Category: General
Signing off..
Right, it’s time to do some last minute stuff for Christmas. A full house tomorrow means we have lots of food to prepare and I’m looking forward to doing anything but sports related stuff for a few days.
I had a reasonable day yesterday, which was a nice way to start the break for Christmas. I’ll be back at my desk on boxing day!
Shortest day of the year
Today marks that critical point in the northern hemisphere where the sun rises above the horizon for the shortest time. From here it gets better and better, SAD sufferers can look forward to better times.
We still have a lot of winter to go and we haven’t plumbed it’s depths from a sporting perspective, but I welcome this turning point in the year as we can start looking forward to longer days. Aside from disruption to sporting schedules, of which …
What are the odds?
A bit of a laugh ahead of the Christmas break. Vote now!
Back when I joined Betfair, nearly 12 years ago now. They sent me a nice diary for my patronage. I didn’t generate much commission for them back then and didn’t write articles, design software for use on Betfair or anything like that. The following year I also received a small gift, and so it continued. Calendars, playing cards and the odd email with seasonal greetings.
About four or …
Why big companies die
I read this article this morning in Forbes and it absolutely resonates with my former experience in the corporate world. When companies sell their soul to a spreadsheet the long term result is nearly always bad, but if they have strong competitiveness you may not notice at first. But companies that remain true to their core and focus on what made them great in the first place usually prosper and retain the drive to succeed for long periods of time. …
Stay caffeinated
With the end of the summer racing I’ve been on my travels recently. I’ve skipped a few days, but on bigger days I’ve still needed to do some work on key markets.
Therein comes the problem of how and where. Whether you are staying with friends or in a hotel you also need to have a back up plan, just in case. My solution is to use coffee as my back up plan.
Where ever you are, there is usually …
Have a break
With a busy week planned for next week I am having a continuing a bit my break this week from all things betting exchange related. I am dipping in and out of the markets but not with any gusto. I am busy on some non betting exchange stuff at the moment, so rather than a half hearted attempt, I felt it better if I tested a few things rather than put in half a full effort. Now we are heading …
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow
When my first daughter was born I planted an acorn. Since then it has grown to the proverbial Oak Tree. This year it is 14 years old and yielded its first crop of Acorns.
My point?
When I was in a ‘normal’ job I was always planting metaphoric acorns. My hope was that some would grow to Oaks, and so they did. So I suggest you always keep planting Acorns. Not just in the context of building for the long …
Lost focus..
Been feeling a bit off colour this week, so have slowed down a bit. With the nice weather I also decided to take some time out this week to enjoy the late sun. I think it’s time for a break soon as feeling off colour has left me a bit tired and I have lost focus on a couple of times recently and missed some really good opportunities or not done them at all. Time to re-focus on a couple …
Time for a chit chat
It’s been a while since I did my last webinar so I’ve decided to dust off the webinar service and give it another go.If it goes without a hitch I will do some more. Now the evening racing is gone, that will also free my time up a bit more. I plan to hold the webinar on Monday evening 8pm UK time.
There is no specific topic planned, but I am sure there will be lots of questions. The format …
Full tilt poker was a Ponzi scheme
I’ve been following this story for a while and listening to the rumours but now US authorities have come out and mentioned the P word.
“US authorities have accused the owners of online gambling site Full Tilt Poker of operating a huge Ponzi scheme that defrauded players out of $440m (£289m).”
Full story: –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14997069
How to win the lottery
Caught this article the other day and it tickled me. I think we all dream of finding a way to make money from things like this. When I was young I dreamt that maybe, just maybe, there was a way to make money from betting on sport, never dreamt it would actually come true!
If you are into this sort of thing then read the book the Newtonian Casino, or watch the film “21“.
Another new strategy
Sat the in bath the other night pondering a number of things. Of all the things I do, looking for new things and trying to solve the puzzles that any market throws at me is the thing I find most interesting.
I came up with a way off thought based upon what I had seen from recent market data. Basically that the market has been tightening and less money than ever is lost to one side of the book or …
Make hay while the sun shines
You may remember this post from last year: –
https://www.betangel.com/blog_wp/2010/08/16/working-holiday/
With regard to the title, never has there been a more apt phrase for sports traders.
In the Summer there is wall to wall sport and opportunties appear at will. In the winter you are digging around for every penny, but pon top of that you also don’t know what the future will bring. So making the most of it while available is always a sensible move, I hope my …
Life in the old dog yet
OK, So I know I said I wouldn’t post these any more as they will lose their relevance soon. But I couldn’t resist this one after a good day yesterday.
Mondays & Tuesdays in the summer can be really tough so it was a pleasure to do well yesterday. Today looks a bit better on the racing front. So if you had a stinker yesterday don’t worry, today does look better. I did get a bit lucky yesterday, so it’s …
7/7
Not much to add above the post I made a couple of years ago.
https://www.betangel.com/blog_wp/2009/07/07/
Good end to the month
A surprisingly strong end to the month continues with good performance on Saturday. Unless I mess up on the final few days it should be a good month. Wimbledon continues its great run of throwing up wonderful opportunities. I think this could be the best grand slam I have seen for opportunities. Maybe I have just been in the right place more often than not?
Mondays and Tuesday can be weak in the summer, poor quality racing, only two cards …
Back to earth with a bump
In line with my objective to take more time off this year, I had a well timed break after after Royal Ascot to head off for a BIG wedding abroad. What a fantastic experience it was and how I wish I could have extended the trip to the post wedding bash on the edge of the mediterranean. Wimbledon was calling though, so I had to make do with what was a fantastic few days instead. We packed so much in …
Bounce
As this post got buried on the blog the last time I posted it, I have reposted.
I’ve been reading this book recently and it resonates with me. Of all the things I have done in life I have maintained most wasn’t talent, just hard work and lots of practice; but maybe that is how you acquire talent? I’m learning to play the piano at the moment. I’m rubbish, but getting more ‘talented’ everyday.
If your desire is strong …
Free money
Bets are being taken on the end of the world on the 29th October. You can get 1/100 on the world not ending.
If the world does end then, of course, you will not be around to have to pay out the liability. Click here to see the latest odds: –
https://www.victorchandler.com/vcbet/en- … 1200/22889
In fact, this is a neat way of generating low cost cash flow. Offering very short odds at some point in the future and you get …
A comedy of errors!
This could easily describe my sub standard activities yesterday, but instead it relates to an incident yesterday evening.
I started trading a race with the urge to visit the loo. The race was a little late getting off, so with the position in reasonable shape I thought I would do a quick sprint to the loo. I promptly kicked the door on my sprint out of the study and smashed my toe against the corner. So instead of some relief, …
May
Another month has gone and I’m feeling more optimistic about the year as it wears on.
Each year I’m deliberately pessimistic at my chances. I’d rather have low expectations and exceed them, than high ones that force my hand. God knows I spend so much of my life tied up in numbers and so on, I swear I’m going mad some times. However, I’m much more relaxed this year about and have spent a lot of time doing new things; …
Bad Luck
I talked last week about my jinx and you witnessed my efforts to demolish it. You should never forget to put things into perspective. My battle was a personal one against an arbitrary target. Some people face much worse luck and much bigger battles. It’s a credit to them that they persevere in spite of much hardship.
So the next time you feel unlucky, or you have lost a few quid, take a read of the following: –
Important Information
Well day 3/6 on jinx week has passed without catastrophe. Yesterday wasn’t a great day by any means and I really fouled up on one race, but I’m still moving ahead on the week and hope for a better day today.
I’m always experimenting and there is no better way of doing that than directly in the market itself. I will always recommend this, as it’s the best way to really know what is really happening and how your actions …
Jinx week
For some reason this week each year is the week where errors creep in, unexpected things happen and bad luck gets called in. I’ve netted some of my most spectacular failure in week 20 for some reason, year after year. I can’t explain why and despite attempts in previous years to be super cautious during this week, something always trips me up. It could be anything, a system crash, broadband failure, Betfair crash, highly unusual event, anything.
So you can …
April
Well the met office has just confirmed it was the hottest April since records began in the UK and while the weather was great, trading conditions could be described as good as well. Despite my pessimism at the start of the month I did pretty well. I was just short of last years total, but considering I have decided to ease back on activity this year this was a fine result. The problem I have with this is that is …
Best trade ever?
It was a couple of years ago I said this and I’m hoping for a repeat again this year, but then again I was hoping last year would see a repeat and that didn’t happen either! Here’s hoping! You can never predict where a really big opportunity, but as long as you are focused you will always be able to jump on the back of one when the inevitable occurs.
Part of trick is being available and alert to opportunties. …
Gambling millions
Give me five minutes with somebody and I can teach you how to put through enormous sums through a market at relatively little risk, you wont make or lose much, but you will be able to say that you gambled millions that day, an impressive feat; or is it?
I have often been misquoted, especially when it comes to numbers. But one thing that is fairly certain in the modern betting age, is that racking up bets in the millions …
Fair weather
Well what a start to spring we have had in the UK! It’s more like the summer at the moment, not that this will impress people in warming climates, but it’s a welcome period after a very cold winter. Having flown away to warmer places in February, it’s been a good start to the year. No seasonal disorder for me this year!
The racing markets have been better in April as well, so the weather on that front is improving. …
2011
At the start of the year I decided that 2011 will be a different year for me, let me explain.
Last year I pulled out all stops to achieve a few things left on the to do list. I picked last year as it marked a decade since Betfair started and I joined up. There were only a couple of long term things left that I wanted to do and, despite a poor January and December, I managed to achieve …
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