When you hear people talking sports betting the discussion usually revolves around the English Premier League, Super 14 rugby or some other major sporting event. The high profile nature of these events grabs the public’s attention and there is nothing quite like watching the game with some money riding on it

While this is well and good it must be remembered that in these “A list” events information is easy to come by and while you as a punter may spend hours researching your bets you can be sure that your bookmaker is doing the same before setting the odds. In short there is very seldom standout value in these mainstream markets.

Quite often the real opportunity comes in the less fashionable tournaments and sports where those with an inside knowledge of the game can gain an edge on the bookmakers. Knowledge is less freely available and with the turnover or churn much lower bookmakers assign less resources into setting the prices. There was a classic example of this that played out in the Goodforthegame Forum on the weekend.

One of our contributors started a thread on the Currie Cup 1^st Division and in it he identified the Valke v Elephants match as one where the bookies had got it wrong. They had made the Valke 8 point favourites with odds of 22/10 on an Elephants win and the poster detailed his reasons as to why the Elephants should not only beat the handicap but win the game as well.

There was something incredibly convincing about his arguments and before long punters began lumping on the visitors and the “Elephant Express” began to gain momentum.

The odds tumbled to 16/10 for the win and the handicap came into 5 points and still the money came.

The hardest part for punters was waiting for the result as there was no live scoring on the internet and the game was not televised. Finally the news broke, the Elephants had won and punters had handed bookies a rare beating thanks to one mans knowledge of a tournament very few knew anything about.

If you enjoy punting on the Sharks v Bulls or Man United Liverpool that is great but if you really want to make money find a low key tournament or match that the bookies are pricing up on, do your homework and get your money down.

This article first appeared in the Citizen CitiGaming section on Thursday 13 August 2009

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Saturday morning at 07h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet.

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za

Goodforthegame will be posting betting previews on the Tri Nations, Currie Cup, Ashes, Premier League and PSL.