In my last post, I wished for an easier betting day. So what happened? Two hideous days, too many hours in front of the screen, and a weekend where a final overall loss of £57 was a fairly decent result.I’ve talked of a three-pronged approach, but it’s not helpful if you have two wonky prongs. I’ve backed away from tennis again over the last week, apart from the odd £20 back. I’m still too liable to be sucked into getting onto the wrong side of a flip-flop trade, and as soon as I upped my liabilities in an attempt to regain my confidence, I was immediately caught out. So back to square one. Then the weekend was a football nightmare. It started badly ( this is a recurring theme ). My first two lays ( Salernitana and Vicenza ) went down – Vicenza won 5-0! I struggled to make much headway on Saturday, but regained a little on Sunday until I was undone by a silly mistake – I forgot I’d placed a bet. The result went away from me, but instead of a probable £15 all-red, I ended up with a £44 hit. Three hours later, I took a three figure bath. I took my eye off the ball ( not literally ), failed to green up an unders trade and two late goals in the Zaragoza / Gijon game were too quick for me – ‘suspended’ market as I tried to trade out. That was the majority of the month’s football profits gone.
Fortunately, Saturday’s racing lays went like a dream. A 100% hit rate on the afternoon’s card. So overall, I can look back on the weekend as an escape from a potential bank meltdown. And, theoretically, there is more to be learnt from a tough day than an easy one.
What timescale should you use to determine your success with any particular type of bet, or any sport? My decision to curtail my tennis betting is based upon around 5 months of failure. Before that point, tennis was my dominant and most successful sport. But if I based my aims upon this February alone, I should pack in tennis and football and concentrate on racing. If I base my decision upon January, racing would be binned and football and tennis were profitable. For the whole of 2009, tennis looks better than football, but for the latter 6 months only, the reverse applies.
And I now have a 100% all-time record on BAFTA betting ( I layed Avatar in ‘Best Film’ ) so maybe I should concentrate on Specials?
Hi Rob
ReplyDeleteThanks for a really great post. I have just stumbled on to your blog and it is great, full of useful insights.
I know how you must have felt when you got the football trade suspension. I have been there.
people say you get " the blue screen of death" when your computer crashes, well I call the situation you found yourself in " The suspended screen of death" as it makes me feel exactly the same way as when my computer crashes.
I am going to add you to my blogroll so I remember to visit your blog often. if you would consider putting my blog on your blogroll I would appriciate it.
My blogs address is http://edgehunters.net
Anyway keep pluging away and I will look forward to seeing how you are doing.
good luck
Mark
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteYeah the special markets seem to be a good choice :) X-factor worked wonders for me this year!
I was hoping you can add my new blog to your wall?
its http://www.cudster.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog and having read through a few of your recent posts I have to say you come across as a very open and honest poster with a writing style that's easy to read and I like that. I added you to my own small selection of blogs that I regularly visit..feel free to swap links if you wish.
Your question about timescales, ie how long do you pursue a particular strategy or sport, is a difficult one to answer and ultimately the only one who can truly answer it is you. To be successful at least two things have to exist and they are a proven selection method and a cast iron approach to bank management and staking.
As I said I have read through a few of your posts and some of them could have been penned by me as I've done the same things - thrown good money after bad by betting on things I know sod all about, reaching out for that one last bet after a reasonable day only to see it fail spectacularly and wipe out earlier profits...the list goes on.
I see a lot of people whose blogs I read are into tennis so this would suggest it is very lucrative but for me I'll pass, as I know nothing about it. Some would say you don't need to know anything about it, just how to trade the momentum swings, but I'm quite happy to leave it alone. I find sticking to one sport, 2 at most, is the way forward for me personally but regardless it's a difficult thing to do to make a decent wage from betting...I know as I used to be full time until the shit hit the fan. The thing we all have to do, if nothing else, is when we take the hits we learn from them. Losing money is shitty enough but if I learn something in the process I count it as a fair exchange...then I moan like a bitch :-)
Good luck going forward, I'll be watching your progress with interest.
Swearbox