Friday
Get enhanced odds at Partybets on Brazil to 4.00 and put on the usual measly £8.10 allowance (although who can blame them for limiting these lovely arbs) laying at 1.83 to £10 so am pleased when they win. Nothing else special, just the usual round of Betfred, WillHill and Betfair correct scores on the snoozefest that is Germany v France, None of these come in and the lack of extra time means no refunds. Win some small amounts off free spins at WillHill and Ladbrokes. And in other news Cavendish crashes out of the tour, falling off a bike always looks bloody painful.
+£15

Saturday
Holland v Costa Rica does me a few favours on Saturday with free bets at Will Hill, Betfair and Bet Victor from the 0-0, extra time and penalties. Gutted when Costa Rica are knocked out though, I’m still holding onto the belief that had they won, England could claim to have picked up a point against the world champions! I’m on my free £5 bet per Argentina goal, and also got Messi covered in a good odds DD/HH. Again Argentina manage to score just once, and even worse it’s such a late goal but just in regulation so denies me any extratime refunds. Do a little bit of in play laying on the 0-0 but it is a poor return all round in that game. In general I’ve taken close odds wherever I can and it left me mainly with Argentina or Belgium needing to score 3 goals!
-£20 (with £60 of free bets to come)

Sunday
With no football on the free bets get used on horse racing, underlay on all of them going with odds of around 8 to 8 on the 2 £25 underlaying to £20, and 11 to 11 on the £10. None of the horses pull off a surprise but convert the free bets into cash. Have a free £20 live casino bonus from spin and win at Will Hill but win nothing on Roulette.
+£48

Monday
Looking over my records, this was a dull day. £5 slots at Will hill and win 74 pence from 5 £1 spins (this however is much better than what happens tomorrow). I use my free 888Bet on a horse at 54/1 in a 4 horse race, it comes 2nd, I convert that into £3 and also use up my free £5 BetBright (still a £30 risk free sign up here as well) bet on Brazil
+£6.74

Tuesday
Bit of a disaster for Brazil. The Chat Box was bloddy funny though, never seen The Gambling Times betting forum lost for anything other than swear words!!!

Whilst incredible to watch, the 7-1 hammering is does me no betting favours at all, Unsuprisingly it didn't come up as a correct score win for me (think they reported 4 people globally went for it). The shock boost on Brazil at Party Bets does not come in, but more importantly I was due to win the most money if Brazil won the whole thing, and this result also ends a few pre tournament refunds I had set up. Didn't even hit anything despite Brazil's late goal. Finally I’d been incrementally laying on a double with them and Argentina to qualify which I got at 4.00 at Betfair, down on this as the rapid speed of the goals allow me no time to do anything in play. Estimating I’m down about £25 on the game alone with underlays, but the true figure is worse in terms of my world cup book. I do win £10 at Sky with an unlaid punt on Germany and also win a fiver on their festival of free bets promo so day is not all bad.
 -£25

Wednesday
Dispondent is my feeling of the day, and the awful fare served up by Argentina & Holland does not help. Don’t even get a free £5 bet off Argentina as they fail to score! Quick calculation shows they have managed 8 goals against Iran, Bosnia, Nigeria, Belgium, Switzerland and Holland whilst Germany have hit 17 against Portugal, Ghana, USA, Brazil, and France. It’s been a good bit of fun but I wish I had picked up the £85 freebies from the Germans rather than £40 I've got on Argentina! In terms of results there's a free bet at Betfair for extra time and have also backed the 0-0 at Betfred with slight underlay so am up on the game. Not betting related but Froome retires from the Tour de France, I’ll still be watching (not betting) but a lot of the gloss has gone.
 +£20

Thursday
Use the free bet at Betfair, picking a horse at 8.0 to 8.0 but the horse is a non runner this is a complete nightmare and illustrates why if you are using a free bet on a horse you need to ignore the odds and do it nearer the start of the race, as you do not get your free stake back!! I put it on an hour and a half before the off, but it’s probably safer to leave it to half hour before. Luckily I recover £40 from roulette on live casino at William Hill via spin and win
+£40

Week Profit : £115

There's been so much going on, and have tied my float up a bit in long term markets, that I've not been signing up with new sites. Will hit some new sites next week and try to get myself back in the zone for primarily non football betting in the break before the premier league starts again. Certainly going to miss the World Cup, but be good to have a break from it.

Learned a couple of lessons this week and starting to get to grips with certain small points but still feel that I need to do more if I’m going to be able to make a living out of this full time (given the result this week that is definitely the case) however that is the aim! The world cup has helped me get confident on how to lay a bit in play and work offers into matches to my advantage as well as also having my first book on an event so overall ben productive.

One thing is for sure, it's that all the bookmakers remaining in the competition are there because they are offering great odds. Yes there are some offers that have given them a goal boost along the way, but they've also consistantly offered better odds than their opposition, that's what's seen them home.

With that in mind, is the traditional bookmaker dead compared to the betting exchange? Well that's a tricky question to ask. Without betting exchanges like BetFair and Smarkets, there is no matched betting. There could still be advantage play, but it would be considerably riskier. So the exchanges are needed. But when it comes to bonuses and offers the bookmaker still seems to be king.

Sites like Bet365 have excellent horse racing offers, and best odds guarantees, which make them vital sites for matched betting, but in a knock out competition like the Book World Cup saw them go out fairly early as the odds just weren't strong enough. The same goes for Totesport, Coral and Ladbrokes.

So what this means is that if you're only going to be betting at one site, then the chances are you're going to consistantly get the best odds at a betting exchange. But the only way to really get value on all of your bets, and beat the bookie, is to be a bookmaker slag and hop between them all.

So if you haven't already, then now is the time to sign up for the Bookie World Cup semi finalists. There are plenty of bonuses and great sign up offers at each of them, and you'll be getting quality odds on all the remaining World Cup matches from them.

For what it's worth, I think we'll see BetFair and Smarkets contest the final, they're odds are just too strong to be overcome by offers at this stage. But what do I know, I thought we'd see more of the traditional bookmakers at this stage, so maybe the bookmaker is dead, long live the betting exchange.

Not that I'm particularly down about the amount I made this week, it's pretty good given that this is essentially a hobby that pays me. When you go the wrong way on a bet, or pick the wrong trigger, or miss a bonus, it's annoying, but overall Matched Betting is giving me profits that I wouldn't have got through any other method. Sure I might have hit the odd acca before, but nothing compared to the amount of bets I was losing.

I'm told that over time you are better at separating yourself from the variance and just seeing the upwards profit trend, but until then I shall continue to rail against the footballing and social gods whenever I miss an extra profit opportunity, or go another day without posting a winning screenshot in the big wins section!

Friday

It's a day off from the World Cup, which just feels so weird. There was barely a bad game in the group stages (accept the one's involving England of course), so I'm gutted but also so fatigued from the betting that I appreciate the break and the opportunity to just move the float around for the upcoming last 16 games.

Saturday

A £40 win on William Hill's Spin and Win live casino, and hit another go at it for the next day which is a touch. The big game is Chile vs Brazil, a thriller that goes to penalties, as Chile show that there are teams England could possibly beat in a shootout! Betfred hits, as does my money back at Betfair, giving me £50 of free bets. James Rodriguez hits a beauty in the second game but none of my correct scores cover 2-0 Colombia. There's a small underlay on 2-1 so I'm cheering Uruguay on at the end but they fail miserably to score.

Profit £40

Sunday

Little brother's birthday so all the betting needs to be done early and the odds are not as good as I would like. Get on at Will Hill, and of course sods law Greece and costa rica finishes 1-1, did not see two sides with so many Fulham rejects both scoring! I use my £50 of free bets on the Holland game and have a right touch when Hollands late comeback (which I don't even get to watch!) means my 2-1 comes in at Betfred landing me £50 profit. I get £20 from my Betfair freebet as well. Little bit down on Costa Rica but decent day.

Profit: +£60

Monday

France do me no favours on Monday as nothing hits then worse follows as Germany fail to score in 90 mins, my William Hill hits but have not covered any extra time refunds on this one. I have them to win at 3.00 at Party bets. The full time whistle blows and I throw my full support behind the Algerians for extra time with no money now on this – the Germans score within seconds and go on to knock out the plucky underdogs. I also have a £5 on Muller to score first at Betbright with a free bet...........someone must have told him I had backed him as he is awful.

Profit: -£15

Tuesday

Bang my free Will Hill bet on correct score that does not hit, but take them for 50p off their £5 spin and win promotion. In general a miserable day on free spins winning nothing at winner's £5 and £7 risk free offers, and doing a Betfred one on Football Carnival that lands me a tenner back with x20 WR. Stan James take 5 Tuesday also loses me a fiver. Still with variance I'll be due a big win soon! Tim Howard saves the day though as I get a nice 9.5 to 9 arb on 0-0 (£30 on) at Betvictor and no goalscorer is 9 to 9 I underlay to £10 (With red card refund that does not hit) in mind at Betvictor. This double win means I come to the tune of £40 odd quid. In the other game I await Messi and co to slaughter the Swiss, my Betfair hits on this as it goes to extra time – however Switzerland who let in 5 against France restrict Argentina to a single goal, so get my £5 free bet there. I've cunningly backed a draw as well with the £5 you need to wager to qualify for the free £5 bet promo so that nets me £20.

Profit: £50

Wednesday

A full day off betting. I deserve a day off. Don't judge me.

Thursday

Wish I'd not had a day off, seems there was money to be made according to The Gambling Times forum! Thursday is also a football-less day, so it's the relatively slim pickings of Wimbledon. Try a £10 in play bet at Betfred, back a set to be 6-1 in a doubles match which loses inside 3 games it was 90/1 though and have £10 to back on footy for Friday. Will Hill spin and win nets me £2, in your face William. Ladbrokes free spins 85p keeps things ticking over. Also use a 888Sport free £5 on a horse at 33/1 and lay it for £3 at about the same odds.

Profit +£5.85

Week Profit: £100

Not massively up this week, but my fault from having a break and FIFA's scheduling! Will be back at the grindstone for Friday.

As a finishing aside, the Cashpoint sign up has been completed and the bonus is withdrawn quickly and easily 24 hours after they have recieved my ID, top marks to them, very impressed with the site.

Anyway, if you've got it in you, here's the blog!

The World Cup has been all encompasing recently, taking over aspect of my betting and social life, and I've bloody loved it!

England have cost me by being completely toilet, but at the same time they generate a lot of extra liquidity and interest so I'd rather they were still in from a betting point of view, if not a kidney point of view.

Friday

Hungover and still fuming about the complete shambles that England's defence were I spend the day with an icepack on my head wishing my plan to go through the world cup sober had continued. Refunded commission of £1.60 at Smarkets on the England result does nothing to lighten my mood. At this stage still confident Italy will do us a favour and the dream can continue. Do my normal round of betting at Will Hill and Betfred with refunds on 0-0's and 1-1's on correct score results as well as banging through another Cashpoint bet at close odds, need to do eight bets there at the same rate each time to get my instant bonus!  Bang on two today covering the tight game that will be Swiss v France with a score of 1-0 to France. Seven goals later and I realise I'm not much of a judge on these things! Take 2-0 Honduras against Ecuador, which is closer but still not right as it ends 2-1, and no chance to lay in play as Honduras score first. But the game that really upsets me has already happened, Italy losing to Costa Rica. I've underplayed everything here to varying degrees and not only are England boarding a plane home I'm about £20 down for the day!

Profit / Loss -£20

Saturday

Coming to terms with England not being part of the World Cup anymore is tought. are not part of it anymore there is money to be made!  I've slept off the vast quantity of alcohol consumed on Thursday and I'm on the hunt for some offers!!  I have a pretty fruitful day, Sky treat me to a £25 reload bonus when I bet £50, manage to back a horse that actually wins so up on that then plug my free £25 into my World Cup book backing a couple of outright world cup arbs. Top tip, if you're arbing, go for them at night when the lines are not being updated! I still have a fair bit of cash at Will Hill and Betfred but don't withdraw at these in the hope of eventually hitting a correct score refund. Party Bets hot combo falls in my favour, the accys here are perfect as you have time inbetween games to lay them and the 2 teams winning earns me about £30 even though my stake is limited to £10. With these I lay incrementally per match and work out odds after each game has finished if the bet is still on. In this case Argentina winning meant I had odds of around 4.00 on Nigeria when they were only 3.00 to lay so covered the stake with small profit and hoped they would win. Finally my 888Sport nominated team Argentina are playing Iran, £5 for each goal, and that mismatch should mean goals.............They manage one goal. One poxy goal against Iran! Thems the breaks. 

Profit / Loss +£60

Sunday

Still can't get a correct score bet right, nearly done at Cashpoint now, only won one out of four bets there so far! The win today covers the previous small losses though so pretty much even and if I lose another £20 in qualifying then the £50 bonus will mean I'm nicely up.  Worth noting (as I'm big on T&Cs at the moment!) is Bet365 and Betsson's offers must be placed in the pre match section not live in play. Take them up on the 0-0 moneybacks and also Betsson's disaster insurance where you get paid as a winner if your team throws away a 3 goal lead (Algeria nearly do it to Korea weirdly later this evening). Another tip, with SkyBet do not try to combine a price boost with an offers, the boost is considered an offer so you won't get the refund. End the day with a nice £22 playing Sensible Soccer risk free at Stan James (another reason for me to consider Sensible Soccer to be one of the finest games of all time).

+£12

Monday

Chile 2-0 you little beuty! Finally a correct score bet hits! Nearly has disastrous consequences as a back of £25 on Chile to win 2-0 and due to some misreading, and the odds being  the same (17s), lay £22 on Holland to win 2-0. Re-checking realise my error before kick off and immediately lay at smarkets on Chile 2-0 as intended and as it is 10 mins till kick off decide not to risk a bet not being matched and stick £25 on Betfair at the same odds. I could have let it ride as would have been ok if it was not 2-0 Holland or 2-0 Chile well up. But it's a bloody good job I did lay because of course this time that correct score comes in. End up £20 on my Betfair bet which is a handy result for an adverted crisis. Could've covered the back at Smarkets  but the odds were better at Betfair. Cheeky spin and win at Will Hill adds £2.50 to the pot.

My betting day gets even better as I pull a rabbit out of the hat I've got 2-1 as correct score on Portugal USA, this is coming in but I start to get nervy and start laying against 2-1 from the last 10 mins in play. With just seconds to go Donovan is holding the ball up in the corner and odds have dropped to 1.06 I smash down an extra £25 lay that costs me £3 of profit, then celebrate wildly as Portugal bang in a last gasp equaliser. My bemused flatmate cannot work out what is going on, but I'm £60 up there so I couldn't give a monkeys!

+£90

Tuesday

Backing and laying so much on these games now that I am beginning to lose track, Ivory Coast fail miserably to win the group and so my pre tournament arb pays me £1. England's attack show less bite than Luis Suarez and the draw there ends my hopes of my 8 group winners bet coming in as I had Uruguay in that group. Got 6 out of 8 so a gamblers trixie or similar would've made a profit, but that's the old me! Unsuprisingly none of my correct scores come in and I again lose at Cashpoint twice more. My money back if there is a red card at Bet victor does not come in during England game, there is no penalty, the sky refund if they lose does not kick in and I can't lay anything in play either as watching it out with my dad. Even worse I have not for once, somehow, covered 0-0 insurance. At least this is the last time Engalnd can upset me.............until the Euro 2016 qualifying begins of course.

-£20

Wednesday

Time to relax sit back and watch Argentina smash a few goals in for my free bets and I'm pleased when they hit 3 putting me £15 freebets up for the game (loaded into outright back and lays) £30 up on this now with the Argies  potentially with 4 games left in the tournament. This has been my favourite ongoing bet to be honest! Again I have the wrong game covered for 0-0 insurance who the hell saw the Swiss hitting 3 against Honduras and France being 0-0. I come out slightly up as get a straight arb on a draw at France though between Betfair and Smarkets which nets me £40

+£50

Thursday

I open a Dafabet account and do their 50% deposit bonus, this works out well as it is immediately credited and I immediately bust out. £120 in £60 bonus, all backed and layed on Ghana to win. Also do a Party Bets shock boost on USA / Germany to be a draw, a result that sees them both through. The Germans as usual decided to upset me but not down as over laid £10 to the £8.10 restriction limit! I finally complete my cashpoint wagering with another losing bet 1 out of 8 return on these and mainly on odds of 2.00 to 3.00 but the £50 straight cash bonus is gratefully received

+£110

Weekly total +£282.

And that's the week that was.

Well the world cup is great, although some of it's sparkle has been knocked off by England's early exit, an exit I have just watched (hungover and despondent) be confirmed as Italy slumped to defeat against the Costa Ricans!

In terms of my own matched betting though, there are so many offers to get on that I'm making a healthy sum everyday. Every cloud and all that!

Friday The world cup is kicking off and Cameroon, my 2nd team since their 1990 heroics, get beat 1-0. I don't have anything much on this game but do back a correct score in the Spain match at Will Hill hoping for a 0-0 to win back my stake as a free bet (I've writen another piece on 0-0 matched betting, or bore draw insurance, can be a very profitable offer). Unfortunatley It's not 0-0 but was a cracking game all the same. I also get Spain at an improved price of 3.00 at Party Bets so the stuffing they take doesn't hurt my pocket as it's all more than covered with a big arb.
+£5 for the day

Saturday England kick off and lose. We always lose to first decent opponents so having Italy in first game is frustrating. Costa Rica shock Uruguay, Colombia smash Greece while ITV coverage is dire. I do a correct score bet on Uruguay 3-1, wish I had backed it the other way round! Find a decent arb at SkyBet on a price boost. Unfortunately my run of bad luck / stupidity continues as although it's money back if Uruguy lose it doesn't cover a price boost so don't get the refund, very annoying but one to keep your eye on if betting there.  Get a close odds on a Colombia 1-0 correct score with a refund if 1-1 at BetFred. No refund there. Betfair have money back if England lose so back them at the Sportsbook and lay at Smarkets. Get a nice touch when they lose in that sense as get a free £25 at Betfair. I put this to immediate use getting an overnight arb on Colombia in the outright market so this just gets converted into cash at my World cup book.
+£25 for the day

Sunday I don't have loads on this Sunday but do bet on Argentina to draw with Bosnia for £5 laying £4 and that means I get a free £5 every goal. They score after 3 minutes but only manage one more in the next 87 minutes. £10 free bet at 888Sport added to book. Slow day though.
+£10 for the day

Monday Getting into my stride with the betting now, have to confess to being a bit overwhelmened by it up to this point, it's like every day is a Premier League Saturday! Top up Betfred, WillHill and Coral and start taking their offers on every day covering the 0-0 or 1-1 draw as a rebate and betting on close odds on the correct score. Partybets have Germany to win boost to 4.00 which I only get £10 on as it is limited, lay with a nice profit when they batter Portugal 5-0. I also take a hot combo on Germany and Nigeria both to win at odds of 8.00 this is more than it costs to lay both. To work out an arb in these cases you need to take the odds of both singles and times them together in this case 2.5 and 2.5 so 6.25 is true odds. I only get a tenner on at Party Bets. I lay £11 on Germany. After that has lost I am £23 down but due to win £80 if Nigeria win so I lay £30 on them. Surely they will beat Iran. No they can't manage to score and I'm up but not as up as I would have been. However as I have a bet at Bet365 on a correct score on that game and they refund me £25 as it is 0-0 so I finish the day well
+£50 for the day

Tuesday Visit to the folks so only get a bet on the Brazil game correct score of 3-0 they fail miserably drawing 0-0 and I have this on at BetVictor rather than Hills, bloody annoying. Wish I had taken a bore draw insurance one, but who saw Brazil drawing nil bloody nil! Lay the Koreans against Russia for 0-0 it's 1-1 which means I get a refund at Betfred +£25, all adds up on the book bets. Get a free £5 bet on Brazil game at Betfair as I backed them to win in the outright market pre tournament, back Dos Santos who does not score.
+£30 for the day

Wednesday I take on a Betsson offer where if a team is 3-0 up they pay out as a winner I back Croatia as 2nd team Cameroon play them. They destroy Cameroon 4-0 a comeback does not look likely as Song karate chops someone and gets sent off whilst the team fight eachother depressing but at least England are still in it tomorrow! I also get some free bets on payout at Betfair if Spain fail to win. I finally bet on something other than world cup football too, Betfair have a place £10 on outright market get a free £5 bet on Ascot. I back a 16-1 shot but it comes no where. It's annoying that Ascot is scheduled at same time as the footy world cup and I don't really have the float or energy to hit this. Get a tasty hit on Vargas as first goal scorer though.
+£50 for the day

Thursday Donning my classic England shirt I head to the pub full of hope, only to see us blow it as per usual. I know it's not really Stevie G's fault, but I need a scapegoat and he's the one for me! Backed with an underlay 2-1 Colombia v Ivory coast so get a nice win on that. I also get refunds as England have lost at Betfair and Coral
+100 for the day and a weekly total of +£265

Good week, lots more to come as well. Not sure if or when World Cup fatigue will set in, but if I keep making money and the games keep to the same high standard this is likely to go down as one of my all time favourite World Cups!

Following on from BetFair's destruction of Bet365 in the opening match of the #BookieWorldCup, the next round of fixtures is out.

In line with the World Cup fixtures we have one group A match and two from group B. Which means 888Sport take on StanJames, BetFred take on Coral and BetVictor play BetClic.

The higher the scoring the more offers there are available (there's always three goals based on the odds at each site on the 1X2 markets as well, so never a bore draw).

Click on the 'scores' to get the offers and get your bets on for the matches. It's a veritable bookmaker offer bonanza!

BetFred 7

Double Delight & Hatrick heaven on all 3 games today (including Spain vs Holland) +2
New customer offer Brazil 7/1 (group stage bonus) +1
Pre tournament Price boosts (group stage bonus) +1
Best Odds (Spain 1.83, Draw 3.40 Holland 5.00) Coral (1.83, 3.30 &5.00) +3

                                                                                 VS

Coral 5

Money back if Argentina or Brazil win the world cup (outright market) +1
Sending off in Spain vs Holland 5/1 price boost (max stake £20) +2
Best odds Spain 1.83 Holland 5.00 (Betfred 1.83, 5.00) +2

BetVictor 4

Best odds on match Mexico 2.3 draw 3.12 Cameroon 3.7 (Betclic 2.2 ,3.1 & 3.5) +3
Money back if red card in Spain vs Holland +1

                                                                                 VS

BetClic 1

Money back Spain outright +1

888Sport 7

New customer offer 66/1 on England to win (pre match bonus) +1
Nominate a team bet £5 per game and get free £5 bet every goal they score+1
8 is great – a goal by a player wearing number 8 shirt all losing FGS and AGS refunded +1
88th Minute special get a free bet if 88th minute or later goal downs your bet +1
In play - £1 free bet for every £5 in play bet placed (up to £5 per day) +1
Best odds 4.50 Draw Australia 8.50 (SJ 4.00, 7.00) +2

                                                                                 VS

StanJames 2

Just a 2nd! Money back as cash if your losing FGS bet scores 2nd up to £500! +1
Best odds Chile 1.5 (888 1.42) +1

The suprising result for me is the way StanJames has come out so weekly for the World Cup. They're a staple of the English betting scene, but when the biggest tournament in the world comes round and they're not really offering anything up. That said, it's a group and they'll have their chance again in a few days.

Looking for bookmaker reviews? I've done a few, The Gambling Times have a few (hundred!) more.