Tag: statistics

Had a good week last week? Here’s why…

Had a good week last week? Here’s why…

You may have seen me post up results or information along the lines of ‘If you did this with £100 you would have managed to achieve this’.

I collect and analyse a lot of data and it’s all with the aim of identifying biases and the structural nature of a market. You would be surprised how many markets exhibit biases. Some have exhibited a structural bias for my entire trading career. I’ve casually dropped hints now and again and it’s …

03/08/2017 | By | Reply More
Why trading works so well – On football

Why trading works so well – On football

With the champions league football starting up again, I thought I’d take a look at football at a simple level and explain why trading works so well, using football as an example.

First off a simple maths lesson.

Finding value

When you look at odds on Betfair, they refer to the implied chance of that event occurring. If we saw Manchester United priced at 2.00, we simply divide one by those odds and it produces the implied probability of that …

15/09/2015 | By | 1 Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

PREVIEW: Hull v Burnley (Sat, 15:00)

With three games remaining this is the definition of a ‘six-pointer’ as a win for either side could well prove the death blow to the other’s hopes of survival, and if Burnley lose they will definitely be down this weekend.

Hull were outplayed by Arsenal on Monday but they had won back-to-back matches prior to that and their recent home form is quite good. They’ve won three of their last six at the KC …

09/05/2015 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

PREVIEW: Spurs v Man City (Sun, 16:00)

Spurs salvaged a draw at Southampton last weekend to maintain their sixth position in the standings and they remain hopeful of finishing fifth after Liverpool’s midweek loss at Hull. Man City, meanwhile, are back up to second following their rather lucky win over Aston Villa. Of course Villa are in good form and did recently end Spurs’ 10 match unbeaten streak at home.

Spurs started the season poorly at White Hart Lane, losing

02/05/2015 | By | Reply More
The best and worst players from winning positions in the ATP

The best and worst players from winning positions in the ATP

Further to last week’s article which looked at the application of a blanket strategy, and the usage of WTA stats to illustrate why this is a bad idea, I thought I’d move onto some more detailed applications of statistics in the ATP, which is something I’ve been looking at in great detail lately.

 An objective way to categorise front runners has been my major focus, with a particular plan of trying to work out which players are lucrative to

30/04/2015 | By | Reply More
Manchester Derby

Manchester Derby

PREVIEW: Man Utd v Man City (Sun, 16:00)

The Manchester clubs come into the derby having experienced contrasting fortunes in recent weeks. Comparisons between Van Gaal’s side and David Moyes’ team at the same stage last season are now long gone and the Dutchman seems to have put his stamp on the side after a turbulent start to the season. Pellegrini, on the other hand, is looking anything but secure in his position as manager of City, who look destined

12/04/2015 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

PREVIEW: Arsenal v Liverpool (Sat, 12:45)

Arsenal get the chance to all but confirm their top four finish with the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday as they host a Liverpool side that stand six points below them with just eight games remaining. Given their superior goal difference that is effectively a 6.5 point advantage and Liverpool simply have to win here if they are to claim a Champions League finish this term.

Liverpool will need to overturn a poor recent record

04/04/2015 | By | Reply More
Is the Davis Cup better trading fodder?

Is the Davis Cup better trading fodder?

Several weeks ago, Tennis traders were treated to a weekend of epic trading action in the Davis Cup, with five players coming back from two sets down to force a deciding set, including James Ward’s memorable victory over John Isner, which turned the whole tie in favour of Great Britain following Andy Murray’s facile defeat of Donald Young.

During, and following the weekend, there was some speculation regarding trading the Davis Cup and the general theme was towards the World

19/03/2015 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments

PREVIEW: Chelsea v Man City (Sat, 17:30)

This week’s Saturday Night Football sees reigning champions Man City travel to league leaders Chelsea. Following their shock 4-2 defeat at home to Bradford in  the FA Cup, Chelsea needed extra-time to see off Liverpool in the League Cup in midweek, but the talking-point from …

31/01/2015 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments

PREVIEW: Everton v Man City (Sat, 15:00)

Everton’s injury-time equaliser against West Ham in Tuesday’s FA Cup game provided some much-needed respite following four straight league defeats. Things don’t seem to be getting any easier for Everton though, with Champions Manchester City probably close to the bottom of Roberto Martinez’s list of

10/01/2015 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments

PREVIEW: Roma v AC Milan (Sat, 19:45)

Roma keep grinding out results to keep the pressure on Juventus at the top of Serie A, with a 1-0 success at in-form Genoa their latest success. Milan, also, come into this came on the up after a 2-0 win over Napoli, which has brought …

20/12/2014 | By | Reply More
Sunday Soccer Stats

Sunday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments

PREVIEW: Man Utd v Liverpool (Sun, 13:30)

Man Utd are up to third after a five-game winning streak while Liverpool’s season continues to fall apart after another poor European display in midweek. Despite United’s recent resurgence, however, they’ve been far from impressive as both Southampton and Arsenal outplayed them and without Angel …

14/12/2014 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments

PREVIEW: Bayern v Bayer Leverkusen (Sat, 17:30)

Bayern have conceded just one goal in their last 11 games and have won four of their last five home matches by at least four clear goals, so Leverkusen are facing an uphill battle as they head to the Allianz Arena.

However, Leverkusen have put

06/12/2014 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments

PREVIEW: Southampton v Man City (Sun, 13:30)

Southampton have confounded the critics this season to sit a scarcely believable second after 12 games. Man City, in contrast, have largely disappointed their fans in their attempts to defend the title. However, they kept their Champions League hopes alive in midweek and will now …

29/11/2014 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments

PREVIEW: Arsenal v Man Utd (Sat, 17:30)

The past few years have seen Arsenal fail to perform against the best teams in the league time and again, and their record against Man Utd is no exception. Arsene Wenger’s men have won just one of their last 14 games in all competitions against …

22/11/2014 | By | Reply More
US Open Tennis – Scoreline statistics

US Open Tennis – Scoreline statistics

A short into to a regular new feature

For some time I’ve been analysing various aspects of a number of key sports, but one thing that is the enemy of that is time, I don’t have any! So I’ve taken to surrounding myself with people who do and who are specialist in those areas I can’t devote enough time to. Bet Angel customer Dan has a neat website, Tennis Ratings and his work was right up my street. It’s …

21/08/2014 | By | Reply More
FA Cup Fi-nil, Some interesting statistics

FA Cup Fi-nil, Some interesting statistics

So the FA Cup final is upon us and, rather predictably, the final has delivered us two premiership teams. But what will the match deliver, is that going to be as predictable as well? I’ve delved back over a number of years to see if I can unlock some prevailing trends.

At first hand you can see that the final looks uncompetitive, Arsenal are heavy favourites to lift the cup. But as history has shown us, the FA Cup is …

17/05/2014 | By | Reply More
Saturday Soccer Stats

Saturday Soccer Stats

These stats are brought to your by our friends over at Football Form Labs. Check out their site and the powerful software that sits behind these comments. 

Aston Villa v Fulham

  • Aston Villa have just the 18th best home record this season – last term they had the 17th best
  • Since 2008/09, 8 of the 9 meetings between these sides have had fewer than 3 goals
  • Fulham have lost the 2nd half in 10 of their
05/04/2014 | By | Reply More
Open Golf – What happens to the leaders?

Open Golf – What happens to the leaders?

You know me, I can’t look at a sport without trying to understand the structure behind it. So I’ve been looking at how various Open courses play and the dynamics of leader on different rounds. I’ve gone back to 1957 to be thorough.

First thing to note is that the average winning score at Muirfield is six under, there’s your target! But that hides a wide range of winning values. The lowest was par and the best 13 under, we …

21/07/2013 | By | Reply More
When is a Tennis player most likely to hold serve?

When is a Tennis player most likely to hold serve?

If you back a player before they serve, they are very likely to win their service game. At which point the odds will contract and you can net a profit, hurrah! Sounds easy, but nothing ever is that simple is it?

So, one itching question I sought to solve last year was “Which game is a player most likely to win on serve”. The hypothesis was that the propensity to win on serve is higher at some times than others.…

29/06/2013 | By | 2 Replies More
Wimbledon stats

Wimbledon stats

I’ve written up Wimbledon in one sort or another for quite a few years now. Some of the stats are obvious, some less so. I’ll see if I can find the time over the next two weeks to put up some stats, as well as some summaries of interesting matches or scenarios. I’m looking forward to Wimbledon, though I should point out that I won’t be starting in earnest until Tuesday this year. I need a rest after Ascot! I’m …

23/06/2013 | By | Reply More
Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix

Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix

My quest to model all F1 circuits continues and its starting to yield results. It’s been a massive task, but I just love fiddling around with data to better understand a sport and look for an edge. If I don’t find anything, it makes for a nice magazine article anyway!

There is a limited data set from Bahrain so comparing this track to others is not an exact science, but when you sort the data a couple of characteristics pop …

21/04/2013 | By | Reply More
Some statistics on the Aussie Open Tennis

Some statistics on the Aussie Open Tennis

I’ve started digging my way through my data and notes, so here is some data. Only mens at the moment. I’ve made my comments strategy neutral, so you will have to work out from it what it from you wish!

The average number of games per set was 9.81 which is above the long term average, this was a more competitive tournament than usual. You have to go back to the 2000 tournament for a higher number.

The average number …

30/01/2013 | By | 3 Replies More
Trading tennis – Some stats on efficient pricing

Trading tennis – Some stats on efficient pricing

Caroline Wozniakci crashed out of the US Open last night after starting at odds of 1.10, or a 91% chance of winning. I am the only one thinking that perhaps McIlroy’s should be banned from seeing Caroline at major tournaments?!?!

This is being heralded as a ‘shock exit’. But how much of a shock is it? I looked at all the results from the first round of action at Flushing meadows and it reveals a wonderful thing about the market. …

29/08/2012 | By More
0-0

0-0

Just position taking at half time on this Saturday’s matches and there are a plethora of 0-0’s. 11 out of the 18 matches I am looking at are that score line as I speak.

Of course, underlying those matches are very different characteristics and odds. But I can tell you that each match if you look in real detail will reveal a significant difference between each 0-0. Some are heading for few goals and some should have loads.

The two …

10/12/2011 | By More
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