Great topic for a thread Brent.

Very new and pretty green where Spreads are concerned and will add more of my thoughts in the next couple of days but for now....

Have to agree on the adrenalin rush even when playing to small stakes!

Was attracted to it mainly for the rugby, I do OK on the fixed odds handicaps usually just above 50% strike rate for a tournament based on my Sportspicks performance in last years S14 and CC but have often thought that I would have been better with spreads rather than taking 9/10. Ties in with your, "if I am more right I win more" train of thought.

Have already had a couple of decent results with rugby though took a reasonable hit for the first time yesterday with the Bulls but my biggest error so far was on footy. A couple of weeks ago I went high on bookings in the Brum v Liverpool game, my thinking was there could be some needle between the sides based on recent history and the fact Brum always get stuck in and Hodgson has added a couple of players to Liverpool who do not shy away from a tackle or two. A quote of 3.0 looked fair enough to me and in I went, posting accordingly on this forum. Southpaw came on and rightly pointed out that the ref had the  record and repuation of being one of the most lenient in the league when it comes to flashing cards. So it proved, I got away with 2 bookings and no disaster but the way the ref, Halsey? nursed players through the game without troubling his pocket showed me that the "ref stats" should have been my first port of call. A scholboy type error on my side.

I would like to see more online local books offer Spreads but also some help for novices such as I. Simple stuff relating to stats readily accessible whether it be links to helpful online resources, posts on forums such as this where people pool knowledge and even just a beginners guide to learning the ropes. A sort of checklist I guess.

The ref stats for my footy spread mentioned before is (now) an obvious one to me but say for rugby I'm talking about stuff like, points scored / conceded home and away against top half and bottom of of the log. Average shirt number of try scorers per team etc... throw it all in with the usual stuff like overall form, team news and weather forecasts and you can make a solid case whether you do your money or not!

Cricket test series runs and wickets (excluding Pakistan) is another I have my eye on for the future, shame we have so few test series of say 4 matches or more these days.

Hi Brent
Some of my early thoughts
Q :If you are a fixed odds player only, what stops you from playing spreads?
A:     1.Knowledge and practice and balls
         2.A bookie who will offer this, including in-running spreads available on-line.
         3.I have experienced that some bookies advertise in-running fixed odds but do not implement once the game starts, and other bookies close the in-running 10 minutes before final whistle, and  others suspend trade for a couple of minutes (eg 4 minutes) after a goal or try,

Q:If you are finding your feet in spread betting what are your early thoughts? Also what is the reason that you are only starting to play now?
A:1.Have not yet started spreads,need to allocate capital and a separate bank for this

Some great responses there guys thanks and essentially they very much echo my thoughts.

Spreads in SA vs. Overseas
I think one of the problems we have in SA is the spreads players are fixed odds bookmakers who do spreads on the side. If they are under pressure on a given day the spreads are the first to suffer.
Overseas you have the Sporting Index and Sportsspreads focusing purely on spread betting - as Syba says that would be ideal here. You don't see the Ladbrokes and William Hill trying to do spread betting as well.
Interestingly enough Sportsspreads did come out here with a white label backed by Phumulela but they packed it in after a couple of years.
I think spreads requires specialist staff and probably a higher grade of staff member than fixed odds. The cost of doing it right probably puts alot of bookmakers off.
I have actually written to Sporting Index before asking of they have considered this market but they never responded.

Education, Education, Education
Syba I am sure it is no coincidence you and I started betting spreads at the same time and I also learnt of it through Neils program which for some reason I recall as being called Superspreads. When multichoice pulled out that show actually evolved into Super Saturday the show which many people still associate Neil with.
I wonder what percentage of current spread players are still around from those days? I would suspect a pretty high percentage.
Back to the Sportsspreads example - they will probably argue that the market was too small but what did they do to try and educate the fixed odds punter with a view to getting him involved in spreads?
Muzza, Mackem and Fastden all touched on the fact that information on spread betting is scarce - I am convinced the customers are they just need to be educated.

Types of Spreads
Mackem I love test series spreads as I prefer not to have my fate decided by one ball or bad decision. As you say the test series these days are too short but I have a few good and bad stories to tell around the good old 5 test series. Syba I gave up individual innings run spreads as I always seemed to get stiffed - it does make it exciting though and it is great when for example you start making money and every bounday as a rand value attached to it.

Muzza agree tennis spreads would be a great way of creating interest especially on short priced matches.

Bankroll
A good point by Muzza as the cost of getting into spreads is high. Fastden having a seperate bankroll is ideal and I would suggest to anyone that they wait until they have enough of a bankroll.
Having a bankroll is crucial when you start taking it seriously.

To sum up I think a combination of costs and the perceived size of our market are keeping major spread players out but with the correct advertising and education I am confident our market could support at least one full time spread betting company.

because only maniacs enjoy taking bets where they have no defined profits and losses.