This guide is designed to help with obtaining long-term profits from betting. There are no short cuts to winning. It takes dedication, long hours and hard work. I will be discussing every aspect of betting, from the basic rules to advanced trading techniques.

From the start, it should be realised that the chances of making a profit from gambling over the long term are slim. As negative as this sounds, it is the cold hard truth. Bookmakers spend a great deal of time, effort and money researching the chances of an event happening, then they build in their profit margin to finally set their odds. Although mistakes are made, the general betting public are by and large unaware of such errors as they do not know the true odds in the first place. It is left to the few who research their markets properly, or have insider knowledge, to take advantage. Take horse racing for example. The research the vast majority of punters involves themselves in ranges from looking at the last three runs a horse has taken part in, to liking the name of the horse! While this can lead to short term success it is almost certain that over time, losses will be incurred.

Recently, Betting Exchanges have come on to the scene. It is perceived by some and advertised by others that these new entrants to market are the Holy Grail for making money. Wrong! For most, these exchanges just provide additional opportunities for losing even more money. However, there are techniques that can help increase your chances of showing a profit or at least making your punting pound go further. We will be reviewing them in detail later.

Firstly, below are Priceform's basic rules and suggestions for use before you start risking your hard earned cash:

1. Be honest with yourself. Why are you gambling in the first place? If you are desperate for money forget it. Desperation is by far and away the worst reason to bet. Look at your issues and take a more reasoned approach to solving them. For you, gambling is not the answer.
2. Take a look at your finances. Work out how much you can afford to lose, separate this amount from your other expenses and create a "betting bank". Treat this money as the most valuable asset you have and at the same time consider it already lost. Adding pressure on yourself will increase your chances of losing.
3. Work out the level of stake you are comfortable betting at. Your size of bet should not make you break out into sweat or give you heart palpitations! Decide on what is a comfortable size wager for you and divide your betting bank by that number. Ideally you should not risk more than 5% of your betting bank on a single wager. That way your betting bank should withstand losing streaks a lot better.
4. Bet with level stakes. It is the most straightforward way to go. Added complications tend to lead to added losses.
5. Specialize. Look at the time you have to spare. Adapt your betting to suit. It is impossible to try and efficiently cover every horse race, football match or tennis game. Every trainer, horse, tennis player, football team have their own patterns of behaviour. Pick a few trainers to follow, look at how they train their horses, what type of horse does he /she excel in handling, what kind of race do they concentrate on? I will be expanding on this subject later.
6. Discipline. Do not stray from the rules you have committed yourself too. It will lead to losses.
7. Thoroughly research the markets available to each sport you are interested in. Lesser known markets can lead to greater opportunities for profit.
8. Thoroughly research the bookmakers and exchanges you intend to do business with. Not all odds makers carry the same skill or have the time required to adequately cover the sports allocated to them. Bookmakers make mistakes; you need to know in what areas they are vulnerable. Check on the various gambling forums to judge the reputation of any Bookmaker. There are a few horror stories out there. Take advantage of any special offers given. Deposit bonuses and money back incentives are frequently offered.
9. Check the rules of each bookmaker / exchange. They are NOT all the same.
10. Cost of moving money. Some bookmakers / exchanges charge to deposit and withdraw money. This can be as high as 4%. Check for charges.
11. Currency risk. If you are interested in arbitrage or betting with international bookmakers, beware of currency shifts. They can wipe out your profits and more.
12. Try not to use credit cards. They are an extremely expensive to use and maintain.
13. Be brave but not foolhardy.
14. Greed is not your friend. Have a fixed idea of how much you would like to win on any given day.
15. Do not chase losses. They are rarely caught. If you have a moment we would all like to forget, walk away, make a cup of tea, get some fresh air, anything but chase. Regroup, and return to the fray when ready.
16. Paper trading. Testing your selection process can save a great deal of money.
17. Be patient. There is always another race. There will be times you cannot find any suitable selections. Turn off the computer, put the paper down and wait for another day. You will save money!
18. All is not always as it seems. There are sharks out there lurking to take your money.
19. Enjoy yourself. In my experience, feeling good about what your doing leads to the best results. If you're not having fun, think about why and learn from it. If there is no fun, what's the point?

Odds conversion Table
UK	USA	Europe	% Probability
2/7	-350	1.29	77.8
3/10	-330	1.3	76.7
1/3	-300	1.33	75
4/11	-275	1.36	73.33
2/5	-250	1.4	71.43
4/9	-225	1.44	69.23
1/2	-200	1.5	66.67
8/15	-190	1.53	65.5
4/7	-175	1.57	63.64
8/13	-161	1.65	61.9
2/3	-150	1.67	60
8/11	-137	1.73	57.89
4/5	-125	1.8	55.56
5/6	-120	1.83	54.55
9/10	-111	1.9	52.63
10/11	-110	1.91	52.38
1/1	100	2	50
21/20	105	2.05	48.78
11/10	110	2.1	47.62
10/9	111	2.11	47.37
6/5	120	2.2	45.45
5/4	125	2.25	44.44
13/10	130	2.3	43.48
27/20	135	2.35	42.55
11/8	137	2.37	42.11
7/5	140	2.4	41.67
3/2	150	2.5	40
8/5	160	2.6	38.46
13/8	162	2.62	38.1
17/10	170	2.7	37.04
7/4	175	2.75	36.36
9/5	180	2.8	35.71
15/8	187	2.87	34.78
19/10	190	2.9	34.48
2/1	200	3	33.33
21/10	210	3.1	32.26
11/5	220	3.2	31.25
9/4	225	3.25	30.77
23/10	230	3.3	30.3
12/5	240	3.4	29.41
5/2	250	3.5	28.57
13/5	260	3.6	27.78
27/10	270	3.7	27.03
11/4	275	3.75	26.67
14/5	280	3.8	26.32
3/1	300	4	25
10/3	333	4.33	23.08
7/2	350	4.5	22.22
4/1	400	5	20
9/2	450	5.5	18.18
5/1	500	6	16.67
11/2	550	6.5	15.38
6	600	7	14.29
13/2	650	7.5	13.33
7/1	700	8	12.5
15/2	750	8.5	11.76
8/1	800	9	11.11
17/2	850	9.5	10.53
9/1	900	10	10
10/1	1000	11	9.09
11/1	1100	12	8.33
12/1	1200	13	7.69
14/1	1400	15	6.67
16/1	1600	17	5.88
18/1	1800	19	5.26
20/1	2000	21	4.76
22/1	2200	23	4.35
25/1	2500	26	3.85
28/1	2800	29	3.45
33/1	3300	34	2.94
40/1	4000	41	2.44
50/1	5000	51	1.96
66/1	6600	67	1.49
80/1	8000	81	1.23
100/1	10000	101	0.99