Friday 29 December 2006

My Story

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Last Updated 16th February 2011:
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My history with gambling started a long time ago. When I was very young I had a condition with my hip that stopped me from going to school. The only person available to look after me was my Grandfather so every afternoon he’d push my wheelchair to the betting shop where we’d end up fighting the smoke to try and pick some winners. My parents didn’t mind this daily routine until I started back at school when every morning I’d scan the daily paper to read the horses form and give my tips for the day. They stopped the paper soon after, but that was it – I was hooked.

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In August 2006, I started trading sports markets instead of punting on them with an initial trading bank of just £250. I've only added my monthly profits to this trading bank since, which has helped me to increase my leverage substantially over the years.
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In May 2008 I was given the opportunity by my employer to reduce my working hours and after a little deliberation I decided to try and address the life/work balance. I worked 3 days a week as a Project Manager until January 2011 when I decided to take a sabbatical from the day job and concentrate on gambling on the betting exchanges full time.
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Where did I get the idea for my site?
I’ve run my own website (aptly named markiverson.com) for sometime and my blog has become an extension of that as it’s much easier to publish anything I want to say.
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Do I have any other sites? Was/is this your first?
Back in 2003 I started a website called whisperexchange.com. The idea was to put people with inside horse racing information in touch with each other quickly. The truth was it became too big to quick. I had over 500 subscribers to my daily newsletter in no time and I didn’t have the time or technology to take it further.

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What was my reason for starting a blog/website?
I had two main aims – the first was to diarise what I was doing so that I could learn from my mistakes and the second was to try and be an inspiration to the people out there who feel you need money to make money. Matt from Punt.com left a comment on my blog at the start of 2007 which I’ve remembered ever since – he said “big things are possible from small beginnings".
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What's my background in the markets I try and make a profit in?
Cricket is my most successful sport – I’m a position taker and try not to rely too much on the speed of my Internet connection so it ticks all the required boxes. All of my knowledge has come from studying the sport which is something I think most punters fail to do.
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Do you use trading software to place your bets?
Oh yes! I’d recommend anybody serious about trading to use Trading Software. Not using software allows others a huge advantage but you’ve got to take time to learn how to use it.
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Any favourite trades? Why?
West Indies v Bangladesh in the 2007 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup stands out. I love trading Twenty20 and this match ended with my biggest individual win since I started trading - £652.99. I have beaten this total since but that was a very sweet moment.
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What would you say to anyone who is just starting to bet or trade?
Be patient, specialise in a handful of sports to begin with and learn about risk and money management. For me, managing risk is the key.
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11 comments:

:-) said...

Hi Mark

At some stage I was going to ask you if you would do a Q & A for my blog but all the answers are here lol
keep up the good work!

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Hamish,

If you need anything else then feel free to let me know.

Cheers!

Mark

Juicestorm said...

Hi Mark,

Have been changing the format of our Blog and have updated our links, I have added yours and I was wondering what description you would like next to your link

have a look here:
http://www.juicestorm.com/links/

dont apporve this comment ofcourse:)

Chris Williams said...

Hi,

We are a leading sports betting company in the UK and are currently looking to explore possibilities of content partnership with other leading websites in related domain. We have visited your website and feel that your visitors might be benefited by some of the content that we produce every month and it might add additional value for your website while giving our website some additional exposure.

We can provide you with informative articles related to current sports event and the betting scenario around them. If you like the content you can publish it on your website. All we request is to leave a small line of credit with a link informing that the article was contributed by us.

Please let us know if you would be interested to go forward with this arrangement.

Regards
Chris
sporting.dirs@gmail.com

simon9 said...

hi mark stumbled across your website thoroughly enjoyed it.im a cardiff lad and am currently attemting to punt full time mainly horse racing and football.im an ex pro footballer hoping i can make this work.your advice and info has been quite helpful.keep it up mark can drop you an e.mail if you ever fancy a chat

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the kind words mate. feel free to drop me an email at mark@markiverson.com if you like.

All the best,

Mark

Rob Green said...

Hi,

I like your blog and I wanted to ask you if there is any chance to get a Link from your Blog to our Website www.BonusBonusBonus.com

Our themes are related so it may interest your readers as well.

Best Regards,

Rob – Team BonusBonusBonus

500-5000 said...

Hi Mark,

I have recently started up a sports trading blog of my own. I started it this month. It's 500to5000.blogspot.com

Basically, I m trying to use football trading to get from my initial bank of 500 to 5000 quid. Over the next 6 months. I'd be grateful if you could add a link to it. Or if I could link to you.

Excellent blog by the way

Rob

Wayward Lad said...

Thanks for writing your blog, it's a good read and thought-provoking.
My blog isn't one with a trading theme (so I won't ask for a link, but if you want to link, that's cool) as I deal in horseracing and finding "value" wagers (that I expect to win).
I relate to your comment that most people do not research their markets and, in-effect, are betting blind. In horseracing it's cos' people follow the money far too often and that's good for a value seeker like me. I hear the comment "a winner is a winner" a lot, but people don't understand that having a wager on a 6/4 chance that win's - but it's "true" odds are 5/2 - mean that in the long run, you will lose. Whereas, I try and find the 4/1 chance whose "true" odds are 5/2.
All the best, and keep blogging.

Steve said...

Hi Mark.
Your blog has been in my Rss reader for ages now. Just wondering if you would like to add mine to your blogroll. My site is http://www.daily25.com. It's just my weekly review of my betting with my goal being to make $250 a day from betting.
Thanks for your time
Steve

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Steve,

Not a problem - have added you to my blog roll.

You are playing with some big numbers there. Nice to see it can be done from a straight up betting approach.

All the best,

Mark

www.stanjames.com