This article focuses on live arbs and nuances which should be considered while working with them.
Pros and Cons of Live arbing
First, let’s figure out what Live arbs are about. These are arbitrage situations which appear due to difference in bookmaker odds on the events that take place in real time.
Live has its undeniable benefits and certain weaknesses which I have already told you about in one of my previous articles. If you have read it, you should know that the benefits are:
- more tangible profit than on Prematch
- less likely to get under bookmaker sanctions
- fast funds flow
All the above stated advantages attract professional arbers. But this strategy involve some risks:
- fast change of odds
- issues with multi-outcome arbs
- Differences in bookmaker rules
Here I would like to draw your attention precisely to downsides of Live arbs. You’ll surely ask why. The answer is simple! If you learn to handle them – you can easily work with Live arbitrage situations.
Tips for newbies
1. We need to select some Live bookmakers to get started. Ideally, there should be 3-5 of them. Advise you to pay your attention to Pinnacle and Sbobet which are loyal to arbers and won’t cut your limits. William Hill, Bet365 and 188bet can ‘keep company’ to them.
P.S: Right now I’m doing the article about live bookies and how to choose them. This issue would be displayed there in greater detail
2. As I have stated above, live arbs have one pretty serious downside – fast odds change. That’s why I highly recommend newbies to start with football and hockey. Hence, the odds are changing less frequently and you’ll manage to cover the bet without difficulties.
3. Start from small sums on Live. You have to understand that you can make many mistakes at first, so it’s better to minimize the risk and loss. ]
4. Difficulties in use of multi-outcome arbs. The issue here is also related to fast odds change. Even professionals can mess up here.
Therefore, I strongly advise you to start with 2way arbs which you can manage easily. You have low risk to slip up, respectively.
5. Try to avoid last minute betting. Some bookmakers close the line 5-7 min before the end of the match. As you see, you can just not make it on time and not cover the bet that will result in money loss.
6. Betflow is also essential in Live betting. The thing is that the winning odds reduce closer to the end of the competition.
Thus, if the score is 1:1 on the 60 min of the match, TU 2.5 will reduce and TO 2.5 will rise. Respectively, we need to bet on TU 2.5 first and only then on TO 2.5 as it will not reduce but only go up. Still there is a risk that a goal would be scored in this time and TU 2.5 will lose. Although it is rare but still happens.
You surely can bet in reverse order – first TO and then TU. It involves a risk to bet on negative arbs, but bet on TO can win if the goal is scored and you have not made to bet on TU.
This information was about football. What concerns hockey, arbs emerge here when teams are in unequal distribution. You need to watch the game online to understand which bet should be made first. It’s better to bet during timeouts. Remember, if the distribution changes (5/4 to 5/5/ or vice versa), the odds are changing as quick as a flash.
7. My last point here is the difference in bookmaker rules. Sometimes, acceptance/calculation of rules can differ markedly. So there is a risk to get into a bad situation and lose your bankroll because of wrong calculations.
So as to avoid it, I encourage you to check your bookmakers’ rules before betting. It’ll take only a couple of minutes and will prevent you from the loss of funds.
8. Don’t settle for high yield. If live arbs have high yield (more than 20%), it most likely to be a mistake. Bookmaker will cancel a bet, or you’ll gamble your money away.
Live arb scanners to help newbies
Obviously, you can work on live on your own. But if you have just started, it’s better to consider getting to arb services. They not only do the work for you but assist in avoiding common mistakes.
For instance, BetBurger scanner has peculiar “adjacent odds” function. It enables you to choose adjacent odds with a bookie which participates in your arb with a single click. This option will do if you didn’t make to cover the bet on time.
Besides, the majority of leading scanners offer wide functionality allowing you to sort out bookmakers by sport, number of outcomes etc. It significantly simplifies your work with Live.
Conclusion
Live arb process is not so simple as it may seem at first sight. But if you keep the rules we have indicated above, you can reduce the risk of getting into trouble.
Personally, I recommend newbies to have a closer look at arb services which are made to ease your work. If you decide to confide in professionals – our rating will relieve you of that.
