Top 20 finish market question - help please

8 players for two places, if the betfair odds were 5 on a player, the return would be 5/(8/2) or 1.25 return for 1 unit staked. Same odds, 6 players tied for 5 places, 5/(6/5) - 4.17 return for one unit staked. The layer obv pays these amounts, so a losing lay, but less than the initial liability.

If the odds were lower, say 3, then the layer would win as 3/(8/2) is a return of .75 for one unit staked in the first case.

Thanks
I think I understand
I would be laying rather than backing. What bothers me is that there is a potential for 8 losing lay bets rather than 2 if there were 2 players Joint 19th, although I guess the reduced payout compensates.

depends on the odds obv, in the case of the eight sharing two places, anything below bf odds of 4 is a winner for the layer, anything above a loser to various degrees.

in the place market each player is one market ie you could have 4 wins 4 losers but each player is settled separate whereas in the outright win market you could back 8 players only one wins so you wouldnt pay commission on the 7 losers and the liability is shared among the 8 players whereas the place market the liability accumulates

Thanks for that Duke, sheds a different light on things and the calcs on my spreadsheet

are you sure about that duke? That isn't the way commission is calculated in horse place markets.