Hello Big Time!

Since Last Post P/L: £703.03

Monthly P/L: £849.80

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How can you explain what we do to people in the normal world? It's practically impossible! The conversation I had with my Dad this afternoon is a prime example - it went something like this:

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Me: Hi Dad

Dad: Oh hello, how are you?

Me: erm, pretty good thanks

Dad: Been up to much?

Me: Not really, ummm, well I did just make over £650 trading the cricket!

Dad: ........(SILENCE)..............

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It's bloody ridiculous! Fortunately my Dad is better than most as he understands gambling and my involvement with it but I don't think even he was expecting that, so what chance do I stand with the average Joe Bloggs off the street? As soon as they hear the 'G' word they automatically associate you with being a loser so I normally avoid saying anything but I still have the urge to let people know about trading on Betfair. I just can't understand why everyones not doing it!

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South Africa v West Indies

What a game and what a cracking way to start the Twenty 20 World Cup! The atmosphere at the Wanderers stadium was second to none and this must have helped motivate the players as they put on a hell of a show. Chris Gayle was simply sensational and his 117 off 57 balls looked likely to give the Windies an unlikely victory but the South Africans refused to lie down. Despite taking a whack to the back of the hand off the first ball, Graeme Smith recovered and propelled the home team forward but the key to this match was the number of wides bowled by the visitors. They gave away 28 extras which is simply too many in this format and were made to pay the price. In the end the Saffers made it look easy and they cantered home with 14 balls to spare. I made a gain of £105.90 on this one.

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Pakistan v Scotland

I was always looking for something that was unlikely to happen and this resulted in me losing a few ticks here and there. Not my best trading performance as I lost £55.86 and I need to look at how I trade one sided matches in more detail.

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West Indies v Bangladesh

What can I say about this one? I ended the match with my biggest individual win since I started trading - a whopping £652.99 - can it get any better than this?!? For those of you who are new visitors to my blog please understand that this is a big deal to me, especially when I put into context that this win alone is over two and a half times the amount I started with as a trading bank just over 12 months ago. Back on the 29th January, Matt from Punt.com left me a comment after reading this post and as part of his advice he said that "big things are possible from small beginnings". This thought has stayed with me ever since. It's helped me stay motivated through some of the tough times and it was so nice at the time for someone to back up what I thought was possible. So thanks Matt - I'm now starting to get a feel for exactly how big things could get if I can keep disciplined. I realise my progress won't continue in a straight line but if I can ride the trading rollercoaster and keep my head who knows what could be possible?

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So how did I make a profit on this match? Well, without giving too much away, the short and long of it was that I was keeping an eye on the Windies performance. As Twenty 20 is a completely different game to even 50 over ODI's the teams are far more evenly matched. I was able to identify when they were struggling and opposed them at numerous times throughout both innings. Their score of 164 was nothing more than 'par' and I knew that if the Bangladesh team could make the most of the fielding restrictions they'd be in the box seat. The Bangla's lost a wicket almost immediately and the Windies price dropped to 1.19 but the batting team recovered well and it's at this point I made a significant move. I rode my position as the market started to latch onto the fact that the Windies were in danger and the rest is history. Needless to say, I'm chuffed to bits and I can't wait for Australia v England tomorrow!

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