Still Struggling

01/04

+£36.74. Yep, still struggling here. Trying to juggle all of those meetings today and winning pennies made me want to put my fist through the screen ... SO FUCKING FRUSTRATING! I'm winning so little that my commission is back to 5%. Not that it makes any difference because that gets bumped up to 20% every Wednesday. So in a nutshell I just can't seem to get back up to previous levels .... maybe that will change now that we are in the flat season?

Anyway, aside from that my weight is coming down nicely and although it's still fucking freezing it looks as though it's going to be sunny and dry this week ... so time to crack-on with the garden. Might even put up a frame for my heavy bag so that I can beat the shite out of it every time I win 55 fucking pence!

I'm trying to persevere with the pre-race trading but it's taking a lot longer to get to grips with than what I first imagined. I'm not going to give up though. Every time I get fucked off I just do more press-ups ... I'm gonna be RIPPED!

So here's today's P&L ....

Makes me want to cry!


02/04

+£39.41. Last night's TFF webinar got the pre-race juices flowing again, so today I had more of a crack in the pre-race markets, albeit for £20 per click. It wasn't such a hectic day today and I felt as though I played quite well.

As you can see I didn't set any records but was glad to get back into the pre-race malarkey


03/04

+£77.87. Blimey I'm cream crackered! The training and diet are starting to take their toll!

Had another day today of playing quite well and just slipped-up on a couple of sharp movers at Southwell. So I'm tired, but overall I'm quite happy.

04/04

-£27.47. Struggled with the pre-race today and also dropped over £100 in 2 in-running bets (one fucking stupid one late on at Wolverhampton) so did quite well to finish only £27.47 down.

05/04

+£58.40. Started off poorly but then had some improvement. I really need to get to that stage were I'm clearing over £100 a day .... we'll see if I can gradually improve.

06/04

+£16.55. The day of the Grand National. Never really got going and missed a couple of hours for an afternoon snooze.

 

07/04

+£30.66. Had a late night last night so felt a bit jaded. Didn't play much pre-race and was happy to scrape just a few quid before I gave up at around 17:00. Will try and crack on as from tomorrow and start getting a few £100+ days.

08/04

-£37.16. Fucking hopeless today!

09/04

+£77.37. Managed to do a bit better today and I was a bit less reckless with my pre-race trading following last nights TFF webinar.

10/04

+£106.74. Finally had a £100+ day today. My pre-race trading is still causing me a headache but I'm going to try something slightly different today to see if it brings any improvement in my results.

My diet has reached a bit of a sticking point. I'm eating very little (mostly protein) and the training is OK, but it's leaving me tired. However, I only have a few kilos to lose so I'm confident of hitting my target.


11/04

+£174.55. Had a good one today. It was just one of those days were everything seemed to go well and I didn't make many mistakes at all.

12/04

+£87.35. When I terminated my membership at LA Fitness they sent me a voucher that was a free pass for two periods of seven days. I finally managed to get LA to activate the pass after a few phone calls and a few emails (I'm sure that they do all that they can to prevent people from using their free passes). So this morning I got my ass out of bed early and trudged off to the gym, which is about 3 miles away. I then trained my back and had a good session in the sauna and steam and then trudged back the 3 miles home. My legs were knackered and I had a snooze before racing started.

Once again played a steady day and almost got to £100 just by playing safe and chipping away.


13/04

+£54.30. Weight is down to 93.2kg so I'm well happy, but fucking hungry! Drove most of the way to the gym this morning and walked maybe 15 minutes. Trained legs and had another lovely session in the sauna and steam. Had another steady day (strangely I don't think that I've ever won much on Saturday's)

14/04

+£35.14. Hit the gym again this morning and trained chest and triceps followed by another good sauna and steam. Really need to be ultra strict on the diet and throw in as much cardio as possible over the next 2 weeks. The afternoon was quite nice in terms of weather yet I was strict and stayed in to trade while everyone else went out for a beer in the sun!

On the trading front had 24 trades without a loss for a mediocre profit.

15/04

+£21.60. Hmmmmmm .... welcome to 5F sprints on the turf! Trying to play these in-running today was a fucking nightmare .... they were practically over before I even had a clue as to what the fuck was happening! One or two of these early races reminded me of how hard it is to lay some of these favoured beasts that are behind and look beat early, only to fly like Pegasus and win cosily. So I think that the secret is only to commit early if you see something totally miss the break, failing this I'm backing early'ish at 2.0 if I think I sport an opportunity or smashing in late at short odds. Despite this I quite enjoyed the pre-race trading today. Once again I'm only talking pennies here, but I may finally be starting to grasp a little about how the market often moves pre-race, and how to select nice positions as entry points.

If you are an aspiring pre-race trader then make sure to take a look at Adam Heathcote's blog and for a more up-to-date blog take a look at Caan's P&L!!


16/04

+£51.25. Trundled through the day with not much happening, just nicking a few pennies here and there. Once again my pre-race efforts were quite good in terms of consistency and I'm starting to feel quietly confident so I might up my stakes tomorrow. The knowledge that I've gained in the weekly TFF webinars is gradually sinking in and I'm feeling quite excited that I might be able to start making a nice regular pre-race profit at some point in the near future.

Have picked up a bit of a cold yet I still managed to jump on the spinning bike for about an hour in total. Also I haven't really felt that hungry today (well not for tuna fish or boiled chicken) so with any luck I can shed a few pounds over the next few days and break through the 93kg mark so that I don't have to go mad in the last week of April. I must admit though that when I went shopping today the muffins looked superb and were calling my name from the shelf ..... and as I sit here now I could absolutely murder a large doner and chips!

PS If I'm really strict then I'll get up tomorrow at 05:45 so that I can hit the gym at 06:30 and thus avoid the parking restrictions.


17/04

+£21.64. Well made it to the gym by 07:30 and had a few 5/6 minutes sessions in the sauna and steam rooms. Felt really good but it was fucking HOT and I felt drained by 08:00, so came home, ate some tuna and went back to bed! Had a couple of hours deserved kip and then did 30 minutes on the spinning bike. Weight is down to 92.3kg so if I keep strict I might even get to 89.0kg by the end of April?

Made a couple of blunders early on but once again felt really confident on the pre-race trading (did get caught by a steamer but noticed afterwards that it was a 5F maiden race) so should have been a bit more cautious.


18/04

+£110.95. Actually made it to the gym by about 07:00 and trained quads and hamstrings but my very low carb level made me as weak as a kitten. Followed this by another great steam session, something to eat, a quick kip and then managed to flatten my car battery by leaving my lights on over at a mates house ... doh! Luckily the AA man was at hand and I made it home having only missed a few races.

Really enjoyed the pre-race trading during the day today. I have found the markets to be quite strong with the only big moves being in maiden races. However, as soon as Wolverhampton came along in the evening the markets went bonkers ... pretty typical of Wolverhampton and you really have to play a totally different style. The good thing is that I really noticed the difference, something that I didn't quite grasp in the early days of my pre-race trading.


19/04

+£106.86. OK ... a third video of me in my boxers!

The racing was super hectic today and at one point there was a race every 5 minutes. Once again played very steadily and felt quite confident.

20/04

+£83.44. A busy day today on the horse racing front but I managed to miss quite a bit of it as I was helping to install a new fence in a neighbour's garden (so probably would have hit 3 figures again). My washing machine also fucked-up yesterday so I had to spend a bit of time ferreting about on the internet seeing if I could pick-up a bargain on Gumtree or eBay. My recent P&L dictates that I can only afford a secondhand machine!

Don't want to get too greedy but would be nice to get a few £150+ days under my belt before the end of April.


21/04

+£43.77. A quiet day today. Continued installing my neighbours fence and ended-up completely knackered! Managed to trade a few races although there were only 3 meetings today so no records were going to be set.

22/04

-£55.05. A frustrating day turned into a pants day late on. Was admittedly a bit distracted by finishing the fencing in my neighbours garden so not an ideal scenario.

23/04

+£65.16. Managed to recover yesterday's losses in a pretty un-eventful day. I'm approaching the last week of my diet and I'm fucking starving! Just need to knuckle down and lose the last few pounds before the big weigh-in on May 1st! Then I'm going to make myself a lovely mince Rogan Josh!

24/04

+£34.74. Felt pretty tired most of the day and really couldn't get into then swing of things. Struggled in the pre-race markets and particularly struggled with the Epsom markets. The weather was lovely though so I managed to get out in the garden and do some more paving, so that was nice.

25/04

BF = +£78.16 & Betdaq = +£1.50. Another nice sunny day so I dusted off the bike and cycled down to the Olympic stadium. Felt more alert today and I seemed to do slightly better in the the pre-race markets.

I also decided to have a crack in the Betdaq pre-race market. It's a bit tricky as the Betdaq API doesn't yet return the total matched at each price so it's harder to spot resistance points and the tops and bottoms of the price range. However, I got around this by selecting the horse that I wanted to trade on Betdaq, setting Geeks Toy to show just one ladder and then overlaying the Geeks ladder over the relevant Geeks Toy BF ladder .... confused? Here's a screenshot which probably explains it a bit better ...

You can see where I've overlaid the Betdaq selection of 'Fred Willets' over the BF selection thus I'm using the BF data for trading on Betdaq.

I only played a couple of the early races on the Daq as it started to get quite hectic changing the screens/windows etc so I'll have to find a way of setting-up my screens in a more user-friendly manner ... might even need a third screen maybe?

26/04

BF = +£62.41 & Betdaq = +£1.79. It's been a while since I've added a video of me NOT in my boxers so here it is ...

Had another crack early on in the day on Betdaq. It's time consuming fucking about with multiple windows but hey you never know it just might be possible to win a few quid without having my meagre winnings raped by BF every week. I'll take another look tomorrow (Saturday) and see if the pre-race liquidity is any better?

Was a pretty boring day trading-wise today as I couldn't really get excited about Plumpton and the BF Live video was bolloxed at Chepstow. However, I persevered and chipped away in order to nick a few quid.

Would love to jump on the scales in the morning and hit sub 90kg because I really do need to make a mince rogan josh .... and to add to the pain Masterchef is just coming on .... I'm fucking starving!!


27/04

+£19.46. Weighed in ... weighed in ...

Smashed through the 90kg barrier today and treated myself to a Belgian bun and a donut! Also managed to fix my washing machine but I did come very close to taking a sledgehammer to it!

As for today's trading ... it was pants. Didn't have the time to try the Daq and Leicester was a no go area as BF Live was behind ATR and I just couldn't seem to get up to speed today. I'm pre-race trading with £20 and £50 depending upon price but I think now that I should be using at least £100 a click, especially as I'm favouring s scalping style. I think that in May I need to focus a bit more on making some money from swing trades as well as the scalping, so I'll have to give that some thought over the coming days. Right now I feel that I really need to smash into May and win some decent money. I have only had 3 losing days this month so my strike rate is good .... so why the fuck ain't I diving in for bigger stakes? Grow some balls Davey son!!

 

28/04

+£69.21. Was up at the crack of dawn today and out in the garden screeding an area ready for my paving. The weather was nice and sunny and I contemplated a day off and indulging in a few beers but the clouds rolled in so I decided to try and nick a few quid and save it for a scorcher in the summer

My early enthusiasm meant that come 14:00 I was knackered so made sure that I played very diligently. Chipped away again and banked the equivalent of  28 bottles of Hoegaarden from Asda or 14 pints of Hoegaarden at The Belgian Cafe down in Ramsgate.

29/04

-£8.98. I'd sum up today as wanky (is there such a word?). Anyway, felt a bit tired again, probably due to my excessive consumption of cakes and biscuits, and accordingly played like a twat. Actually thought that I'd lost a lot more. I did however up my stakes slightly so I'll make sure that I get a good night's kip tonight so that I'm ready to get stuck in tomorrow.

Feel sick right now as I've eaten too much shite today (including crisps, belgian buns, muffins, biscuits, bread and a chunky kit kat!). I'll maybe cook a curry tomorrow and partake in a Hoegaaarden or 2 and then back to the good diet for May.


30/04


Finished the month with a very frustrating and tedious day of trading. Felt tired again as I'd cracked on with the garden in the morning and felt physically knackered. The day seemed to drag on with no particular highlights. So the trading wasn't very good but I was pleased that I had made some progresss in the garden and spent some time in the sun, which was nice.

 

Me In My Boxers!

Firstly, if you are of a nervous disposition look away now! Yep, that is a video of me in my boxers.

I've been quite busy and lazy over the last few days so haven't created any time to update the blog. However, it's now March and the sun is shining so things are going to change.

After quitting the exchange late last year I have become a lazy fat bastard and now weight 101.7kg!. I was training quite regularly in 2012 and was down to below 90kg and looking good. Dissapointingly my training came to a halt, my eating increased and my weight has sailed through the 100kg barrier. So as an incentive to lose weight and return to my days of having a rippling, chiselled, tanned and athletic physique that no woman (or man) could resist I'll be posting videos of me in my boxers at regular intervals. I will be down to sub 90kg by the end of April. If I don't get to sub 90kg then I will donate £100 to charity. If anyone wants to pledge to donate a few quid to charity if I DO get to sub 90kg then pls let me know, so either way a charity will get a few quid.

I'm just going through the form for today's racing so I'll post a trading based update later today after the TFF webinar.

Cheers - Dave.


09/03

Well my weight has already dropped to 98.4kg so I'm well happy.

The trading has started to pick-up now that we've had less cancellations. I'm gradually becoming more of an pre-race/early IR trader in the win market. When I take a position at the off then I'm normally out of the trade within the first third or half of the race. This is working quite well and as I gradually up my stakes then my profits should also increase.


29/03

Time flies eh? I usually like to keep on top of my blog entries but in reality not a lot has happened over the last 2 or 3 weeks. The racing has been pretty poor, apart from Cheltenham, but now we are moving into the flat season so things should start picking up.

My pre-race trading has taken a bit of a back seat as I've been trading more at the start of races over the sticks. This seems to be working out OK and I'm gradually increasing my stakes. The place market seems to have improved slightly but I'm not holding my breath

So I'll be back blogging on a regular basis from April and I'll stick up my P&L as well to see if I can get things back to some sort of normality.

Happy Easter!

Forget the money..... become effective

I was replying to a post on the 'Trading for Freedom' website and as I was typing the reply I noticed that I was in fact giving myself some useful information. One of the members had set himself a goal of winning a certain amount on a daily basis by the end of each month and he was beginning to feel frustrated as he hadn't yet reached that goal. I replied that he shouldn't be particularly worried about how much he had won every day. My own experience is that your trading will be affected if you are continually looking at your P&L during the day. I have mentioned this before, the only thing that you should be focussing on while your are trading is the trading itself. Therefore it stands to reason that if you fully concentrate on how you are trading and your focus is to improve how you trade (by cutting out schoolboy mistakes, being patient and waiting for clear cut opportunities, not being reckless, sticking to a defined staking plan, sticking to any other rules that you may have, gradually improving your knowledge and enhancing your strategies, etc) then your trading will improve, your confidence will grow, and in turn you can gradually increase your stakes and ultimately win more money. So effectively you should reach a stage were you are winning an average daily amount that meets or exceeds your old monetary based goal.

I did venture out on Friday evening and entertained a few sherberts (unfortunately the second boozer that we frequented only served Fosters) and managed to stumble back home at about 03:15 accompanied by a large doner and chips!

After my debacle with my car I managed to get a replacement 100A PAL fuse and stuck that in this morning, connected the batteries and hey presto ..... I'm back in action!

Yesterday (Saturday) was the first day that I really noticed the difference in the pre-race markets on busy days, such as Saturdays. Most of my trading was either pre-race or early doors in the win market and my forays into the place market were much less, so I felt as though I'm finally making the transition away from the place market and into the win for both pre-race and IR.


05/02

Not much to report, apart from the fact that the sun has come out and we have 3 meetings today and Southwell AW is back in action.

Just stumbled across this on YouTube. I've only had the chance to watch the first few minutes but it looks really interesting.

... and you thought trading on Betfair was difficult!


13/02

Well we have a few more meetings today, five to be precise, so thing are picking up a bit and Cheltenham is only just around the corner. I'm gradually getting my plan into action, that is pre-race trading in the win market, followed by early IR trading in the win market, followed by a bit of trading late on in the place market (hope that makes sense). I need to be a bit more aggressive in terms of stakes, so I'll get my arse in gear today and increase them slightly.

Laddies finally get Betdaq!

Well, well, well. Ladbrokes have finally acquired Betdaq. The questions is, will this change P2P betting as we know it? There are plenty of differing opinions on the BF forum (as you would expect) and to be honest I haven't got a clue. The thought of high liquidity markets and a much lower commission rate does give me an instant hard-on (I'm easily pleased) but whether or not things will improve, or even get worse, is anybodys guess.

Does anyone out there have any opinions as to where this may lead?

As an additional point, the only fucking advert that I ever see for BF is for 'Betfair Casino', and there was me thinking that the PC was supposed to help fund the drive to get more users on the exchange, not the fucking BF Casino! 

As for my progress, well I'm running in quicksand right now. It is true that the weather has decimated the racing over the last couple of weeks, and this had probably affected the markets. I'm still having a bash at the pre-race, with varying results, but my IR game seems to have picked-up (maybe because I've upped my stakes).

The short term weather forecast looks a bit better so maybe the racing and markets will return to normal? I have noticed that Lingfield AW has been unplayable this week so the track mongrels are probably out in force.

In my spare time I've been getting stuck into 'Trading in the Zone'. It does start to get a bit heavy and repetetive at around the halfway mark, and as it gets later in the evening it gets more and more tempting to ditch the book and watch silly videos on YouTube instead. The basic thrust of the book is to make the reader realise, and accept, that the way that the market moves (and I'm applying this to pre-race markets) is totally random.  Then once you've discovered your edge, through market analysis, spottting trends etc, you can then confidently trade the market, with pre-defined exit points, and not be affected by short term results (as you accept the randomness of the market) as you know that your proven edge will make you a winner in the long run, much like a casino or a traditional bookmaker.

If anything this has had more of an affect on my IR trading, as I'm no longer doubting my initial observations and getting involved when I see the opportunity, and not worrying if I have a losing race or losing day, as I have a proven edge which has served me faultlessly over the last 5 years.

So keep an eye on the BF share price and get ready to man the lifeboats!

28/01

It's been pretty quiet with regards to progress in the pre-race markets. I did have a small play in the IR win market at Cheltenham on Saturday, albeit for tiny stakes, but managed to win a few pennies in the six races that I traded. I recorded my trading and Jack is going to post the videos on the TFF website.
We only have 2 AW meetings this afternoon so I'll be back in the place market trying to nick a few quid.

30/01

Feeling really depressed and fucked off today. Poxxed about trying to put 2 new batteries in my car this morning and as usual nothing goes to plan and spent 2 hours fucking about, getting greasy and fucked right off! Also checked my P&L for January last night and that fucked me off as well, so in a nutshell I'm well and truly fucked right off.

31/01

Had a right fucking miserable day yesterday. Fucked my car and fucked my P&L. Going to trade today and then go out and get wankered tonight. Then in February I'm going to smash the fuck out of the market.

My car antics above reminded Steve (showing his age) of a classic comedy moment from a few years back when we were all nippers.

Let's Smash this Fucker!

OK. I've served my apprenticeship in this pre-race malarkey and now it's time to win a few shillings. I'm starting to grasp how the markets move and react in certain conditions so now I need to up the stakes and start getting involved!

PS It's my birthday today!

I'm burying myself practically 24 hours a day in watching how markets/selections move and thinking about the reasons that cause these moves and subsequent reactions. I literally plonk myself in front of the PC with a cuppa in the morning and just watch markets move. Then in the evening I do the same, but maybe with a Hoegaarden instead of a brew. Then when I hit the sack I don't spend hours making long, hot, passionate and totally fulfilling love to my wife (even though she's always gagging for it!) ...

.... oh no, I lie there thinking about price moves and graphs and how to win loads of cash!

I've recorded most of the races where I traded today. So it's off to the TFF webinar for a couple of hours followed by a marathon session watching my performance today and seeing what I did well, where I went wrong, and looking for more opportunities.

One more thing ..... judging by Adam Heathcote's progress chart if you can average £3.34 per in your first month of pre-race trading then after 4 months you could be averaging over £100 per day and after 6 months you could be averaging over £200 a day! Let's have it!!
 

15/01

I've been drinking tea and watching endless recordings of my recent trading sessions. It does fry the old brain cells somewhat, but it's good when you start spotting things and learning how to react to certain moves. I suppose it's a bit like the in-running where there's no real substitute for time spent watching thousands of horse races.

My P&L is still looking like a bag of shite as I'm still only on relatively small stakes but I'm moving up another level today, so if all goes well then I should be playing with decent stakes by the end of January.

16/01

Blimey it's freezing out there today!

Tried to get stuck in yesterday but really didn't play that well. However, I did record most of the races and spent a good 4 or 5 hours last night just watching the markets all over again and spotting the opportunities that I missed. In most cases I was just a bit too slow to react and I've also found that I've pretty much abandoned scalping altogether, which is not a good idea. So today I'll be looking to be more decisive and speedy, so we'll see how it goes and I'll report back later this evening ....

17/01

Fuck my old boots it's even colder than yesterday! Traded Lingfield AW and Newbury yesterday and fell into the old trap of trading Newbury the same way I would trade the AW ....WRONG! I find that the markets are completely different, so you have to trade differently!

So it was back to watching my screen recordings for the day to see where I went wrong and work out a way to trade these differernt types of market. I noticed that there seemed to be fewer spikes in the price movements and less movement in general. I also noticed that any moves seemed slower but maybe stronger, in that there were less reversals of any note. So in general the markets at Newbury seemed to be much tighter and stable, which is no surprise really as the racing is much higher quality and therefore the form is more stable.


19/01

How time flies since my post back in February 2012 titled 'I Fucking Hate the Winter!'. As if it wasn't hard enough already this poxxy snow, ice and rain looks set to fuck the racing for the next few days. Two meetings have survived today so we'll have to see if we can pick up some scraps of cash in order to pay the gas and electricity bill!

The good news is that Steve managed to get me a copy of 'Trading in the Zone', and judging by the first 40 pages it's going to be a cracking read and provide some much needed help in changing my psyschology and how I approach trading.

 

Well that didn't quite go to plan ...

So where did it all go wrong?

Well looking back at January it didn't seem like a bad start at all. It seemed that most days I was winning maybe £100+ and ended up winning nearly £4k on the month. So not a bad start at all.

I had 1 or 2 interesting days in February, losing a record amount of £1035 on the 21st and winning £752 on the 24th. The snow and ice did little to help matters, and it was in fact during March that I predicted that in-running was set to become a lot harder as it seemed that we were getting further and further behind what was happening live. I suppose it may also have been due to the increasing number of track players snaffling all of the prices before we even had the chance to see what was happening?  So due to these factors I only managed to get just under £5k over the 2 months.

I think that I also drank loads of beer and ate many kebabs during February and March and therefore probably spunked most of my winnings instead of being a tight fisted fuck and putting it into the bank.

I didn't really spend much time on my blog in April or May and for the life of me I haven't got a fucking clue what I did during those few weeks .... probably drunk more beer and didn't bother to save any of the £7.5k that I won.

The weather in June was crap .... I remember that! Obviously the racing picks up during the Summer and I didn't do too bad, but still somehow managed to spend more than what I earned! I managed over £11k during these months and probably should have had a lot more but spent most of it on more beer and trips to the coast!

... and yes, it was 09:05 in the morning!



In September I decided to get involved in the pre-race trading game. I think that I was beginning to sense the end of the place market as the liquidity seemed at an all time low. Things must have been bad as I'd only won £1.5k halfway through the month and I didn't even remember to download my monthly P&L at the end of the month!

October saw the wheels come flying off in spectacular fashion.

Just about scraped over the £1.4 mark for the month and realised that now something was seriously wrong, so decided to abandon ship at the exchange and start playing from home using BF live pics and RUK.

Spent November and December trying to master the pre-race game and seeing exactly how much I could still get from the place market playing from home. The answer: not a fucking lot! In fact I only managed to get just over £1.4k.

So the question is: where the fuck do I go from here? The first thing that springs to mind is the local Jobcentre. However, all is not lost ..... well hopefully!

The Plan for 2013

The place market is pretty much fucked, especially over the jumps, I know that. So the only option is to dive head first into the win market with all the big boys. I think it's just a case of sorting a few strategies and getting used to the price movements and playing differently on Gruss.

I am also going to combine the IR trading with the pre-race trading. I thought that I was making progress during November, albeit for small stakes, only to encounter a wobble during December. I think that I'm back on the right track and we'll just have to see how I progress over the next few weeks. I think that I'm going to play safe during January while I'm learning the ropes and I'll be happy if I can get £1k by the end of the month. Once I get up to speed just using smaller stakes then I can gradually up my stakes back to somewhere near normal when I feel that I know what I'm doing.

I must admit that life has been somewhat stressful over the last few weeks and I have turned into a right miserable fucker. I know that there are much more important things in life than money but it's still hard to come to grips with the fact that things have changed so quickly and it's a lot harder to just sit down and win £100+ every day. My missus has borne the brunt of most of my frustration and we've indulged in 1 or 2 tasty arguments since I've started working from home. She also didn't take too kindly to me likening her to a sloth in one of my previous posts (I suppose that's not really going to help matters). However, she's a diamond and I love her to bits.

 
I still want to move to the coast, and I still believe that it's possible to win big amounts of cash, it's just that it's a bit harder these days, but hey, that's life!


09/01

Fuck it! I thought I'd put my ugly boat on YouTube. I've had 75 trades over the last 3 days and only had 2 losses so I'm feeling like a dog with 2 cocks. I felt suicidal in December so I'm gonna bounce back in January and tell the world just how fucking good I am at this game.

10/01

Had 32 trades today and only 2 losses, so I'm feeling quite happy. Will probably up the stakes slightly tomorrow and crack on! And here's more words of wisdom ....

11/01

Another day where the strike rate was good so really need to start getting a bit more aggressive on the staking. Saturday tomorrow so should be an ideal day to up the stakes and see how I progress.

... and yeah I was a bricklayer. Still get the urge every now and then to throw down a few bricks but my trowel is rusty and my expensive Stabila level got bent by someone hitting it with a mallet (cheers Mike!).


12/01

Well the fact that Betfair went tits up just before 15:00 didn't exactly help things! Traded OK and a bit more aggressively but made a basic error in one market where I expected a reversal just before the off but got involved way too late when there was no real time left for a bounce back. Really need to gradually up the stakes and see how things progress.

13/01

Today was the day when I felt like everything was starting to come together with regards to the pre-race trading.

Just felt as though I was spotting moves and in many cases played the markets correctly. Did spend a lot of time in the evening just watching recordings of previous markets and trying to gain an ever greater understanding of what the fuck is happening each time a market goes bonkers.

Norovirus eh?

That motherfucker hurts!

There I was yesterday morning shopping for a £5.99 kettle in Argos and 3 hours later I'm shitting my pants, chucking up yellow shit with an acidity level of Sulphuric acid and trying to stem the stream of snot and blood from my nose while trying not to cry and scream too loudly!

So that about summed-up my effort in December. Things got really hard (hence the £5.99 kettle) and I'm not too sure were we go from here. The summer months yielded an OK result (although not exactly what I wanted at the start of the year) and looking back on my P&L for previous years December has never yielded above average profits.

So I need a few days to contemplate how I approach 2013, therefore I might fuck-off to Ramsgate to see in the New Year outside the Belgian Cafe while watching the fireworks once this Norovirus fucks off.

December

Well last month was an assault on my nervous system and my wallet. I've managed to do this, but in reverse!

I've never known the IR game to be in such a wanky state of affairs (well at least in the place market). November was a real struggle both in-running and trying to learn the pre-race game, all of it played havoc with my stress levels and I felt like going out and getting well and truly wankered last night.

I did go out for a few beers but ended up even more depressed when my local boozer was more like a morgue as opposed to how a boozer is supposed to be, especially on a Friday night.

If I was single I'd move tomorrow to the coast, but unfortunately I have my missus in tow and she has the ambition and drive of a sloth ... there, just had to get that off my chest.

I'm trying hard to master this pre-race game and I had a textbook day today, albeit for small stakes and small winnings. I played nicely all afternoon and then went and gave 50% of it back in the last race. That's how it goes I suppose.

As for this month, well I'm going to up my stakes back to their normal level and just try and plod on. As mentioned previously I do need to get into the win market but that's quite hard to do when I'm spending most of my time trying to learn the pre-race game.

And Wolves just been frozen off for tonight ... so it's off to channel 212 for a bit of dogging!

Fuck beards ... let's talk about gardens

Take a look at a recent picture of my garden and have a guess what sort of company I ran before I become an in-running player?

Yep, you guessed it .... I was a landscape gardener! Unfortunately my garden has always resembled a pikey's dumping ground. If you have a good rummage about out there you can find old radiators, scaffolding poles, a tyre, old bins full of various bits of crap, an old plastic shed and mountains of paving and paving blocks. God knows what's lurking down the far end, it looks like a scene from 'The Day of the Trffids'. Now that I'm working from home I've decided to get my arse in gear, polish the trowel, and get cracking out there. I've been spending a few hours each getting rid of some of the crap and I've already started block paving the passageway out into the garden, and if I may say so myself it's looking OK. I'll stick up a few pictures as I progress.


November 17

I'm still getting up to speed in terms of playing from home and mixing the in-running with the pre-race trading. It's OK playing from home, so I just need to get my game and stakes back up to a slightly higher level and also cut out the 1 or 2 silly mistakes that I've made this month. I reckon I've lost close to £300 by fucking up (backed a horse in 4th when I thought it was in 3rd close home and over the weekend managed to let the mouse slip onto a different selection just before I pressed the fucker!).

 

 

 

November 18

Not much happened today ...

However, the fantastic guys at Gruss have added an optional custom column to the Grid Interface that displays the first line contained in each selection's notes folder. I'll be using this to display my AW (all weather) abbreviated horse notes (and maybe the odd jumps horse notes here and there), and I'm sure that this will greatly help me in my IR trading. However, the biggest problem in compiling these notes is the time it takes, along with making sure that I only store relevant information. I did keep paper based notes back in Jan/Feb, but these just became too time consuming to maintain and update. So now I've devised a simpler and more effective way in which to store and present my notes. I've decided that for each horse I will abbreviate it's ideal trip, class and running style. My abbreviations will be as follows:


Pace

S = slow
A = average
G = good
F = fast


Position

L = leads
P = prominent
M = mid div
HU = held up
B = behind


Finishing Style

F = faded
STAV = stayed on averagely
ST = stayed on
FW = finished well
SAL = stays averagely late in the race


Other Notes

SA = slow away
MB = missed break
G = green
K = keen
O = outpaced
GW = goes well
J = jumps well
X = jumps poorly

So my notes will describe each horses ideal pace and position in a race along with it's usual running style and class limitations. So a typical example would be something like AMKSTAV7C5. This means that this horse runs best when the pace is an average one, it's positioned midfield, has been keeen in the past yet stays over a distance of 7F in class 5 races. Another example might be FOBFW7C4. This means the selection prefers a fast pace, will usually be outpaced and behind, but tends to finish well over 7F in class 4. In this example if the race was run at a slow pace then I would be a layer of this horse.


November 19

Continued compiling my horse notes today and realised, what I already knew, that they will be a super potent weapon that will potentially destroy even the keenest of track players. Although I had quite a few notes at the start of the year I now realise that maybe I didn't use them very effectively. They do take some time to compile but they should come into their own, especially when the AW really kicks into action.

Had a hopeless day in-running but feel like I'm about to get the pre-race trading by the bollox, something which I'm quite excited about!

November 20

Southwell, Folkestone and Fakenham .... oh what joy!

November 21

Bag of shite racing today but nicked a few quid.

November 22

Only 2 meetings today becase of the windy/rainy weather ... oh dear!

November 23

Bored shitless today. The place market has officially imploded ... think I might have to take the mighty step into the big bad win market!

November 24

Somebody out there must win on a Saturday? I always struggle, and today was no different. Concentrated mostly on the pre-race markets today so didn't do much IR apart from Lingfield and Wolves in the evening.

November 25

I fucking hate Sunday's ... especially when you're faced with trying to play Navan in the fucking fog! Did pretty much fuck-all until the penultimate race. I had layed McCoy for small money, but jumping the last he looked bang on for a place. The cameraman duly focused on the front 2 up towards the line, and I thought to myself, when he pans back then if McCoy is clear in 3rd I'll back him and nick a few quid back. The cameraman duly pans back, and there's McCoy plodding on for a guaranteed 3rd place, so I back him, then the horse takes 2 more strides, stumbles, and McCoy goes over his head! So onto the last race, and I should have smashed that mouse like a mad fucker. A bumper where the first 4 place, and I see Nina Carberry cantering all over them turning into the straight, and the commentator hasn't even mentioned her. So I back her for small at just over evens instead of smashing the living daylights out of her, and then back her a little bit more as she moves into second place. Nicked a few quid back but should have been a few hundred really. I really do need to grow some big fuckoff bollox and start smashing into these opportunities instead of playing safe all the time.

By the way, did I mention that the place market is now officially totally wankered? Well it is ... so I'm off to the win market. Last man out please turn off the light off ...

November 26

Fucking pants.

November 27

One fucking poxxy bag of shite meeting today .... so played the dogs instead.

November 28

Fucking hopeless.

November 29

Had a real frustrating day today. I think I'm right on the edge of making this pre-race game pay but I just keep making novicey mistakes. Just give me a few more days and the P&L should read a bit differently!