|
Automatic Betting in-running |
 |
 |
 |
|
In-running danger
And our solution
I got asked a question this morning regardaing a spreadsheet not working in running. I thought I would publish it here along with my solution.
A Bet Angel user was trying to get his spreadsheet to fire automatically during an in-play horse race market. The conditions were such that should a horse reach 1.9 then a back bet will be fired into the market.
The problem being faced was that the hapless punter was finding that the price was going all the way to the floor and his bet was not even firing into the market. Much grumbling about how Bet Angel is not working correctly was followed and I had to explain to him that in-fact, Bet Angel was doing exactly what it was asked.
The expression was something like:
=IF(F6=1.9,"BACK","") with F6 containing the current back price. The price asked for was the current back price.
What this is asking Bet Angel to do is to place a back bet when the price hits 1.9. But in running, horse race win markets move very quickly and it is likely that a specific price is not offered. Even if it is, it is likely that by the time the bet reaches the market the price asked for will have long since gone.
For example, if a horse looks like it is going to win, many punters will place large bets at 1.01. Because Betfair always fills orders at the best available price then this means that the bets at 1.01 will be filled at 1.01 and above. FROM the current back price down. So, if a bet is placed of £1000 at 1.01 but the current back price is 1.94 with £1000 being the money available all the way down to 1.3 then the back price will jump to 1.3 without even visiting the prices in-between.
Meaning our expression above will never become true and the bet will not fire.
The way around this is to place the bet at 1.01 and use a price window such as this expression:
=IF(AND(F6<=1.9,F6>=1.2),"BACK","") and set the price to 1.01 and the stake to whatever.
This means that should the price fall between 1.9 and 1.2 our expression will become true and the back bet will fire. We can widen or narrow the window by using different values rather than 1.9 and 1.2.
Remember, a spreadsheet will do EXACTLTY what is asked. We need to build in human approximations and tolerances.
Rich-T
|
|
Microsoft Excel
|
