What a difference a change of ground makes.

All of a sudden the odds for win and draw seem more balanced.

I stayed with the Lay on a draw and could have made a green trade before a ball was bowled.

Fact is; I don't care about a few pence. I just want to see some cricket!

This is my screen before the start:

England 3 without loss... this might turn out to be a classic.

What a "fricking weston"... I'm not sure what happened to my logic, my arithmatic or my common sense yesterday.

I awoke to this super nightmare of a acreen:

Yesterday's farcical start and end to the 2nd Test between the West Indies and England may have been an attempt to pull off one of the greatest cricket betting coups in history.

One of the main ways I use the Betfair market is to Lay odds on favourites and hope the price drifts out during play. I can then trade the Back odds and either get a free bet or a guaranteed profit regardless of the final outcome.

This is a legal way of trading on Betfair and thousands of people use the same or similar method.

Three days ago I was delighted to find the odds for a draw were very short for the 2nd Test. So, I like many plunged in. My modest stake was immediately matched along with hundreds of thousands of other Lay the draw and win bets.

However, the whole betting pattern seemed wrong. Both teams were over 4's to win with the draw as low as 1.7 seemed to be out of whack.

I am NOT a "little englander" (actually, I'm not that tall either) but there's enough VIKING in my blood to raid the European football:

Going GREEN in warmer climes!

The Valencia match could go either way and I have never heard of Belenenses, but at the time I placed the bet... they seemed to be on top.

Both are GREEN and my stake is still in-play:

I might just try another trade...

This bet started out as a patriotic venture.

"England Till I Die" etc etc...

So, I put a modest Lay bet on Wales to lose. Slightly optimistic but the liability was only £2.20 and at least I've got money in-play.

After 40 minutes the score was 9-8 and the odds for Wales to win had drifted out.

Given the way play was going, it seemed prudent to dump the bet and go for a Wales win.

This is my screen at 40 minutes:

I started trading on the Fa Cup matches around midday today. At first I was going to stick to my tried and tested "Lay the Draw" system, but after looking at the odds, I decided to go in-play before making any bets.

Each game produced early goals and I put a Lay bet on the team that scored. By pure luck each of the games produced equalisers and I was able to trade a perfect green position.

In some cases I might have been a bit timid, but by closing out the positions I was always going to make a profit regardless of outcomes.

This was probably one of my very best experiments.

Here's a summary screen:

£23.05 can now be added to my personal fortune (grins)

The experiment will continue with Watford v Chelsea although this one might cause problems...

Nope, went GREEN with 15 minutes to go at 0-0

I really thought this one was going to go tits-up, but a late goal saves my stake and leads to a GREEN screen and three FREE bets.

Close run thing. In-play trading is... risky and sometimes you have to be frisky!

Sure, I traded a few pence to get complete cover yet again. I feel no shame in this as my aim is to get to a position where I can ONLY win.

This one might be a problem...

I Layed Blackburn at low odds after they went 1-0 up expecting the odds to drift as the game went on. This has NOT happened. After 45 minutes the score is the same and the odds have not shifted.

Maybe this was one FA Cup bet to many?

Here's my screen:

Things might improve in the next half. Thankfully, my liability is low and my possible trade options could return a decent profit.

Time will tell (grin) if the cat gets it!!

Great GOAL....

The cat is safe and I go GREEN!

This was an easy pick after Sheffield went ahead 1-0 the odds tumbled and I placed a Lay on Sheffield, sucure in the belief that Hull would come back or as time went by the odds would drift, making a good trade position.

As it happens, just before halftime Hull scored and I closed my position with this screen:

The first of today's live FA Cup matches is still in-play. I've really lost confidence since yesterday's 2nd Test fiasco, which I eventually got my money back after Betfair declared it a void match.

This is reflected in the uncertain way I've traded this match.

Here's my screen with the score 1-1 after 68 minutes:

Three free bets with the draw more likely at this stage with just a 20 minutes to go.

Here's my final screen to cover the late goal:

Here's the trade experiment for tonight:

Nacional (Uru) v Uni San Martin two teams I've never heard of. Absolutely no form guide, in fact I don't even know which country the play in!

My liability is £5.60 but with a bit of luck and slow scoring, I could get an automatic trade in the green making the final either way profitable.

Of course, if Nacional take a 3-0 lead my bet is dead in the water.

This one is set to auto-pilot!