Bottlers

I don't really like the use of the word "bottlers" but I'm sure it will be in full force after today's sporting events. I'll start with the Carling Cup and Arsenal v Birmingham, most people had Arsenal down to win but Birmingham's hard work and determination was enough for them to take the cup. Also I might add with a little help from Arsenal defence. Not so much bottling it I'd say more like the same situation repeating itself over and over again Arsenal's defence and goalkeeper has been a major problem for years now that has never been rectified. But I'd much rather say well done to Birmingham City, always nice to see the underdog triumph (well when you don't have any money on the favourites that is).

Next onto the cricket, woke up earlier than the norm on Sunday to settle down to watch this (no betting interest just purely as a England supporter). The game seemed to swing one way then the other, India looked totally in command but collapsed towards the end of their innings but still left England a massive total to chase down. England started their innings well and continued well through the mid-part of the innings and they looked like they where going to win at a canter when Strauss & Bell where at the crease. But in true English style the collapsed ensured leaving the tailenders with what seemed an unlikely 30+ from the last three overs. But remarkably in the last over with three balls to go England where back to favourites once again. The game ended on somewhat of an anti-climax with England knocking a single of the last ball to tie the game. A very nerve-racking game though, suppose you could call both teams "bottlers" to a certain extent but I'd much rather just say it was a great game of cricket between two top sides.

Anyway back to my betting, and this week was thankfully the final full month in February (hooray!). I recorded a loss of the week totalling £70.79, which nicely brings up my record of four straight losing week in February. At least I can't be called for not being consistent enough. Joking aside this week and the last have both been relatively small losses if I consider the size of stakes I'm playing with. It was the first two weeks of the month that really messed up my figures for the year. I'll post a full monthly round up of February either tomorrow or Tuesday, just a word of warning in advice it doesn't look to pretty unfortunately.

On a brighter here's my Betfair P/L for the week, managed to turn a profit but not exactly betting or trading exactly how i'd like to be. Remember I started betting with my last ever £100 I would deposist into Betfair.

Another week goes by

Only time for a short update this week. A week which once again felt strange at times I thought I could be racking up another biggish loss again at others I thought I might just about break-even. In the end I ended the week with a small loss of £58.00 exactly. Which after last week's performance can be considered I good result I suppose. Although I'm never happy with a loss, it's just something you've got to learn to accept and remember the long-term picture. Talking of the long-term picture i'm close to £1k down on the year so far, which is not exactly where I wanted to be but my confidence isn't knocked I still believe in what I'm doing. One thing I can't wait to see the back of is February, what the hell ever happens in February? such a nothing month and seems to be bad in a betting sense also. March brings with it the start of both new and old horse racing systems that I follow. These system are my main profit makers, if the systems go well I should be heading back into profit in no time, these systems go wrong and it could be time to starting worrying slightly.

A week to forget

Although to be fair calling this a week to forget is probably a bit of an under-statement. I blogged about my concerns during the week about my performance and if anything it got worse as the week went on. Just one of those weeks where everything I seemed to back just lost, or with all my horse racing bets finished 2nd. All my systematic bets as well as my own personal bets just couldn't find a winner at all, really shocking stuff. In hindsight maybe my staking was a little on the aggressive side especially considering a deemed January & February to be tricky months to contend with. I've taken the decision to reduce my stakes for the remainder of the month as I know the best moths of the year are still ahead of me. My bookmakers accounts that looked full all but two weeks ago look rather empty right now. Still got size able betting funds but no doubt about I took a huge hit this week.

Total damage = a loss of £1,686.68 for the week which equates to £240 a day, which in all honesty just makes it sound even worse. All the hard work of the previous five weeks seemingly gone with me now operating at a overall for the year. More worrying is probably the fact it's the third losing week out of six, which wasn't part of the plan at the beginning of the year.

Never liked the month of February at all, read somewhere that it is the most depressing month of the year and that doesn't surprise one bit. On a brighter note my Premier League asian handicap bets are seemingly go rather well this month with a 26pt profit to date. In contrast my betfair challenge also took a bit of a blow with me losing a large chunk of my bank on a french football match on Saturday night (silly staking in hindsight, clouded judgement after poor week maybe. Still in overall profit with that but again a size able loss for the week and it feels like I'm back to square one again with that a little. Also saddened to hear the tragic death of two racehorses at Newbury on Saturday. Whilst death amongst race horses is a somewhat unfortunate occurrence, the freak nature in which they died most have left owners and connections very upset, my thoughts are with them.

That saddening news just about sums up my totally crap week in fairness. Easy to let weeks like this psychologically effect you, but it's important to be strong-minded and look at the bigger picture. I firmly believe in my long-term plan and short-term hiccups like this one can happen and it's a simple matter of continuing with your action plan and the winners will come. (or at least I hope they will!).

Very odd week indeed

Don't know what it is but I've felt incredibly odd this week. Had plenty of University work to do but just haven't been motivated to do much of it all. Can't even be bothered to trade that much on Betfair either, although my betfair P/L is the only positive thing so far this week. All my horse racing bets have suffered badly, seems like February is turning into a bit of a shocker for my horse racing bets. Not helped by the heavy going conditions at some tracks I don't think. Funny thing is it doesn't really bother me that much, I know it's a concern obviously but I'm not panicking and going silly like I might have done in the past. This week looks set to be a loss unless a pullout some amazing results this weekend.

Hope I get some of my motivation back I just feel a bit odd right now for some reason. Maybe just tiredness I don't know. Don't usually take much notice of the news it's often melodramatic and repetitive but there was one thing that did brighten my week up, it was this rather amazing footage of some elderly lady thwarting a robbery via the use of a handbag. Don't you just love old people? although as a side note it's a bit of reflection of modern culture, old lady attacks robbers in an act of bravery and protection for her community whilst younger members of society choose to record the robbery on their fancy smart phones rather than actually trying to prevent it.

Think this is the first non-sports related video on my blog, but it's a very worthy one at that.

Granny Power!

Goals Galore

Amazing action all round in the Premier League this weekend. Goals in every single game including some crazy scorelines, a 2-2, 3-2, 4-3, 5-3 and a 4-4. The game of the week though has to go to Newcastle who came back from 4-0 down against Arsenal to draw 4-4. With this screamer from Tiote making the equalizer all that more dramatic.

This is why I love the Premier League

On the subject of football I've done really well with the last two gameweeks in the Premier League both with the midweek fixtures and the weekend ones, with 8 out of 9 selections proving to be winners which was great, also my betfair challenge is going along great (see P/L screenshot below), although it was more outright bets than trades this week, betting Inter Milan just before they scored proving to be the big earner. Haven't had too much time for trading this week unfortunately and won't have much time it these next few weeks also, still try and watch a few games and trade nonetheless.

However this update is supposedly my end of week update (week 5). Unfortunately this week I recorded a loss of £399.70, my horse racing bets let me down a bit this week although it's important to note I operate quite an aggressive staking plan that continues to increase staking amounts as my balance for each system grows. Despite this near £400 loss, I'm overall quite happy this week because my football betting, which has been my weak point in the past, hasperformed well and My betfair challenge seems to be going along okay with me already having double my initial £100 investment there. Always a slight worry when you record a loss but I've got a lot of faith in my horse racing bets as they are proven over a number of years and I'm sure they'll bounce back. The real bright note is knowing that I may yet have a successful future with my football betting both in outright terms and in trading.

End of January Update

Woah! the first month of the year has seemingly flown by and my P/L figure for the month of January is *enter drum roll*.... +£1,232.87.

Considering my entire profit for 2010 was just short of £1,600, this is a massive achievement to get over £1.2k profit in just one month! My decision to increase my stakes on my horse racing bets as thus far seemingly been a wise move. Suddenley my £10k vague target for the year doesn't seem so far-fetched. Carry on at this rate and my annual profit could be closer to £15k! Working out at roughly £280 a week, which isn't bad for my current "part-time" hobby.

Although I have to keep telling myself not to get carried away. Whilst I don't expect to incurr any losing months it is still possible to have a few bad weeks which could mean an underwhelming profit figure for a certain month or even in an extremely bad case a loss.

I'm quite happy with everything at the moment, I've got around £4k nesting in my various accounts. Don't need to hold all this money in thoose accounts but I prefer having decent amount in each account where possible so I can place my bets quickly and without fuss. Bar these gambling funds, I've also got a decent amount left in my bank account which more than covers my student spending needs at present.

My account balances at January month end

Elsewhere I thought it apt to put my new digital camera to use by taking a photograph of some money (don't think that's illegal, is it?). Can use this to go with my £100 challenge updates. But it's sometimes worth reflecting on the actual physical/material side of things I find. The idea of that can so easily get lost with simple figures on a screen, I always like having the physical cash in hand when I go to buy something rather than some piece of plastic you have to swipe around with.

Just need another 49,999 of these and I can buy myself a Fernando Torres.