A note from the desk: one card, fewer picks, bigger stakes

You will have noticed there were no cards on Monday or Tuesday. After Sunday's results I stopped sending and went through everything. This is what came out of it.

The market has changed under us. Since late August most of Europe has started new seasons. Teams have new players, new managers and, early on, very little recent form to judge them by. Bookmakers price those games tightly, and the favourites we were backing kept winning by one goal when we needed two. The bigger prices suffered most. In September, bets priced at 2.00 or more lost heavily while the shorter ones made a small profit.

So here is what is different from today.

There is now one card instead of two separate selection lanes feeding into it. Both sets of systems are scored together, and only the strongest few make it.

Volume is down on purpose. Monday to Thursday has a limit of two picks, Friday three and the weekend three. Only one bet per match.

Leagues coming back from a break are handled differently. For the first two months after a long break the system leans more heavily on the most recent results, which is exactly the situation the new European seasons put us in.

No pick goes out unless there is a real price to take. If the handicap is not quoted, the same bet priced as a Draw No Bet or a double chance counts, and you will get whichever pays most. If nothing is quoted anywhere, there is no bet.

Stakes go up to 2 units per pick. Fewer picks means each one carries more. Our results records stay at level 1 unit stakes so the long run figures stay comparable.

Some picks will now come closer to kick off rather than all together first thing, so the price you get is the price that is actually there.

Thanks for sticking with us through a rough few weeks. I would rather send you one good bet than four ordinary ones.

David