Monday 10 May 2010

Easy GeeGee's







Why is it that everything can get in the way of trading? This last week has been a nightmare for that very reason. Made all the more worse by the fact the football season is coming to an end and I wasn’t able to trade. I think all the part-time traders out there will agree that this is a common curse.

I decided today to try my hand at a small stakes, horse triple and doubles bet. The horses chosen were:
Scarlet Rocks (Brighton 14:10)
My Flame (Brighton 14:40)
Brannagh (Brighton 15:10)

I put £2 on the treble and £2 on each of the 3 doubles.

This proved a very profitable bet and may well be a tactic to use, (every now and again of course) while waiting for the new season to start.

Outcome:

Horses: £77.64


Running Total:

Start: £140.84

P/L: £77.64

Total: £218.48

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Should Have Took The Twenty




Tonight’s trade was the complete opposite of yesterday’s trade. I traded Lyon v Bayern using the Under’s strategy, alongside my revised spider staking. I entered the CS market as follows; 1-1, 2-0, 0-2, 2-1, 1-2, 3-1 and 1-3, with Under 1.5 covered to meet liability. At half-time (the score being 0-1), I didn’t think there would be many more goals, so I laid off 2-1, 1-2, 3-1 and 1-3. It was looking a good decision as the green indicator rose quite quickly. At 60 min’s or so I was looking to exit with an overall profit of £20, but Lyon got a man sent off. Before the market could settle properly, Bayern had taken a 2-0 lead, leaving me with a smaller green on CS and having the loss on Under’s. At the end of the day I had a profit, all be it a small one, but more lessons were learned.

I traded a couple of frames in the snooker to quite a good success, as you will see below.


Overview


Running total
Start: £120.08
P/L: £20.76
Total: £140.84

Trading In Hindsight

Having not traded for a few days, it has become apparent that I need to trade more frequently, in order to reach my goal. So from today, I will be making a conscious effort to trade and blog at least one game a day.

Last night I traded Crystal Palace vs. West Brom, using the Under’s strategy with a revised spider staking plan. I entered the market with the following score-lines: 1-1, 2-0, 0-2, 2-1, 1-2 and Under 1.5 goals. By the time half-time came along, the score was 1-1 and, I’d lost my £6 insurance on Under’s. However I had covered 3-1 and 1-3 as the goals went in. I felt that I was in a good position and that West Brom would score again. So I made the decision to take all the green out of 1-1 and 2-1, thus lowering my liability to £15. What a bad decision this was, as at no point did the green indicator go above £6. I stayed in the trade up until 85 min’s hoping for a goal, but it never came, so greened up for 13p lol. If a goal had gone in I would have made an impressive profit, all hindsight of course.

Sometimes in trading, you have to try and predict the path your trade may go. I am pleased, that this sort of thinking has crept into my trading plan. Although I made a loss this time, the knowledge I’ve gained will be invaluable for future trades.

I made £4+ on the final frame of Murphy v Ding match. I have been paper trading a strategy and tested it last night. So watch this space.

Overview











Running total
Start: £121.71
P/L: -£1.63
Total: £120.08

Wednesday 21 April 2010

The Golden Nugget



Tonight has been the first time since Saturday that I’ve been able to sit down and trade a game. This is due to the overwhelming family, work and social commitments I had to adhere to. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining as there were a few tricky games that may have caused me a loss. So, a silver lining and all that.

Before I get onto tonight’s profit or loss I would like to say congratulations to Steve Davis for being the oldest person since Eddie Charlton in 1989 to win a match at the crucible. I was totally engrossed in the game. The sheer determination and battling qualities Steve showed would be a good lesson to any of the new generation coming through. He hasn’t got the scoring power any more or even the natural talent of many of the current players but he doesn’t need that, he has the grit and, the ability to wear players down, to make them doubt their own game, which was evident with Mark King’s body language and manner round the table. This is a trait that helped him win his 6 world crowns and his domination in the 80s.

So, here’s to you, “The Nugget”.


I felt that tonight’s games were going to be a little tricky to call so I decided to scalp a couple of the markets for small stakes, and see what I could achieve.

My outcome

Running Total
Start: £117.37
P/L: £4.34
Total: £121.71

Saturday 17 April 2010

Go It Alone!!


As dawn broke, I awoke to the sound of two wailing children hungry for their breakfast. Instead of the usual, "Give me 10 more minutes", I jumped out of bed with a spring in my step. I began thinking to myself, was this down to the glorious sun beaming through the gap in the curtains or the knowledge that I made a nice profit on my first blogged trade? I think it may have been the latter, because while I was sitting there eating breakfast and giving the youngest her bottle (who says men can't multitask), all I could think about was which match to trade.

Itching to get into a trade, I gazed through various blogs including Pops and Betfair in-play matches. Even though there were some good tips and ideas, I decided to spread my wings and "Go It Alone". So here it was.

Stuttgart vs Leverkusen (Finished 2-1)

Initially covered: 1-1, 2-0, 0-2, 2-1, 1-2, 3-1 and Under 1.5 (with the spider strategy). I had at this point £30+ on CS and £9 on Unders.
Not too long into the game and Lever took the lead 0-1. I stayed calm and waited for the market to settle so I could cover 2-2 and 1-3. To my astonishment Lever went down to 10 men after only 19 mins. At this point the odds on 2-2 and 1-3 rocketed, so I took up this opportunity to back them for small stakes. By the time half-time came along, Stuttgart had equalised. I took the break to assess my situation and felt taking a loss wouldn't be beneficial as I was still in a healthy place even with the loss of my insurance. Fortunately for me, the next goal didn't come till the 85 mins. I had 2-1 and a goal either side covered so I let the trade play out till the end.

My outcome
£9 on Unders, £16.05 on CS, giving me a profit after commission of £6.25.

I also, at the top of the afternoon, traded three horse markets rewarding me with £1.08 profit.

I leave slightly nervous that profit can't always come this easy, but for now, or at least for this evening, I will sip a nice cool beer or two and bask in my limited glory.

Running Total

Start: £110.04
P/L: £7.33
Total: £117.37







Friday 16 April 2010

Start of a new dawn

Well here we go!

I'm one trade in and it proved quite profitable.
I decided for my first trade to cover the Inter vs Juve match using the strategy Pops and I came up with.

I initially covered 1-1, 2-0, 0-2, 2-1 and 1-2 (a slight variation on Pops initial scores see here). With the insurance of under 1.5, alongside my spider strategy on 0-0, 1-0 and 0-1. Luckily for Dark Horse and myself (bearing in mind there was a red card) the score was 0-0 at half time. At which point I was jumping up and down in my corner of the front room. To the amusement of my wife.

I had £1.40 on CS plus £12.05 on the Under's. This giving me £10.04 overall profit after commission. Even though the match finished 2-0, which was one of the scores I covered. The strategy is designed to get out at half-time with a decent profit, if at 0-0.


I must admit, I could not have asked for a better start. Which got me thinking, "Should I start buying the embarrassing Bermuda shorts already?"

Who knows but for tonight it's the start of a new dawn.

Running total
Start: £100
P/L: £10.04
Total: £110.04