Introduction

Backing one goal in the first half is the easiest trade by far.

It's also the quickest because you don't need to be online until at least 20 minutes have been played and there's no trading to be done once you're in. One goal and your trade wins.

A reminder of my checklist:

Ticks - all games on your shortlist should have 3 green ticks after kick-off.
Liquidity - don't worry too much about this because you don't need to trade after a goal.
Stats - ideally, you will see both teams trying to score and not just sitting back.
Price - this determines your risk/reward.

For this example, let's assume that 1pt is worth £25. That's a £2,500 bank divided into 100pts.

Time Decay

The longer you wait, the less time you'll have to find a goal so the cheaper it will be to lay. This gradual price decrease is known as 'time decay'.

For example:

If you lay 'Under 0.5 Goals' at 1.7 with a stake of £25 you'll be risking £17.50 in order to win £24.50 (£25.00 less 2% commission).
If you lay 'Under 0.5 Goals' at 1.5 with the same £25 stake you'll be risking £12.50 in order to win £24.50.
If you wait until you're able to lay 'Under 0.5 Goals' at 1.3 with a £25 stake you'll be risking just £7.50 in order to win £24.50.

Now... the longer you decide to wait, the more trades you'll miss because goals will go in too soon. On the other hand, your losses will be much less while your winners add just as much profit to the pot.

It really is a personal decision how long you decide to wait. Just make sure that you always lay when the price is well below 2.0.

Laying 'Under 0.5 Goals' is the same as laying 0-0. It's just that the 'First Half Goals 0.5' market has much better liquidity than the 'Half Time Score' market.

Yes, backing 'Over 0.5 Goals' is exactly the same as laying 'Under 0.5 Goals' but there are a couple of advantages to laying:

You get matched slightly quicker because most people are used to backing so that side of the book has more demand.
You can lay 1pt each time and you know that you'll always be risking less than that in order to win 1pt (less commission). If you were backing, you'd be risking 1pt each time unless you adjusted your stake. There's no need to do all that... just keep it simple!

Example Trade

On this occasion I decided to lay at 1.5.

I was matched on 29 minutes and a goal on 42 minutes landed my profit.

First Half Goals 0.5 market as shown on Betfair.

That's all there is to it!

Very quick, very simple.

Trading 1H Goals: Over 0.5

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