SECRET BETTING CLUB TIPSTER REVIEWS FREE EXTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS Review: Simon Hopper / Easyodds... 3 Review: Betting Expert Value Angle... 7 How To Get More With An SBC membership... 11 Disclaimer & Copyright Notice... 11 WELCOME Thanks for downloading this free extract from our Secret Betting Club magazines, which will hopefully give you a taste of some of the content we produce each month for our members. In this free extract we have shared 2 recent reviews of the Easyodds and Betting Expert services - both of which we have investigated fully on behalf of our members. You can find regular in-depth reviews of different tipster services as a Secret Betting Club member - plus updated reports on the progress of our best rated. If you enjoy this content and are after dedicated, independent help with your betting then please do consider a full Secret Betting Club membership. We believe so strongly in our ability to help your betting, that there is an anytime money back guarantee if not satisfied with our service for any reason. Best Regards, Peter Ling Secret Betting Club Editor All content copyright 2006-2013 Minerva Publishing Ltd. Page 1
WHAT IS THE SECRET BETTING CLUB & HOW CAN WE HELP YOU? Established in May 2006, the Secret Betting Club is a 100% independent source for reporting, reviewing and monitoring the world of betting advice, through the use of tipsters, systems and strategies. We can point you in the direction of the best tipsters, systems and methods for making money betting. We do this via our: SBC Magazines Our regular magazines feature our independent tipster reviews, howto guides, expert interviews and free systems and strategies for you to follow. SBC Tipster Profit Reports Published 6 times a year, these unique reports contain our latest tipster ratings, including Hall of Fame and at a glance comparative league tables on over 50 different tipsters. Free access to our 3-part Ultimate Betting Package, consisting of the... 1. The Secret List of Award Winning Horse Racing, Football & Sport Tipsters 2. The Secret Betting System Guide (Including 3 profitable betting systems for Racing, Football & Golf) 3. The Professional Gambler Blueprint Access to our dynamic forum rammed full of advice, free strategies and systems devised by some of our very shrewd members. Entry to the SBC Discount Club, providing you exclusive saving deals for many top tipsters that you just won t find anywhere else. Before you join any tipster check with us first to save money! Access to our outstanding 7 year+ back catalogue full of our past reviews, features and profitable betting advice. And much more besides, certainly too much to list here. The great news is that all of this currently available for the equivalent of just 1.52 per week and with a full money back guarantee if not in any way satisfied once you joined. Page 2
MAGAZINE EXTRACT: Easyodds Tipster Review Each month we review a number of new tipster services and publish our findings in our SBC magazines. In the following example, we tackle the quality free tips being provided by Simon Hopper and his colleagues who run the Easyodds website. Don t forget either that the Secret Betting Club is 100% independent, so you can be assured that what we say is the honest truth. Unlike other review services we do not take fees or a cut of sales for writing a positive review. REVIEW: SIMON HOPPER / EASYODDS FREE FOOTBALL TIPS Service Name: Easyodds Contact: Simon Hopper Twitter: @hopperfootball Website: www.easyodds.com Email: info@easyodds.com Sports Covered: Football Bet Frequency: Approx 15-25 per active month Pricing: Free SBC Discount: N/A Bet Delivery: Website Review first published in November 2012. Service In Brief: Simon Hopper is the lead football tipster on free odds comparison website, Easyodds with a profitable record of advice worthy of exploration. Service in Detail: Perhaps best known as one of the original odds comparison websites, Easyodds have in recent years branched out to provide tipping advice. Unlike the betting advice from many other similar websites or even bookmakers (After all, why would a bookie want to help you win?) the Easyodds tipster line-up is actually one worth following. Heading their tipster roster is Simon Hopper about whom we have been keeping particularly close tabs on of late. Simon's forte is football betting advice with regular bets and lays on the English Premier League with further tips down the league pyramid for each round of games. There are 3 angles to follow Simon in with, the first of which are his Top Football Lays, which have performed very well to date. They always feature a team to be laid at odds-on so it does specialise in taken on very strong favourites - a particularly tough skill to get right. Alongside this, Simon also lists his Premier League best bets, which you can either read about online or listen to in the Easyodds Premier League podcasts. These feature a mix of Simon's best tips, alongside that of his colleague Tom Powell, although for the purposes of this review, we are highlighting Simon's only. Finally, you can also follow Simon and 3 of his team in on their Top 10 Football League Tips each week, which despite a tricky start to this season does have a good long-term record. The odds that Easyodds quote are naturally those that can be found via their odds comparison website, hence the purpose of them producing these tips in the first place. They tip between a mixture of fixed odds and exchange prices and use the best odds on their listings as the time of giving them out. Page 3
Although Easyodds listings do carry a large number of the groan-inducing UK bookmakers (who hopefully SBC members will be aware can often be beaten - read SBC 76 for more) they do also now carry odds from both 188bet and Pinnacle Sports, 2 of the best bookies in the business. For any weekend and Monday fixtures, Simon's tips generally go up on Thursday with advice for any midweek fixtures uploaded to the website the day before. Alongside his football advice, Simon also tips regularly on the X Factor reality TV show from the UK. As he explains:" The X Factor in particular is the best show to bet on because you've got 8 years of trends as well as 3 months of outright betting and elimination markets to get stuck into". We hope to have more on his X Factor tips plus other sources from Easyodds in coming SBC magazines. Service Proofing: All the bets have been published online since the 2011/12 season and can be witnessed via listening to their back catalogue of podcasts on itunes. Service Results: As there are only a few bets each week, there isn't a huge amount of data on show, despite the fact we have a record dating back to the 2011/12 season. Yet what we do have so far is very interesting. Given the short odds that the service is working to and the often excellent analysis that accompanies each bet on the podcast, it's clear that the service is based on real expertise and not simple guesswork. Sometimes via our work at SBC we get a feel for just which experts are worth listening to, even if they only have a shortish record of bets to date. Simon is one of these and given the fact he is free to follow, we felt he was worth an early review. Simon's football bets currently fall under 3 categories, Top Football Lays, Best Premier League Bets & Top Football League Tips. Top Football Lays Firstly onto the Lays, each of which has been settled at the Betfair price given, with 5% commission deducted as standard off any winning bets. Simon picks out 1-2 tips per week on average, although he only puts up a tip when confident of it, so in one week you might see 5 tips and the next none. It all depends on where he sees value so there is no tipping for the sake of making up the numbers (Pricewise Extra take note!) Bets Stakes Profit ROI 2012/13 18 18 3.73 20.72% 2011/12 73 73 6.85 9.38% All-Time 91 91 10.58 11.62% If following the service, there has been steady progress over the course of the 91 lays advised, with average lay odds of 1.61 and a strike-rate of 46.15%. The graph below should help to showcase the progression since August 2011. Page 4
Premier League Podcast Best Bets Alongside this we also have the record of his Premier League Best Bets, which are less numerous but also showcase a decent record to date. They do feature some cross-over with the lays, although you can also find a mix of teams at bigger odds (such as Newcastle to beat Chelsea at 13/2) and Asian Handicaps. In general you will find one bet a week (as per the term best bets). Bets Stakes Profit ROI 2012/13 10 10 0.8 8% 2011/12 31 31 4.66 15.03% All-Time 41 41 5.46 13.31% Again we have a good record to date, although over a very low number of bets thus far, although given there is just 1 bet per week, it might take a while to build up a full dossier. Top Ten Football League Tips. To round-off our results analysis, we also have the record from Simon's contributions to the Easyodds Top Ten Football League Tips. Each week, Simon and 3 of his Easyodds colleagues put together their ten best lower league tips as a combination. The record below refers to those bets Simon has put forward. Bets Stakes Profit ROI 2012/13 56 56-14.48-25.87% 2011/12 156 156 44.76 28.63% All-Time 212 212 30.28 14.28% Despite a poor record for the current season, this is offset long-term by the record of the advice on show with a 30.28 pt profit (14% ROI) dating back to the 2011/12 season. Practicality: Given the fact the majority of bets that Easyodds do put up are in the Premier League and the large-scale liquidity in these markets, getting on is not a problem. As Easyodds quote odds available with their website then you can be sure the prices are on offer. When it comes to the lays, the prices quoted are accurate and once again there is a lot of liquidity on offer especially in the higher leagues. Page 5
You may be able to also improve your returns on any advised bets by scouring around different bookies not featured on Easyodds. Our fave odds comparison site remains www.oddsportal.com simply for the range of bookmakers featured. I would recommend you follow the Easyodds team on Twitter as well for first notification on each of their bets. Customer Service: Although it's a free offering, we have been nothing but impressed by Simon and his team's help in following their service. Courteous, quick to reply to emails and tweets, they are to be commended for their professionalism. Service In Summary: We very much like what we have seen of the advice as put forward by Simon across the various leagues in which he has an involvement. His logic is always very compelling and with the odds and practicality in actually getting on quite straight-forward, there is much to interest us. What we must note is the lack of a huge depth of stats to work with, simply based on the fact each week sees only a handful of tips put forward. In some areas such as the lays under evens, we can draw conclusions a lot quicker and these in-particular look very much of note. Others such as the larger bets 3/1 and over will take a while longer to build up a record of which we can use to confidently recommend them. Our plan at SBC is to continue to monitor Simon and build up a fuller database of results, at least up until the end of the current season. For now his advice remains 'one to watch', although if we had to choose one angle of interest for now, it would be his laying advice. If interested in observing Simon's football advice, we would heartily recommend following him on Twitter, where he posts up all his bets and activity. His twitter address is @hopperfootball and he often engages with his followers. Service Ratings: Returns: 3 Risk: 2.5 Cost: 5 Transparency: 4 Suggested portfolio weighting: 2 Overall: 2.5/5 Rating: Watch Page 6
MAGAZINE EXTRACT: Betting Expert Value Angle Tipster Review As a second example of what you can expect each month in our magazines, here is a recent review of the Betting Expert Value Angle Tipster service. Where possible we play very close attention to those services that are available for free or that offer a low subscription cost. The vast majority of services that we review and recommend here at SBC are often available for less than 25 per calendar month. REVIEW: BETTING EXPERT VALUE ANGLE REVIEWER: NICK WARD FREE DAILY RACING TIPS SHOWING EARLY PROMISE Service Name: Betting Expert Value Angle Contact: Stephen Harris Twitter: @stephenh61 Website: http://www.bettingexpert.com/racing/value-angle Email: stephenh61@hotmall.com Sports Covered: Horse Racing Bet Frequency: 30 a month Pricing: Free SBC Discount: N/A Bet Delivery: Posted on website Review first published in November 2012. Service In Brief: Betting Expert s Value Angle is a free tipping service, providing one tip each day at 9am via their website. The service has been running for over nine months, with a profitable record of 261 selections, and now merits a closer look from SBC. Service in Detail: Back in June (SBC73), we reviewed Betting Expert s Daily Naps service and just as with that approach, the horse racing tips for the Value Angle are provided by the site s resident racing analyst and former bookmaker, Stephen Harris (see SBC74 for detailed Q&A profile). Each day Stephen picks out a long priced selection that is bound to out run its odds and lists these on the Value Angle page of their website (link provided above). Selections are posted almost every day, with just a very occasional no selection day. Tips are posted on the website at the same time as those for the Daily Naps service, often around 7.00-7.30, and always by 9.00 each morning. A recent example post is shown below: Whereas the Daily Naps focuses generally on more confident, shorter odds selections, the daily value selections allow Stephen to delve a bit further down the market, with many selections in the range of 4/1 to 12/1, and a longer-term strike rate of around 15%. We asked Stephen to describe his approach to selection, and this is what he told us: My main angle is to try and find weakness at the front of the market and play in these races. For example, if there is a short priced favourite that made all last time out, I will try and oppose it if Page 7
can find a frontrunner/hard puller etc, that might ruin it up front...or if the ground is appreciably different or rain is forecast, or the course form is totally different i.e. Ludlow to Towcester. Once established unease at front end, I will concentrate on the middle market horses i.e. 4-1 to 10-1, and watch their last few runs looking for encouragement. Also I have Timeform database with my own notes that I consult. Service Results A full run down of past bets and summary statistics are provided on the Value Angle web page. Headline figures for the service are excellent, with around 20% ROI, and just over 50% Return on Capital, generated in the first 9-10 of posted selections. We also see a good consistency of selection with average odds never straying far from 8.5 (15/2) on a month-by-month basis. Bets Stakes Profit ROI ROC ** All bets 261 261 52.5 20.1% 43.8% Last 3 months 67 67 24.0 35.8% 20.0% Last 6 months 148 148 7.5 5.1% 6.3% Last 12 months 261 261 52.5 20.1% 43.8% **Note: Return on Capital (ROC) based on 120 point betting bank. The graph and monthly breakdown (below) do, however, reveal a pretty rocky ride, with the P/L actually peaking at +65.5 points after Don't Panic won at Uttoxeter on 31 March, before enduring a drawdown period of 50 points up towards the end of August. Performance has rallied again over the last three months but has yet to get back to where it once was in March. 80.00 Value Angle Profit/Loss Jan - Nov 2012 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 Jan-12-20.00 Mar-12 Apr-12 Jun-12 Jul-12 Sep-12 Oct-12 Cumulative P/L Month 2012) Bets ** Av Odds Wins Strike Rate Profit ROI January 2 8.5 0 0.0% -2.0-100.0% February 27 9.0 7 25.9% 36.0 133.3% March 29 9.4 8 27.6% 31.5 108.6% April 26 8.5 2 7.7% -7.5-28.8% May 29 7.5 3 10.3% -13.0-44.8% June 26 9.4 2 7.7% -10.5-40.4% July 28 8.2 2 7.1% -14.5-51.8% August 27 8.5 4 14.8% 8.5 31.5% Page 8
September 27 8.9 5 18.5% 12.5 46.3% October 29 7.5 4 13.8% 8.0 27.6% November 11 7.5 2 18.2% 3.5 31.8% Total 261 8.5 39 14.9% 52.5 20.1% **Note: Based on 1 pt level stakes, with no Rule 4 deductions or BOG uplift applied. Period covered is 30 January to 13 November 2012 Of course, at the longer odds favoured by this service, there will inevitably be a fair amount of short-term variation, and some fairly hefty losing runs but on this occasion there may be other factors to consider. Of the 39 winners notched up so far, an impressive 24 have come from National Hunt Racing, with 11 on the Flat (turf) and four AW winners. It s noticeable that, even in the Summer months, a number of the winners still came over the jumps. We asked Stephen regarding relative strengths and weaknesses: I would say my NH would be a lot better than my flat knowledge, although I get a card or 2 on the flat I have a feel for the NH especially as have watched it and bet on it for about 20 years now! Early days, of course, to make any firm conclusions here, but will be very interesting to see how the service performs as the National Hunt season gets into full swing over the coming weeks. We also broke down performance by odds band in our analysis. There is a suggestion that - in common with many other services - the lower odds selections are generally just "treading water" with the bulk of profits coming from longer-odds selections but from a statistical point of view, the sample size is far too small to make any firm conclusions here... food for thought, again. Advised Odds Bets Av Odds Wins Strike Rate Profit ROI 6/1 and Under 108 6.1 17 15.7% -9.5-8.8% 13/2 to 17/2 88 8.4 14 15.9% 26.0 29.5% 9/1 and Over 65 12.6 8 12.3% 36.0 55.4% Total 261 8.5 39 14.9% 52.5 20.1% Betting Bank: No specific advice is provided by Betting Expert on appropriate betting banks. Given the odds range this service operates in, with strike rate of 15%, and the fact that we ve already experienced a drawdown of around 50 points over the Summer months, our suggested minimum betting bank would be 120 points. Odds Availability: The Value Angle web page says Prices are best morning prices on the day of racing. As selections are generally posted before morning markets are fully formed prices are based on Betfair price minus a few ticks. For instance, 7.6 on Betfair will be put up as a 6-1 chance. As Stephen says himself. There is obviously a likelihood that prices will contract and getting on is the main problem we all face. Delving a bit deeper, it s clear that getting on at, or close to prices Stephen quotes, is crucial, as profitability is eroded as the day wears on with the cumulative P/L of +52.5 points, turning to negligible gains at Betfair SP, once commission is taken into account. As an example, we ve summarised below the prices of the 39 winners. Average Odds Winners Advised Betfair SP Industry SP All Weather 4 9.9 6.6 5.8 Flat 11 8.4 7.7 6.7 National Hunt 24 7.6 7.2 5.9 Page 9
Total 39 8.0 7.2 6.1 Service Practicality: Following the service is very straight forward with easy access to tips via the web early each morning and a very low workload (one bet a day). The main challenge may come in regularly achieving the quoted odds, particularly if the service becomes more popular over time. Customer Service: Stephen has been a pleasure to deal with, both in earlier communications for articles on the Daily Naps service and subsequent Q&A, and in compiling this new review. Emails are answered promptly, and questions dealt with thoroughly. Very good all round customer service, particularly when considering this is a free service. Service In Summary: Promising results over the first 9-10 months and 261 bets, with ROI of around 20% to advised odds, an excellent start for this free service. The mid-odds range approach potentially provides another valuable string to the bow, complementing well with Betting Expert s shorter odds Daily Naps service. With apparent strengths primarily in National Hunt racing, it will be particularly interesting to see how this service fares over the coming months; a continuation of the current performance levels would certainly make for a service worth following in the future. At this stage, a watching brief is recommended, and any future, more detailed review, needs to focus on potential issues around odds availability, and the scalability of the service for a wider audience. Service Ratings: Returns: 3.5/5 Risk: 3 Cost: 5 Transparency: 4 Suggested portfolio weighting: 2.5 Overall: 2.5 Rating: Watch Page 10
ENJOYED THIS? GET MORE WITH AN SBC MEMBERSHIP We hope you have enjoyed this free Secret Betting Club magazine as much as we have putting it all together. If so, why not consider a full Secret Betting Club membership, where you can receive full updates and reviews of this quality each month. Don't forget either that membership to the Secret Betting Club comes with a 100% money back guarantee if not satisfied with our service in anyway. Thus you can join with full peace of mind. DISCLAIMER & COPYRIGHT NOTICE The views expressed within this article are based on the authors experience alone. Any money used within the services mentioned is done so at the risk of the individual. If you are affiliated with any of the services mentioned and have any questions regarding the points we raise we welcome your correspondence. Secret Betting Club is for information & education purposes only and does not represent financial advice. There is a risk of loss in betting. Past performance is not indicative of future results. It is our intention to be as accurate in fact, detail and comment as possible. However, we cannot be held responsible for any error in detail, accuracy or judgment whatsoever. Literary copyright for this document and all the articles herein are held by Minerva Publishing Limited. All content copyright 2006-2013 Minerva Publishing Ltd. Page 11