Priestley's The Problem!

Daily P/L: £47.58
Monthly P/L: £46.09

I felt good tonight but fell down badly. A great start unfortunately ended in disappointment and I'm left feeling a little baffled.

It was all about the Premier League Darts and I'd been looking forward to it all day. Phil Taylor was back on form and it was nice to see. I'm sure that after his victory tonight he'll be back to his dangerous self for the rest of the tournament. He was looking healthier, more relaxed and hungry for success and as I noticed this quite early I ended his match with Terry Jenkins with a nice profit.

I traded badly in the Barneveld v Manley match. I was slack in my attitude and began holding onto trades for too long. I've been reading a lot about trying to 'let winning trades run' but this philosophy doesn't work for me - mines more like 'get out quick'. I finished the match with a small green figure but it could and should have been a lot bigger.

The Lewis v Lloyd game went to plan and I was never in trouble but then it all went wrong. Did I rest on my laurels? I don't think so - my problem was Dennis Priestley. I think he's a great guy, a gentleman of the sport, but his slow style hinders my trading. Last week I thought my problem lay with trading Taylor. How wrong I was - it was his opponent that got me into trouble not him. My edge with Darts is being able to think 6 darts ahead - this advantage normally allows me to scalp successfully. Unfortunately for me, Dennis is the Terry Griffiths of the oche and his style allows other traders the chance to see the bigger picture. Needless to say, I got myself in a hole I couldn't get out of and as this was the last match of the night I had no other opportunities to make up my losses.

I feel pretty sick, especially after sitting with a nice green figure after the first 3 matches. I'll take this as another lesson, take comfort that I'm still in profit for the month and move on.

One thing's for sure though - I won't be trading on 'Dennis The Menace' next week!