Tuesday 5 April 2011

Remember Me!

As most bloggers who have regular jobs will testify, it takes dedication to regularly publish posts and at the same time so easy to down tools and disappear into the abyss of blogging history. I didn't plan to stop posting, it just wasn't a priority and the longer you leave it, the harder it is to focus on restarting it.

It has been three months since my last post and during this time I have been receiving quite a few comments and emails. At first it was mainly negative abuse towards my selling pitch but more recently I have received comments and direct emails encouraging me to restart it.

With the evening racing nearly upon us giving me more trading opportunities, I have decided to make a determined effort to regularly post again. No talk of spreadsheets (note I have removed my last post about it). It will focus purely on my emotional highs and lows of that fantastic drug that is sports trading and my opinions on any relevant pieces of news that may crop up.

During these three months my Horse strategy has totally changed. I was fed up with the stresses and strains of the pre-race markets where I was making small profits only to make some kind of cock up such as going in play or accidentally leaving bets in the markets.  Yes I was green at the end of each month but for all the emotional effort and turmoil it was just not enough. So I decided to meet my nemises head on and work on an inplay strategy throughout my available weekends. It's been an interesting time with some very hair-raising moments. I was hit big in one race where I had layed the third place horse who had just started to struggle when the front two fell but apart from that I have come through it relatively unscathed.  

What is important whilst trading in play is to keep calm and remember your exit strategy at all times. I now know that the reason I lost far more than I won when I went inplay accidentally was because I was in blind panic with no structure of how I was going to get out of it.

You can appreciate that I don't want to reveal my way of trading other than to say it only applies to distances over 2 miles, preferably over hurdles or fences. I can clearly tell that there are a few traders using the same sort of strategy. It is not laying at very high odds but it does involve reasonably high prices of between 15 and 30 in particular scenarios with many backs and lays. I aim to profit each race with at least £7.50 which adds up to a considerable sum over the session. I still do a little pre race trading during the sprints but it is not so intense as  before as I know that the inplay races are going to give me green.

My football trading is consistantly profitable and it really is thanks to the Trading Football community led my Bingo and Adster. I am not in their forums as much as I used to be but I make sure that I contribute at least twice a week and I always read their excellent daily emails which give early tips and strategies for their TOTD (Trade Of The Day). 

I have recently developed my own strategy which involves finding a game where U2.5 is priced under 1.7. I lay that market and back 1-0 1-1 and 2-0 giving me a small profit on the CS but a lovely jubbly if there is a goal spree. If the home team score I win no matter what else happens. If it's 0-0 after 30 minutes I look to start reducing losses. I used to put a little bit on the 0-0 as insurance but now I more confident with exit strategies I now would rather take te risk and manage the reds. If the away team score first then U2.5 goes out and 1-1 comes in and there is enough potential profit sloshing around that I can minimise my risk but still give me profitable opportunities.You will be suprised how many of these low odds U2.5's end up as overs.

The strategy that really brings rewards is the SHS but more on that next time. I have been lucky enough to get hold of an iPad2 on it's launch day so I will also give my views on the newly released Bet Tornado app for the iPad and also how an already excellent iBetmate on iPhone is even better when it is magnified to fit the iPad.

I will update my stats in the top right section tomorrow.

4 comments:

KO'D said...

Good to see you back :)

Didd said...

Great to have you back Andy, I look forward to reading your posts, good luck with the IR.

500-5000 said...

Hi Andy,

Just been checking out your blog. It's a cracking read. I have recently started my own up. It's not as good as yours yet, and focuses primarily on the football markets. If you could add a link it'd be brilliant.
500to5000.blogspot.com

Many thanks, and congratulations on the blog once more.

Handy Andy said...

Added