Rugby League Spread Betting
The rise in the variety of rugby league markets available to trade on has grown with every that year that the sport establishes itself as one of the most popular on our screens.
Supremacy, total points, tryscorers' shirts, team tries, team points, team performances, team hotshots plus individual players' try minutes are part and parcel of the package offered to spread punters for every live game, while Sporting and IG offer win indices, mini-performances and a whole lot more.
However, just because there is plenty of variety to spice up a bit of TV viewing (a truncated service is available on non-live matches) it does not mean value is to be had every week. It sounds obvious but being disciplined is the only way to go. If the supremacy and total point lines are where you would expect, the corresponding team markets will be too.
If a firm is out of line, ask why. One spread trader once told me on the day of a game that two players from a high-profile team would not be playing and one star man would be used out of position to fill one of those vacancies. I went through every available internet site and a few club sources to check the story but this information was nowhere to be found. Lo and behold, the trader was right.
The moral of this story is that spread traders are shrewd and usually well-informed. They are always more likely to be on the ball than their fixed-odds counterparts and more often than not they play a numbers game rather than just go on their own opinion.
That's not to say they don't make ricks, it just means we have to be even more selective. One trader once told me - and this applies to other sports as well - that selling is invariably where the best value is. Whether it be points (particularly in wet weather), hotshots or tryscorers' shirts, the price is artificially high because casual punters want to buy. They want to see points and tries and they are invariably the sort of customers spread companies welcome with open arms.
However, selling is not for everyone, and punters can be put off. You sell hotshots week-in, week-out and nick a few points here and there and then you get whacked when the nominated players embark on a try rampage. It happens to the best of traders but in the long run selling is still, by and large, a winning strategy.
Player try minutes are becoming increasingly popular with small punters and they can provide 80 minutes of entertainment for a small buy. However, you should be aware that traders know people like to buy these markets and you guess the rest . . . the price is artificially high as a consequence.