Friday, December 05, 2008

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

RETURN OF THE DIGGLER ..................

1st January 2009 will see my return to the world of blogging .................. im now in full time employment, and using my gambling to supplement my income. It needs to............. the credit crunch and redundancy to my better half has reached DIGGLER TOWERS !

I enjoyed my first stab at the 30K CHALLENGE and the blog that covered this, it gave me extra discipline in my gambling and i made a few friends with a interest in gambling who im still in contact with today.

Trying to make a living from gambling as your sole source of income is bloody difficult .......... no shit sherlock !!! i hear you say.............. I am talking about pure betting not I/R trading, my eyes aint great and im a rather clumsy chum always prone to the odd fat finger !!! so that avenue i have never explored. Gambling for a living and gambling in a effort to supplement your income are two entirely different beasts, the physcology and pressures involved cannot be underestimated. I have been down both routes and i know which path i prefer especially thesedays as i have a dayjob that encompasses and to a certain extent encourages my passion for gambling and getting a slice of the bookmakers FOBT pie !!!!

So the challenge in 2009 will be to supplement my income for the year to the tune of £800/month, i feel confident so lets raise the bar a tad and go for £10,000 during 2009.

THE 10K CHALLENGE ......................... Coming soon to a blog near you !!!!

Monday, February 25, 2008

THANKS ...................

to all your kind words and support not only over the last few days but since the blogs inception , the blog has had an added bonus of bringing me into contact with many decent like minded people, who i aim to stay in touch with .

to you all , thanks happy punting & be lucky !!!!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

a nice day to finish on ...............

i think after pigeon islands success @ 7/1 , if only irish legend could have stayed on for 3rd it would have been a very nice day indeed !!! i start my new job on tuesday so i think today will be my final day of regular blogging , i have been asked to continue on a daily basis by a few readers of the30kchallenge but this blog has never intended to be a "proofing service" it was my journey throughout the year in trying to make a living in excess of £30k ............. i will now use the services in an attempt to supplement my income , i have set aside some funds that will be my gambling fund and hopefully it will pay for a nice holiday and a few treats later on this year.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

2.05 kemp PIGEON ISLAND £300 ew @ 7/1 WON +£2520
4.50 kemp IRISH LEGEND £70 ew @ 20/1 £50 ew @ 18/1 £30 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

4.55 chep HIGH JACK £150 ew @ 12/1 3rd +£300

daily p/l +£2520

i will post the weekly and year to date figs asap

Friday, February 22, 2008

sometimes when gambling as with life in general ..............

you dont get the rub of the green , with gambling you can suss out a match or race and get it spot on but still end up with a loss ............... thats especially the case with jump racing , yes i know the fences/hurdles are there to be jumped but i had to feel for andrew @ optimum today , a nicer more genuine bloke you will never meet , and yes i realise thats no guarantee of success , he does know his stuff but he has been going through a lean period of late after a period of continued success late last year and today his analysis of the 4.40 sandown was near enough spot on , one to avoid in the race and oppose the king of angels ............ first one beat @ 4/1 and pulled up , the danger was mokum and selection oakfield legend , 12 lengths clear when tipping up 2 out leaving the door open for mokum ................. the period this blog has covered has not been one when the gambling gods have smiled kindly upon my services as a whole ........ hopefully with its demise imminent things will improve !!!

friday

MARK HOLDER

4.05 sandown ELLWAY PROSPECT £75 ew @ 33/1 unpld -£150
4.05 sandown CALL OSCAR £225 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£450

4.50 warwick RAWDON £150 ew @ 16/1 3rd +£450

OPTIMUM RACING

4.40 sandown OAKFIELD LEGEND £300 @ 11/4 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£450

Sunday, February 17, 2008

weekending 16th feb ....................

well a marvellous week from isiris kept my head above water , played in 3 races producing a 14/1 and 5/2 maximum account winner , i hope that i dont miss too many winners when i start my "proper" job !!!!!
the figures are as follows for the week just gone ................

ISIRIS main account +£1200 (24pts)
ISIRIS insiders +£1579.20 (31.58pts)

MARK HOLDER -£900(6pts)

OPTIMUM RACING -£900(6pts)

weekly p/l +£829.20

THE30KCHALLENGE.............................-£3007.37

no wedding this saturday ....................

but sadly a similar saturday in respect of the p/l with a loss of £1200 ..............

i have been asked what will happen to these services when i start work , well i believe that mh & optimum will be able to supplement my income and i will still play to much smaller stakes say £25/£50 pt i wont be able to necessarily get the best terms or prices on a regular basis but with the offer of best odds guaranteed and a few other concessions around i feel i will be ok , yes i realise it has been a poor start to 2008 from these two but so it was in 2007 and they still both produced decent returns come year end.

its slightly different with isiris, the most exciting service around no longer open to new members , the timimg of messages will prove a difficulty in regularly getting on, but on days off and during lunch breaks i will try my best.
throughout 2007 i was moaning about the high number of bets , i even stopped backing the insiders as trying to get on in excess of 3 selections at one time was proving nigh impossible especially at the advertised prices, i had trumpeted the message of quality not quantity and at the latter end of 2007 we had the change in the service, with a more selective and customer friendly approach, an approach that i had been advocating for some time............. nice to know some people take notice !!!!
yes i will be backing these selections when possible as i dont think my boss or colleagues would accept me popping down the bookies during my working day 3 or so times a week but again it will be at reduced stakes tomy current staking.
on the subject of isiris a marvellous week for its members a 14/1 winner and a maximum main account winner , many congratulations to the isiris team , on a marvellous week.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

4.50 win MERRY MUSIC £300 ew @ 7/1 unpld -£600

OPTIMUM RACING

2.05 win KALDOUAS £300 @ 3/1 3rd -£300

2.45 hay GEEVEEM £150 ew @ 15/2 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£1200

Friday, February 15, 2008

not too much damage done ..........

although prior to the 4.20 sandown today things were not looking too good , although the service that shall remain nameless has had a cracking week , as will be shown in tomorrows weekly figs. last day of the blog will be monday 25th feb ........................


thursday

OPTIMUM RACING

3.25 sandown kalca mome £150 ew @ 6/1 unpld -£300

friday

MARK HOLDER

2.05 sandown SONNING STAR £450 @ 11/4 unpld -£450

4.20 sandown GALANTOS £150 ew @ 20/1 4th +£600



p/l -£150

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

the end is nigh ..................

only for the 30k challenge and the blog .................. as i have been offered employment with 2 other interviews lined up this week its a 1.01 shot that come chelters i will have a "proper" job , so will update further tomorrow as going to take advantage of the superb weather while i can and find a country pub and have a few jars .....................

update

firstly thanks for all the emails,texts,calls and comments i have been overwhelmed by the reaction, i will continue as usual until i start my full time employment which will either be the 25th feb or 3rd march.

tuesday

MARK HOLDER

1.30 folkes CAPTAIN TIDDS £150 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

Sunday, February 10, 2008

february so far ................

well started the month with a deficit of £1671 ............

upto and including saturday 9th february my p/l figs are as follows :

ISIRIS main account -£74.55 (1.491 pts)
ISIRIS insiders nil
MARK HOLDER -£1389 (9.26 pts)
OPTIMUM RACING -£345 (2.3 pts)
OPTIMUM SPORT -£537.50 (21.5pts)
PERSONAL TRADING +£180.48

overall p/l ...................... -£2165.57

THE30KCHALLENGE ............................. -£3836.57

Well im beating last year !!! was over £5000 in the red this time last year , but the difference in me personally is huge , last year i was enthusuastic and even through the trying time i was upbeat, positive and looking forward to the future months .............. thats not the case this year.

YES i still have confidence in MH and OPTIMUM to turn things around but my heart is not in it , i suppose the bookmakers have ground me down , take yesterdays bet from mh , mortimers cross , i went into one laddies and asked for £80 ew @ 20/1 , the battleaxe of a cashier rang up and notified that she had a non regular customer wishing to place £80ew @ 20/1 , but before that she rang up two laddies shops nearby to ask them if anyone has been in the shop to back mortimers cross @ 20/1 .............. well i was cut back to £40 ew , i had a wedding to go to and could not go around shops but thankfully i got some help and got the whole £150 ew on.
I heard from a mate in the industry yesterday that a betting shop that he manages in the east end of london took over £8.5 million on his FOBT machines last year , i think he has five of them in his shop , thats £5,000 a day per machine , yes i realise that takings NOT profit but it still gives you an insight into where the bookmakers priority lies thesedays.

what a wonderful day ..............

for a wedding , had a brilliant day ..................... as for the "day job" it could not have been any worse and took the edge off what should have been a most enjoyable day , it wasnt my wedding by the way , no i would have had a day off for that !!! before the alcohol took effect had some decent and well considered discussions with friends and family who know me well and know the gambling industry inside out and the future for me is a lot clearer.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

1.15 ayr SOUBRIQUET £300 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£600

2.20 ayr MORTIMERS CROSS £150 ew @ 20/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

1.45 ayr SOMETHING SILVER £300 @ 11/4 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

SCOTLAND +11 to beat wales £137.50 @ 10/11 lost -£137.50



daily p/l -£1337.50

Friday, February 08, 2008

i just hate it when jockeys ...............

get all cocky and start looking under their legs ............... is all i will say !!!!! members for a certain service will know what im talking about................
thought at one point we were going to take the crown jewels today with the optimum selection briery fox but the rag of the party came with a perfectly timed run to deny us and win going away.

friday.

OPTIMUM RACING

3.40 kemp BRIERY FOX £225 ew @ 9/1 2nd +£180

PERSONAL TRADING

well i made a extra quid on the briery fox race as there was an arb in the win market, i thought it would filter through to the place market but this never materialized and i decided to keep the place bet of £100 @ 9/5 as the selection was trading above the 2.80 level at the off , i layed £105 @ 8.60 in the win market . i collected £180 from the place bet and the win trading virtually levelled out for a profit of £180.48 on the race.

daily p/l +£360.48

a unsatisfactory day all round .....................

really , another nail in the coffin for me. i think i now know that i wont be doing this in a few months time , the bottom line is that im not enjoying it anymore ................ just like a couple of my previous marraiges ............ ive fallen out of love with the old girl !!! even if we make 100 points in the next month or so i know i will feel the same , i have enjoyed my time punting but im a great believer in each job having a definite shelf life and this "career" has reached its shelf life. i felt exactly the same when i was a fx dealer in the city but i was lucky enough to be offered redundancy no chance of that this time around !!!
i say it was a unsatisfactory day all round , well thats not quite true as i went for a interview , first time in over 20 years went pretty well and fingers crossed on that front.
so why such a bad day , well members of the service not to be named will know what im talking about after listening to last nights message , mh gave a good word for songe in the 3.10 , i had a interview at 2.45, but at the time of the message the price was under pressure 9/1 with a few small shops but a general 8/1 shot , well at 2.30 7/1 was the general price , well the horse drifted and won @ 10/1 ..................... why dont these guys leave a price proviso ??? they do on some occasions but not on others , we are told to only have the bet if 8 run or 16 run so why not say songe is a bet if 10/1 is obtainable ??? yes i backed the horse and made money out of it but thats not the point , i just feel there is some inconsistency here , that need not exist.
my day was completed by the egyptians comfortably turning over the ivorians .

thursday

OPTIMUM SPORT

IVORY COAST £150 @ 7/2 african cup of nations lost -£150

PERSONAL TRADING

i made a few quid arbing songe in the 3.10 hunt , but if i had taken a small chance it would have been a nice tickle as i shall explain. songe was 8/1 with hills & lads but 15/2 with better odds guaranteed , the price on the exchange was 8.4/8.6 and 2.18/2.22 win & place i had £300 ew @ 8/1 and layed back £300 @ 8.4 and £300 @ 2.20 the horse won and i collected a nice profit of £300 BUT if i had the balls to have my bet with better i would have scooped a very tasty profit of £1020 !!! as the 15/2 would have become 10/1 ....................

daily p/l +£150

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

well guess what ..............

another loss for me .............. feb not going too well at present but still remain positive and upbeat. i believe it was too early to say if the optimum selection would have been involved at the finish but the way they finished and the style of running of kirkside pleasure i think he would have had a say in the finish ,but thats all conjecture and the name of the game is jumping .
i used my discretion with the staking today on mark holders selection phardessa , he advised 2 pts win 1 pt place but i decided to have 1 1/2pts ew instead my thinking was that if phardessa won i would have been more than satisfied with 1 1/2pts (£225) on , on this occasion i was correct to stake in this manner but even if phardessa won i would have had no regrets ,a small winner on the selection especially when you take into account the rule4.

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

2.40 lud phardessa £150 ew @ 10/1 £75 ew @ 8/1 3rd +£111

OPTIMUM RACING

1.50 car kirkside pleasure £300 @ 7/2 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£189

paid for breaking one of my rules today ...........

as i layed one , yes it won like a fours on shot , returned at 4/1 i layed it at 12/5 so i had the value but bugger all else !!!! it didnt cost me a kings ransom but it was a loss none the less and one i could do without ...............

tuesday

PERSONAL TRADING

it has been a very quiet few days and perhaps this led to my indiscretion of laying one , i could not have picked a poorer race today in the 2.00 market rasen and mh voiced stamina concerns over the venetia williams trained maraafeq ............... not gonna dwell too much on this as this one could be called the winner some way out travelling like a dream , i layed him to lose £150 @ 3.40 i could have had an all green book as he drifted severly but i decided to take him on ......... a loss on the day of £150 .

daily p/l -£150

Monday, February 04, 2008

still awaiting first profitable day in feb ..............

no messages today from any of my racing services , and the golf/football advice from optimum sport failed to produce any profitable returns .

sunday

OPTIMUM SPORT

£100 aston villa to bt fulham @ 5/4 lost -£100
dubai desert classic l westwood £25 ew @ 14/1 unpld-£50
fbr open j leonard £25 ew @ 25/1 unpld -£50
fbr open s stricker £25 ew @ 16/1 unpd -£50


daily p/l -£250

Sunday, February 03, 2008

a quiet day ....................

with no account bets , but i was in the bookies to watch a couple of dogs at romford and had a couple of bets on mentions from mh & optimum , not much damage done but another losing day .

saturday

PERSONAL TRADING

mh was keen on kalahari king in the first at doncaster i had £100 @ 6/4 , it ran flat behind the impressive paul nicholls debutant rippling ring my other bet was on kalca mome in the 2m chase at sandown , unfortunately another disappointing display from kalca mome and the £25 ew @ 8/1 never looked like paying dividends .

daily p/l -£150

not a great start to the month ..............

but it could have been a lot worse , the optimum selection pharleight dei finished 4th , as so often happens a rag was withdrawn a hour or so before the race reducing the ew terms to just the first 3 places ............... but an offer from my bookmaker pays out on the 4th if the field is reduced to 14 or 15 if you place the bet before the non runners are declared , yes i had a stewards in the betting shop its a rule that is not widely advertised and the cashier couldnt get it into his head that i should be paid out as his machine was telling him the bet a loser , a few calls to the trading office and eventually i got paid it , in all it took me about 30 mins but it was well worth me standing my ground ........... they wouldn,t pay me out at the 8/1 although they were offering best odds guaranteed but i was well chuffed to recoup £375 .

friday

MARK HOLDER

2.25 chep SHOUDSWOUDACOUDA £300 ew @ 15/2 unpld -£600

OPTIMUM RACING

4.05 chep PHARLEIGHT DEI £150 ew @ 6/1 4th +£75

daily p/l -£525

Friday, February 01, 2008

REVIEW FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY ..........

At the end of my first month for 2008 my bottom line shows a deficit of £1671. The month tailed off badly in the last week , but at least im in a more favourable position p/l wise than last year whereby at the end of jan my defecit was £6890 and by the end of feb i was in profit to the tune of £1500 a turnaround of over £8000 ................. lets hope for a similar story in feb this year !!!

ISIRIS MAIN ACCOUNT +£285 (+5.7 pts)
£3600 invested
8 bets 2 winners 1 placed
profit on investment +7.92%

ISIRIS INSIDERS +£310 (+6.2pts)
£2000 invested
8 bets 2 winners
profit on investment +15.5%

MARK HOLDER +£375 (+2.5pts)
£2250 invested
8 bets 1 winner 1 placed
profit on investment +16.67%

OPTIMUM RACING -£2752.50 (-18.35pts)
£3900 invested
12 bets 1 winner 1 placed
loss on investment -70.50%

OPTIMUM SPORT +£599.02 (+23.96pts)
£2100 invested
24 bets 7 winners 1 placed
profit on investment +28.52%

SERVICES OVERALL -£1183.48
£13,850 invested
60 bets 13 winners 4 placed
loss on investment -8.54%

PERSONAL TRADING -£487.52


THE30KCHALLENGE ................................ -£1671

So they are the bare facts for the month of january 2008 , obviously the figures from optimum racing stand out , it was a poor month for them , no awards for spotting that but i have every confidence in the service. lets not forget that in the last 3 months of 2007 the service produced a profit well in excess of 45 points.
The reintroduction of the sport service from optimum has been a success and although not spectacular the solid returns from isiris and mark holder bode well for the rest of the year i feel .

Thursday, January 31, 2008

the last few days .................

have unfortunately brought back memories of the start to 2007 ........... it has been a shocking start to the week yesterdays £600 loss was followed today by a £575 loss , at no stage did any of my bets look like collecting ..................the only bright spot for me was a win in A2 company for my bitch gregorys girl but even that had a couple of downsides ...... the first is that she was unsupported by her owner and secondly i missed the race !!! but saying that she was sent off at 5/2 and considering i made her a 4/1 shot at the very least i would not have backed her , but missing the race did give me the hump to be honest , NOT A GOOD DAY , LETS MOVE SWIFTLY ON !!!

thursday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.10 winc ASHWELL £450 @ 5/2 unpd -£450

OPTIMUM SPORT

darts J PART to beat P MANLEY £125 @ 8/11 LOST -£125

daily p/l -£575

not the best of days ................

for a few reasons , the obvious was a losing day but had a funeral to attend which overshadowed any p/l today .



wednesday


MARK HOLDER

4.30 leices SARAHS GIFT £75 ew @ 12/1 unpld -£150
4.30 leices ITS RUMOURED £75 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£150

OPTIMUM RACING

3.40 newc HOLD THE BID £300 @ 4.30 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

varying fortunes on the day ...............

but the most important thing for me is the bottom line and that shows a profit. the day for me contained a sour note as in the shop i mainly use , a oldish lady had her bag stolen , a nice old girl regular in the shop placed her bet got back to her seat and as if by magic her bag had disappeared , she learnt the hard way today but in wood green you need anything valuable locked n chained ............... even then its still no guarantee it wont get pinched .
mh had no bets today but on the whole his message was worth listening to today especially with the cautionary word for haldibari the 2/5 fav in the first at taunton who finished out of the frame.

tuesday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.20 folk RUAIRI £300 @ 15/8 WON +£562.50
3.20 folk TIGER TIPS LAD £150 ew @ 8/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l +£262.50

Monday, January 28, 2008

not much to report..............

as no account bets from mh or opt , strongest news of the day was from mh where he was negative on the chances of mamlook in the first at ludlow and perhaps my only play of the day should have been to lay this one @ 3.80 especially as he was unplaced but also drifted in the market to an sp of around 5.5 , but im not a fan of laying in the win mkt as i have mentioned before but with hindsight i should have broken my rule on this one !!! instead i played in the 18 runner hcap with no success .

monday

PERSONAL TRADING

mh briefly mentioned the 18 runner hcap hurdle at 2.30 and his preference at the prices were hot lips page and littlemissdynamite i had £25 ew @ 20/1 & 11/1 respectively but both ran poorly ande never looked like threatening the judge .

daily p/l -£100

a day dominated by sport ..............

other than horse racing , with personally my attention on the fa cup tie at old trafford , at the end of the day united go into the hat for todays draw but i saw enough during the game to suggest that spurs continue to progress under ramos , a decent game in which spurs contributed much although the achilles heel of defending and goalkeeping still remain , if only ledley king could remain fit and pat jennings had been born 30 or so years later !!!!

sunday

OPTIMIM SPORT

qatar open LEE WESTWOOD £25 ew @ 11/1 5th +£43.75
buick invitational RORY SABBATINI to bt VJ SINGH 72 hole matchbet £125 @ evens WON +£125

daily p/l +£168.75

Saturday, January 26, 2008

weekending 27th jan ......................

the bottom line was a small loss of £497.78 , still in profit for the year but not by much i agree , the week started promisingly with three winning days but tailed off badly , but im reasonably pleased with the start to 2008 , the figs for the week are as follows ;

ISIRIS main account -£400 (8 pts)
ISIRIS insiders +£320 (6.4 pts)

MARK HOLDER +£825 (5.5 pts)

OPTIMUM RACING -£1050 (7 pts)
OPTIMUM SPORT +£11.52 (0.46 pts)

PERSONAL TRADING -£204.30
--------------------
weekly p/l -£497.78


THE30KCHALLENGE .............................+£522.75

not the best of weeks ............

ending with a losing saturday , but during the week there have been definite signs of a return to form from mh , today no account bet , but all his mentions ran with credit ............... what a friend , serabad , inglis drever and theatre girl .
optimum has not had the best of starts to the year but take the p/l over the last three months and they are in healthy profit .

saturday

OPTIMUM

2.30 don ALL STAR £300 @ 3/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

derby to bt preston £137.50 @ 2.07 lost -£137.50

daily p/l -£437.50

a big thank you ................

to all that have contacted me since i posted my thoughts on a possible change of career , vm appreciated . i would like to clarify or make clear just one point , the reason for the possible carrer change is due to me at present not enjoying my "job" as i once did , nothing more nothing less , i think its important to enjoy your job although a lot of people i know dont and only see it as a vehicle to pay the bills , well i dont !! i want to leave this career on my terms and when im ready , ive given it a fair crack and who knows come april i may feel differently .

i also want to discuss the bookies v exchanges debate , im not the font of all knowledge betting wise far from it but having been brought up as a kid in a bookmaking family i do know a bit , and i know to use the exchanges to the exclusion of the bookies is a mistake .

friday

MARK HOLDER

1.20 don FAVERSHAM £150 ew @ 10/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

3.50 newb KANDJAR DALLIER £225 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£450

daily p/l -£750

Friday, January 25, 2008

a costly own goal .................

so to speak , i had an 11.30 appointment today that had to be honoured and this set me back somewhat , and my actions turned a profit of £106.25 on the day to a loss of £200 but it was my error and no one else to blame ................

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

nothing from mh & optimum but mh was interested in katess & soixante in the 2.20 font if all 16 run and were around the 5/1 mark , while optimum mentioned good company in the 2.40 warwick , as stated i was running behind schedule and by the time i was working there had been some support for good company and only hills were offering the required 5/1 . if i had been in my usual location there would have been no problems as i would have gone to a better shop to have my bet on the 16 runner hcap as they would have still payed out 1/4 odds first 4 if the field was reduced to 15 or even 14 , but i wasnt and i wanted to make sure that all 16 ran . just as they were lining up i gave the bets to the cashier £50 ew katess £50 ew soixante & £100 ew good company ............... the cashier was on her mobile , and i asked for the price of 5/1 on good company , she didnt hear , i repeated , she phaffed around getting the price by which time the fontwell race was off ............... i said can you get the fontwell race bets on ................. well you all know the outcome and what im gonna say !!!! she told me the fontwell race is off ................ so they cant be accepted THEY CAME 1st & 2nd !!!! whilst the bet i got on good company trailed in a well beaten 4th ............... so a loss of £200 on the day .
my fault i should have got the fontwell bets on then the warwick ones ................ what was i saying about a career change !!!!!

daily p/l -£200

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

time for a career change ?????

has been a line of thought from me over the last couple of months , and i wanted to post this thought after a successful day , i didnt want to leave myself open to the cynics who might suggest that im a poor/bad loser !!! but the bottom line is that im feel that im falling out of love with my line of work , to gamble for a living was an ambition when i was employed in the city , i was gambling in effect then but with the banks money and unless i did a nick leeson i could take home a healthy income every month , but after nearly twenty years of fx dealing i just wasnt enjoying it , so when redundancy was offered i took it with open arms , that was in june 2002 , and in some ways im now in the same boat but without the redundancy package on offer !!!!

i will be totally open and honest with regards my situation , i have been a lad in my time , married three times and live life to the full , treating every day as your last , this dates back to my later teenage years when i lost my mum in a car crash , here one sec gone the next , and that had a huge bearing on the way i am and live my life . i am now truly happy in my personal life and hope to get married for the fourth time later this year or early 2009 , i have met my soul mate the one meant for me i suppose , well early december she was made redundant so since that time i have been the only bread winner with her two kids at uni and one at school , it has not been easy especially with no guaranteed income , my fiancee has been offered a new job and starts on the 4th feb but this situation opened eyes to my responsibilities and the need to provide a regular income .
now lets touch on what i do and my daily routine , as i can no longer "get on" via the net due to joke restrictions i now trawl the betting shops of wood green , why wood green its only a few tube stops from home and has a high road of numerous internet cafes and 7 betting shops ........... 3 lads , 2 wh , 1 pp & 1 better the latter is worth its weight in gold . i have to carry large sums of money as a "bank" and if i collect i can carry nearly £4,000 as was the case last week .................... last week not when i had this sum on me i hasten to add a group of hoddies tried to jump on me and push me into an ally to im sure rob/mug me , thankfully i was alert to the situation and can handle myself but it was a warning , its not a nice area , edmonton with the sad case of recent stabbings is just a mile or so away , either someone had spotted me collecting the day before or this gang had been tipped off by some betting shop staff .
this daily routine can sometimes be a huge inconvenience for my social life as i need to be in close proximity to betting shops , ok i am prepared to make allowances and sacrifices but i have a life outside of betting and at times it gets me and im sure my fiancee down , although she tells me she accepts it as part of my job .
i miss playing my cricket during the summer and im just beginning to think it would be nice to do a job get paid for it and have no worries over the outcome of a race or sporting event .

so i have decided for the time being to carry on , scurry around wood green , southgate & enfield but i will be taking a rain check after the grand national weekend , and if i feel the same then in all probability i will walk away from the world of betfair , isiris , mark holder , optimum etc etc

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

1.40 hunt ISLAND FLYER £75 ew @ 33/1 unpld -£150
4.10 hunt MARSHALLS RUN £300 ew @ 13/2 unpld -£600
4.10 hunt JAUNTY FLIGHT £150 ew @ 10/1 WON +£1875

OPTIMUM RACING

3.30 muss JOHNNY ROCHE £300 @ 7/2 2nd -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

a small loss of £100 on the day , it could have been more as i wa prepared to have £150 ew on ogee in the 1.10 hunt but after i had £50 ew @ 11/2 the price disappeared , ending up @ 3/1 and sadly for the bet finishing 4th !

daily p/l .....................+£725
p

what a night !!!!!!!!!!!!!

for a long suffering spurs fan , it was indeed a night to savour , roll on wembley !!!
on the betting front a quiet day but a small profit from optimum sport , profiting from an advised 2pts on the draw in the bristol rovers/fulham match . i remember when my dad had a betting shop and he said that the draw was his biggest winner over the course of a year , his punters always wanted to be on the winner very rarely the draw , but over the last couple of nights the draw has proved most profitable for followers of the optimum sport service .

tuesday

OPTIMUM SPORT

bristol rovers to beat fulham £75 @ 5/2 lost -£75
bristol rovers/fulham draw £50 @ 3.45 WON +£118.82

daily p/l +£43.82 but today was not about profit !!!! :-)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

i really was good for nothing ................

on monday after partying into the early hours of sunday , but i got myself together to make a few quid so it was well worth the effort , the evening was successful with optimum advising the draw in the evening premiership match .

monday

OPTIMUM SPORT

abu dhabi open m a jiminez £25 ew @ 22/1 unpld -£50
liverpool/aston villa draw £50 @ 4.2 WON +£155.20

PERSONAL TRADING

just played in the one race ......... then it was back to bed nursing the mother of all hangovers !! optimum were keen to oppose killard point in the folkestone 3.10 on stamina grounds , at the time of the message he was trading around the 5/1 mark on the exchanges , this did not interest me as in effect you are backing him to lose at 1/5 not a ploy im happy with , instead i prefer to lay him in the place market and layed £100 @ 2.68 , although prominent for much of the race optimum were spot on with their reasoning as he ran out of petrol once the race was on in ernest .

daily p/l +£200.90

weekending 19th jan ...................

produced a most welcome profit of £1274.05 with decent contributions from isiris and optimum sport , the full breakdown is as follows ;



OPTIMUM RACING -£600 (4 pts)

MARK HOLDER -£150 (1 pt)

PERSONAL TRADING -£467.20

OPTIMUM SPORT +£831.25 (33.25 pts)

ISIRIS main account +£1860 (37.2 pts)

ISIRIS insiders -£200 (4 pts)

this equates to a profit of £1274.05 .

THE30KCHALLENGE ....................... +£1020.53

nice to be in profit for the year , it was late february last year before i was in credit so hopefully no looking back p/l wise ............... onwards n upwards !!!!

one of these days it will all click ................

im sure !!! today was a carbon copy of many of the days experienced in the last year or so , frustration reigning , ok recently we were fortunate with an isiris bet whereby we benefitted from a faller but generally the gambling gods have not smiled on us since i started this blog , but moaning from me wont help !!! so lets kick on and get on with the job in hand ................ but to lose £150 on the day from the two account bets from mh & optimum is still a bitter pill to take !!

saturday

MARK HOLDER

4.05 ascot OVERCLEAR £150 ew @ 10/1 2nd +£150

OPTIMUM RACING

3.30 ascot DARK CORNER £150 ew @ 7/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

newcastle £125 @ 4/5 to beat bolton lost -£125

daily p/l -£275

updating on tuesday 22nd jan ...............

still feeling the effects from a most social and enjoyable weekend , the highlight was undoubtedly the bgrb awards on sunday evening a fabulous bash and one in which i got a little tipsy ..... even at a £5 for a bottle of bud although i was impressed by the £94 for a bottle of jack daniels !!! yesterday i was fit for nothing but today im back and raring to go although not much action with the two jumps cards off , but at least it gives me the opportunity to catch up on here .

friday

optimum sport

peter ebdon £75 @ 13/2 masters snooker lost -£75

Sunday, January 20, 2008

apoligies .............

for the lack of updates , just has been a hectic last few days , just popped home but off again to the greyhound awards bash tonight in london , really looking fwd to the night but wish i felt better , two nights on the trot socialising has worn me out why do all these things come together , i havnt been out for about a month then bang three functions on consecutive nights and as i get older it takes it toll !!!

a frustrating saturday but all will be revealed tomorrow ................... be lucky !!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

a loss of £200 ..........

on the day , nothing from my services , so the loss is down to me .............

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

over the course of a year i supplement the profits from the subscription services via my own interpretation of their messages and my own personal thoughts , this week though has been hard going and today i got close to wiping out the losses , but close isnt good enough and i dug the hole a little further !
i noticed a dog running at walthamstow recently its a litter sister to a pup i have running at romford ,its running in a lowly grade at the stow and ran down the field but with promise on its latest outing , my only concern was the trip 475m at the stow may test its stamina .............. it did ! led all the way til near the line at 4/1 .................... i lost £200 , the race i nearly forgot was the 8.23 the bitch pinewood gypsy , roll on catterick tomorrow

daily p/l -£200

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

apoligies in advance for my language ...........

but im pissed off with myself tonight , myself no one else , it didnt cost me much just £150 but thats not the point ....... i will explain all under the personal trading section .
my mood was not improved by graham dott squandering a 5-2 against stephen lee in the snooker , but thankfully the service that shant be named hit the jackpot to bring a smile to my face ...................



wednesday

OPTIMUM RACING

3.10 newc justwhateverulike £150 ew @ 9/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

SAGA MASTERS graham dott to beat stephen lee £125 @ 4/5 lost -£125

PERSONAL TRADING


over the last few years i have become aware of a dozen or so smaller but very astute trainers who need to be noted in the betting markets , when the money is down you can do be worse than follow the flow and when they drift lay or stay away , one such trainer that has come to my attention is john wade , i,ll be honest i know very little of john wade apart from his colours , that he predominately trains chasers and i also believes that he has a haulage company , thats about it , but what i have noticed is that his runners that perform well are often supported while the reverse is true when they drift ............. mh liked lucius rufo in the opening 18 runner handicap hurdle , with only the available price 11/2 putting him off a possible account bet , well he opened up at 11/2 and drifted out to 8/1 , i was in two minds whether to support the horse , my head telling me to stay away but the lure of an 18 runner handicap paying ew 1/4 odds first four took over , but i paid the full price of my weakness as he was soon under pressure and trailed in last of those that finished , i was furious with myself the money lost was negligble but i know the betting signs well with this yard well but even so i ignored them and paid the price .

daily p/l -£575

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

im not gonna waffle on ..............

but very little to report , just a 6 pt loss on the snooker this after , it was advised as a double with the other leg tomorrow , although thats now immaterial , but for the best possible return it was advantageous to split the bet up into 2 singles .

tuesday

OPTIMUM SPORT

SAGA MASTER mark williams to beat ken doherty £150 @ 5/6 lost -£150

daily p/l -£150

for a split second .............

it was looking quite promising for harry collins , with him travelling well and the fav not , but that feeling didnt last long it was literally a split second , at least mh was correct in taking on the fav pitful tercah .


monday

MARK HOLDER

2.50 fak HARRY COLLINS £150 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

leeds to beat crewe £137.50 @ 10/11 WON +£125

PERSONAL TRADING

i had a little arb on the mh selection harry collins , 16/1 (1/4 odds a place) was freely available so in addition to the £150 ew , i had £200 ew @ 16/1 myself . i layed him back @ 15.08/4.06 win/place i did not cover my commission so i had a possible win of £572 if successful , if placed £191.40 but if he was unplaced as he was i had a loss of £17.20 .............. on this occasion it didnt pay off but id take those positions any day of the year !!!

daily p/l -£192.20

Monday, January 14, 2008

a nice day for optimum sport ..............

with a 25/1 winner of the sony open in hawaii , courtesy of kj choi being the highlight . a nice springboard for the week hopefully .................



sunday



OPTIMUM SPORT


BDO WINNER mark webster £25 ew @ 8/1 £50 @ 11/2 WON +£575

SAGA MASTERS barry hawkins £25 ew @ 50/1 lost -£50

SAGA MASTERS barry hawkins £75 @ 7/1 to win 3rd 1/4 lost -£75

SONY OPEN c howell £25 ew @ 25/1 lost -£50

SONY OPEN kj choi £25 ew @ 25/1 WON +£781.25

PERSONAL TRADING

well i decided to cover some of the kj choi bet , it will go under my personal trading p/l as the optimum sports team left the bet alone and did not advise a trade , but i layed £200 @ 1.50 , so a loss of £100 for me .

daily p/l +£1081.25

Sunday, January 13, 2008

weekending 12th jan .....................

from my blog records show a profit of a whopping £28.99 ........... that might be my share of the curry bill from last night but not much else , thankfully a quiet but profitable week from isiris .



overall a quiet week with mh away on vacation , just one bet from optimum , i have been pretty profitable but hopefully the next week shall start with a decent profit from optimum sport as subscribers have decent positions in the darts and golf , hope im not putting the kibosh on those two !!!!! i have guaranteed myself a profit on both events by using the exchanges , sorry but if you have backed someone at 25/1 and its trading at evens , then 1/3 i have to take some of that ..................

weekly figs

MARK HOLDER NIL
OPTIMUM RACING -£300
OPTIMUM SPORT -£100
PERSONAL TRADING +£428.99
ISIRIS main account -£500
ISIRIS insiders +£990
----------------------
P/L +£518.99

THE30KCHALLENGE ............................................... -£253.52

Saturday, January 12, 2008

a subdued saturday .................

no complaints from me , as it turned out it was a quiet day with the one possible account bet not reaching the required price on the sis show . it has been a slow start to the year but as long as i can steer clear of the disaster start from 2007 i,ll be well chuffed !

a most enjoyable afternoon watching a marvellous semi final between webster & adams , i love my darts although if im playing be careful if you are chalking a you are in DANGER of being spiked !!! i was brought up with the sunday afternoon ritual of going to my grandads working mans club and often chalking up in matches involving my dad or grandad , it was a race to see who could add up the quickest , i loved it , as i did the visit to the shellfish man on our way back home ................. what happy memories !!!!



saturday



OPTIMUM SPORT



BDO outright winner MARTIN ADAMS £100 @ 4.2 lost -£100

there is a bigger picture here as on webster @ 8/1 ew & 11/2



PERSONAL TRADING



well as mentioned above there was a potential bet in mister quasimodo if a price of 6/4 was attainable on the sis shows .............. thankfully for optimum members 11/8 was the biggest show , i had a profit of £95.70 from the cricket after laying the draw for £100 @ 4.30 in the test between south africa and the west indies , so i decided to place a order to back mister quasimodo £ 145.70 @ 2.62 this equates to 6/4 after comm , if im matched and he loses i lose a bullseye (lets continue with the darts theme!!!) was my thinking ................ thats what happened , but i think that it teaches us a lesson on discipline and betting in general , yes pre race he was the most likeliest winner but in this game you need an edge in the price , i agree its a fine line , but if you were to back every horse you thought would win ................ i bet 1.01 over the long term you will lose , what you need to do is to back the horses that represent value , backing a horse that you make a odds on chance at 6/4 .............. i agree today we got lucky or is it ? we had the parameters set so i feel its the disciplined way of betting that has saved us today .


daily p/l -£150

Friday, January 11, 2008

personally as i type this i feel..............

that i got off lightly today with a £300 loss , it was only the fact that i was otherwise engaged with my better half that saved me , as i would have layed three in the place market for the huntingdon 1.20 , they occupied the first three places so that saved me in excess of £300 , only action was from optimum in the race mentioned , i had a blank day personally after my lucky escape .
looking fwd to tomorrow and the return of mh , hopefully he can return refreshed and bang in form ...................

friday

OPTIMUM RACING

1.20 hunt northern quest £150 ew @ 4/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

another quiet day .....................

with on one nh meeting on coupled with mh on vacation until saturday , so i had a study up myself with a successful conclusion ...............

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

the deciding test started in durban today between south africa and a injury hit west indies side , i really wanted to side with the home side at 1.45/1.48 but after reports of a under prepared pitch after some poor recent weather i was concerned that the windies would win the toss , bowl and many early inroads into the south african batting , the reverse happened in fact with the windies skittled out cheaply , i had layed the draw for £100 @ 4.3 and by mid morning the draw was trading around 30 .
perhaps its my upbringing in the bookmaking world but i love taking on a short fav on heavy/soft ground and especially after the horse has had a long lay off , celestial gold is the horse in question , surely he wont be knocked about on his comeback race , march is his target not a novice hurdle at hereford in january . so i left a few orders to lay this one , and as the tapes went up i had the position of laying celestial gold for £170 @ 1.76 , for 2/3 of the race he travelled well enough but as they came off the top bend he was knowhere to be seen , hopefully it was just a lack of fitness , but my day ended on that note .

daily p/l +£162.69

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

more of the same ............

although a smaller profit than yesterday , but £100 less comm is ok by me , if i could make that personally everyday id be well over the £30k mark on my own !!!! again ntg to report from optimum , mh is away until saturday .

wednesday

PERSONAL TRADING

i had a good look at the musselburgh 2.10 a novice hurdle over 2m , fushe jo had already been beaten twice at odds on and although the highest rated of these on the flat there were 3 others rated in the 70,s , i realise its a dangerous ploy to rely on flat ratings over hurdles but my point is that there were others in the race of similar quality , anyway for a downside of £69 i layed for £100 , again fushe jo finished close up and in the frame but the supported stablemate won , and so did i £95.70 to be precise .

a quiet but profitable day ...............

tuesday

PERSONAL TRADING

i played just in one race the first at leicester and made a tidy profit of £248.82 , so it was stumps for the day and thank you very much , as i had no other concrete views of the rest of the days racing . i have mentioned previously that i was involved with the john best trained charlies double and this horse needs to be opposed whenever there is any mention of soft on the going report , he is and will be a different proposition once the ground firms up hopefully the winter campaign will result in him coming down the handicapby a few pounds ,my only concern is that he has suffered a few problems in the past and i hope he retains the ability that charlie once had shown over hurdles but this wont truly be known until he races under firmer conditions , i also opposed narval davelot on the back of optimum racing , i layed them both in the place market charlies £120 @ 3.25 and narval £140 @ 2.90 both were unplaced so it was a nice profit of £248.82 on the day .

daily p/l +£248.82

Monday, January 07, 2008

a slow start to the week .......................

with nothing from my services ,mh is away till saturday , i played in one race had the value pre race but thats about as good as it got ...................

monday

PERSONAL TRADING

optimum were keen on mr ironman in the 3.30 ludlow i invested £50 ew @ 5/1 (gtd) and support arrived as he was sent off a 7/2 2nd fav , but after clouting the first his confidence seem to go and he was never really travelling , the danger and fav ashwell won easily .

daily p/l -£100

a mixed day for my sports betting ..........

but ended the day with a small profit . woke up to hear of an amazing australian victory against india which suited me , but sadly this test will not just be remembered for the cricket as the umpiring at times was village standard and the intense heated atmosphere on the pitch overboiled and crossed the line in terms of sledging and sportsmanship .
optimum sport put up a successful bet in the fa cup , the downside was the loss of the fav gary anderson in the first round of the bdo darts championship but this meant the other selection hardened in the betting and is now a 4/1 shot after being advised at 8/1 .

sunday

OPTIMUM SPORT

gary anderson £150 @ 2/1 bdo darts champ lost -£150
stoke city v newcastle £62.50 @ 12/5 draw WON +£150

PERSONAL TRADING

a small profit of £75 less comm on the cricket as i profited from a post match lay of the draw @ 3.45 .................. i can imagine a few fingers were burnt this morning when the indians collapsed .

daily p/l +£71.78

Sunday, January 06, 2008

weekending 5th jan ....................

not a great start to the year , lets hope the early months of 2008 do not mirror those of 2007 which were horrendous but here are the weekly figs ............

OPTIMUM RACING -£315
OPTIMUM SPORT -£187.50
PERSONAL TRADING -£145.01
MARK HOLDER NIL
ISIRIS main acc +£125
ISIRIS insiders -£250

weekly p/l ......................-£772.51

THE30KCHALLENGE ........................ -£772.51

not a scintillating start to the year ..............

and today was a case of a few small loses , adding up to just under £300 . i have used the optimum sport service in the past but it didnt fit in with my day as the message went on @ 10am and i was usually in the gym and had difficulty getting the prices , but now the message is relayed around noon which suits , so i shall be using this service for the next 4 months to get a taster .

saturday

OPTIMUM RACING

3.45 sandown principe azzuro £150 ew @ 5/1 r4 3rd -£15

OPTIMUM SPORT

walsall to beat millwall £137.50 @ 2.14 lost -£137.50
hereford to beat tranmere £50 @ 4.80 lost -£50

PERSONAL TRADING

in the chepstow 1.55 i layed three in the place market charango star , miss shakira and victory gunner ............ with the first and last named finishing in the first three i did my dough , £129.34 to be precise , all three were layed to lose £100 . i recouped a little via the 2nd test between south africa and west indies where i had the draw as a loser and the other two outcomes green , south africa won so a small profit of £63.93 .

daily p/l -£267.91

Thursday, January 03, 2008

off the mark for the year .............

nothing from optimum or mh , the latter is off on a little break , back saturday week . i realise his results have not been up to scratch recently but believe me no one works harder at the game than mark this of course does not guarantee anything but hopefully he will return fully recharged and raring to go .

thursday

PERSONAL TRADING

i just played in the one race , where i was keen on the pipe favourite in the 3.25 font pitful tercah , but i was looking for better than the 6/5 on offer . i decided to try and trade into a better price , 6/5 was available so that was hopefully going to be my s/l if need be , i layed £250 @ 2.22 and ideally i was going to try and turn this into a bet @ 2/1 . well i failed on the price only achieving 2.96 but i was a little too quick as this one was uneasy in the market and it drifted to nearly 2/1 anyway !! but i backed him for £380 @ 2.47 leaving me £130 @ 2.96 always travelling within himself he cantered to an easy victory leaving me with a profit of £243.84 .

daily p/l +£243.84

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

trying to be too clever ?????

as a rule when all my services steer clear of the racing its a good time to do anything but have a bet , i found out the hard way today that i should have switched the laptop off and watched some mothers do av em , the royle family or even the sound of bloody music !!!!!

wednesday

PERSONAL TRADING

well mh indicated that if we had the dead eight in the 12.40 ayr he would have been interested in pertemps networks as an ew bet around the 4/1 - 9/2 level but a withdrawal of a rag reduced the field to seven and ruined the ew terms , betfair were still paying out on the 3rd place though and i put up an order to have £150 @ 1.80 in the place market , if this were to be matched id have £150 on in the win market . well the £150 was matched in the place market and i had £150 @ 5.85 in the win market , for a second at 2 out i felt that i would recoup most of the bet but he only stayed on one pace to finish 4th and ouch a £300 loss . in the last at folkestone mh was not sure the fav would get home under the testing conditions , he made avant gardiste a tentative preference , so as long as 16 ran i would have £50 ew on the pipe runner , 16 ran three ships seemed to empty out quite tamely but sadly for me avant gardiste raced mid division throughout the whole race . so a £400 loss on the day , yes im gutted as i type this , but i feel the judgement was sound , it was just one of those days , lets hope tomorrow is the first winning day of the new year !
i have opposed the draws in the two inplay tests , this is a favoured trade for me , and both positions look good , although showers are forecast around sydney over the next few days .

daily p/l -£400

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

DAY 1 / YEAR 2 .....................

firstly all the best for 2008 , lets hope a few of us including myself can make it pay in the new year .
i kicked off with a small loss , nothing serious with the optimum selection charlies future beaten just over 10l into 5th and i managed to claw a little back personally .

tuesday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.25 exeter CHARLIES FUTURE £150 ew @ 14/1 unpld -£300

PERSONAL TRADING

personally i think we have already seen the best of black jack ketchum and i feel he is regressing , i wanted to oppose him at cheltenham today , not a layer in the win market so i layed £80 @ 2.88 in the place market . mh was none too keen on his chances so i was pleased with my position , this was vindicated with another poor display so a small profit of £76.56 on the day personally .

daily p/l -£223.44