As punters we have many tools available to us as we plot week in and week out how to beat the bookmakers. We research current and even historic form, keep our ear to the ground for team news and even monitor the weather forecasts which can have a major influence on certain bets.

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Most of us who take sports betting seriously have a good feel for where the money is coming as having noted a price or a handicap earlier in the week we may see this shorten or shift as kickoff draws near.

There is something strangely comforting about knowing that your selection is attracting money from others and it is almost an assurance that your research and ultimate betting decision was well thought out.

Southpaw a regular poster on the Goodforthegame Forum took this a step further on the weekend when he structured an accumulator or multiple based purely on the fact that the teams in question had received betting support.

He is based in the UK where sites comparing bookmaker’s prices abound and he keeps an eye on the Soccer Steamers page at Oddschecker.com which gives you a history of price movements and shows you how far a team’s price has moved and even the “average market share swing” - and you thought market share was a business term!

On Saturday he took 5 of these well backed or “Steamer” teams and put them in a multiple at 28/1. He had likely done little research on the teams himself but took the view that if others were backing it they may well have spotted something when doing their homework.

Sure enough all 5 selections arrived and Southpaw collected a hefty payout for a small investment. At the same time he highlighted the value of watching the flow of money. It is hard to do on some of the local sports but while we cannot bet with the UK bookmakers there is nothing to stop us taking a peek at who the English League Steamers are for that particular day and then using that information locally.

I am sure Southpaw will agree with me that this is by no means a foolproof method (if it was there would be no bookmakers) but that when used as a tool it can only but add to your effectiveness as a punter!

Betting previews for the weekends Currie Cup and Tri Nation’s games will be posted in our RUGBY SECTION and for betting previews in the English Premier League and PSL go to our FOOTBALL SECTION

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 26th of August 2010.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”.

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