Kevin Blake: Keep Betfair's safer gambling tools front of mind

• Kevin Blake on the importance of gambling safely

• Cheltenham Trials Day kicks off a busy National Hunt period

• Use the tools available on Betfair's Safer Gambling website

On the eve of Cheltenham Trials day and with the Cheltenham Festival itself only a matter of weeks away, it can be easy to fall into tunnel vision in the pursuit of winners and profit as the Greatest Show on Turf approaches.

In betting, discipline is the key to everything. Skill and judgement will vary wildly from punter-to-punter, but one factor that is a common denominator to all is that a disciplined punter that makes a plan and sticks to it will always have the best chance of their return matching their judgement in the long term.

In contrast, a punter could be the greatest judge in the world, but they will never maximise that ability in terms of long-term return if they are ill-disciplined and make poor decisions in the heat of battle.

With this in mind, you should know that Betfair has a range of tools in place to help ensure that you never let that pursuit of winners go further than you are comfortable with.

Every Betfair account holder has the option to set a deposit limit. This allows you to set a maximum amount you can deposit in any single day, week or month. This can be used to help ensure that you stay consistent and prevent you from making rash decisions in the heat of the moment.

Once your deposit limits are set to a level you are comfortable with, you also have an option to limit losses within a given timeframe too. Again, these are designed to act as a pre-set control that can kick in at times when they might be needed.

Finally, as we all know, the pursuit of winners can be very absorbing, and it can be easy to lose track of time. If you would like Betfair to give you a nudge after a certain time period, you can set that up to happen via the Gaming Time Check facility.

All of these features are easy to access and set up. Betting can be the most wonderfully stimulating, joyous, frustrating, challenging, infuriating, and rewarding pursuit, but it is very important for Betfair that everyone who climbs on this roller coaster with them is always doing so responsibly and within their limits. The importance of it cannot be overstated and you are encouraged to use the Safer Gambling Tools as they are intended.

Check out Daryl Carter's Safer Gambling Week Piece