13/07/2009

Too busy last night to post but it was a good day yesterday. The Pro40 is back, a competition I love, 40 overs is just about perfect for trading for a few hours. As with everything in life the more you enjoy doing something the more likely you are to be successful at it, but even more importantly I'm more relaxed about trading it and that helps so much I dont even have a word to explain. With 20/20 a four or a six and the market is going insane, I'm always thinking I'm under pressure because the game is so short while in Pro40 I always feel I have time to look after my position, I'm more confident and trade without fear. I'm gutted its the last year of it.

The one thing that helps me the most is not trading while the first innings are on, I've discovered this over the last few months, but in England its more important because you dont know what a good score is. In the second innings, I've a total to work towards and know exactly how many overs are left etc. When I'm taking a position first innings, I'm guessing whats a good score and guessing can the other team chase it down, more I cut out the guessing the better it is really. Yesterday the spreads were going 240 on innings runs, they got 263 so you'd think that was a massive score, the average score was 218 at the ground too, so you'd be lumping on the team who batted first. If you dont bet on the first innings you dont have to worry about all that stuff, you just worry about how the team chasing are going along.

The most important factor of Pro40 markets is lumpy. Some bloke whos a huge trader, he controls the market with bets any size going from 20K to over 100K sometimes. If I see he has the wrong price, take him on and he gets lucky, I have to accept a loss, I accept that. The thing I like about this market so much is I understand everything is has and accept it for it is, during the test last week I was looking at the screen going cross eyed sometimes over what to do. But lumpy is like the rest of us just with a bigger bank, he'll drive prices down and up and you have to forget him, forget the money, focus on the match and what you think is the right price. And always green out! The swings are huge, I'd never back a bowling team during the second innings at under 1.3, its crazy, one four or six and the market is flying out, obviously its not a lay sometimes because maybe theres tail enders batting but its not a back ever under any circumstances for me. Its just one of those markets I love.

Won a small few quid in running the horses, not enough the cover the daily horse loss though. What happened are Ayr was a joke, simple as.

Cricket: EUR159.30 | Horse Racing: -EUR24.10 Total P&L: EUR135.20