Good luck everyone - may your selections stay healthy and your each-way bets place at minimum!

It's worth it though. Nothing worse than watching your selection get pulled out and your money's already gone. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

Just remembered - does anyone know which bookies are offering non-runner no bet this year? Lost £200 last Festival when my fancy was withdrawn after I'd backed it in the morning. Lesson learned the hard way.

Maybe I should stick to the slots where at least I know the RTP percentages... though knowing Razor Shark is 96.7% doesn't seem to help me win on it!

Though I must admit, there's something romantic about landing a big-priced winner in a cavalry charge. The heart says Coral Cup, the head says stick to Grade 1s.

28 runners, most casual punters haven't studied the form properly, and you can get huge prices about genuine chances. Made my biggest Festival win in that race two years ago - £1,200 from a £50 stake.

Maybe the real value is in the smaller races where there's less professional attention? The handicaps might offer better opportunities than the big championship races.

The philosophical question for me is whether we're actually gambling or investing. With proper research and discipline, are we investors? Or are we just deluding ourselves that we can beat a rigged system?

Been using BetVictor more recently. They seem to be one of the best betting uk sites for competitive odds, especially on the bigger races. Plus they don't seem to gubbing winners quite as aggressively as some others.

Anyone else getting nervous about this year's Champion Hurdle? Constitution Hill looks unbeatable on paper but those odds are terrible for punters. Might be worth looking at the Triumph Hurdle instead for better value.

Here's my bookmaker comparison for Festival betting:

I'm using Betfred and 888 Sport this year. Both offer decent each-way terms and don't seem to limit winners as quickly as some of the bigger names. Though 888's withdrawal took 6 days last time, which was frustrating.

The key is adjusting for ground conditions and course characteristics. Cheltenham's unique - those hills catch out so many horses that look good on paper.

Using Coral mostly because they've got that 'bore draw money back' thing, though I'm not sure that applies to horse racing... does it?

@mike_bet Your formula looks solid but where do you source your probability assessments? Racing Post ratings? Timeform? Or do you calculate your own speed figures?

My strategy is embarrassingly simple - back anything trained by Willie Mullins and hope for the best. Made £400 profit last year doing exactly that. Sometimes the simplest approaches work better than all the complex mathematics.

William Hill and Betway are my go-to sites. Both offer decent streaming and their customer service actually answers the phone when something goes wrong.

Expected Value = (Probability of Win × Potential Profit) - (Probability of Loss × Stake)

Where EV = Σ(i=1 to n) P(xi) × R(xi) - Total Stake

For Cheltenham, I calculate this for every race. If the bookmaker's implied probability (1/decimal odds) is lower than my assessed probability, that's where the value lies. Sounds simple but requires serious research time.

Bet365 for live betting during races, Sky Bet for their Super 6 predictor game, and Unibet for ante-post bets because their prices seem to move slower than others. Withdrew £850 from Unibet last month and it was in my account within 4 hours, which is impressive.

I'm sticking with Ladbrokes and Coral this year. Their each-way terms are decent and the apps don't crash when everyone's trying to get on at the same time. Learned that lesson the hard way in 2019 when I couldn't back Constitution Hill because the site went down.