betfair Exchange Card Derby Racing - strategy

Pre-race

Before the game starts you can place a bet on which horse you think will win.

As the handicap hasn't yet been revealed, the horses are all at the same odds.

There's no real strategy at this stage, it's more a matter of taking a punt and choosing one of the available options as a pure gamble - similar to a Maiden race at an actual meeting, but one where the weights are the same, and you don't know the jockeys or trainers!

The Handicap

Now the fun starts! Three cards from each suit are selected at random and removed from the pack. In other words, these cards won't be used to move the horse forward.

Straight away, this gives you a chance to realistically assess each horse's chances e.g. in the example shown here, Hearts has lost a possible 29 points (Queen, 9 and 10) and Diamonds 28 (Jack, King and 8), whereas Spades has only lost 17.

This particular example is fairly typical in that every suit has lost a decent points total. Sometimes, however, a suit will lose a minimal amount of points (eg 2, 3 and 4) giving that horse a much greater chance of winning.

As with all exchange betting, other gamblers will react to what just happened, giving you an opportunity to place further bets - either on your original choice or a new one.

The race

Three cards are now drawn from the deck, one by one and turned face up.

After each card is turned over, the runner of the corresponding suit moves forward a number of lengths, according to the rank of the card.

The card values are the same as in Blackjack i.e. face cards (Jack, Queen or King) move the runner forward 10 segments, Ace moves it 11 segments forward.

Betting in-play

As further cards are turned up, the situation begins to get much clearer. Horses pull ahead, others are left behind.

But unlike 'real' racing, you can see which cards are still left to be drawn, so you can make a much better judgement of which horse you think will win.

In the example shown here, you'll see that three horses are pulling clear, leaving Hearts trailing a good few lengths behind - leaving you with a few possible betting scenarios...

Time to make a killing?

As other gamblers react to what just happened, the odds on the exchange now start to separate, with some bets coming in (getting lower) and others drifting out (getting bigger).

This is now your chance to make your biggest bets!

As an example, you'll see that the odds on Hearts winning are now out to 24.5 (approx 23 to 1).

Your call is to decide to either play safe by Laying (betting against) Hearts, hoping to attract risky punters, or Backing it, putting money on an outside bet, hoping to take someone to the cleaners!

The Winner

Play now continues with three cards being drawn between each betting round until one runner crosses the finishing line.

As soon as a runner crosses line (i.e. reaches the 32nd segment of the track) the race is over and no more cards are drawn.

Once the game ends, all bets are settled and the action moves on to the next game - there's a game every few minutes, 24 hours a day, so you never have too long to wait!

Fancy trying it out?

If the above has whetted your appetite, and you'd like to give Exchange Card Derby Racing (or any of the other Exchange Games) a spin, just click on the link below and we'll take you straight there!