more I can't think of now.

Also, remember there are 7 races each day and it might be worth having a planner for each race.

Also, there are usually plenty of price boost preview events the week before Cheltenham.

I'll be writing a full Cheltenham guide on my blog a few weeks before and during the festival .

I used to make 1-1.5k between 2011-2014, then the last few years anything between £300-800, some profits depend on offer hitting like extra places, price boosts.

 

[Jon]

@Hezzy, Cheltenham is pretty good for boosts.
It's worth perhaps taking the Tuesday to Friday off work.
I'd say you need to be familiar with all of horse racing matched betting - rule 4, re-laying unmatched bets, Pricewise, all the different types of horse racing refunds, Fred's Pushes, price boosts, each-way, and there's loads more I can't think of now.

Also, remember there are 7 races each day and it might be worth having a planner for each race.

Also, there are usually plenty of price boost preview events the week before Cheltenham.

I'll be writing a full Cheltenham guide on my blog a few weeks before and during the festival .

I used to make 1-1.5k between 2011-2014, then the last few years anything between £300-800, some profits depend on offer hitting like extra places, price boosts.

 

[rninja]

Haha your gifs are the funniest Jon .
If anyone has the time, Fred always has a Cheltenham preview evening on the Sunday before the festival from 6-8pm, as do Coral around the same time.
Also, last year Sunbets had a preview night with some HUGE boosts about a week before.
And Starsportsbet have some pub-based free bet nights too! Loads to keep us busy!
Others to watch out for include Betfair sportsbook and Paddy.

 

[Jon]

Haha your gifs are the funniest Jon .
If anyone has the time, Fred always has a Cheltenham preview evening on the Sunday before the festival from 6-8pm, as do Coral around the same time.
Also, last year Sunbets had a preview night with some HUGE boosts about a week before.
And Starsportsbet have some pub-based free bet nights too! Loads to keep us busy!
Others to watch out for include Betfair sportsbook and Paddy.

You do realise you can add your own gifs by clicking the dotted circle button when you write a reply!!

 

[Hezzy]

@Jon that is exactly my face right now!!!!!
Ok some things I need to get to grips with then
Sadly I only have 2 days holiday left. But I could split them into half days, maybe that could work with some preparation.
So are there other events with as much opportunity?

 

[Hezzy]

I’m actually excited. Is this weird lol?

 

[Jon]

@Jon that is exactly my face right now!!!!!
Ok some things I need to get to grips with then
Sadly I only have 2 days holiday left. But I could split them into half days, maybe that could work with some preparation.
So are there other events with as much opportunity?

We had great success I'm sure last year on here during Ascot Festival in June with some making more money than they did at Cheltenham!

You could split to half days, races start at 1:30pm although boosts and a lot of offers come online around 8/9am throughout the week.

 

[Hezzy]

Hmm, so either mornings or afternoons could work then?
Yes of course Ascot, I’ve been once on a works do, lost money that time! Hopefully this year will be different. Blimey it’s like your eyes are being opened to this whole other world lol.

 

[Jon]

Hmm, so either mornings or afternoons could work then?
Yes of course Ascot, I’ve been once on a works do, lost money that time! Hopefully this year will be different. Blimey it’s like your eyes are being opened to this whole other world lol.

I've been to the Grand National a number of times and man alive that is one expensive day with minimum bets on the course around the £5/£10 level which you begrudge as it's not matched betting and is actually risking money lol

 

[Sirhct]

One thing that really surprised me last year was how good the matches often were first thing in the morning, compared to normal horsey offers where you need to be there minutes before the race, I was able to get on tonnes of offers a few hours in advance.

 

[InItForTheMoney]

So if we've still got untapped welcome offers with bookies (I've got loads) then we should be hitting those hard in the rest of Jan and Feb to get straight into the Cheltenham specific offers/reloads?

 

[jkg-jkg]

I just checked back and I made £800 last Cheltenham week, and that without having BetVictor, Betway, Bet365, PaddyPower and BetFred. I am able to do sign-ups for these again now I have moved house, but not sure to do those now and build up a 'profile' or wait until the sign-up offers for that week as they will be better than normal. Having said that caning the Bet365 horses offer was what got me gubbed with them the first time.

 

[rninja]

@InItForTheMoney, definitely get those accounts open soon but don't start arbing them or hitting them too hard as such, you wouldn't want a pre-Chelts Gubbing!

 

[jkg-jkg]

Forgot to add - I was on it from 8am until 4pm for all 4 days with little slack in that to make sure I got on all the offers I could (but £25/hr isn't too bad). I am a bit more experienced now so probably be quicker this time, and I can now Dutch so may look at that or maybe Eachway matching too.

 

[Hezzy]

I just checked back and I made £800 last Cheltenham week, and that without having BetVictor, Betway, Bet365, PaddyPower and BetFred. I am able to do sign-ups for these again now I have moved house, but not sure to do those now and build up a 'profile' or wait until the sign-up offers for that week as they will be better than normal. Having said that caning the Bet365 horses offer was what got me gubbed with them the first time.

Thanks for checking - inspiring stuff

 

[jkg-jkg]

Hmm, so either mornings or afternoons could work then?
Yes of course Ascot, I’ve been once on a works do, lost money that time! Hopefully this year will be different. Blimey it’s like your eyes are being opened to this whole other world lol.

Definitely mornings. As @Sirhct says you will get a lot of good matches then as the Exchanges and Bookies are still getting to grips with what the odds should be and are flush with cash. Oddschecker is actually very useful at this point because you get a very quick view of who has good odds and also can flag up the boosted odds

 

[rninja]

@jkg-jkg, I wouldn't Dutch a horse race looking for extra places personally. If there's a non-runner you could be in a world of pain! I'd stick to straight backing and laying personally.

 

[jkg-jkg]

@jkg-jkg, I wouldn't Dutch a horse race looking for extra places personally. If there's a non-runner you could be in a world of pain! I'd stick to straight backing and laying personally.

Using the OM Each Way matcher I avoid those that are close to going wrong if there are a couple of non-runners - as you say a world of pain.