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each team is given a handicap as in golf, the most fancied team will be scratch, ie 0, down to the outsiders who may be given +40, basically this figure is added to the total points they achieve in the season. this is supposed to provide an even playing field, our aim is to beat the handicapper, their skills versus ours. for instance WBA won the premiership last season, and stanley absolutely walked our league. the typical price for this bet is about 18/1 for all teams, althought they do seem to be dicking about with prices in the prem.

so if you think we'll do well, we seem to be getting +16 pts, so if you think we'll finish less than 16 pts behind the champions, and, crucially, that there are no other unfancied teams who will beat their handicap then its a great bet.

i'm expecting swansea to hold their own this year, so for me +44 pts is a superb bet, likewise carlisle in league one.

I have done a fourway bet as my bit of fun this year.

Man City - Prem
Notts Forest - Championship
Preston - League 1
Crawley - League 2

Just under 3,000 - 1 for them all to finish top ( I have covered this a pound e/w = top 3 finish).

I will be happy to lose my £2 if Crawley fail to finish top 3!

Richinns wrote:I have done a fourway bet as my bit of fun this year.

Man City - Prem
Notts Forest - Championship
Preston - League 1
Crawley - League 2

Just under 3,000 - 1 for them all to finish top ( I have covered this a pound e/w = top 3 finish).

I will be happy to lose my £2 if Crawley fail to finish top 3!

Unless things have changed since I worked in the bookies, the each way terms on the premiership will be first 2 only. and probably 1/3 of the odds.

That's terrible, btw.

Cheers Bixie, i get the bit about us being 16+ so if we finish less than 16 points behind top spot its a winner but why does it matter if another unfancied team (e.g Morecambe) beats their handicap mark too?

well there could be a team behind us, macc say, who were awarded +36, then if they finished less than 20 behind us they would zoom past us to finish top of the handicap table. so its not just about torquay beating the handicap, its about every team being included also

andygullagain wrote:Cheers Bixie, i get the bit about us being 16+ so if we finish less than 16 points behind top spot its a winner but why does it matter if another unfancied team (e.g Morecambe) beats their handicap mark too?

Yeah, it's whichever of the teams in the league beats their handicap mark by the most. So say we're on +16, Crawley are on 0 and AFC Wimbledon are on +20

Crawley 77pts
Torquay 65pts
AFC Wimbledon 64pts

AFC Wimbledon would win this because after the handicaps are added on;

AFC Wimbledon 84pts
Torquay 81pts
Crawley 77pts

So you have to consider the performance of every team in the league compared to their handicap.

It's actually quite a fun bet to have. It even makes the Premiership approach the level of 'almost interesting'

happytorq wrote: Unless things have changed since I worked in the bookies, the each way terms on the premiership will be first 2 only. and probably 1/3 of the odds.

That's terrible, btw.

I was only a bit of fun in my local bookies while I waited for a kebab!

Wiiliam Hill's odds are always poor so I am not surprised its terrible!

Richinns wrote:I was only a bit of fun in my local bookies while I waited for a kebab!

Wiiliam Hill's odds are always poor so I am not surprised its terrible!

*cough* I used to work for Hills. Heh. In their defence though, most of the high street bookies' odds are pretty poor.

I used to compile the odds for Torquay first goalscorer; I think in 3 years doing it I paid out once (it was Akinfenwa, heh). One time Steve Woods' old man came in and backed him at 50-1 to the tune of £20 to score the first goal. This was the Cup game vs Birmingham, when Woodsy hit the bar from about 35 yards. I almost had a heart attack! (I had naturally escaped from the shop to go to plainmoor )

I'm not surprised, Happy, 50-1 is outstanding value when you consider that there are only 20 outfield players.

Given that from, say, a corner, only the one weakest attacker will be left behind, almost anyone could score first in that melee (sorry, no accents here). My favourite bet for FGS is Robbo. Always likely to pop up with a goal, always likely to be playing.
In matches where Mark Ellis is on the team sheet, I'll go for him too.

Matt.

ferrarilover wrote:I'm not surprised, Happy, 50-1 is outstanding value when you consider that there are only 20 outfield players.

I'd offer that price again. Consider - we were playing a Premier League team. The prices for Torquay players need to be based partly on our chances of scoring. (I also used to price up Number of Torquay Goals). Usually Woods was 33-1, but he'd not scored for ages and his old man was a regular who excited to see his boy play against Brum. (they were from Stoke, I think).

That being said, for a while in 03-04 I'd have Woods and Taylor at about 18-1 because they were scoring a lot from corners.

Cheers Bixie and Happy ( sounds like a BAD* kids tv series! ), i get the handicap bet thingy now and i'll have a bet on it.

*edited for factuals........

happytorq wrote: *cough* I used to work for Hills. Heh. In their defence though, most of the high street bookies' odds are pretty poor.

I used to compile the odds for Torquay first goalscorer; I think in 3 years doing it I paid out once (it was Akinfenwa, heh). One time Steve Woods' old man came in and backed him at 50-1 to the tune of £20 to score the first goal. This was the Cup game vs Birmingham, when Woodsy hit the bar from about 35 yards. I almost had a heart attack! (I had naturally escaped from the shop to go to plainmoor )

I got odds of 33-1 on Robbo to score first goal against Burton at home this season in the Plainmoor Hills, was gutted i only put a quid on ha!

Richinns wrote:
Wiiliam Hill's odds are always poor so I am not surprised its terrible!

actually hills have got the best odds in almost all antepost markets as of this morning!