Welcome to the new look Bet Exchange News

This month we have relaunched www.betexchangenews.com under the new name www.p2pbetting.com We believe that this is a more memorable and appropriate name which will be better suited to take our service to a new level. Whereas the site will be called p2pbetting.com the newsletter will continue under the name Bet Exchange News for the foreseeable future.

As the new site emerges over the new couple of months you will see that it represents far more than a face lift and a change of name, so watch this space. In the meantime we have already reorganised the newsletter archive to give you easier access to our archive of newsletter articles going back to 2001. There is also a much improved search feature which will enable you to isolate articles of particular interest to you.

A busy month

For anyone who has built a website, you will understand that it's not as easy as it looks. I have found that it has taken a lot of time even though all I have been contributing is the content. As a result this newsletter has taken longer to get out than usual. What also hasn't helped is the fact that I got totally wrapped up in Celebrity Fame Academy, another reality TV series which offered some great opportunities for profitable betting. This series however did not turn out as well as I had hoped, in fact it was only due to some desperate last minute back peddling that I managed to avoid disaster. All is explained in my article in this issue.

Other betting events that have kept me busy since the last newsletter have included the Brits which again was a mixed event for me. I did well in betting heavily on Scissor Sisters for best international album, Franz Ferdinand for best British band and McFly for best pop act. Although these were all odds on bets I was happy with the prices as I felt they were near certainties. My biggest coup however was betting heavily on Keane to win the Best British album award at around 4.5 when everyone else thought it would be Franz Ferdinand. I believe that the market made FF favourites because they had won the Mercury Music Award, but to me that was a totally different award. Keane's album was the best seller of the year and seemed tremendous value at 4.5 and so it proved.

Whereas my profits from the Brits were very pleasing, they would have been more had I not fallen prey to opponents with insider knowledge in the last 48 hours. By the time of the show every single winning category had traded heavily odds on, some as short as 1.02. Whilst I will be careful about what bets I leave up next year I will certainly get involved as there were some people betting in this market who did not understand what they were doing. There were numerous cases of people for example backing an outsider at 6.0 when they could have laid the favourite at 1.15 which would have given them a better return on the runner they wanted to win as well bringing every other runner in the field onside. As mattiem on the forum said, ‘there was some really rubbish betting going on – it was like the good old days of Flutter!'

Five year anniversary of launch of Flutter

Talking of Flutter, it's amazing but the betting exchange revolution is nearly five years old. Within the next couple of months I will be writing an article about the early days of Flutter. Were you one of the pioneer Flutter members, or did you work there? Do you have any memories from those early days? If so I would love to hear from you – please email me here .

This issue of Bet Exchange News

The formula 1 season has started in spectacular style for one of our writers Tom Millard. In his column on www.bettingzone.co.uk Tom tipped Fisicella to win the Australian Grand Prix at 12/1 and Alonso to win the Malaysian Grand Prix at 9/2. I follow Tom's tips closely and thanks to him I've already built up some excellent profits - let's hope Tom can keep it up. Tom has relocated his betting enterprise to Spain for a couple of months to get away from the British winter. In this issue Tom talks us through the first few weeks of his life in the sun.

Also in this issue we have the second instalment in the life story of Betfair forum personality Sporty. He tells the amazing story of how he pulled off what must be one of the biggest betting results in British history when he won £300k in one season from betting on Scottish football lower leagues. We're delighted to be telling this story – it's definitely not one to miss.

Last month Miguel told the story of how he lost his whole betting bank in the Sporting options collapse. Fortunately he continues to make a good recovery and this month he quit his job to focus professionally on his betting activities. Miguel will now be a regular writer for Bet Exchange News, and this month he starts by discussing the Betfair forum and how to make the most of it without transgressing some of the unwritten rules which could leave the naïve new poster reeling in a barrage of abuse.

Undisputed king of the Betfair Specials forum Clydebank29 makes another welcome appearance in this newsletter talking about another of his specialities – betting on darts.

Inside Edge feature

This month's edition of Inside Edge magazine had a feature about reality TV betting. This article contains some fascinating information about the growth of reality TV betting and how important it is becoming to the betting industry. It also includes some top tips of how to maximise your returns from Reality TV betting from yours truly. To see this article now click here . To subscribe to Inside Edge and take advantage of a special opening offer click here .

Have a good month

Working from home as a professional sports trader and internet webmaster means you rarely get to switch off – its one of the big downsides of this game. Even though my family get to see me all the time, we don't get much quality time because I am always so busy or distracted. Next week we're all off to California for a fortnight, where they will hopefully get my undivided attention. Have a good few weeks, I'm sure we will. I hope to be in touch again at the end of April.

Best regards

Mike

Mike Cooksedge
Editor

Click here to send Mike an email