EDGE, EDGEBET, VALUE BET AND TRADES

To put it simply, a value bet, edgebet or trade is the edge that you have versus the bookmaker.

Because bookmakers offer different odds, inefficiencies occur. For instance, once the lineups are released and a key player is injured the odds on the other team will drop and some bookmakers lag behind the rest of the market.

Trademate is a tool that helps you to identify edges. You can read more about how edges occur in this article here.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPORTS BETTING AND SPORTS TRADING, BETS AND TRADES, SPORTS BETTORS AND SPORTS TRADERS

We consider traditional sports betting or punting to be for entertainment purposes only.

Sports trading is when you are serious about making a profit from betting and view it as a form of investment.

This also applies to us describing bets as trades inside Trademate. It is also why we refer to ourselves as sports traders, rather than sports bettors.

ODDS

A different way of writing probability. Odds = 1 / Probability. There are different odds types, such as Decimal odds, American odds, and Fractional odds. You can read about them here.

PRESETS

A customizable filter on edges inside Trademate. You can read about how to set up your presets here.

TURNOVER

The total amount wagered on all of your trades for a given time period.

ROI

Return on investment.

CLOSING LINE

The odds at the time the games starts. You can read more about it and why it is so important in sports trading in this article.

EXPECTED VALUE (EV)

This concept is very hard to explain in just a couple of sentences. You can read about expected value in this article.

VARIANCE

Basically the deviations from the mean / expected value. You can watch a video that explains it in detail below. There is also a section of articles both covering what variance is, how you can reduce it, and how it impacts your betting.

MARKET LIQUIDITY

Market liquidity is referring to how much money has been wagered on a particular game, but since no one can see the actual amount, the max bets give a good indication of whether a game has a high or low liquidity.

Higher liquidity markets are better because money wagered = information. So basically the odds in these markets are more efficient.

This also reduces the volatility of the odds, meaning that it takes larger wagers to move the odds.

PAYOUT RATE, MARGIN, AND VIG

Explained in this article.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AVG. FLAT ROI PER TRADE AND AVG. ROI PER TRADE

Avg. ROI per trade is based on the actual stake sizing you register on each trade you record with Trademate.

Flat ROI per trade is what your average ROI per trade would have been if you placed a fixed amount per trade.

To find out whether we actually have an edge versus the market, flat stake sizing is the best measurement, as it removes the effect stake sizing has on the actual returns.

While in practice, using a proportional staking strategy is better as it does not make sense to bet the same amount on 2.0 in odds and 10.0 in odds, even if they have the same edge percentage.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A VALUE BET AND AN ARBITRAGE BET

You can read about it in this article. While this article covers the pros and cons of the two different betting strategies.

PROPORTIONAL STAKING STRATEGY

Betting an amount proportional to your overall bankroll on each bet. E.g. 1% of your bankroll.

Inside Trademate we use something called the Kelly Criterion to calculate stake size. You can read more about it here. Or watch the video below.

FLAT STAKING STRATEGY

Betting a fixed amount. E.g. $10 per bet.

EUROPEAN / SOFT BOOKMAKERS

For example Unibet, William Hill, etc. They cater to punters. They are position takers, so you are betting against the house.

The majority of soft bookmakers are European. The difference between European and Asian bookmakers and how they make money is explained in the video below.

ASIAN / SHARP BOOKMAKERS

For example SBO, IBC, and ISN. They cater to sharp bettors and traders. They are book-balancers, so you are betting against other players.

The Asian bookmakers are sharp, but they are not the only sharp bookmakers. The difference between European and Asian bookmakers is explained in the video above.

BETTING EXCHANGES

For example Betfair and Matchbook. Enables players to give and take bets from each other. Read more about them here.

BETTING BROKERAGES

For example Sports market, VIP Sportsbook, and Asian Connect. Enables sharp bettors and traders to place bets on exchanges and sharp bookmakers with only one account. Read this article here to find out more.