Entries, Bets & Balances - Tracking & Sustainability

As we've alluded to already, each tracker entry records a collection of related betting actions. But what does this mean?

Each entry in the tracker can contain any number of bets, and any number of balance changes.

If you make a deposit, you'll create one tracker entry with a single balance change. When you use Quick Deposit (or Quick Withdrawal), we handle this for you.

If you place a bonus bet and lay it on the exchange (as we did earlier with our TAB account), you'll create one tracker entry with two bets (the bonus bet and the lay bet). Balance changes that occur as a direct result of these bets do not need to be recorded as separate balance changes. We'll handle that automatically.

Entries

From the dashboard, select "Entries" in the top navigation bar. This will take you to the entries view, where you can see a list of all your Tracker entries. Right now, you should see an entry for each deposit you've recorded, as well as an entry for the bonus bet you placed.

If you chose to convert your bonus bet by backing & laying, your bonus bet entry will show the logos for both TAB and Betfair, a negative cash change and a negative bonus change. The cash change is negative to account for the liability that is being held by Betfair. The pending amount reflects the potential profit if all bets in the entry are successful. This won't occur with our bonus bet entry, as it's intuitively not possible for a back and lay bet on the same outcome to be successful.

If you chose to convert your bonus bet by dutching, your bonus bet entry will show the logos for TAB and the other bookmaker(s) you used, a negative cash change and a negative bonus change. The cash change is negative to account for the stakes placed. The pending amount reflects the potential profit if all bets in the entry are successful. Similarly, this is unlikely to occur with our chosen dutch, as it's improbable that more than one bet will succeed. The only exception to this is if you placed multiple bets on the same outcome at different bookmakers, or if you dutch contains a middle.

What the heck is a middle?

We'll cover middles in more detail in a later course. In short, a middle occurs when you place bets in the same market at different bookmakers, and the outcomes of those bets can both be successful, but it's not possible for them to both fail. A common example is handicap betting in sports, where you back a team with a positive handicap at one bookmaker, and back the same team with a negative handicap at another bookmaker. If the team wins by a margin that falls between the two handicaps, both bets win, resulting in a middle.

Bets

Sometimes it's handy to see a list of the bets you've placed, instead of a list of entries. To do this, select "Bets" in the top navigation bar. This will take you to the bets view, where you can see a list of all your placed bets, along with their expected value, effective odds and return. If the bet hasn't resolved yet, the return will show as pending.

Balances

Finally, you can view your balances by selecting "Balances" in the top navigation bar. This will take you to the balances view, where you can see an up to date list reflecting what we believe to be the current balance of each account you hold. This view is a great way to quickly assess your overall financial position, and check whether the Tracker is balanced with your actual accounts.