Whilst my gambling is in a state of unknown so is my future career, I'm awaiting my final results at the end of this week. After that I promised myself to dedicate as much time to searching for jobs and sending in applications in hope of securing a decent graduate entry-level job. Probably not going to be easy because every Tom, Dick & Harry seems to have a degree these days but I believe it's all about marketing and presenting yourself in the right manner. Even if that means stretching the truth a little.
So uncertain times all around a present, I don't really like uncertainty despite dealing in gambling that is inherently uncertain. Getting a good stable job is priority number one at present and my gambling may need to take the backseat at the moment, especially if it continues in the same vein.
On a final more celebratory note, I'd like to say well done to Rory McIlroy for his amazing performance at the US Open. I felt for him and for my wallet after that final round at the Masters but Rory showed he's got character and determination and bounced back from that to totally destroy the field and break all sorts of records. Maybe that's where I went wrong, I should have taken up golf as a toddler.
I sympathise with your current struggles, Denman. I've been working on my betting for the last two years, pretty much every day, and like you seem to be suffering from a little burnout at the moment. A break at the end of the flat season definitely beckons.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be doing everything right this year, but you simply haven't had the rub of the green yet. Last year you also did well, but as I recall you made some bad loss-chasing mistakes on Betfair which decimated your profits, which was unfortunate. Without those errors your overall performance would, of course, look considerably better.
As far as I can tell, at the moment you are around £2500ish down for the year - which doesn't seem TOO bad considering you've upped your stakes quite a bit, although it is quite hard to tell, not being privy to the full details.
Re-evaluating your strategies and investments once in a while is fine. Problems with certain systems can occasionally appear only over time that can make you think twice about current investment levels. For example, I have one system that involves selecting many horses per day in the higher price ranges which over the course of a few weeks highlighted the fact that I'm currently very poor at taking prices in these ranges. This finding legitimately decreased my confidence level and forced me to reduce the bank to a more appropriate amount (at least until I learn what I'm doing in these price ranges.)
You, of course, have to be careful about fiddling with things that don't need changing simply because your confidence is low due to a recent losing run (when such a run is actually perfectly within that system's expectations).
Chin up, Denman. I think you're doing fine. Never bet more than you can afford to lose, though. This is obvious, but very important. Take the total of what you have invested in systems and think what it would be like if you were to lose that money. Would you get over it reasonably well or would it be extremely painful, almost destroying? At the moment, if I lost all that I have invested it would be bad, but not too bad. Which is about right for me.
I feel I haven't provided as much help as I'd have liked to here, Denman, but all the best for the future.
Craig
Thanks for your comments Craig. I'm just short of £2,500 down on the year, although I still have a considerable amount in my "betting pot". I've already down-sized some of my staking and chucked out a few systems which weren't working. I'm currently quite happy with the stakes and systems I'm running.
ReplyDeleteLike you mention I do indeed regret some of my poor decisions and loss-chasing on Betfair, I was £4,500 down on their last year and already a £1,000 down this year. Easy to say in hindsight but without thoose mistakes I could easily have been much better off. The funny thing is a lot of my bookmakers accounts are in a profit and a good number have even restricted my stakes. All this despite me running up a overall loss so far this year.
It's comforting to hear the someone else is going through a stage of "burnout" with regards to placing and sorting out bets every day. Probably seems evne more the case when your making a loss from the whole operation. As I've mentioned before I've down-sized quite a bit now and I've only really got a handful of horse racing systems to follow at present so the workload isn't really an issue. Although I still think some sort of holiday away from it all might do me some good.
Sounds like your betting has settled down a bit. Now patience just seems to be the key. You seem to be doing well in maintaining your discipline, especially considering you're are currently operating at a loss. This discipline is undoubtedly a great asset.
ReplyDeleteI've been limited in a few places, too. It definitely makes the job slightly harder. My main bookies are still accepting my bets, though, so can't complain too much, although the loss of Victor Chandler is slightly damaging.
Burnout is definitely proving to be a problem for me at the moment. Partly my own fault due to devising a system that selects about 15 bets a day, which is proving slightly time consuming. Looks fairly promising, although it has a long long way to go before proving to be of any worth (around 3000 more selections.)
Keep plugging away, Denman. You seem to be on the right track.
Craig