Betfair is one of the largest betting exchanges in the world, as well as a superb platform for trading both sports and homescapes hack. The concept of sports trading is frequently being discussed in articles, forums and blogs across the web – but not everyone knows that it’s actually quite possible to make trades on traditional casino games – via Betfair Exchange Games.
Betfair Exchange Games is an integrated part of the Betfair website and currently features seven different games with new ones being introduced from time to time. In order to play and trade on them you will need to have an existing Betfair account. Also, to play these games using real money, you will need to make an internal transfer from your main Betfair wallet to your Betfair Games wallet. This is a fairly easy process, however, and can be made in seconds within your Betfair member account area. You may, of course, transfer your money back to your main Betfair wallet at any time.
When you launch any of the Betfair Exchange Games for the very first time things can look a bit confusing. You will soon notice that you, as a player, do not take an active part in actually playing out the games. In the game of Blackjack, for example, you will find that there are four computer players that are playing against a computer dealer. Both the players and the dealer will play “perfect Blackjack” – meaning simply the mathematical correct way to play the game without any human conditions like emotions, stress or fatigue involved. The computer players will always know when to “hit” or “stand”, for instance, based on the probability of winning the hand. Your task is to determine which of the players/dealer will win or lose the hand in the end depending on what cards they are holding. Bets are placed in rounds as both players and the dealer draw new cards, and you can both “back” (bet for) or “lay” (bet against) certain players or the dealer as the hand is being played out.
The basic principle of backing and laying certain hands, players, events or special conditions to happen in a game, stays the same in all of the exchange games, whichever one you choose. As the betting proceed in rounds where new cards are being dealt or drawn, the odds shift up and down throughout the game which, of course, makes this scenario perfect for trading. Exchange Games like Poker and Baccarat tend to attract many pro traders as odds usually swing very fast between the hands that are favorites. In addition, there are several side bets to choose from in most games to further expand trading opportunities.
Besides more traditional casino games like Blackjack, Poker, Omaha and Baccarat, other pretty unique games are available at Betfair Exchange Games. In the HiLo game, for instance, the player will back or lay the computer to correctly predict the next card in a sequence: will the next card be higher or lower than the previous one? Similar to the Blackjack game example above, the computer will guess the next card based upon probability. For instance, if the card 7 is drawn and there are 2 cards left in the game with a value lower than seven, and if there are 5 cards left with a value higher than 7 – then the computer will predict the next card to be higher than card 7. As simple as the HiLo game may sound, this is a challenging game for traders as odds will swing, not only depending on in which order the cards are drawn, but also how many cards remain in total in the game.
Betfair Exchange Games also hosts a virtual horse racing game called Card Derby Racing where “virtual horses” race along the track as cards are being drawn to determine their progress in each round. Also, an interesting version of the classic game of Roulette is available in Bullseye Roulette. In this “Betfair” version of the game, several roulette balls are sent off in rounds as they eliminate all of the numbers until there is only one number left – in fact the result you would end up with a single roulette spin at any online casino. But in the Betfair version of exchange roulette, bets and trades can of course be made in each round!
Betfair Exchange Games can be played in a slower “standard” mode where each round is approximately one minute long, and in “turbo” mode where each round is around 30 seconds. It doesn’t matter which mode you choose as the games are played out in exactly the same way. The “standard” mode will of course give you more time to place your bets, but many pro traders will prefer the “turbo” mode – or use a software like X-feeder to place the bets.
Betfair Exchange Games are certainly very fun to play, but there is also a big discussion going on in betting forums across the web whether or not you can actually profit from the games in the long-term. Some people claim it is impossible due to underpowered odds and the Betfair commission on winnings. Others, usually pro traders, will claim that although it is not likely that you will win all of the time, the overall profits that can be made by executing a good strategy with a sound staking plan, will widely exceed the losing sessions. We will in later articles discuss basic and pro strategies that you can use when playing Betfair Exchange Games.