Hard lesson

I was only saying to the missus earlier that I might take the plunge and buy an iPad 2


It would give me something to mess about with even though I've got every sort of computing device going already.

So to lose nearly the cost of an iPad in one race is a bit disturbing


A hedging error in-running, brought on by desperation, turned a -£100 loss into more than thrice that.

But the difference between now and, say 12 months ago, is that I didn't sulk or beat myself up about it - I just carried on clawing it back. I was pleased to claw back a ton to reduce the deficit. With the Bank Holiday tomorrow, I intend to get back much of the rest.

It put a dent in my week's profits that's for sure

See-saw

Another one of those see-saw days illustrated by the following chart


At about 7pm, the profit switch flicked over to the "ON" position and the money came.

I haven't quite worked out why I had to win £280 and lose £150 in order to make the £130 profit (I don't mean the Maths!). I think I've only ever had one 100% positive day in all my 500+ days trading on Betfair. Perhaps accepting losses is just a bad habit I've got into?

Since yesterday, I've started hiving off my profits into the Aussie wallet again so I'll have a decent bank for Royal Ascot, which isn't too far away. I don't know where the Spring / Summer months are going but we'll soon be on the run-up to Christmas again at this rate and I'm not happy about that!

In other news, does anyone get annoyed by Tommo's commentary on Timeform? I'm starting to get irritated by his exageration of certain horses' chances as he calls them home. The Timeform pundits are forever correcting his calls after the race. Admittedly, it's not the easiest job in the world and I still don't know how they do it - especially with large fields in sprints - but there are certainly some racing commentators I'd choose over others when I'm trading in-running...and Tommo is not one of them!


Stick to presenting, Tommo!

Eurovision 2011

Well, the Eurovision trading went ok, with a few more quid earned


I think I managed to forget everything I learned last year but then again, a year is a long time and I don't tend to make notes. No I tell a lie, I don't ever make notes!

With £5 million groats matched on the event, it's nothing to be sniffed at. For the uninitiated, there seems to be 3 stages to the trading: firstly, the speculative trading that happens throughout the semis and right up until the final begins on the telly; then there's the in-running trading that goes on while the songs are playing; and lastly there's the "dix points" bit at the end which is a different beast altogether.

I'd made most in the "middle bit" while the songs were on. The trading at the end, during the scoring, is so swingy about the favourites it reminds me of trading the tennis. I could have done better and made a few mistakes but it's treble what I made last year so that's progress.

The horse trading continues to be kind to me. Dare I say it though, I've been suffering from boredom recently and have therefore been trying to take some more time off so I don't find myself trading 7 days a week. I'm not really "growing" at the moment ie I haven't managed to scale up my winning edge to Adam Heathcote proportions which has contributed to the boredom. There are far more interesting things to be getting on with than watching the ladders and I suppose I'm plateauing, but in a comfortable fashion. In other words, I'm doing enough to get by at the moment.

I ran into a bit of trouble on Wednesday and Thursday. Just to explain, I trade with a 2k bank and only withdraw the profit I make that day in order to "reset" the bank for the next day. It's an OCD-related thing, I have to start the session on a whole amount! :D

I withdrew Tuesday's winnings to my bank to reset my balance to 2k but forgot about the dent the Premium Charge was going to make on Wednesday. I traded on Wednesday with a bank of £1875 and felt like I was playing catch-up the whole session to get my balance over 2k so I could allow myself a withdrawal. The result was a crappy Wednesday



The same thing happened on Thursday too


So on Friday I deposited some money back into the Betfair account to round up the balance to 2k and, voila, no more obsessing about the min 2k balance and the money flowed in


Just by artificially removing this simple distraction, I could concentrate properly and make some decent money once again! That's another lesson learned this week.

Man Utd v Schalke

I couldn't resist a lay of Man Utd's qualifying odds for this week's CL game


I was a Man Utd fan as a kid. It was one of those things I went along with because my Uncle supported them, but these days I have no such allegiances with any team in particular.

Perhaps Utd's loss to Arsenal is an indicator of a less-than-straightforward run-in. A nice early goal from Schalke should shake things up a bit. One can but hope!

Chasing my tail

Had a very poor Saturday yesterday


I couldn't get to grips with the pre-race stuff - especially at Newmarket which seemed to be all over the place - and the in-running trading wasn't too kind either.

Saturday's have, in the past, always been my "banker" days where I can be assured of some decent green. The last two have been very dissapointing indeed. On the other hand, I've had some good midweek sessions that have come as a surprise. There's really no logic to it - when the money wants to come, it will come. The rest of the time I just try and keep my losses to a minimum.

This mentality has kept my feet on the ground and ensured a decent April


I can't grumble at my results, although I realise that I'm still operating at a fairly low level in terms of bank size, stakes and activity in the markets.

I'm not standing still however; my bank is now 2k which gives me a bit more flexibility, and my stakage has been creeping up a wee bit in the last 2 weeks. I have to be careful though not to change things too drastically and risk upsetting the applecart.