the_mgt

Welcome, if today is the first time you ever posted on the UBF and a welcome back if it isn't.
To those I have quarrelled with in the past you should accept this brief apology.

The UBF has never been a recruiting forum.We have been in business for six years now and five of those years have been spent in keeping membership figures low.
We are very elitist in Gold.....very exclusive and very snobby.The only way in is via an invite from a respected member or members or by your own efforts.
Sometimes a poster in Bronze has impressed by his sincerity and general application and knowledge so much that he had to be promoted.
Meanwhile we have a burning topic at the moment which temporarily changes everything.My aim will be to keep you people in Bronze within the loop and just for once to stop being an elitist and a snob.
So you are all live on the Bronze Forum;please no fucking swearing !

36

Just to add to that...the_mgt and I have agreed that there will be no promotions to Gold at the moment. We will of course consider good contributors after the current big issue of BF/Betdaq has calmed down.
Our Gold members can and are posting in Bronze over this, so any topical issues can be fully debated.
We have the Bronze forum so that we don't get spammers and idiots in Gold. We only want the best and most knowledgeable in Gold and as the_mgt says, we are unashamedly elitist


And a warm welcome to all new members from me too.





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the23

now i've finally been drawn over here i must confess one thing which kept me away was a perception of snobbery (in betfair forum posts) which was reinforced when i discovered the gold, silver, bronze system. of course if you can't see something you can't be too bothered about missing out on it, but i can't help feeling i'd be disappointed if others could not read what i had written. i'm sure this has all been done to death before though so i'll shut up now!

beatme

Loving that avatar the23. The best Charlatans album by a distance and an all time classic. Welcome to the forum.

__________________
Winner of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 UBF golf competitions (Managed by 36, run by Wickerman/Ralph and sponsored by Gary)

"I'll say how much more this one means to me" - Ryan Palmer, winner of the 2008 Ginn Sur Mer Classic.

Rosebud

you got there just before me, beatme. saw them at dublin castle many years ago, the encore of Sproston Green was corpusculating..... if that's a word

36

the23

All Gold and Silver members ( Silver just the right to PM above Bronze nowadays ) can view Bronze posts and contribute back if they feel the post warrants it. Often, posts in Bronze don't warrant a reply by Gold members other than to toy with spammers. We have had several members who have taken the time to post good knowledgeable posts in Bronze and have been promoted but your points are valid.
Our Gold section is not everyone's cup of tea anyway. For some it is too quiet compared to the constant BF forum instant replies.
We are as I said, unashamedly elitist, and if people feel that they can't be bothered then we really aren't that bothered to have them in Gold either.

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the23

charlatan is my betfair forum name so i thought i would try to make the link. someone with zero posts nabbed the name charlatan here a few years ago. my view on which charlatans album is best has changed regularly since an initial obsession with between 10th and 11th, although there is a very rapid descent into mediocrity after the eponymous album. saw them live a couple of years ago and that was still pretty good though.

36: i don't have a problem with elitism in general. i'm fairly ambivalent, but if anything i just tend to feel a little ashamed of excluding others. alas it may be necessary here to prevent the excesses of the betfair forum, but i don't really identify with the pride you seem to have in the exclusivity, particularly regarding an internet forum! if i were one day welcomed to the fold i would certainly have no pride in being accepted into a club enthused by its own elitism. it certainly wouldn't be the first time i had been in such a situation though. as for whether it would prove my cup of tea, that is impossible to say since the outsider can't even see through the gates. status tends to be of very little interest to me so i guess i've already said more than is warranted....btw i do remember you from the betfair forum, and wondered where you had gone. good luck in the uncertain environment ahead of us!

ozz

You've hit the nail on the head there the23. There are some very sharp minds on here and to dilute that with the like of some of the idiots that post on BF is just not going to happen.

We've all posted on BF at one time or another and some of us still do. There are even a few who used to post when the BF forum was still something to be proud of

At the end of the day you'll get out of this place what you put in. A pointer if I may - take some time to read the historic threads. There's a lot of useful information in them and if you're used to the instant posting and reply mentality of BF you'll have a bit of time on your hands. There's not too much 'stream of consciousness' posting going on here.

Welcome

__________________
Peter! You've lost the news!

Hank_Sumatra

the 23, might I interject. My spin fwiw is that I don't believe the forum is elitist or snobby for the sake of it, though it would help if your name was Smythe-Watson, you lived in or near Esher, you drove a navy jag, drank the best gin and could trace your Aryan roots back to deepest 17th century Bavaria.

But seriously ....it is elitist merely as a by product of the moderators not wanting to sift through endless drivel from no brainers and spammers on the Gold forum and then administer endless internet castrations ...they are far too busy for that and give up enough of their time to run this marvellous place. Additionally, the forum is a non profit making, no axe to grind establishment that acts as a great resource for serious gamblers, traders etc.

We are not here because we are part of, or wished to be part of an elite. People are here mainly because they started the forum, or they were lucky to be on the BF forums five or so years ago and got the heads up to look up this website. Subsequently, the management decided to restrict membership rather than dilute the quality of content.

But the good news is it's not impossible to join, even now. As a worthy participant on Bronze or via a friendly Gold member who acts as your sponsor.

Now, what golf club did you say you were a member of, old boy ?

the_mgt

Like this Bronze forum,Gold has four main components.
The Whippet Bar exists for what Gary terms 'useless stuff'.A bit like Chit Chat but infinitely pleasanter and classier.
General Betting is much like GB on BF but much quieter most of the time and only springs mightily to life when there is a hot topic to be discussed.As on Betfair,General Betting is the home of the grandees of this or any other forum.
Techy Help. The unsung hero of the UBF.Here you will get help on all matters techy from real experts and from people who know more than you do. Of course there are complete idiots like myself asking the questions and trying to understand the answers.
All aspects of betting. This is the life blood of the UBF.We discuss everything from Soccer,Golf and Tennis to really important issues like the US election and Big Brother.There is also a poker section.
The strength of the UBF is also its weakness.Because of our small numbers, liquidity dries up from time to time in certain sections.
Ideally we do want to increase the numbers but never at the expense of quality.

the_mgt
Deepest 17th Century
Bavaria.

oggsbog

Although I post fairly rarely here I am a regular visitor and have to say that it's an oasis of reason and sanity in comparison to the Betfair forum. Not to mention half-decent manners and civility. The 'gated community' nature of the membership criteria might initially be offputting, but it ultimately does make good sense.

UBF is an infinitely superior resource precisely because it is a carefully moderated forum rather than a free-for-all where those with the loudest voices and the most disfunctional personalities dominate.

Hank_Sumatra

oggsbog

We also regularly feed our esteemed fellow posters with penalty kick opportunities.

riccardo

...and occasionally toss a bone to Hank

__________________
"My ASS, No blame!"

Shipwreck

Hi Everyone

Just discovered this board whilst perusing the betfair forum due to the uproar caused regarding the new premium charge.

It does not affect me (sadly, or not, if you see what i mean) But i would hope that it would do in the future.

I have not contributed to the betfair forum, so i thought this little intro wouldnt go a miss.

Basically i know my way around the exchanges and have been trading for a while now to smallish stakes. If i wanted to put myself in some kind of pecking order i would say i lose less than most but i cannot claim to be profitable.

About two months ago i vowed to make a concerted effort to become a profitable trader and change my ways. I have been an avid reader of Mark Iversons blog and have attempted to take in some of Matt's profound posts from punt.com. (Although to be honest most of what he has to say goes way over my head!)

I decided to focus my efforts on two or three sports maximum. My first port of call being cricket i filtered Marks blog for cricket posts and read the lot!! I found lots of helpful info there and have recently e-mailed Mark a few times for extra advice. I also read 'Market Wizards' and Reminiscences of a stock operator'

After taking these steps i placed a small amount of cash into my betfair account and was determined to make something happen.

To date i have traded 23 events 21 one day games (either pro40 or ODI's) 19 of which i have managed to build and maintain an all green position. 1 was a scratch (well should have been green, but ho hum i didnt cover the tie! learnt from that though) and one minuscule loss.

I have now turned my attention to American football and once again i have had help from Mark. Basically just the two matches so far both green.

I dont really have much to offer current members at th emo apart from enthusiasm, i've learnt how to lose now i'm learning how to win.

Oh and i do know a reasonable amount about cricket as i am a fully qualified ECB level 1 coach and indeed coach at our local U13's cricket academy. I also know a fair amount about football and have followed the game for about 34 years.

Gonna give my fingers a rest now from all this typing.

bowler

Sounds like you are approaching trading on Betfair as a business - expect your profit margin to be taxed to the hilt in winners tax over the next few years

Seriously, you are pretty much approaching betfair how I did, basically absorbing as much info as possible, allying your knowledge of the sport with the market in front of you so you can spot that holy grail of trading / gambling, value.

The less impulse gambling you do the better your chance of making a profit - its not rocket science but the 99.95% (Betfairs figures ) of losers almost certainly bet with their hearts, not their head

Which is a relief I suppose to those who want to turn a profit!

__________________
What a surprise
They march off to war
Nothing to give
And nothing to score
It seems so dear
The final demand
Waterloo teeth from the ghost of a man

johnterry26

Great post Shipwreck.

I think I've adopted a similar approach to yourself regards an attempt at making Betfair profitable. Absolutely love the game and love the idea of trading markets, pitting myself against others.

I too have tried to absorb as much information as possible from many sources of information including forums, books, blogs and even emails to people writing the blogs. My laptop is full of word documents with cricket discussion and forum match threads etc. as well as Excel files tracking market movements whilst I was trying to expand my knowledge. I started trading few months ago and love it, don't get as much time to do it as I would like however, the missus can interfere with the pro40 games sometimes so much prefer trading ODI's and Test Cricket as i'm uninterrupted whilst she is at work.

I learnt a lot from both Market Wizards books and also have Reminisces of a Stock Operator that I'm yet to read. Does anyone have any other reccommended literature? I'm particularly interested in the psychology of trading and there is a good blog by Dr. Brett Steenbarger @ TraderFeed that is of interest.

I recently (during the latter stages of the US Open) had a look at the tennis markets with a view to learning more about trading them and noticed some similarities with the way I like to trade on cricket markets that could be further investigated. Althought there is plenty of cricket to trade nowadays there is no harm in diversification and tennis will be my next area of investigation.

I wish you luck with your trading Shipwreck and give us a shout if you wanna chat about trading. Always interested to speak to other traders, always learn something.

Cheers JT26

the_mgt

Good morning everyone.
Did someone tell Shipwreck and JT26 that the WIZARD books have been the most inspiring books on gambliing that I have read ?
Also you should try Taleb's Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan.
As a matter of fact the last forum meet-up was to attend N.N.Taleb's Black Swan lecture.Sadly the sound system wasn't working for the first half of the lecture...otherwise it was a great success.
Keep on posting guys.

Shaker

In the panel by our avatars we should have a space where we could put the betting events / type of betting we specialise in, a little like how Gold members can have a cutom user title. Seeing so many newbies prompted this suggestion but thinking about it I couldn't say for sure what area many of our established members specialise in.

johnterry26

Cheers mgt, I'll have a look at those two reccommended books, will be handy to have some new reading as the rest of September looks a pretty bleak month for cricket.