Wednesday 22 October 2008

Just Ahead


Since Last Post P/L: £302.07
Monthly P/L: £231.70
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The experimenting has continued and it must be due to this and the fact that I've used Betdaq wherever possible, that I've managed to avoid the dreaded Betfair Premium tax. Over the last couple of weeks I've dipped my toes into practically everything with Test Match Cricket, Greyhound Racing and Poker all seeing some action but it was from following John's advice that I decided to give creating my own Bot a go by using BetBotPro.
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The early signs were good - for little effort I was making £30 to £40 a day but it wasn't long before a string of events shook me out of my comfort zone. I'd made some calculations and knew the probability of incurring lengthy losing streaks but even I didn't expect to lay 4 consecutive winners at average odds of 7.40 within the first few days of trialling a recovery staking system!
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It took quite a lot of stupidity for me to risk losing £800+ on the fifth selection - a dog running at Crayford! He made me sweat too as the bloody pooch led for 3 bends before eventually tailing off. William Hill Radio is a great service to catch commentary but I'm not sure if listening to the race helped on this occasion! I haven't given up on the idea of automating some of my betting but let's just say my enthusiasm has cooled for the time being :-)
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Here's a full round-up of my latest results:
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American Football : £22.58
Cricket: £134.99
Greyhound Racing : £137.55
Horse Racing : £77.45
Poker : £23.60
Rugby Union : £108.00
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The Stanford Super Series is the only serious stuff I intend to get involved with for the rest of the month and it'll be interesting to see if England choke under the pressure. Will the huge amount of money on offer make a difference? I have a feeling it will and if I'm right expect some very volatile in-play markets.
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21 comments:

Scott said...

Stanford Super Series serious? Surely you jest sir!

Did you know that the ICL is available in the UK on some obscure channel in the 800 range on Sky? It's matching over £1m per match on BF so there must be a quid in there for us somewhere!

Anonymous said...

Hi Mark

Have to say that bot stuff does not sound like an avenue you would normally travel down. Thankfully we have some one day stuff now to put you back on the straight and narrow.
Good to here about your lad getting on ok at the hospital, must be a relief for you and your good lady, really pleased for you both and Caden of course.

leonthefixer said...

Hi Mark good to see profits coming in and no Premium Charge - wish I could say the same.

Risking £800 on one greyhound race sounds crazy stuff tbh.

Best of luck with the cricket!

Scott said...

that BetBotPro looks pretty good, there are all sorts of controls you can put on your funds so it can only get out to £800 on a dog race if you let it...

Anonymous said...

Hi Mark, I am new to trading and would like to read up on basic trading principles. I bought Market Wizards but it is a bit involved. Would any of the other books give a better basic description of trading principles?

Thanks in advance,

Andy

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Scott,

Yep, I admit that the Stanford Super Series is scraping the barrel!

I'm a bit unsure about the ICL - seems a cheaper version of the IPL and as it's not on mainstream TV I get a little nervous about others having quicker feeds etc. Will probably leave it alone for the time being but who knows, maybe next year?

Nice to hear from you.

Mark

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Gary,

You're right about bots mate - not soemthing that would normally take my interest but I believe it's a strength to keep an eye out for new ideas. If I hadn't changed from punting to trading I would never have made anything significant.

Thanks for the best wishes regarding Caden. All good news for now but keeping thoughts about what the future might hold are difficult to forget.

All the best,

Mark

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Leon,

Not having to pay a the Prmeium Charge is nice but all it really means is that I'm not making much money! I don't know what's worse! :-)

You're right about the dogs - absolutely crazy - I must have been having a moment :@!

All the best,

Mark

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Scott (again),

To be fair the softweare works pretty well and there's a free trial.....BUT....running a Recovery Staking Plan is high risk and I came face to face with a nasty situation sooner than i thought.

All the best,

Mark

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Andy,

Thanks for leaving a comment - it's nice to hear from you.

If you're starting to trade then the best book I can recommend from my reading list is Lay, Back and Think Of Winning by Nigel Paul.

It's a simple read but it does well at changing the mindset (from punter to trader) and I picked up a hell of a lot on how I should manage my money e.g. stake sizes.

Everything else comes later, and if you can get the foundations right there's no reason you can't build an Empire :-)

All the best,

Mark

leonthefixer said...

Sorry to but in Mark but I would like to add the book:

Reminisce of a stock operator

to the list. I have just finished it and it is the best book I have read on trading - amazing how markets in the 1900's are no different to the 2008 Betfair markets! Definatly worth a read and at £10 is a damn good investment!

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Leon,

It' the one book I haven't got round to looking it at yet.....ah what the hell....I'm going to buy it today!

Anonymous said...

Alternatively you can download the Reminiscences of a Stock Operator free from the web but I wouldn't condone that sort of behaviour! I also think, once you understand the basic principles of backing and laying, dipping your toes in the markets is the best way to find your own strategies.
Mark, the Bot near-miss doesn't really sound like your behaviour! A close shave - I'm glad you got away with it.

Anonymous said...

PS. I don't see any tennis on your P&L Mark? Have you given it up for good?

Anonymous said...

Fooled by Randomness is a must read, but not until you have read market wizards and reminscences first. In fact i'd go...
1. Lay back n think (if your a newbie)
2.reminiscences
3.Wizards
4.Fooled
(reading order)

Fooled introduces the black swan theory, which i found to be the icing on the cake.

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Anthony,

Yep, I've found the book on the internet but for some reason I like to have books on the shelf as I spend enough time looking at the computer screen already.

The Bot miss was a lucky one and you're right about the Tennis although I do intend to resume my education when the new season starts from January. I'll proabably target just the ATP events to ensure that those playing will be trying. One thing I did find this year was that the cricket clashed with alot of the scheduling, and as you can appreciate this isn't ideal if I'm going to try and make money from both.

All the best as always,

Mark

Man of Mystery said...

Hi Mark, I had a small losing day today. But I know what you mean about the William Hill Greyhound Radio. It drives me mad if I turn it on too. I have other distractions anyway so it's quite rare.

Good luck mate and thanks for the mention. Fancy coming on the radio show again? Kicking it off next month.

BTW, my bot's limited to odds of 6 now! Good luck mate.

leonthefixer said...

Hi Mark - hope you didnt injure yourself to badly - sounds like a good night out was had and another Beer story added to the book.

I got involved in the NFL but made several errors which cost me, however I learnt numerous lessons so not all is lost.

Will be back at it next week!

Hope the hangover wasn't to bad!!!!

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Gary,

Sounds a top quality list to me. ROASO is in the post as I type and I should get it delivered tomorrow.

All the best,

Mark

Mark Iverson said...

Hi John,

I'm sure I'll havea bash at the bot again (I've purchased the full software through your site) but maybe not until I've refined my strategy.

I'd love to come back on the radio show as well. Please drop me a comment/email when you're ready to kick things off again.

All the best,

Mark

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Leon,

Glad to hear the NFL was aprtly successful. You probably noticed a big difference in price changes compared to the horses.

The head is still hirting but I think I'll live! I'm getting to old for this type of thing now - LOL

All the best,

Mark

www.stanjames.com