Improvement!

A win of €14.40 this week, hurrah! It beats losing anyway. Its nice to get January over and steady the ship. Most things have still been a struggle but better than the previous three weeks, Eng were useless this morning, 145/9 - just terrible, if that happened last week I'd have lost plenty but having seen how bad theyve been this series I'm sort of almost expecting it by now and got away with a €13 loss, play properly and they win IMO, but I've said that at least three games so far and theyve lost them all. Funny how the team who lose The Ashes always do well in the ODI series after, personally I wouldnt read too much into this for the WC.

To follow on from the last post, Jimmy Michie has announced his retirement from snooker..! What an odd set of circumstances FFS. Marcus Campbell then made it to the semi finals in the end. Hopefully the investigation is done properly anyway, I have another screen shot from all the matches on Saturday afternoon, shows how strange the 1.5 was, even the big names were only 8/11, in fairness to the bookies they did open at 5/6 and sure how were they supposed to know what was coming.













That game aside, it has been a fantastic tournament for snooker, and can only help the game IMO. Alright, once/twice a year is enough, but Mark King said when interviewed "its a much better buzz to play in front of 1,000 shouting people than the normal quiet 20 or so on tour." Obviously when you change things you 'offend' (I use offend loosely) people who like the old game, but I'd rather offend the 20 people and have the new 1,000 people than stick with the people who hate change. For betting, it is the new crack cocaine, and Friday night/Saturday morning it was free money, market has somewhat copped on this evening and its been harder, although maybe that was just me losing.. dont know much about all the players so aimed to win a fiver/tenner off each game and sure Friday night, because it was new and no one knew what to do, you couldnt really lose just trading on numbers.

Speaking of offending people, Andy Gray and Richard Keys, what are we gonna do with them. Obviously they were wrong, and obviously sacking them was the way to go given the videos that came out after the offside one. However, a bit of realism, far FAR worse things happen in the world, like this fellow for example, who locked his wife in a cellar for 16 years, hes not on every news channel/news paper going. The whole sexism issue seems very clouded to me though, and theres an awful lot of double standards, I dont read much on the issue but I've never heard of a man complaining of sexism - and theres a lot of bad things said about men in womens TV shows, magazines and shows like Sex In The City/Desperate Housewives, then it all kicks off when a man says something bad, I dont know, obviously its wrong but the furore over it is unbelievable. Anyway, isnt it great to see Sky Sports tackle sexism, yep, its fantastic. Now, whos this weeks soccerette again? Er, yeah.

On a personal note, and living in my gambling bubble, I'm a bit annoyed they got sacked because they were good at the job and watchable. Like I said countless times before, what sportsmen and other people do in their own time is their own business and none of mine, and I thought they were quite good on the TV while I was watching/gambling. My opinion would be, one woman should be 'offended,' the lines-lady, and it is no one elses business because it does not involve them, simple as that. But having said that, 99.9999999% of the stuff reported on the news has absolutely nothing to do with most people but that doesnt stop them getting all worked up over it. Its like the current situation in Egypt, of course its bad, but unless you live there it makes fook all difference to our life here what happens there. So Andy Gray is a bit sexist, Tiger Woods likes a ride, John Terrys a twat, Wayne Rooney rides grannies, Ashely Cole is daft for cheating on Cheryl, Katie Price is a bit of a slapper and Andy Murray is Scottish again after losing, does any of it change my life, no. Celebrities eh..

Anyway, Tiger came back this week, always adds to watching the golf doesnt he, I'm still of the opinion he cant be backed until he actually wins again. But, he REALLY has to stop seething after hitting a bad shot, I think he dropped three in five holes Friday night and he was effing and blinding, throwing clubs, whacking them off the ground, shouting fuck at the top of his voice (which was very funny at the time!), its a fact he cannot be operating 100% if hes seething, like anything. He wont come near to winning until he stops, I'd love to actually sit down and tell him hes a fooking eejit and just calm down, we all know the chances of that happening..! But seething will get him no where in life, and he still has major mental questions to answer IMO. Alright I'll say it, dont hold me to it, but the great man, unless he stops the seething, is FINNISH. That comment should at least give him the grand slam of majors in 2011 anyway, 80/1! Being serious I'd rather back 10/11 he gets none (I havent though).

Has This Ever Happened Before?

A dodgy snooker match? Add it to the list..

http://bettingzone.co.uk/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=snooker/11/01/29/manual_102546.html

WPBSA TO PROBE BETTING PATTERNS

The WPBSA are to investigate the Caesarscasino.com Snooker Shoot-Out match between Jimmy Michie and Marcus Campbell because of suspicious betting patterns.

The governing body were contacted by bookmakers who were concerned about the amount of bets placed on Campbell to win the one-frame shoot-out, which ended in a 32-21 victory to the Scot.

The matter has been passed on to David Douglas, head of the WPBSA's integrity unit, for a thorough and immediate investigation.

WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said: "We take the threat of corrupt activity very seriously and we are treating this matter with the utmost urgency.

"Having set up the integrity unit last year, we have the mechanisms in place to make a full investigation."

-----

I actually picked this up live, each match is one frame - so most (not all obviously) have been 1.9 - 2.1 or thereabouts, Ronnie O'Sullivan started at 1.69 for example. This lesser known fellow rocks up starts at 1.5! And for the amounts matched on each game there was a fair amount placed in relative terms, most bookies pulled the market after Campbell was backed from 5/6 to 2/5. Obviously people would have to watch the match themselves to form an opinion, but Michie missed some seriously, seriously, seriously easy shots IMO.

Like I said, I copped this live so have the screen shot of the graph, he goes from the "normal" price of evens-ish to under 1.5 pre-match, people take on the price just before it starts because every game has been priced closely - so 1.5ish seemed a fantastic lay, price goes to 1.6 but then crashes to 1.5 again as the players are walking out, which also claim the biggest spike in volume. The price spikes are when Michie "got in" but then proceeded to miss badly.

In relative terms to the markets (and you can watch them this afternoon too), €109k out of €118k, even discounting the bookie gamble, is a massive amount, with basically nothing traded on Michie.

To compare, and I know this is pre-off and without in running money obviously, Shaun Murphys game today €1,467 has been matched, and he is 1.72 and a previous World Champion. In the winner market for the whole tournament, there has been €16,361 matched. Neil Robertson (1.67), another World Champion, has a game starting in 15 minutes and €3,458 has been matched. I didnt think Campbell v Michie would be the star attraction of the week..!

23/01/2011

Well, still January, still losing, whats feckin' new..

Not too bad this week at -€73.78, in the grand scheme of things that arb with Ladbrokes on Thursday was massive, but I suppose without it you'd take away -€150 from Betfair and those figures would look better to the eye, but it was plus €100 for nothing and needed. The positive thing is I havent done anything daft and stuck to the number one P&L sport, even that was a struggle but I'd imagine the other sports would be even worse.

Bit ironic really that when I stop betting on the Saffer games because I'm losing on them and winning on Eng, I begin to lose on the Eng games then. Eng were absolutely terrible though in the 2nd ODI, very un-current-England-like and going back to the old ODI team were you could rely on them to cock things up. These things happen though, during a good spell I'd shrug my shoulders and say so what, but during a poor enough spell were I'm not winning automatically think why me FFS. Aus tried their level best to cock up their chase this morning too, I backed them at 1.5 - to see Eng go 1.8 after, I was lying there at half seven debating whether or not to bother and just roll over, decided no I'll get up (dedication) - by jaysus I walked into hard work. Managed to finish Aus +€2 Eng -€110ish, stress. The Aus season will soon be coming to an end though and it was a really good one, +1.5k on Betfair and €500 from Betpack on the 2nd test, obviously things are difficult now but I hope one day to back a winner again.. eventually..













Hurricane Fly was fairly good again today, but you know its hard to get too excited because he just keeps beating Solwhit. You'd have to worry about going to Cheltenham because nigh on his whole form book revolves around beating Solwhit, and if you were to rate Hurricane highly, then you'd have to rate Solwhit too - and hes not even running in the CH. You'd have to go back to April 09 for a race where they werent first/second favourites, bar Dunguib who blew out against them - and hasnt ran yet this season. The Irish Champion hurdle scene has been a bit same old-same old, weve no real line into how good Hurricane is, Solwhit was well beaten last year but did have an interrupted prep I suppose. I hope Hurricane wins for an Irish winner but I'd have no interest whatsoever in backing him at 5/1 now.. (that'll probably be gone by tomorrow too, only 5/1 with PP, 4/1 the general price). I suppose we'll find out how good he is on the day, shaping up to be the race of the meeting at the moment.

And obviously in light of what Paul Nicholas said about Kauto "Blood test results shows signs of inflammation and low grade infection. Weeks antibiotics and easy few days," I take back what I said about retiring him, I still think hes not as good as he once was though and give him no real chance in the Gold Cup. But if he did have something amiss then obviously theres no real reason to retire him, weird thing to say about a Gold Cup winner but I'm not convinced the horse likes Cheltenham, if theres a seriously fast/strong gallop I think he comes up short.

I said last week too it was heavy odds on Cowan passes the motion of confidence, he did, but hes still FINNISH. As is the whole Government now with the Greens walking out today, FINNISH. Ireland, FINNISH. FINNISH. Kaput. The end is nigh. I've no idea why but I've found watching the news the last few days fascinating, they all talk complete shite but the hysteria around the place is amazing! No real interest in politics but I have a huge amount of time for Brian Lenihan for some reason, and find it odd how quickly the opposition want an election, obviously they know they'll win, I find it mad that everyone will automatically vote for them without hearing their reasoning/solutions/policies/etc, it kind of smacks of reaction voting (but I know nothing about this in fairness). Thats probably why I like Brian Lenihan he seems to live in the real world and keeps saying "we are where we are and we move forward," its like being €100 awe-red in the market, you move on to get green instead of crying over why you ended up red in the first place.

Maybe a new Government and we can move on, its frightening how stuck living in the past the media and everyone has become, would you believe theres some fellow who wants to pay €5k to crush Seanie Fitzpatricks old BMW, what a fooking waste of €5k, as if bashing a car will change a thing, what a fooking eejit! "You cant put a price on happiness" he says, what a mug, this idea of getting back at people (in stupid ways it has to be said) worries me because theres a fair chance we might actually end up worse off next year than we are now, because people are acting off bitter reactions rather than thinking clearly - but seriously what a fooking eejit your man is, head in hands man. You could have two months holiday for that, instead hes going to baseball bat a car for half in hour, in the cold in Ireland. Mug. Obviously not saying I'd vote for Fianna Fail now, actually no idea who to vote for, I'd go for the ones who seem to have the best ideas for the future rather than just acting on the past because the past is the past sure it wont change, sometimes I wish I was an economic and political expert like everyone else though..

Another thing, I said too I was thinking about moving to Thailand (was only an idea when I saw how cool the houses were), no one thought to tell me gambling is illegal there FFS, I did feel a tad stupid, not the first time anyway. And I have been inundated with ladyboy jokes, yep, and have such withdrawn my idea (you want to see the villa though), and obviously having an other half that doesnt have a great big cock is an advantage in life you know, so we'll leave that there, not voting for Thailand..

Irish Betting Tax Online

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0121/breaking49.html?via=rel

Betting tax extended to online operators

CHARLIE TAYLOR

A plan to apply betting tax to online bookmakers is among the provisions included in the Finance Bill, which has been published today.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan announced in the Budget last December that the Government intended to extend the existing 1 per cent levy on betting turnover in bookmakers to online operators such as Irish-owned Paddy Power and Boylesports, who have previously been exempt from the charge.

The measure is expected to raise about €20 million extra in a full year.

Betting exchanges such as Betfair, which allow people to make bets with other customers online, are to be made liable to a "betting intermediary duty" at the rate of 15 per cent of the commission they receive from punters in Ireland.

A number of commercial lawyers had previously warned that the move to apply betting tax to online operators could force bookmakers to move offshore if they did not also apply to those who offer online betting but are based outside of Ireland.

Mr Lenihan has indicated that he is considering a licensing system for such operators.

The regulatory changes outlined in the Finance Bill are to be provided for through separate legislation amending the Betting Act 1931.

-----

Seems like were grand from a tax on Betfair trades point of view (which was the ultimate feared disaster), and me spending time looking for a villa in Thailand was time wasted (although the places are amazing for €300 per two and a half months, unreal!).

I'm guessing Betfair will agree (unless they havent already) but given our that Government and HRI (who will be spending the money I presume) are a shower of useless twats who cant be relied upon, we shall see.

Youve got to be happy enough theyve had the cop on not to tax every bet on the exchanges though.

Ladbrokes Now..

Going 5/6 over 250, can lay it on Betfair at 1.5, thats nice of them :)



















Saffers end on 265, fairly big rick by them that, normally they all just follow Betfair sure. Happy they covered the line for €100 though because I lost €150 on Eng making a meal of their innings this morning.

Still A Struggle

However, at least I didnt lose..! Profit this week reads €2.12, now, I know I'd earn more if I was a small Indian boy making shoes in a Mumbai sweatshop, BUT, I have decided to press on with the gambling, and come forward, and do whats best for me.. *insert any oul Brian Cowen rambling point here* and so forth on. Cant believe I wasted half an hour of my life watching that press conference, nothing happened FFS. Heavily odds on he passes the motion of confidence on Tuesday too IMO.

Anyway, what the feck is it about Saffers v India I cant get right..!?

Last five games have gone..
-€85 (tests)
-€290
-€2 (only T20)
-€126 (ODIs)
-€142

I give up. Undoubtedly the worst series I've ever had, and theres three games left! Giving them a miss? Check. I've no idea what I'm doing wrong, it must be something you know, but I just cant get a read on them at all. Yesterdays game was fairly amazing scenes alright with India winning by one run, and Saffers trading 1.01 and beaten, but even so I was awe-red before that, and indeed had more red on India.. one run, head in hands man..

Compare that with Aus v Eng which has been going great, and produces a healthy win of €250. Eng threw away the second T20 in fairness though, I had -€50 Aus +€150 Eng, only for them to lose by 4 runs and after getting the rate down so low it was a real kick in the teeth. Thought about getting out when Aus hit 1.3 or so but Morgan was still there and thought it was actually a good lay at the time so ended up just leaving it, really lost it in the middle overs though.












On the ODI front, its obvious from the first game this morning (and the T20s too I suppose) the teams are far more evenly matched over limited overs compared to the tests. All games from here are a coin toss IMO and should be priced 2 v 2 or Aus slight favs you could argue because home advantage, and history says the losing team normally wins the ODI series. Engs bowling looks a bit weak though bar Swann, Tremlett doesnt look an ODI bowler, who'd have thought the day I'd say they miss Broad. But Aus are much the same really and it looks like the batters should be well on top every game (unless pitches are very bowler friendly obviously) and every game will be close IMO bar total collapses.

I had thoughts of taking next week off just to forget about gambling and refresh, just take a break you know yourself, but then I thought well if it wasnt for Saffers v India I'd be winning last week, and nearly €300 in profit this week. So I'm not in terrible touch and in need of a break, just seems I cant do anything with those two teams against each other. The thing that drains confidence away is theyre really bad markets too, healthy awe-reds €150ish and no good trading moves, me being fairly risk adverse I have to be really bad to lose those amounts consistently, I go for the accumulation of money rather than the out-and-out attack version, so to keep losing there must be something amiss with what I'm doing. And I dont know what it is either, so I cant correct it you know.

Apart from that though, everything has been A-1, avoid Saf v Ind and I'll be grand. (I hope!) Its not a hard thing to change though (avoid three games) and it is blatantly obvious, not like the time I had to go running though P&Ls for hours with the horse in-running/pre-off thing.

Sad to see Kauto Star finish third yesterday when going for his 5th KG, ah I think at this stage age has caught up with him looking at him having to be helped along so far out. The days of cruising along are behind him it seems, and its bitterly disappointing given what he was against. Taking nothing away from Long Run, beforehand you'd have said Kauto was miles better, and indeed was miles clear on ratings - I think Kauto of last year would have beaten him (and easily). Erm, dont wanna be overreacting, but I'd retire him now after that, my view is what actual chance does he have of winning at Cheltenham? Very little I would say after being beaten so well, and with the falls hes had there in past I'd look after him and not run, the KG is normally "his" race and to run so poor, I think hes served us enough and he should be looked after now. Kempton was his gaf more so than Cheltenham was, so I'd read far more into a poor run there than the Gold Cup last year.

I read on Twitter from Paul Nicholas that hes going straight to the Gold Cup and he bleed a little after the race, he thinks it was maybe the second last that did it, but even so he was beaten turning in really and 8+ on Betfair by that stage. He didnt jump or travel like he normally does, I have no real problem with them running him again sure he is a racehorse after all, I'd just be of the opinion that hes done so much for them already and to run so poorly in his favourite race, I'd call it a day. We shall see.

09/01/2011

A €200+ losing week (just over, €211) this week, first one in a good while.

The Saffer v India test was just a disaster, just couldnt call the market moves right at all..






At one stage the draw went from around 3.4 to 2.5 in less than five minutes, and it wasnt even the 5th day, I was sitting here wondering what the fook was going on! Having said that, it did finish a draw in the end, and I spent most of the test laying it, so having +€300 both results and -€300 the draw would have made little difference really, it was just one of those really bad markets though. You know I dont even have anything to take from it for the future, just couldnt call a thing right. Real confidence drainer. I lost €85 on the last test too, glad the series is over.

The Aus T20 Big Bash was the exact same although I was saved - was €250ish awe-red (terrible for a T20 FFS), the markets at 1.03, in comes Pollard.. BOOM its 1.5 the other side and I'm €40 awe-green. I went from "Fook sake. Fooking hate January. Fook Betfair at this time of the year." to "YEEEHAA, whos the daddy!" in about 20 minutes, mood swings eh, I've never felt more like a woman. Dont get me wrong its nice when those things happen, but it doesnt feel too great afterwards - I'm saved rather than doing something right, I'll take it though.















The Ashes finished zero, absolutely delighted Eng won though, brilliant. The Pak test finished +€75 which was the only thing I've done right this week, another T20 finished -€45 and today I went from €60ish green to losing €2. Its been a difficult week, I havent ventured away from cricket apart from the BDO darts final, just want a market to go 'right' for a bit of confidence you know, not even that pushed to have a winner like just a few right calls and I'll be away in a hack again.

I did my usual after the Saffer test mind, withdrew to leave around €300/400 in the account (normally have around 1k or so), and just rebuild with that, thats been alright, and since then the Pak test I was level green and the darts I was level green too, others have been jittery - I literally spent the whole five days having a mare on the Saffer market so that bit of doubting what I'm doing comes in - no worse thing for me.

Having said that, take out the Saffer market and I'd be +€80, which would be grand for winter considering all I want to do is get through to summer. Winning/Losing doesnt really tend to bother me in general, its the way it happens that bothers me, being saved by Pollard meant it wasnt minus near €600 for the week so its *felt* worse than losing just over €200 - which isnt really bad anyway.

Anyway, thy lord giveth the luck and thy lord taketh away.. I was sitting on one of a ray of fantastic Dublin Buses in our capital minding my own business on the way home on Tuesday, when on gets a 50-something wino woman (get a good image of a homeless smelly wino woman there) and sits herself down beside me, it being the most handy seat. The bus is packed at peak time, shes having a can and singing to herself, and I'm looking out the window trying to avoid eye-contact. Shes completely locked now, and loud. After 10 minutes, she turns to me, totally unaware the whole bus is quiet and can hear, and inquiries "Are you an escort, only ya look familiar?" "No, I am not, sorry" "Only ya have that escort randy glint in your eyes, I've seen you before" and turns to the people across the other side "doesnt he, doesnt he have the randy glint" before proceeding to slap me on the leg and roar out "ahh-haa I'd riiide ya for a fiver" and laughing hysterically to herself. Head in hands man, I get that bus every week FFS.

02/01/2011

Ah, Mark Webster, had three darts at tops to hold his throw and try take it to a decider, missed and I get €9 instead of €340. Head in hands man. Cant complain even though highly annoying, he had three clean shots, its not as if he didnt get the chances.

Thats basically been my week, hit and miss, I've had some serious rides on the darts markets, I must have aged about 6 years this week! A €7.50 loss is alright considering some of the games, Whitlock, Nicholson and Taylor losing, Jenkins winning, the King market where he lost.. they were all impossible to call at times. I think Anderson will win the final, but he has a history of bottling it, I really dont fancy Lewis though, and really thought Webby would do him there, cant miss that many doubles though.

Leopardstown was excellent for the three days, in terms of craic not money, I wasnt really betting on Betfair, did have a few bets but ended up level. I didnt back him at 1/4 but really disappointed Zaidpour was beaten because he looked a serious horse from Fairyhouse - maybe it came too quickly for him after, we had snow both sides of Fairyhouse too, and Golden Sliver and Mikael D'haguenet were beaten as well, both ran the same day as Zaidpour. Hurricane Fly won but he looks a machine in fairness, although the Cheltenham hill does worry me slightly - considering what price he'll be, the decision today not to run Solwhit (well thats what Charles said anyway, if you believe him like!) is baffling really IMO, Go Native is out, Dunguib has questions, Hurricane Fly has the hill question, Binoculars had a bad run this year. A horse of Solwhits quality should surely be running in the CH, but as I said on Twitter, maybe Charles wants 1000 for a trade.

Not much trading on last weeks Ashes test, won €40, lost €80 on the Saffer-India test then on the last day, it was a swinger and I was on the wrong end of a few trades.. one of those turn off the laptop days at the time, -€80 wasnt the worst result for how bad it was really.

5th test is about to start as a type and its a horrible one IMO because obviously the draw is a series win for Eng, I hate these situations.. apparently its a bowl first pitch, then Aus won the toss and batted, so I have no idea atm, sneaky feeling for a draw but clearly not backing at the odds. So far the team batting on the first day has been bowled out day one in every test, so we'll see..

2010 Review

Well, wish everyone a Happy New Year, health and happiness etc etc for 2011.

Anyway, theres a small glitch in my figures for each sport, not over all figures obviously, but my excel sheet runs from Jan-Dec, when the blog year actually runs from March-March.. so I say "year review," its not actually over yet, but also I have Jan and Feb into the sports results, when that was technically last year for the blog. From Jan-March last year though was actually the hardest time since I started, I went through the 20k mark just after the New Year, then fell back down to 19.3k - 19.5k range for almost two months, confidence was shot but it picked up again towards the end of March.

Its only come to my attention writing that first bit that today is actually a Saturday, not a Sunday. You know youve lost track of the days over Christmas/NewYears when you go to do the "Sunday Blog" on a Saturday, I was full sure, full sure, it was a Sunday. Well done as ever Stephen. Anyway I'll pretend.. I'm down €50 this week so I end 2010 on 30.2k, having started on 19.5k. The bills are 7.5k per year so I'm ahead of where I want to be at 10.7k profit just for the blog. I'd like to pay the bills every year with just the blog, if it came up short the odd year it wouldnt bother me that much, and to take a rough reading I'm nearly two years through and have enough for four years already.

The most frightening thing looking at excel, and this has only dawned on me ten minutes ago, is cricket accounts for 80% of that, thats fooking massive! Obviously delighted with it and seen how important it was becoming during the second half of the year, but I didnt think it was 80%. I just ended the sheet with a note saying to put it number one, above all else under any circumstances, and not change or think about changing it. Last year I did cop that I cant bet in the first innings in limited overs, and I've stuck to that this year, its a sport I've put plenty of work into and fingers crossed I dont have to change anything with it again. Although I really dont have any set plan bar avoiding first innings, take each game as it is. But cricket alone would cover the house bills this year, to say it was an important sport would be an understatement, and going into 2011 if you dont like cricket its probably best not to read, that is if anyone does :)

My biggest disappointment for the year comes from horse racing. We all know the negatives in the sport at this stage, theres no point going through them all again, but this year has been the year its overtaken me anyway. I'll be the first to admit I wasnt putting the same amount of time and effort into it as before, but as people are moving ahead (track players) obviously I (home player) have to do more homework - and due to the quality (which I blame the BHA for) my will power went to pot. Dont put in the work, dont expect to win, no issue there and I move on. In 2008 horse racing was +14k for me, in 2009 it was just short of +5k, and now in 2010 is just below a €500 loss. The decline is fairly steady now and I think to myself, I wonder if I dont get out now will next year follow the same pattern and I'll be going into the minus thousands. On a personal level, looking at the figures and deciding to give up midway through the year has been one of my best "life" decisions, for the amount of time it took compared with the return it just wasnt worth it, and I've been far more happier and settled in the last six months having most of the day to myself and for other sports - too often I was ending the horses frustrated and with a fuzzed head, and I'm sure that was having a knock on effect to other sports, and probably personal life too naturally being in an annoyed mood isnt great, you know yourself.

Another personal improvement has been my poker, I know I dont count it on the blog, but I discovered PLO in or around April and have managed a few final tables which has been great. I'm still shite at Texas Hold'Em though. But if you enter a tournament for €20-€50 and finish up getting a four figure win its amazing, and it takes a huge amount of time to give back the winnings when you only enter a few a week. I've not played during the winter because of college but its a side sport you know, if I could win €1,000 a year it'd be great. Obviously most years wont be like this one with the run of final tables, I still have never won one btw.

Back to the blog, and the side sports have been hit and miss, the "usuals" have been good again - Boxing, GAA, Darts and I'll include Rugby even though 2010 finished with a grand total of minus €6.98, I do think for the amount of time I spent watching the Six Nations etc was it worth it but some wise fellow once said "love what you do, and you will never work a day in your life." Thats true in my case, I never think of hours/money and its plainly obvious I wont win on every sport, every day, every game. Its probably one of those things you only think about at the end of the year but sure once I enjoy the game I'm watching I dont really care, next year say if theres a cricket match and a six nations match the same day, obviously I should be doing the cricket match, but theres no reason to avoid the rugby matches when theres nothing else on.

GAA, even though a winner, has fallen way back on last year. 2009 GAA showed a profit of a few euro under 3k, this season its just over €700. I did lose the best part of €750 over two back-to-back weekends on Kildare and Kilkenny, I wouldnt take back the Kildare bet (I was there and not at a computer, and they were fierce unlucky IMO), however I'd really love to have to the Kilkenny market back again, Tipperary were all over them and I was sat here thinking "ah they'll turn it around, theyre Kilkenny FFS" I learned a lesson that day though, no betting in hope, fook it like, just take the all red and move on, act on it. I do have the rule whereby I dont go over €400 liability on any market, so that does leave me the option of letting things run - without worry of a big loss. Its like someone with a stop loss - they HAVE to go all red once that stop loss hits, but because I dont go over my set red, I could leave the market go to 1.01 before bouncing back (if it did), obviously markets can move both ways when you enter them so I'm happy enough with my stakes, thats why they never change. But yeah, I'd love to go back to that Kilkenny market and hit €50 awe-red instead of €300ish, cant remember it might have even been €350 - I'm sure I've done many fantastic things on the sport over the summer but that one market is the only one thats sticks in my head. Not because of the money, probably because I learned the biggest lesson.

Of course weve had the recession here too (IMF even came this year) and money in the markets has been light some weekends, to the extent where the market is empty, definitely towards the start of the season, it is an "Irish only" sport really. I'd still rate GAA as my second sport though, and would be fully confident of winning in a market betting against Irish people year in year out. Theres a similar story with profit on boxing, although not that much of a decline as GAA, 2009 showed a profit of 2.5k, this year its just over 1.7k. I got caught with my pants down a few times at the start of the year on Friday Fight Night, when one boxer would be 1.03 at the bell, and the judges would announce a draw, I've learned from that and moved on. Naturally I think profit would be down because of the getting rid of red constantly, you know I wouldnt class myself as a "trader" nearly all the time I'd finish a market with some form of red/or zero on an outcome, I'd only be equal green if I was confused on the result (or equal red..), but nearly every boxing market now I'd try to be green on all outcomes.

Last year my top four where horses, cricket, GAA, boxing and there wasnt much between them all. This year the order has changed around a bit and the difference is fairly big, and "specials" has replaced horse racing.. I know, specials.. but a steady four figure profit sitting at 1.2k, I dislike relying (well, not relying) on stuff like that because the market can change so easily, like this year - no X Factor bottom two, even though I called it correctly every week with Wagner. You could plan for an amount, then bam the market changes/doesnt exist anymore and youre finnish, its nice to be in profit but you know I cant see myself becoming a professional X Factor punter any time soon.

My top three losers (not including horse racing) are to be expected really. Soccer - same story then. Golf - same story then. And tennis - last year it was alright, this year has proved I'm no good. You know, what do you say, I know I'm shit at them, I knew it last year too, and stakes have been lowered greatly, but they still add up during the whole year to just over 1k - which is a disaster given I know I'm useless so why am I betting on them. If I did have one gambling new years resolution it would be to give them up completely but we all know I'm gonna have a cheeky €50 here and there. The last six months of the year has been much better for avoiding them than the first six months, again you know probably more laid back having given up horse racing, winning on cricket and thinking "feck it I dont need to bet on Tiger this week.." Obviously I lost money on the World Cup too. Theres a couple more sports to go through, darts, snooker etc but not really important enough to be bothered by them as they all cancel each other out really swinging between €200 of a difference win or lose, something to 'fill the gaps' the weeks where theres nothing else on, the Premier League (Darts) was a massive disappointment this year, but it came at a time in the year when I wasnt winning and had no bottle basically, you need plenty of bottle for darts trading IMO. The World Championships on atm have been a little disappointing too, mainly because someone is fooking miles ahead of Sky pictures.

The biggest development since I started the blog has been accounting in excel the difference between my in running bets and pre-off bets, I dont profess to be the greatest gambler of all time but I know I can pay the bills with in running sports betting, and equally, I know I'm shite at pre-off! Pre-off is such an attraction though with prices, but I really have to give it up, I dont actually mind a cheeky €50 on the footie, but betting pre-off is the most serious issue to staying profitable, it just has to be avoided. And if it wasnt for in running I'd be losing this year, and not having enough to pay the bills last year. Bottom line - I cant make pre-off work. Funny thing really, Betfair get on my nerves sometimes but I actually *need* them, more than they'll ever need me, should in running finish (although I dont think it'll ever finish), I'd be looking for a job. But I'm under no illusions here lets be honest, thats why I'm still in college, I intend to gamble for as long as it takes me through my life, I know it'll finish one day, but hopefully I'll have a few degrees and have the best chance of getting a job then, and I love gambling so the longer I can do it the longer I'll enjoy my life. I'll be 23 in June next year, I'll go for as long as I can and sure we'll see, like you know its not something I see myself doing when I'm 35, however if you asked me what I'd 'like' to be doing, well then I'd say gambling.

Obviously the blog has been fantastic, I'm always delighted when people read it and comment, I was reading somewhere the other day the average life cycle for a blog is 60 days, and in March I'll be going for two years! But at the end of the day, it isnt for anyone else, its for me - it always has to be for the person writing it - otherwise they'll get bored and bugger off. Some people are just 'bloggers' basically, before I started I used to have a diary where I'd write down stupid stuff I did, maybe if I did something great the odd time too, but mainly stupid stuff, I wouldnt write as much as I do now, I wouldnt actually write anything on the days I won. I think it just helps the mind focus writing stuff down, say I do something terrible on Wednesday, I write a blog to explain what a twat I've been, the last thing I'll then do on Saturday is the very same thing again, because I'm not gonna want to come back and say "oh, I did it again, you know the thing I said I wouldnt do.. yeah I'm a gobshite" because you dont want to have to write that. When all is said and done it really makes no difference if anyone reads or not, it has to be for the person writing it, and it helps me immensely not to make the same mistakes over and over again, I still do an awful amount of stupid things, but once I explain what a twat I am, thats it I wont do it again - at least on purpose anyway, sometimes you cant avoid a bad market.

I dont plan on changing too much in 2011, I'll just get on with life. Sure fook it like, were here worrying about winners and losers but as long as you have your health sure theres no more important thing. Hopefully it'll be a good year, I have some personal plans/goals to achieve and for gambling I want an office - atm I use the sitting room couch/TV - my shoulder is starting to get sore from leaning on it all day when we have long sporting events so a desk and a chair are top of my list. And a new set of golf clubs, I wish all my Facebook status friends good luck in their quests to end world war, world hunger and become millionaires, but yeah if I had a 9 iron that went where I wanted it to go I'd be delighted!

But anyway, I wish everyone a Happy New Year again and thanks for reading, commenting, everyone will always have different opinions on gambling but sure thats why bookies exist and Betfair was invented :)