27/12/10-31/12/10

P&L for 27/12/10-31/12/10

Football : 85.37

P&L since last post : 85.37

Football.

16 markets. No reds to report again. A green end to the year. Many matches over the weekend, although a lot of them are on at the same time, but still enough to generate some green.

My bank may be decreasing sharply again in the new year due to a large withdrawal for home renovations. I shall weather that storm when it comes.

I wish all a prosperous green new year.

25/12/10-26/12/10

P&L for 25/12/10-26/12/10

Football : 62.69

P&L since last post : 62.69

Football.

12 Markets. No reds again. I did succumb to the Xmas day temptation. Mainly because I was awake early and thought 'might as well'. Not a lot of liquidity in those markets but I still managed to get some green out of them. I also did very well today as well with the premier league games.

Did everyone have a good Xmas?. I didn't drink as much as I expected but I ate far too much. I'm going to pay for that in the new year when I get back on the scales and resume my interrupted descent to my weigh target. There's a whole lot of pain coming.

Into the final week of 2010 we go. Let's hope I can end the year with another green week.

Keep it green everybody.

20/12/10-24/12/10

P&L for 20/12/10-24/12/10

Football : 125.32

P&L since last post : 125.32

Football.

28 markets. No reds which was a welcome change. A bumper week in the run up to Xmas.

So who'll be an addict and succumb to the temptation of Betfair tomorrow then?. First time I have seen them run markets on Xmas day. Japanese, Egyptian, and Hong Kong matches to give the desperate their fix. I have no idea if I'll log in and try for some green.

Been a cold week especially at 4am but a thaw hopefully coming next week will be welcome.

Have a merry green Xmas everybody.

18/12/10-19/12/10

P&L for 18/12/10-19/12/10

Football : 56.65

P&L since last post : 56.65

Football.

35 markets. 1 red of £ 138.00. It came from the last match of the night. I was pushing too hard hoping to crack £200 green for the weekend. At least I'm still posting green though.

Bloody snow!!. Back with blizzard to my area today. Will make it fun to get to my early 5am start tomorrow at work. I hope it doesn't snow overnight.

Keep it green everybody.

13/12/10-17/12/10

P&L for 13/12/10-17/12/10

Football : -97.01

P&L since last post : -97.01

Football.

25 markets. 3 reds totalling £207.40. The 1st red came early in the week after a decent start and the last two came late last night as I was just about back to green. I was probably pushing too hard and once again it cost me.

At least my corner of the country has escaped the new snowfall thus far. There was a little flurry one morning but nothing to worry about. Bloody cold though.

Keep it green everyone.

11/12/10-12/12/10

P&L for 11/12/10-12/12/10

Football : -57.82

P&L since last post : -57.82

Football.

42 markets. 3 reds totalling £261.30. The weekend was going fantastically until late on Sunday when I took the 3 reds in a row. The first was unavoidable but the second two I was being greedy and let them run too long. I had a ludicrous stroke of luck on Saturday evening when I accidentally leaned on the mouse and backed over 3.5 at 5.0 seconds before the a 4th goal was scored, but only for £4 stake. LOL.

So a dissapointing end ot the weekend but onward we go. At least all the snow has melted.

Keep it green everybody.

06/12/10-10/12/10

P&L for 06/12/10-10/12/10

Football : 53.61

P&L since last post : 53.61

Football.

Just 16 markets traded this week. No reds which is very welcome. A good total for the week.

It's been a long hard week. The extra snowfall on Monday and the -15C temps for the next two nights made the world a harsh place to be out working in. Thankfully all the snow melted yesterday. The weather guessers are predicting cold to come again but little snow thankfully. We can only hope they are right.

Keep it green everybody.

04/12/10-05/12/10

P&L for 04/12/10-05/12/10

Football : 96.28

P&L since last post : 96.28

Football.

43 markets. 1 red of £47.12. Went for it in a big way, multiple trades per match. Trying hard to stick to a staking plan.

It's snowing again this morning and they are posting ludicrous minus double digit figures for this evening when the sky clears. Can't wait.

Keep it green everybody.

29/11/10-03/11/10

P&L for 29/11/10-03/11/10

Football : 19.22

P&L since last post : 19.22

Football.

22 markets. 1 red of £36.23. Missed a lot of matches due to afternoon sleeping.

Hellish week, I'm sick of snow. Loss track of how often I had to dig my van out of the snow.

Many UK matches supposedly postponed this weekend. Don't they have pitch covers. Is the frozen ground too hard for the bunch of soft Jessie's.

Keep it green everybody.

27-11/10-28/11/10

P&L for 27-11/10-28/11/10

Football : -876.32

P&L since last post : -876.32

The cycle of stupidity continues.

Football.

37 markets. 5 reds totalling £1109.28 . So what the hell happened?. I took a red in the first match of the day on Saturday. Ordinarily this shouldn't phase me as I take reds all the time and work through them and come out green but my greed was ridiculous and I started to make 1 tick in/out trades with 50 % of bank and I got caught out. I didn't learn my lesson and carried on risky trading (gambling degeneratedly) with what I had left. I think I was telling myself I was only going to do it until I reached a certain point and then I would be sensible and disciplined again but I guess I didn't reach that point as late on Sunday after a run of about £180 green I blew the lot. BUSTO!!!.

I again feel like such a fool. Not that long ago I was congratulating myself on having a 4 figure bank again and now I'm back to square one after a I became unhinged again. I have reloaded £100 and I will now spend a long time rebuilding and trying to stay patient and disciplined. I just never seem to learn.


Today was horrendous due to the weather. I had to walk 9 miles to work in the snow between 4 and 6 am this morning. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow if it snows again tonight. I don't want to do that again. I'm very tired.

22/11/10-26/11/10

P&L for 22/11/10-26/11/10

Football : 64.23

P&L since last post : 64.23

Football.

29 markets. 1 red of £84.74. A reasonable enough week. The green would probably have been less but I caught a sudden upswing going into a market and was able to green out quickly for a far larger profit than I had anticipated.

The snow finally arrived here last night just as I was putting the cover on my bike after arriving home from work. Big fat flakes that gave the world quite a coating but not too deep and the roads are pretty clear. The weathermen told us that last winter was a freak occurrence of weather systems and yet here we are looking at possibly a fortnight of 'arctic' conditions.

Stepped on the scale and was horrified to see I've gained a kilo in the last three weeks. Not entirely unexpected given the lack of diligence with eating and exercise habits recently but not what I wanted to see. I'm going to redouble my efforts to see if I can shed a chunk of weight before the Xmas excess in 4 weeks time. Struggling to motivate myself to get on the Xtrainer in the morning.

Keep it green everybody.

20/11/10-21/11/10

P&L for 20/11/10-21/11/10

Football : 128.72

P&L since last post : 128.72

Football.

44 markets. 2 reds totalling £152.17. Had a totally ridiculous moment when I tried to back at 1.07 and got matched at 2.00. I guess something happened in the match I missed or someone just made a mistake. I was able to green out at 1.05 for a nice green that compensated for 95% of the red I had taken in the previous match. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Keep it green everybody.

15/11/10-19/11/10

P&L for 15/11/10-19/11/10

Football : -135.05

P&L since last post : -135.05

Balls!!

Football.

20 markets. 3 reds totalling £224.39. They came pretty much one after another. The last one was probably avoidable if I'd been more on the ball. These things happen I suppose. Put it behind me and move on.

Keep it green everybody.

13/11/10-14/11/10

P&L for 13/11/10-14/11/10

Football : 31.36

P&L since last post : 31.36

Football.

30 markets. 1 red of £72.66. I was out almost all day on Sunday fixing a PC problem and I managed to do a little, including the red, on my laptop where I was but not my usual amount. Still a green weekend which I needed.

Keep it green everybody.

08/11/10-12/11/10

P&L for 08/11/10-12/11/10

Football : -35.88

P&L since last post : -35.88

The red keeps on comin'.

Football.

37 markets this week. 2 reds totalling £165.12. Discipline held and I did not go chasing so my losses were minimised. Bit tough though as I was still stinging from the weekend stupidity.

I will miss some of the Sunday matches as I have to go play PC repair. The worst thing about building/fixing PC's for family and friends is you are always on call when they break the damn thing.

Keep it green everybody.

06/11/10-07/11/10

P&L for 06/11/10-07/11/10

Football : -215.29

P&L since last post : -215.29

Football.

43 markets. 4 reds totalling £384.94. A bad weekend for discipline as an early red made me chase and the next 2 reds were entirely avoidable. I stepped outside of staking plan on one of them which made matters even worse. At the time it felt like the worst luck in the world but after a deep breath and looking more objectively there was no need for it. If I had stayed on track the outcome would have been approx £15 red overall for the period. A much more desirable outcome than what occurred.

So once again I've sabotaged my growth and have a bit of work ahead of me to return to my previous point.

01/11/10-05/11/10

P&L for 01/11/10-05/11/10

Football : -47.04

P&L since last post : -47.07

Football.

24 markets. 3 reds totalling £170.47. Once again I think I did okay to come out with as little red as I did. 2 of them came late on Friday evening which was a bit disappointing but these things do happen and it's all about maintaining discipline in the face of it.

The usual full weekend of football on but other than that nothing else of note going on for me.

30/10/10-31/10/10

P&L for 30/10/10-31/10/10

Football : 164.67

P&L since last post : 164.67

Happy Halloween.

Football.

37 markets. No reds. Another all green post means I have made it into 4 figure bank territory. A little anti-climactic. I did find myself dropping to 5% staking out of concern about dropping below this milestone which while not a terrible thing did retard my green for the weekend a little. I will carry on as I have been. No greed, No chasing. Patience.

Keep it green everybody.

25/10/10-29/10/10

P&L for 25/10/10-29/10/10

Football : 82.77

P&L since last post : 82.77

Football.

22 markets. No reds. A welcome all green week.

I'm trying to ignore the fact that my bank is in sight of 4 figures. I have not had a bank that large in more than 2 years, my god where does the time go?!. I don't want to get fixated on a target as I'll do something stupid when a red comes and end up losing even more money. I will just carry on and stick to the methods that have got me this far. I will however be very pleased should I achieve 4 figures this weekend.

More words were exchanged the noisy neighbours this week. A little more civilised than the last although not exactly friendly. The noise in the evening has decreased somewhat but the mornings are still a bit disturbing. I'm not going to escalate things any further as I see no benefit. I'm going to do my best to just ignore it. There is only 13 weeks till I put the place up for sale.

Keep it green everybody.

23/10/10-24/10/10

P&L for 23/10/10-24/10/10

Football : 38.21

P&L since last post : 38.21

Football.

35 markets. 1 red of £89.35. This came on Sunday afternoon and took me back to square on for the weekend but I'm pleased enough with the total considering other goings on.

I had it out with the noisy neighbours upstairs and as expected I got the couldn't-care-less attitude which pissed me off no end. I ended the conversation by telling them I was going to make a complaint to their landlords. As it's the city council though it will no doubt be futile. I was seething shaking mad after that and had to skip some of Saturdays matches as I was in no frame of mind to be patient and disciplined. In retrospect the whole thing was a big mistake as it served no purpose and before there was indifference whereas now there is ill feeling. I should have just kept on ignoring it until early next year when I plan to sell this place an move on to somewhere with less scum.

Keep it green everybody.

18/10/10-22/10/10

P&L for 18/10/10-22/10/10

Football : 42.11

P&L since last post : 42.11

Football.

34 markets. 2 reds totalling £153.49. Still came out green though. The reds hit early in the week which gave me time to recover without resorting to chasing, much. On both reds I strayed from my usual conditions for entering a market. It's a slow learning process.

New T-mobile Contract has begun just waiting for my number to be ported over and then the Galaxy S goes live as my main phone.

Winter is truly upon us with the very cold temps in the morning mid week. Although today it was pretty mild despite there being a monsoon every where I had to drive today. Why on earth do people think that driving at 65 in a 70 is going to keep them safe?. Either drive slow, preferably in the inside lane, or overtake at 70. Spending longer alongside the lorry you are overtaking is not being safer Dammit!!!.

Keep it green everybody.

16/10/10-17/10/10

P&L for 16/10/10-17/10/10

Football : -63.11

P&L since last post : -63.11

Football.

51 markets. 3 reds totalling £262.17. I think I did okay coming out with as little red as I did.
Saturday was a good day with me seeing nearly £100 green. However the first match for me on Sunday yielded a red and that may have put me in a bad mindset as the next two reds were entirely avoidable. I was finding it hard to stay patient and disciplined as there were external factors impacting on me.

I ended my 2 year stay with vodafone on Saturday as they couldn't match the 30 day contract I plan to get from T-mobile. There was much doublespeak and carefully crafted sales pitch from the guy on the other end of the phone even though I was clear on what I wanted form the beginning and that I would brook no compromise. When I asked what the fair usage policy on the 'unlimited' internet was and he replied 'about 20,000 web pages' I nearly roared down the phone 'IN MEGABYTES'. There was a lengthy delay and he eventually came back and said 500MB, No thanks. I requested my PAC code and the cheeky buggers left it 49 h 20 mins before coming back and trying the sales pitch on me again. I told them to bugger off and pointed out that they were 1h 20 mins over the legal limit for a PAC code delivery, and he reluctantly gave me it. I doubt T-mobile will be nay better and indeed I've already experienced there shocking customer service with the PAYG sim I've been using on the Galaxy s while waiting for my contract to run out. They are all just as bad as each other. * sigh * Oh well.

Keep it green everybody.

11/10/10-15/10/10

P&L for 11/10/10-15/10/10

Football : 100.81

P&L since last post : 100.81

Football.

25 markets. No reds. An impressive total considering there was only 1 match available to me on Wednesday and none on Thursday. I really need a no loss week as this week hasn't been fun.

I've been hemorrhaging money this week. I get an unexpected bill from the council for drainage work on Monday, which I knew nothing about. As a veteran of previous conflicts with the scum that run the Council money department I knew that any enquiry would just lead to more grief so I just paid it. While cycling home on Tuesday night my front wheel rim decided to shear a large chunk off. This blew the tube instantly and I was going downhill at a fair rate of knots. I was able to stop okay but I had to pick up a new wheel so more unexpected expense.

Had a fair bit to drink last night. Little Hungover.

Full weekend of matches in progress. Going okay so far.

Keep it green everybody.

09/10/10-10/10/10

P&L for 09/10/10-10/10/10

Football : 19.27

P&L since last post : 19.27

Football.

27 markets traded. 1 red of £76.22. I'm okay with this weekend. Decent enough green considering the lack of matches due to the upcoming international fixtures this week.

I've been threatening for a few posts to jot down my thoughts on 'strategies' for trading the football. So here they are in all their poorly formatted disjointed glory.

Let me first start with a disclaimer.

Anything I put here is my own personal opinion and I couldn't care less what anyone thinks of it. If you don't like it don't read my blog. Trolls - I won't publish your comments and I won't reply so don't waste your time. There are no get rich quick schemes. No cast iron strategy that works all the time. What works for one person might not work for another. All trading is essentially gambling. Even pre match/race trading is gambling. We try not to make it sound like that because of the negative connotations but it is. You are gambling that the market will move in the direction you want it to when you want it to by predicting what will happen in the sport. There may be less risk and more control than an outright pre-match punt but it's still gambling. We all do so at our own risk and it's no ones fault but ours when we lose.

Primarily what I do on football focuses on under x.5 goal markets. There are several methods all of them dependent on the premise that the market will descend over time when no goal is being scored.

First ten minutes.

This is what I started with on the unders markets. A lot of matches will have no goals scored in the first ten minutes of a match. The simple strategy of backing unders at kick off and waiting till the tenth minute to green out, or in some cases waiting for the market to drop 10 ticks, can be very effective for a while. If you do this on every match you will almost certainly LOSE. It is always down to you to judge which match this may be effective on, where to set your exit point, and where to abandon the trade early. Should a goal be scored while your still in the market you MUST red out and take the loss. It's very tempting when a goal has been scored on a match you decided, for whatever reason, would be tradeable to declare it a fluke and wait for the market to return to your entry point so you can get out clean. In this case you will just end up taking a bigger loss. You need the discipline to take the red when it comes and not to up your stakes on the next match to try and recover your losses. I have done these things and they always end badly.

Last ten minutes.

Some people like a last ten minute 1 or 2 ticks trades as the chance of another goal when a red comes is less and if you do take a red it is generally smaller than at the start of the match. approx 25% loss of stake compared to approx 40-50% at the beginning of match. Again the premise is simple enough, decide for yourself where you think there will be no goal and the market will descend and set your entry and exit/green out points. It is very tempting to let your back run to the end of the match to avoid taking the red and on many occasions it will work. However the times when it doesn't and you lose your entire stake will leave you firmly in the negative.

During the match.

If you have a good feel for the flow of a match you can trade it anywhere you like. This involves multiple trades, jumping in and out to build up a large amount of green. In the majority of matches out of the 90 mins played a goal is only being scored in a few of those minutes. The rest of the time the market is dropping. Video with as little delay as possible is very useful in these circumstances as is knowledge of the teams and conditions. Always remember that a goal can come out of the blue at any time and it's advisable to take your red.

Last minute of the match.

This is a high risk strategy with a high strike rate. It's imperative to have video for this as you need to know how much stoppage time has been allocated and what the tempo of the match is. As the match enters it's last minute a market that is one goal from dead ( eg. under 2.5 in a 2-0 match) will drop below 1.05 rapidly heading for 1.01. You can enter the market and get out a couple of ticks later very quickly. Within 20 seconds in a lot of cases. You are of course at risk of losing your entire stake if a last gasp goal is scored. There will also be cases where the ref will keep a match going for longer than official stoppage time. The market can stay above your exit point when this happens depending on what is happening in the match. This is once again a strategy that you must use your own judgement on. It will not work on every single match.

That's the gist of it folks. Nothing set in stone. No guarantees. These markets are dependent on a game where anything can happen and cheating is rife. Use your own judgement and enter at your own risk.

It's going to get colder this week according to the forecasts I've seen.

04/10/10-08/10/10

P&L for 04/10/10-08/10/10

Football : 1.87

P&L since last post : 1.87

Partway into today's action I realised I hadn't blogged my during the week results. So here they are.

Football.

20 markets. 1 loss of £72.72. I managed to scrape it back to green for the week. The loss I took was a stupid won as anyone with half a brain could have seen that goal coming, mental fart moment.


Betfair gave me a free £10 bet to use on the arcade. I've never been in there before so I just fired up a roulette game and placed 10 £1 spins on red. 6 came up black and 4 came up red netting me £8 from the free £10 bet. I didn't add it to my P&L as I think it came outside of the normal.

Still no strategy post prepared. I'm a terrible procrastinator. My to do list is miles long and some of it is legally dubious.

Keep it green everybody.

02/10/10-03/0/10

P&L for 02/10/10-03/0/10

Football : 81.23

P&L since last post : 81.23

A quiet weekend due to happenings

Football.

21 markets. 1 minor red of £0.89. Only small amount of my back taken before a goal score.

I got stuck into my bike work on Saturday morning and as always it took way longer than I thought it would and it was close to 1500 by the time I was finally finished. I was already to get stuck into the afternoon matches when my PC hard drive went Klingon on me and decided that today was a good day to die. It wouldn't boot XP and was only getting as far as the login screen on Windows 7. The noises it was making were telling me it wasn't rotating at the correct speed. So I had to nash out and get a new 1TB drive from a shop which I hate doing due to the expense. When I got home I stuck it in and began restoring my system. Thankfully while the drive wasn't spinning fast enough to pass the OS startup sequence it was still accessible from the new OS and I was able to recover all my data to the new drive. I thought my vast porn collection was in jeopardy for a moment there :) .

Unfortunately not too much later my Internet connection decided it wanted in on the excitement and stopped working properly as well. No amount of rebooting would get it to settle down whether it was connected to the PC or either of my laptops. The problem appears to be with the uploading. Web browsing and the like is hopeless as pages load in fits and starts with long pauses. I can download torrents still but it takes longer as the speeds vary wildly as the upload cuts in and out. I had to use the Galaxy S as a mobile WiFi hotspot for the rest of the weekend. As I only have a 1GB limit from t-mobile I had to be a bit selective about what matches to monitor and trade, keeping one eye on the counter. As it is I've used about 700mb of data this weekend.
A call to virgin yielded a 15 minute hold session interrupted occasionally by a guy with an very thick foreign accent who kept asking me to be patient as they tried to get a report from my modem before eventually telling me they'll have to send an engineer out, probably to replace it. This is supposed to happen on Tuesday morning, hopefully before I go to work. It's rather disturbing how bereft I've been without my unlimited 10mbit connection.

No strategy post unfortunately as I've been to beset with woes to get around to it. Next one hopefully.

Keep it green everybody.

27/09/10-01/10/10

P&L for 27/09/10-01/10/10

Football : 40.79

P&L since last post : 40.79

Football.

32 markets traded. 1 red of £70.82. This red was brought about by me being slapdash with a market that I hadn't properly considered. Driven more by greed than anything else. Easily avoidable but..... . Still a reasonable enough week though.

I was asked in a comment about my strategy and said I would do a post on it but it won't be this one. I'll try an compose it for the end of weekend post. As it's relatively warm and dry out, and there may not be many more weekends like this before winter sets in, I'm going to forsake the markets until this afternoon and get on with some much need motorbike TLC. On the fun agenda is new brake seals for the rear caliper and general cleaning(de-rusting) and maintenance.

Keep it green everybody.

25/09/10-26/09/10

P&L for 25/09/10-26/09/10

Football : 109.40

P&L since last post : 109.40

Football.

41 markets traded. 1 red of £68.29. If betfair had suspended the market when the goal went in instead of 2 seconds later my back wouldn't have been matched but hey we all know how crap they can be. Still a good green for the weekend. Bank is at a high level. Starting to get edgy and paranoid that losses lurking around every trade. Must force myself to keep on and not give in to fear.

Keep it green everybody.

20/09/10-24/09/10

P&L for 20/09/10-24/09/10

Football : 110.82

P&L since last post : 110.82

Football.

Another no red week, by the skin of my teeth. 32 markets traded. On one trade my back was 1 second from being matched when the market suspended for a goal. Sooooo Lucky!. Very boosting to see a 3 figure green or a week P&L.

I wish my weight loss activities had been as successful. Since my last weigh in on 03/09 at 108.2kg I have only dropped 1.7kg to 106.5kg. I was a bit lax last week on my exercise and I did have big drinking session last weekend so I've only myself to blame but it's still heading in the right direction. I will redouble my efforts for the next weigh in on 15/11.

My T-mobile PAYG sim arrived on Monday and I whacked it in the Galaxy S. The Network is not bad but there is still terrible latency, as with all mobile networks. T-mobile do themselves no favours with such an awkward customer service system. I texted MONTHWEB to them to activate a 30 day 'unlimited' internet booster for £5. I later noticed they were charging me the standard £1 a day for internet. I could not get anybody on the phone, the automated system kept hanging up on me, and I eventually had to resort to speaking to a customer service person on Twitter. TWITTER!!. After an all day conversation, each reply taking 2 hours, they activated my booster and then with further prompting refunded the money they had taken from me. So all's well....
Looking forward to the official Froyo update at the end of the month as the leaked and modified version I'm using is still a bit buggy.

Starting to get a bit chilly outside, farewell summer.

Keep it green everybody.

18/09/10-19/09/10

P&L for 18/09/10-19/09/10

Football : 68.61

P&L since last post : 68.61

Football.

34 markets traded. 2 losses totalling £105.35. The first was from overconfidence and the second was a bit of a chasing loss. I still struggle with discipline and patience. Still managed to come out of the weekend green though.

There some fiendishly addictive games available for this Galaxy S. I've heard of people talking about Angry Birds before but never played it until I got the Beta version for Android. Couldn't put it down until I was finished. Still modding away to get it up to top spec as the way it comes out of the factory is pretty poor considering it's a high end device. Still waiting on my T-mobile PAYG sim to test out it's mobile internet capability's. I was able to get 2 new batteries and an external charger from ebay for under a tenner. Quality is not bad from the chatter on the forums. More later.

Keep it green everybody.

13/09/10-17/09/10

P&L for 13/09/10-17/09/10

Football : 60.78
Tennis : -7.11

P&L since last post : 53.67

Football.

23 markets traded. No reds!. Good to have an all green week, at least on the football. Wednesday and Thursday while seeming like quite busy nights just had lots of matches on at the same time which isn't a lot of use as I can only keep an eye on so many at once.

Tennis.

I weakened on Monday night and went in on Nadal when he was playing well against Djoko. I could have had a good green if I'd hedged out but I got greedy and then the rain came. The price rose as people anticipated what the rain break would do and I had to take the small red as I couldn't stay up to wait and see. I was tempted to leave a lower green out in place and see what happened but decided to play safe.

I was finally able to wrestle my Galaxy S from the clutches of my local delivery office on Wednesday night. The phone originally came from Orange but it was no problem unlocking it for any network. Thank you Samsung for leaving the unlock code in the phone itself. I couldn't stand all the Orange branded firmware so I flashed it with the latest firmware and a leaked version of 2.2 Froyo. Much better. Unfortunately the T-mobile PAYG sims I had in the house were no longer valid so I've not been able to try out the Internet functions of it except on WiFi at home. My Vodafone contract had no data allowance. I've ordered a new sim from T-mobile to use until my contract runs out. I like the big display but it's not as good as I was hoping for reflectivity and daylight legibility. Still very nice to look at outside of direct light. Still getting to grips with all the stuff on it. Battery life seems a bit sparse but apparently it will get better as it gets more use and I make more adjustments. Still may be worth investing in a spare battery if going to be heavy usage every day. There is even a blogpsot app for blogging on the go. Overall I'm very happy with it so far.

Let's hope the weekend is a good one.

Keep it green everybody.

11/09/10-12/09/10

P&L for 11/09/10-12/09/10

Football : 29.53

P&L since last post : 29.53

Football.

42 markets traded this weekend. 2 reds totalling £116.24. The first was standard stuff. The second could have been avoided and I think I was still stinging from the first and chasing a little bit. Fortunately I had a good green before the losses came and so I was able to get back to green without too much difficulty.

All I've kept thinking this weekend is 'A Galaxy S is on it's way'. I'm such a geek but I can't help it. I hope the seller posts it promptly(like yesterday). I'll give you a small review on Friday.

Keep it green everybody.

06/09/10-10/09/10

P&L for 06/09/10-10/09/10

Football : -42.51

P&L since last post : -42.51

Could have been worse I suppose.

Football.

31 markets traded. 2 reds totalling £118.12. Quiet on Wednesday and Thursday matchwise. Not a catastrophic red by any means. I will try to do better over the weekend.

I won the first auction I bid on ebay for a Samsung Galaxy S £320 + £5 postage. This was £10 less than the maximum bid I was prepared to make. The seller has told me he will send it out tomorrow so I hope to get it Monday or Tuesday. This will be my last expensive toy purchase for quite some time.

Keep it green everybody.

04/09/10-05/09/10

P&L for 04/09/10-05/09/10

Football : -149.79

P&L since last post : -149.79

Stupid mistake yet again.

Football.

23 markets. 1 red of £268.53. I wasn't paying attention to what stake button I had selected and somehow had the full stake button active. I realised as soon as the back was matched and whacked in a lay to scratch and of course with 1 second to go before entering the market a goal is scored. BOLLOCKS. So I had to take the red on the chin. It was stupid to even have a full bank stake button set in the first place. It's just a habit I have of setting 100% 50% 25% and 10% every time I gain more green even though I only use the 10%. From now on I will only set a 10% and 25% button. I did manage £118.74 green this weekend and would have still came out green if I hadn't made this mistake.

I got to play with my friends Galaxy S yesterday. His new contract doesn't begin for a month and he has no data allowance on his existing contract so he brought it around to me to try out on my WiFi. I was dismayed to see all the 3 network crap on it that would keep telling me to turn on the 3G connection even though the WiFi was connected. Every single app using internet would throw up the message, even the sodding radio. When I get mine I will root it and upgrade to Android 2.2 with no network shite to clog it up. Amazing phone though.

Keep it green everybody.

30/08/10-03/09/10

P&L for 30/08/10-03/09/10

Football : 88.15
Tennis : 20.71

P&L since last post : 108.86

"TENNIS!!" I hear you cry. I know. I weakened.

Football.

16 markets this week. No reds. A very good green bolstered by a sudden upsurge in the market as I was going in on Montenegro v Wales tonight. A mad bot or a miss click I don't know but I profited from it.

Tennis.

I got lured in to the tennis with it being on late and me being bored. Just 5 matches and all fairly safe first rounds with the matches going well before I got in. I'll be steering clear for the rest of the tournament.

Today was weighing day. 21 days since my last weigh in and I've dropped 3.6kg to 108.2kg. I'm quite pleased with this as I had to scale back the exercise the last 2 weeks due to my back problems. I hope that in 3 weeks time on 24/09 I see 4kg+ loss now that I'm back on the x-trainer more rigorously. I'm now at the half way point having lost a total of 18.5kg since the beginning of January with 18.2kg to go to target.

Lots of international football this weekend to keep me busy and away from the tennis.

Keep it green everybody.

28/08/10-29/08/10

P&L for 28/08/10-29/08/10

Football : 33.68

P&L since last post : 33.68

Football.

33 markets traded. Saturday was a good day but I took 2 reds early on Sunday totalling £86.80. So I spent the rest of the day playing catch up. Back into green by the end of the night though. One of the reds was avoidable so I was a bit pissed about that.

I was green with envy when my friend called me and let me know he had picked up a Samsung Galaxy S that day. I'm planning to get this phone myself in a couple of months. I've been using an Omnia for the past 2 years and it's done the job but I've had enough of Windows Mobile and I'm looking forward to the new Android.

Keep it green everybody

23/08/10-27/08/10

P&L for 23/08/10-27/08/10

Football : 5.01

P&L since last post : 5.01


Football.

21 Markets traded. 2 losses totalling £76.10. These came at the start of the week and I spent the rest of the week making it back to break even. It can be hard to keep a good mindset and not go chasing with bigger stakes than is wise when the week begins badly but I managed it.

I had almost managed to get my back to a pain free state when I hurt it again yesterday lifting too much at once while in a hurry. Now I have to go through another week or so of painful recovery and swallowing painkillers regularly. So bloody annoying!!. I must try not too let it interfere with my trading this weekend though.

Keep it green everybody.

21/08/10-22/08/10

P&L for 21/08/10-22/08/10

Football : -297.74

P&L since last post : -297.74


Total C**t of a weekend.

Football.

44 markets traded. 10 reds totalling £409.46. Only about 3 of these reds were unavoidable. The only thing I did right this weekend was stay within my 10% staking plan. So what happened?. Saturday started reasonably well in the morning matches but in the afternoon I took 2 reds in quick succession and I think this pushed me to make some bad judgements. On several of the following reds if I had taken just a bit more time and been a bit less greedy then I could have avoided them. Of course all this is hindsight and at the time it felt like fate was out to get me. I was a bit short tempered as well what with a back injury and the ever present noise from the neighbours. I did consider calling it a weekend about halfway through Sunday but decided not to miss out on the rest of the days matches. That decision probably cost me about £120 extra. I should try and stay positive and focus on the fact that my greens were £111.72 even if they were overshadowed massively by my reds.

So a bit decimating to my bank but I still have one and it is still a lot healthier than it has been over much of the last 18 months so I will avoid spiralling into a pit of despair. Opportunities will be limited to the late evening matches for me this week and I shall just try to make decent green without taking unnecessary risk. Weekends like this happen and you just have to move on and try not to make the same cock ups again.

Keep it green everybody.

16/08/10-20/08/10

P&L for 16/08/10-20/08/10

Football : 35.58

P&L since last post : 35.58


Football.

46 markets this week. I'm a bit disappointed about this total which I shouldn't be as it's still decent green but I was on course for a much better one before a late red tonight. 2 reds this week totalling £131.48. The first came early on Tuesday and I was quickly able to get back to green. The second, while it didn't push me into the red, was still a bit annoying. Thankfully the 10% rule is keeping my bank healthy and growing.

Let the weekend commence.

Keep it green everybody.

14/08/10-15/08/10

P&L for 14/08/10-15/08/10

Football : 107.22

P&L since last post : 107.22

I haven't posted a green like that in a while, and it wasn't even an all green weekend.

Football.

48 markets traded. 1 red of £51.46. The red came early on Sunday and as I had a good day on Saturday I managed not too chasing and stuck with my 10% staking plan and stayed green for the rest of the day. It has been a long weekend though with J-league matches starting at 1000 and South American and US matches ending after midnight I'm a bit frazzled out. Happy with how the weekend went though.

The quote Rob The Builder posted in his blog here from the Betfair Trader particularly struck home with me this weekend as at times I got a bit bored and found myself considering straying from the 10% plan even though it has been showing good returns and protecting my bank when the reds come. I just keep telling myself 'Patience and Discipline' over and over again.

Keep it green everybody.

09/08/10-13/08/10

P&L for 09/08/10-13/08/10

Football : 24.85

P&L since last post : 24.85

A steady week cut down at the last gasp.

Football.

27 markets traded. 1 red totalling £46.66. This came from one of the matches last night after an all green week. I still get a little frustrated when my profit gets cut down like that after a successful week but I was able to stop myself from any foolish chasing and the week ended up with a decent green.

I've steered clear of tennis and horse racing for the moment as I feel they can only be pitfalls for me when I'm doing well.

I've been a little knackered this week as It's been my first full week with my new elliptical cross trainer. I bought one of these and I've been using it regularly in the mornings before cycling to work. While it's on the cheaper end of the scale it's not a bad piece of gear. A weigh in on 13/08 showed me at 111.8kg down from 114.3kg on 06/08 so it seems to be having an effect. I'm switching my weigh ins back to 3 weekly as the week to week is too much scale watching for me so next weigh in on 03/09. I'm now 14.9kg lighter than I was on 04/01, 21.8 kg to go to my target of 90kg.

Keep it green everybody.

07/08/10-08/08/10

P&L for 07/08/10-08/08/10

Football: 79.20

P&L since last post : 79.20

I was up late last night and didn't have time to post this morning.

Football.

30 matches traded. I took 1 red of £43.15 which I was a bit annoyed about as It was a stupid loss to take and everything was screaming at me to leave the match be but my impatience and greed still sometimes gets the better of me. Still another impressive weekend though. I have been alternating between lower staking than before and just using the same depending on how I feel about the risk in the match.

I did not touch the matched betting offers that I posted about previously due to the amount of money needed to do them with the WR in the T&C's. I just decided to give it a miss for now.

Keep it green everybody.

02/08/10-06/08/10

P&L for 02/08/10-06/08/10

Football : 76.07

P&L since last post : 76.07

Football.

18 markets traded. No Reds. Still pushing hard. I'm going to drop the stake percentage to try and protect the bank I've built up. It's bigger now than it has been in 16 months.


The return of football as most of the betting sites are hailing this weekend. Yes the big leagues come back tomorrow. Bet365 have offered me a 100% up to £100 bonus which I'm considering Matched Betting. I note that they also have a 100% up to £50 for their new mobile service for all new and existing customers. Dust off those user names and passwords or sign up if you want some free cash. LOL. I'm still not missing the tennis in the slightest.

Good luck with the first weekend back and keep it green everybody.

31/07/10-01/08/10

P&L for 31/07/10-01/08/10

Football : 22.87

P&L since last post : 22.87

Up and down weekend.

Football.

33 markets traded. 2 reds totalling £94.91. Still pushing aggressively throughout the matches. I was not amused by the 96th minute goal in the Paris St-g v Roma match especially when I discovered my green out had vanished without being taken while I was looking at another market. I had a palm to forehead moment when I leaped on a ridiculously high price in what I thought was the end of the S Korea v Colombia Women's match only to realise I was looking at the Germany v Nigeria women's match which didn't start until 1400. I left a scratch in place but it wasn't taken before the first goal and so I put it back in place again and the game stayed at 1-0 until I was able to scratch out at half time. So I really need to look before I leap.

Despite these setbacks I still had a reasonable weekend.

Another week of late shift is upon me so there will be limited opportunities to trade anything. I got all my spanner twirling done early on Saturday only to discover another problem that needs my attention. The joys of owning a 20 year old motorbike.

Keep it green everybody.

26/07/10-30/07/10

P&L for 26/07/10-30/07/10

Football : -11.47
Horse Racing : 0.67

P&L since last post : -10.80

I don't feel too bad about this red considering...

Football.

33 matches traded. Pursuing the same aggressive pace despite my protestations that I wanted to calm it down a bit. I took 3 reds totalling £177.99 which is why I don't feel too bad about coming out only £11.47 down. After making decent green on Monday I took the first red on Tuesday and then battled back to break even only to take the second red late on Wednesday, and made another run to break even only to take the third red late on Thursday.

Horse Racing.

3 races traded. 1 scratch and 2 small green. Not really giving it that much attention.


So my bank now sits a high point considering the state of play over the last couple of years and I should now try to moderate my approach to avoid pissing it all away again. Will I though?. Time will tell. Another busy weekend of football ahead. Almost like a main season weekend with all the friendlies on. I will have to miss some of it due to more urgent motorcycle spanner twirling.

Keep it green everybody.

24/07/10-25/07/10

P&L for 24/07/10-25/07/10

Football : 51.03
Horse Racing : 0.32

P&L since last post : 51.35

WOW!.

Football.

29 matches traded. I used every opportunity and strategy I have. Beginning, middle, and end. I took two reds totalling £18.63. I was surprised when I checked the total at the end of the weekend. I hope I can continue like this but I expect I've just been very fortunate and I should be a bit more cagey going forward.

Horse Racing.

Only 1 race traded. I just wasn't paying the horse racing much attention.

Crappy weekend otherwise. What should have been a simple oil change and clutch cover gasket replacement turned into a nightmare of a stripped thread and now my bike is leaking oil. Of course Screwfix did not have what I needed to fix it and it'll be tomorrow before I can get it sorted. I did get a new front tyre done though so at least something got accomplished.

Keep it green everybody.

19/07/10-23/07/10

P&L for 19/07/10-23/07/10

Football : 25.56
Horse Racing : -1.43

P&L since last post : 24.13

Stonking week.

Football.

18 markets over same number of matches. No reds. I'm surprised that I didn't take a red as I was pushing a bit harder than usual and I usually come a cropper on that. It's maybe because I was just taking each trade individually rather than focusing on the whole.

Horse Racing.

Just 2 races traded. 1 scratched and the other for the red when it sped away from me as soon as I was matched. After that I was concentrating on the football too much.

Things changed a bit for me over the last couple of weeks. I've not been happy with much for a long time. Job, Home, Life, Trading, etc. I took stock of what is and isn't important to me and made a hard choice or two. The result of which is I have new plan for the next 4 years that has short and long term goals and will see me in a much better place at the end and it doesn't rely on me making a bucket of money at trading, which let's face it I've been pretty shaky and undisciplined at so far. The result of this is I haven't felt the same sense of urgency tinged with despair when making my trades and I think it has helped me focus a little. I hope it continues in this way.

Keep it green everybody.

17/07/10-18/07/10

P&L for 17/07/10-18/07/10

Football : 13.33
Horse Racing : -0.06

P&L since last post : 13.27


Football.

18 markets. No reds. Nothing remarkable. Getting busier with all the friendlies. Still missing some of the matches with all the attention I've been giving the horse racing.

Horse Racing.

7 races traded. One red of £3.15 which I let run on too long. I still need to cut them earlier.

Keep it green everybody.

12/07/10-16/07/10

P&L 12/07/10-16/07/10

Football : 5.13
Horse Racing : -4.81

P&L since last post : 0.32

Good week went a little sour at the end.

Football.

Only 7 matches. There was more on, especially with all the friendlies, but I was also trading the evening races so my focus was split. Decent enough return.

Horse Racing.

16 races traded. 4 reds. 2 were small reds, the kind you should be taking when trading properly. The other 2 were bigger. The first being £5.66 when I went in at the low point in the movement and I sat on it as it soared back up. It came down again to where I could have taken a pittance of a red but I didn't and it went back up again. I redded out rather than let it go in running. My second big red was a stupid one. I fell asleep on the sofa last night and woke just before 0500. Rather than go to bed and get woken up by my neighbours I waited to see if they were going to be getting up early. While I waited I was idly checking Betfair and I noticed that the Aussie racing was in-running at some tracks which usually means more liquidity. I decided to use a stake equal to my green for the week and did a few trades. First 4 were okay for small green. On the 5th though the market moved away from my lay and I foolishly let it go in-running. It never came back down to my lay and I lost just about all my green for the week. Total red for the Horse Racing was £10.62.

So discipline letting me down again. I will have to be more willing to take my reds on the racing if I want to make green from it.

Many friendlies on this weekend again and lots of racing as usual.

Keep it green everybody

10/07/10-11/07/10

P&L for 10/07/10-11/07/10

Football : 3.75
Horse Racing : 4.66

P&L since last post : 8.41

More green, Waheey!.

Football.

Very little done this weekend. 5 markets over 4 matches. Multiple trades. Only the World cup final on Sunday. I was out for most of the day.

Horse Racing.

Once again I dabbled. I find that if I stick to the races with a short priced favourite I can generally safely enough do 2 trades for a couple of ticks each in the 5 mins before the off. Or perhaps I've been immensely lucky. Still a struggle to know where the markets is going and by the time the realisation hits that it's going to move I've missed it.

There won't be much racing done this week though as I'm back on lateshift so only the evening races and they are very different to the daytime stuff I find. I also gave the match bet on the WC final a miss as I didn't have a large enough bank to make it worthwhile to have the money tied up.

Keep it green everybody.

05/07/10-09/07/10

P&L 05/07/10-09/07/10

Football : 5.56
Horse Racing : 8.56

P&L since last post : 14.12

Amazingly good week.

Football.

17 markets over 17 matches. I did push it a bit more than was probably wise but came out green on everything. I hope it continues.

Horse Racing.

I dabbled in the pre-race trading again purely out of boredom and too keep me away from the minor tennis that was on. I did 12 races and came out green on every one. I did let one go in-running which I'm not proud of as it was a real squeaky bum first couple of minutes but it came through and I got out all green before he lost. I found it difficult to concentrate and I'm not sure if I was catching the fluctuations properly or just getting lucky. A lot of the time the market would move faster than I could click or would go in completely the opposite direction from the WOM. A tough game to be sure. I should be more cautious with it in future though.

A slightly busier football weekend upon us. A lot of friendlies on which can be better for trading. I'll be avoiding the tennis again as I still cling too losing trades too much thinking 'they are the better player they MUST win'.

Another Paddy Power offer but this time it's for refund losing bets on certain markets if the Holland v Spain match ends 0-0 after 90 mins. I know there is a way to match bet this kind of offer but I think it may be a bit convoluted and tie up too much of my bank for the duration so I'll have to think about it.

Second week in a row without booze. It can be a bit tedious but if I'm going to continue shedding weight I've got too abstain. I've made so little progress and now the summer is here and I'm suffering. Cycled every day this week to work again but got no supplementary exercise.

Keep it green everybody.

03/07/10-04/07/10

P&L for 03/07/10-04/07/10

Football : 3.32
Matched Bet : 6.58

P&L since last post : 9.90

Quiet weekend to be showing all that green.

Football.

Only 6 matches traded. Multiple trades one each. The disallowing of the Argie goal on Saturday really saved my backside as I was in when it scored. Got out straight after though.

Matched Bet.

As I had said I got a £10 SNR freebet from paddy power in the email so I put the Qualifying £10 bet through laying spain and got an exact odds match at 1.5 which left me with a £0.17 loss. Of course Spain won so I am now waiting for the £15 from that qualifier to make it back to me through Paypal and just loaded the £5 liability back straight away. I was struggling to find suitable odds for a SNR freebet and there was precious little on that paddy and BF were both covering. Eventually I settled for Nadal 3-2 and got odds of 6 and 7 leaving me with £6.83 from the freebet. Not the best odds but the best I could get Saturday night. With the £0.17 inital loss on qualifier and the £0.08 paypal fee loading the Liability back in I took a grand total of £6.58 from a £10 SNR. I remember rule of thumb being 75% return from SNR matched betting but if your impatient or struggling for odds then 65% ain't bad. Thank god Nadal didn't win 3-2 or most of my bank would have ended up on the Paddy side and I'd be waiting 2-3 days to see it again. I will keep a closer eye on my inbox for other offers like this.

A bit of football on this week from the Scandinavian leagues at least to keep me ticking over. Early shift for me as well so I'll be home for it all.

Keep it green everybody.

28/06/10-02/07/10

P&L for 28/06/10-02/07/10

Football : 4.77

P&L since last post : 4.77


Feels good to be posting some green for a change.

Football.

10 markets over 10 matches. No big problem or reds. I did probably 3 trades on each. Perhaps a bit greedy but there was so little on post 8pm.

Being back at work enabled me to avoid all the tennis shenanigans that have plagued me over the past few weeks. Doesn't sound like I missed much. I'm surprised Nadal's price is so high against Berdych even considering his recent form. I think he'll win but I'm not going to "lump on".

I'll be doing a bit of matched betting this weekend. I still get loads of e-mails from bookies that I registered with years ago when I did matched betting and most of the time delete them unread as they are not free bets or too convoluted to be worthwhile. However Paddy Power are offering me a £10 free bet SNR if I bet £10 using a voucher code so I'll be doing just that. I may keep a closer eye on what appears in my inbox as well.

Keep it green everybody.

21/06/10-27/06/10

P&L for 21/06/10-27/06/10

Football : -15.54
Tennis : -21.16

P&L since last post : -36.70

The never ending red continues....

Football.

The two reds I took totalling £17.96 should both have been successful green trades but for one foolish mistake. I had the stake setting on liability for doing lay trades on the tennis and both times fail to notice this when putting in my outs. This had the effect of laying far more than I had backed for, especially at sub 1.05, and by the time I noticed I had no choice but to red out. Just a ridiculous lack of attention to detail that cost me.

Tennis.

Once again I would start with much green on matches laying the lower odds player on the opponents serve but I would get too greedy and hold on far too long when the market went against me. It's very frustrating when you have taken a red and think the match is pretty much done only for a total flip flop of the odds and scores. I built up a large green on the Mahut v Isner match between about 37 games all and the end of play that day but then pissed it all away thinking Mahut would save the serve he lost on, my greed got the better of me again. My losses totalled £47.25.

Well no more tennis for me this week as I'm back to work. This is probably a very good thing. I'll just concentrate on getting whatever is available in the evening football and maybe I'll be able to post a small green. I have been totally off the rails and it has cost me a lot of money which is a bit sickening when added up. I will try to get back to basics again.

Keep it green everybody

14/06/10-20/06/10

P&l for 14/06/10-20/06/10

Football : -16.28
Tennis : -112.99
Horse Racing : 0.11

P&L since last post : -129.16

The slide into destitution continues. I've actually deposited nearly £90 into my account in 5 days but I did it in dribs and drabs while chasing and you don't realise how it adds up. If I'd dumped it in in one go I probably would have been more careful with it.

Football.

28 markets. Only one red on the Football but it was a full stake loss of £20.74. I had just lost on the tennis and was tilting madly and when the goal came I couldn't bring myself to red out and subsequently lost everything.

Tennis.

Once again boredom and lack of football sent me to the tennis. 21 matches and I took reds on 7 of them. Some of them were ridiculous snap bets and I'm not very proud of any of it. I did some laying of the leader on the opposing serve and for the most part it went well but my downfall was being to greedy. I would go in once too often as a match got to a critical point and then would not take a small loss as the market went the other way making it a big loss.

Horse Racing.

3 pre-off £2 stake trades just on a whim. I may continue to try this but at the moment with my current mindset it would probably just be more loss.

So for the week ahead I have a measly sum in my account which I will be very careful with. I will try to keep the risk to a minimum and not be greedy or impatient. I need to put thoughts of overall green or red out of my mind and focus purely on the trade at the moment. I will limit myself to no more than 2 trades on tennis matches and carry on with my usual football trading.
We shall see what happens. It would be really nice to get back to posting green again.

Keep it green everybody.

04/06/10-13/06/10

P&L for 04/06/10-13/06/10

Football : 1.12
Tennis : -46.68

P&L since last post : -45.56

Long time no post. That red is about half of what I've deposited over the past 9 days.

Football.

59 markets traded. 3 losses totalling £12.87. Quiet now with only the summer leagues and what world cup matches are on.

Tennis.

I had planned to steer clear of the tennis but with so little football on and being off work simple boredom got the better of me. It has been a roller coaster of foolishness and chasing. 37 matches. 8 losses totalling £167.64. A lot of green in between each loss but the scale is still tipping into the red. If there is one thing I know it's that tennis is very unreliable and unless you have cast iron discipline it's nightmare to trade. I have noticed that you probably would've made a fortune laying the favourites below 1.1 in the recent tournaments as very few matches involving them have gone smoothly. Might be worth a look.

I'm going to try and be a bit more restrained and do less chasing. We'll see. LOL.

Keep it green everybody.

24/05/10-30/05/10

P&L for 24/05/10-30/05/10

Football : -63.18
Tennis : -39.95

P&L since last post : -103.13

This was the reason for no post at the end of the week. I was in a spiral of stupidity.

I'll dispense with the usual breakdown of each sport and just tell it linearly.

Monday was a bog standard day with several trades giving me decent green. Tuesday is where it kicked off. I was home in the afternoon and fired up Betfair to see what was happening on the tennis. On Roddick v Niemen with Roddick leading after the first set I backed him only to watch him lose the next two sets at which point I flipped to Niemen only for him to lose the tie break and then I flopped back to Roddick and ended up taking a £69.79 loss. I was less than amused at the match and my own foolishness. I went on a reckless tear on the tennis and doing Russian roulette one goal from dead trades on the football. Gained about £35 of it back during the rest of Tuesday. Even more reckless trading followed on the Wednesday and by Thursday I was a few quid shy of green for the week when I got hit by a late goal on the Denmark Senegal match and took a £61.43 red. Things proceeded on like this. On the Friday I backed Verdasco 3-0 after he had won the first two sets. VERDASCO!!!!, WTF was I thinking?. Of course he loses the 3rd set 6-0. and I take a £30.90 red. I almost got back to break even on the Saturday when I took two football hits in a row which wiped out most of my bank and I was trading with a pittance on Sunday which I finally blew on Andy Murray. Bank Gone!!.

The spark that ignited all of this this was when I backed an unreliable player outside of staking plan in a sport that can at times be impossible to predict. This set me on a mad chase and ignited my gambling urges resulting in me loosing all the green I had painstakingly built up, YET AGAIN!!!.

I'm going to take this week away from trading to think and do other stuff. I'll restart on Saturday and just stick to the football. It's always when I go into other sports that I lose the plot. A period spent building my bank steadily without reckless swings will be refreshing.

Mainly I'm just disappointed in myself yet again

Keep it green everybody.

22/05/10-23/05/10

P&L for 22/05/10-23/05/10

Football : 10.28
Horse Racing : 0.36

P&L since last post : 10.64

Football.

16 markets over 16 matches. No reds. One of my greens was much bigger than intended when I accidentally used full bank on a trade and the market dipped suddenly afterwards. I'll have to pay more attention to my stake buttons. I probably shouldn't have a full stake button but it helps me keep track of increases when I'm getting returns from multiple matches ending at the same time.

Horse Racing.

I did 2 pre race trades out of boredom more than anything else using small stakes. I've always meant to spend time learning the pre race trading but it's a time consuming venture and I'm busy most afternoons.

The French Open is upon us. Looked kinda like Murray was going out this afternoon but he made a big comeback. I havent' seen any action yet in the French Open. We'll see what happens.

I have mixed feelings about the LOST finale. To be expected after 6 years of watching. Could've been better and they could've explained more. Done now though.

Keep it green everybody.

17/05/10-21/05/10

P&L for 17/05/10-21/05/10

Football : 11.31

P&L since last post : 11.31

Football.

25 markets over same number of matches. 1 red totalling £3.21. I did have one strange moment when a back I put in got taken 14 ticks higher than I had requested which had me worried until I saw the market immediately go back down to the previous level and I greened out for a much bigger profit than expected. Perhaps someone wasn't paying attention or their Bot had a fit.

No tennis this week. I expect I will dabble in the early rounds of the French open next week as I'm on early shift next week and will be able to keep an eye on play. A subdued weekend on the football ahead as to be expected. Still plenty of opportunities though.

The horrendous hot weather is upon us. I spent most of the week sweating in a hot van. I hope this summer isn't like the last.

15/05/10-16/05/10

P&L for 15/05/10-16/05/10

Football : 10.19
Tennis : 3.26

P&L since last post : 13.45

Football.

A much reduced weekend. 31 markets over same number of matches. No reds. Quite a good return .

Tennis.

Only one match traded. Almagro v Nadal. I traded Nadal but don't recall much about the circumstances. I completely missed the final against Fed. Not much on for the rest of this week.

If you saw someone in the street with a cardboard sign that said 'Free Hugs' would you hug them?. Saw lots of student types in the Royal Mile holding these signs. For the ten minutes I was watching them I didn't see many takers. That may be a sad relection on our society.

Keep it green everybody.

10/05/10-14/05/10

P&L 10/05/10-14/05/10

Football : 3.61
Tennis : 7.20

P&L since last post : 10.81

Better than I expected.

Football.

15 markets over 15 matches. No reds. A quiet week as many will be until the world cup comes.

Tennis.

Unexpectedly large gains in the tennis. 4 matches traded. I do have to confess to one being a blind trade on Isner v Nadal, just a little slip I hope. I gambled on Fed against Gulbis when he took the second resoundingly. I should have greened out when he took the first 2 points on Gulbis serve but didn't. I did get a bigger green when he broke him later on but not a safe trade by any means. Decided that Murray was looking to ropey against Ferrer and that I would call it a night.

Still quite a busy Saturday tomorrow. Best make use of it while it lasts.

Keep it green everybody.

08/05/10-09/05/10

P&L for 08/05/10-09/05/10

Football : 6.34

P&L since last post : 6.34

Football.

26 markets over same number of matches. No reds. It was a quiet weekend for me. I missed out on a lot of matches due to a visitor on Saturday and then on Sunday I was busy in the afternoon and missed the last premier league games.

No tennis again. Had no time for it. I doubt I'll have much time for the Madrid open this week due to work

Keep it green everybody.

03/05/10-07/05/10

P&L for 03/05/10-07/05/10

Football : 4.08

P&L since last post : 4.08

Football.

A relatively quiet week for me being on an early shift. Only 29 markets over same number of matches. I took one red of £0.84 which was an accidental lay caused by me leaning on the mouse an not noticing until it had dropped a several ticks. I was unable to gain any of it back as the match went out of my boundaries too quick.

I could have done more but I was having trouble sleeping at night and so was catching up in the afternoons/early evening so I missed a lot of matches. I hardly even glanced at the tennis. At least the week came out green.

Are you as underwhelmed by the election as me?. I was surprised at the turnout but I suspect postal voting had a lot to do with it. I was also surprised at the reports of people queueing to vote and not able to get in. As usual the news was a little vague on times and things. I doubt there were queues around the corner from 0700 to 2200. My polling station was deserted when I went at 1400. Now we have a hung parliament and much backroom dealings where you can be sure the people who suffer most are the ordinary workers.

Keep it green everybody.

01/05/10-02/05/10

P&L for 01/05/10-02/05/10

Football : 3.87
Tennis : 0.99

P&L since last post : 4.86

Quiet weekend.

Football.

27 markets over 27 matches. No reds. Waheey!. Missed all the Saturday afternoon matches as I was out visiting friends. I was going to cry off but decided getting out and about was more important.

Tennis.

One match traded on Saturday as Ferrer was beating Verdasco. Not sure about this weeks tennis. I think Fed has a good chance at Estoril if he's into it. Not so certain about Djoko in Serbia though.

I see Betfair have quite a few general election markets. I was surprised to see Voter Turnout market showing 60 -75 percent as likely. I guess people are thinking that the postal vote will bump up numbers. I was not surprised to see the Conservatives are almost joint fav with No Majority. After 13 years of Labour we need someone else but who?. Coming from a mining family I would have a hard time voting Tory but are they the same party still?. I don't think anyone can say labour is the "working man's" party anymore, at least not with a straight face. The biggest question is probably is there any difference really between the parties?. Also what difference will the outcome make to an ordinary working stiff like me?. One thing is for sure whatever the outcome, MP's and all the hangers on will still be lining their pockets at our expense as they tell us they have no money to make things better and it's all the fault of the previous government. It's kind of depressing when you think about it.



Keep it green everybody.

26/04/10-30/04/10

P&L for 26/04/10-30/04/10

Soccer : 1.38
Tennis : 2.52

P&L since last post : 3.90

Not a bad week.

Football.

Rather quiet on the footie front. 15 markets over 15 matches. 1 red of £1.15. So a fairly good result considering.

Tennis.

I stuck to my no blind trading rule. Fortunately there were some matches starting at 1930 so I was able to get some trades in at the end of them when I got home from work. 3 matches but one of them I scratched so only 2 successful trades.

The saga of the bike tire continued this week with me using the motorbike from Tuesday onwards as the cycling was too unreliable until my new tire arrives via post. It has come but my buddy has it 'cause I have to have everything sent to him otherwise it's a trek to delivery office. Being on the motorbike did motivate me to get out in the morning for a walk. I've shortened my route and made it more intense by doing an immense flight of steps several times up and down. When I get back I've also begun doing weights and body strengthening exercises. I'm sleeping like a baby, until the scumbag neighbours start the early morning noise fest that is.
I weighed myself yesterday and came up at 118kg. So no change but hopefully I'll keep on with my morning routine and get back to cycling as well so I expect to see a drop in 3 weeks time. I was pointed to a great website with video workouts which is pretty motivating. See if you can work out why here.

Keep it green everybody.

24/04/10-25/04/10

P&L for 24/04/10-25/04/10

Football : 6.54

P&L since last post : 6.54

Football.

41 markets over 41 matches. No reds. Nothing remarkable to speak of. A lot of this kind of grinding trading is like this. Unless something goes wrong there is not much to speak of.

A lot of tennis this week but I won't be seeing any of it cause I'm at work.

Keep it green everybody.

19/04/10-23/04/10

P&L for 19/04/10-23/04/10

Football : 1.74
Tennis : -3.33

P&L since last post : -1.59

Meh.

Football.

25 markets over 24 matches. 1 red of £1.04. All relatively standard stuff.

Tennis.

Took leave of my senses yet again on Tuesday when I decided to blind trade Soderling and Robredo. Couldn't monitor as I was at work and Robredo lost. I had foolishly used a larger percentage of my bank than was wise so it was a bit of a hit. I managed to reduce it with further tennis risks during the week but not the best idea all round. I think I have to leave the tennis alone unless it's a match I can watch. I'm sure I have said that before it's just greed and impatience getting the better of me.

Lots of football as usual for a Saturday. I must try to get other things done though. So much to do and I spend all weekend sat on the sofa with my laptops.

Keep it green everybody.

18/04/10

P&L for 18/04/10

Football : 2.95

P&L since last post : 2.95


Reloaded £40 and off we go again.

Football

20 markets over the same number of matches. No reds. A good solid day with no risky crap or chasing.

So I begin again. Will this time be any different?. Will I blow it all when after months of(relative) discipline?. I'd like to think the answer is yes and no, respectively. Past experience doesn't bear that out though. I'll just take each day and trade as they come and see what happens.

Keep it green everybody.

17/04/10

P&L for 17/04/10

Football : -100.42
Horse Racing : -34.10

P&L since last post : -134.52


WTF!!!!!! is wrong with me???!!!!

I did a couple of matches okay then took a small red of £3.84 . I did a couple of more matches okay and a horse lay. I then did another horse lay and of course the sodding thing wins. How could it loose with form like 04-60000?. Of course any horse can win a race regardless of field and form and that's why I shouldn't lay horses especially outside of staking plan . Anyway that little escapade cost me £36.00 .After that I was in a mood and began a foolish full bank back of Hamburg v Mainz u1.5 while it was in IT at 1-0. It came in and I then moved onto Sunderland v Burnley full bank u3.5 in IT with 2 goals scored and again it came in. After that I recovered about 2 quid shy of my loss on the horses and I should stop this madness. I should call it a momentary loss of control, thank my lucky stars and go back to safe trading. That would be far too sensible for a muppet like me. I go for one more Full bank for 3 ticks to get me back to even on the FC Miditjyland v FC Kobehavn u4.5 with 4 goals scored. In the 5th minute of IT the 5th goal goes in and the bank is gone.

£132.33 down the drain. All my efforts over the past 4 months for naught. AGAIN. Einstein said the definition of insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again and expecting a different result. Why don't I learn?. Every time I begin to get somewhere after months of time and effort plugging away I do something like this.

Leaving Betfair alone for the rest of the day and tomorrow I'll deposit again and start all over. I think some serious drinking is in order.

Keep it green everybody.