Betfair Exchange: How to Set Your Own Odds and Why You Might Want to
Content Editor at Free Super Tips, Alex was born in the shadow of Old Trafford and is an avid Man Utd fan. After graduating from university he combined his love of football, writing and betting to join FST and now closely follows goings-on in all of the top European leagues.
We briefly mentioned the ability to set your own odds when talking about the advantages of the Betfair Exchange, and we even gave you a quick rundown of how to do this when walking you through placing a back bet or a lay bet.
Now, we’ll go a little deeper into this subject, discussing the multiple reasons to set your own odds and recapping exactly how to do that.
Reasons to Set Your Own Odds on the Betfair Exchange
- Why wouldn’t you take better odds? It goes without saying that we always want the best odds possible, and if you set the odds a touch higher than what’s currently on offer there’s usually a good chance that somebody on the other side of the bet with bite and match your bet. Better odds means more profit when we win – It’s a no brainer.
- Advanced inplay betting – If you like to bet inplay, you’ll likely be familiar with the strategy of waiting for odds to hit a certain level before placing your bet. For example, maybe you’ve seen our highest scoring half article and the team you’re backing to score doesn’t tend to find the net until the second half. In this case, rather than sit around waiting for the odds to increase, you can simply ‘place an order’ as your desired odds and wait for your bet to be matched.
- Advanced cash out – Similarly, if you want to cash out once you hit a certain payout you can do the same thing. This can be useful when you’re laying the goals markets but know that the team(s) in question tend to be involved in a lot of late goals. For example, you can lay Over 2.5 goals at a short price, watch the odds start to creep up while hoping for no early goals, and then back Over 2.5 goals at a higher price than you layed, banking a profit.
- Expect changes in the ante-post markets – You can even use this method to bank a profit before a match has even kicked off. Say you have some specialist knowledge on a football team and you think their star player will be missing from the lineup. The odds will reflect this once the lineups are announced, so if they’re unexpectedly missing a star player you will see the team’s odds lengthen. You can lay the team in question hours, or even days, before kickoff, wait for the lineups to be announced, watch the odds increase and then place a back bet to cashout for a profit before the game has even kicked off.
How to Set Your Own Odds on the Betfair Exchange
Setting your own odds on the Exchange couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is add your selection to your betslip, whether it’s a back or a lay bet, and then type in your desired odds in the Odds box.
In this case, I don’t fancy the 2.02 offered odds on Germany to beat the Netherlands, so I’ve changed the field and requested odds of 2.08. After placing the bet I just have to wait for it to (hopefully) get matched. Although, always remember that not every bet will get matched – You always need somebody on the other side of your bet to be willing to take your price.
More in this series
What is the Betfair Exchange?
Back and Lay Betting Explained
Advantages of Using the Exchange
Placing a Back Bet on the Exchange
Placing a Lay Bet on the Exchange