Monday 6 September 2010

A stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do - disaster strikes!

Starting Bank: £130.08

Daily Target (2.5%): £3.25

A frustrating day, Sunday. And a lesson learnt - more of which in a moment - let's look at the positives first.

Scandinavia is a wonderful place to visit, and sometimes the football there produces lots of goals. I got involved in a little correct score and goals trade in the match between Syrianska and Osters in Sweden. A 3-0 home win, perhaps a little shy of the expectation but still a trade that netted a small profit. I backed a couple of scores in correct score with some cover on a lay of u4.5 goals.

By way of a small diversion I traded the England / Pakistan 20/20 cricket match. I love trading 20/20 - the game moves so quickly, and price swings can be enormous. With a bigger bank I'd have really cleaned up, but made a tidy £8 after commission laying England then backing them later, wit a bit of scalping the prices in between.

Early in the evening Tenerife entertained Salamanca in the Spanish Segunda Division. A trade based around 1-1 2-1 and 1-2, together with a lay of U2.5 goals produced a healthy profit. So, at about 9pm I was sitting pretty for the day, and made the decision to get involved with a Brazilian game between Athletico MG and Sao Paolo. And that is where it all went pearshaped!

I backed 0-0 at 14, getting £37 and some coppers matched, which I was able to lay off two ticks lower before kick off - giving a green of £37 on 0-0. For a correct score trader that is an ideal position to be in - you don't have to worry about the nightmare of a 0-0 result! My thinking was that the game would be 2-1 maybe 3-1 to Athletico, and my staking was based around that. To help cover the stake I put a £50 back and a £100 lay on U1.5 and O1.5 goals respectively about 1/2 hour before kick off. The corresponding lay bets were placed. My goal was to have a healthy position on U1.5 - to take the 0-1 and 1-0 scores out of the equation for later. Great strategy...... as long as you remember that you've done it and check that the lays had been taken..........you can probably guess the rest.

A goal by Athletico at about the 10 minute mark killed both those trades. The lays had not been taken! And I hadn't noticed....why, I don't know. With a £160ish bank as it was by then you'd think you'd notice an £83 hole wouldn't you?? The correct score trade itself was a scratch - Sao Paolo ran out 2-3 winners, but I managed to come out clean.

So, a £53 loss on the day - hard to take when the actual trading itself for the day had actually been quite profitable - and the whole enterprise was four or five whole days ahead of schedule at the start of the day.

Today's Profit: -£53.23   Bank to carry forward: £76.85

Today's proposed trade


I am thoroughly disappointed with myself for making such an elementary mistake... but am a resilient character and will overcome these little distractions! A quick re-visit and recalculation of my spreadsheet reveals that the damage is not as severe as I had feared. My goal is still eminently achievable, but I need to now increase my daily target to 2.85% of my bank.

The first step toward redemption is the hard to read match between AGOVV and FC Eindoven in the Jupiler League tonight. With two very well matched sides my suspicion is a draw. The goal count is harder to establish, but the market is expecting goals.....but then it was on Saturday as well.....

We'll see how it pans out - you might want to wish me luck :-)

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