Still No Real Improvement

It's been a disappointing weekend. In order to trade successfully, you need a clear head with no pressure. Unfortunately, the reason why I've been failing is I don't have the mindset I had last year. This time last year with Roland Garros approaching I had over £4k in my account which I managed to build from £500 in February 2010. Back then I did not owe anyone money and there was no added pressure of knowing that if I had a bad few days, it would not have that much of an impact.

With regards to this week, and to cut a long story short, on Thursday I had a £150 starting bank, and by the time the Super Rugby match between the Melbourne Rebels and the Highlanders had finished on Saturday morning, I built it up to £800+ again. Fast forward 7 hours and I was back down to the £150 mark again - due to losing on a market I usually do so well at. Frustrating. Frame betting on the Snooker this year has been difficult. The trick with frame betting is to look at when it appears unlikely that 'player b' will go onto win the frame. This could be because one of the key balls is on the side cushion making it difficult for him to clear up. This year, I've found top class players such as the likes of Ding Junhui and John Higgins are losing frames from near unlosable positions - when the table is in their favour and unlikely their opponent will go on to win the frame. Just through carelessness. This is only one of the differences I've found compared to previous years. A bit like the Darts, someone out there is beating the Betfair clock by a good few seconds.

Despite it being a difficult week, I've had the odd laugh or two - John Higgins having Betfred (the sponsor of the tournament) on his waistcoat. He must be laughing as well in private because it's the last thing he needed emblazoned on his waistcoat after the so called match fixing/betting scandal he was involved in recently.

Overall, we're almost at May and I've still not had any real improvement this year. I'm worse off than where I was in January. There's no point lying about things, it's not a good position. However, I'm confident things will improve significantly, so let's see what happens in the coming months.

Last 3 Months Profit & Loss

I've been putting this off for a long time, but it's best to keep things honest and show a true reflection of how bad things got. Bear in mind none of the big losses have been recently. Most of the damage was done during the Aussie Open Tennis and the Super Bowl back in late January/early February which was documented on here. I won't dwell on those mistakes, but I got a bit greedy and was aware of the risks I was taking at the time. Unfortunately I never prepared myself for the problems this would cause in the following months, but that's done now. I'm now at the stage where I have to basically start again and build from scratch. It's been a good week, so hopefully things start going in the right direction from now on.

Jan 14th-April 14th 2011.


Aus wallet:


-£3,800.51

Any constructive opinions or comments are welcome.

Starting Afresh

I'm going to draw a line over the last 2 months and start afresh. It’s been a forgettable last few months due to a combination of things but that's no ones fault but my own. It's the risk you take when you choose this route as your only form of income. The good thing is the World Snooker Championship starts this weekend and I usually do well on frame betting, so it's a good place to start.

I've not had a bet since late Thursday, but will be starting again tonight with the NBA. The break has done me good, so hopefully things start to go in the right direction from now on. I just need to kick things off, get to the bank size I feel comfortable with and go from there. I'm not silly enough to persevere with something I know I have no chance of profiting from. Despite all this, I am still in debt, so my priority is to pay these off before anything else.

That's it for now. Oh, btw, look at the ticket below. This shows the extent of how quickly things went wrong. I was going to the Aussie Open in January and didn't even end up selling the ticket. I wish I did now, as I could have done with the money.

Difficult Times

It's been a really testing last few weeks. There's only so many 1.1 shots (for example), last minute goals and losing by 0.5 of a point in handicap markets that I can accept losing. You can be as confident as you like, but when you continue to lose from some of the positions I have, you have to start asking questions. Maybe my luck has run out. Frustrating as well, especially with the World Snooker Championship on the horizon. Frame betting is one of my best markets on Betfair that in the past I have made thousands from, so I really need to sort things out before then.