Sunday 17th December 2006

After yesterday's spectacular gains I am left with a bit of an anti-climax. I hadn't realised that there was to be no racing in England or Scotland today until I logged on to Betdaq at around 11:00am. I also had to take my 5 year old daughter to the new XSCAPE indoor snow centre at Braehead for one of her best friends birthday parties, so I knew I was to miss some of the days racing. I eventually got back at 1:45 pm and realised that Betdaq had been having some technical difficulties, it was my fault for saying on my blog the other day that it rarely happens, I had tempted fate, or perhaps it was something to do with the fact that it was the Betdaq Christmas party today?

My racing consisted of just three trades. My first one was a small profitable trade in the 14:15 at Thurles where I made £3. The next was an even smaller losing trade at Navan. So my only decent racing trade was in the 15:45 at Thurles. I had started with a lay of Fond Of a Drop for £40 @ 6.40. I then backed him for £40 @ 7.00. A few seconds later I thought I would green up on both sides so I placed a further lay of £4 @ 6.00, at this stage I had a profit on any horse winning of £4. As the race developed I managed to back Fond Of a Drop for £13 @ 3.15 and on the run in a further £30 @ 1.25 to leave me with a profit on the race of £40. So there you have it my racing day was over with a total profit on the day of £41.

I intended to trade the Spanish football but after picking up my daughter, making the Sunday roast and talking to visitors I decided to watch the Golf and Snooker Final. The SoccerStats site was playing up so I couldn't access any of the stats for tonight's matches which also had a bearing on my decision for tonight's trading.

I turned the golf on as Tiger Woods was 3 shots clear and on the 9th hole. I watched for a while before backing the Tiger for £200 @ 1.20 and then laying off at 1.16 to 1.12. By the 16th hole it was looking like Tiger all the way and I backed him again for £545 @ 1.05, then felt a bit uncomfortable so I commenced laying this off @ 1.03. This left me with a profit on the golf of £27.

In the UK Snooker Championship final I only had a small trade where I backed Peter Ebdon for £390 @ 1.32 whilst he was 8 -6 up against Stephen Hendry. With Peter well ahead in the frame I commenced laying off with lays at 1.23 for £100 and 1.20 for £105. At this stage Stephen got back to the table and I made a further lay for £185 @ 1.32 to get rid of my liability and leave me with a profit of £23 when Peter eventually won the Championship. This left me with a total profit on the day of £91, and a profit for the week of £2512.

I have been accused of using a word that does not exist and have purposely not used the said word in today's entry. I find it irritating when someone uses a word that either does not exist or is in the wrong context and I want to get this right . So what is the past tense of lay? I have researched this on the internet and it does appear that the correct term is laid and I will use this from now on. I would like to thank The Gambler, who has had a lot better education than I have, for pointing this out to me.

Comments

[The Gambler]

Apologies for being so rude Ray. The only reason I mentioned it was I not sure. I had probably had a couple of beers as well. Apologies again. :-(.

[shawn]

hi Ray i like coming to your site and see how good you are doing but myself have been losing badly, so i really need your help. i am living outside UK so i cant watch live horse racing but i really wish to make money on horses like you just abit everyday i be happy, any advise? i really need to chase my money back
:(

[Ray]

The Gambler,
No apology needed, I know your comments where light hearted and you were correct, so don't worry.
Ray

[Ray]

Shawn,
I am sorry that you are not doing very well, but you are not going to like my advice to you. In my opinion to, trade in the way that I do, you must have access to live TV pictures. I have tried on occassions to watch the movement on the markets and trade that way but I can not do it. It is possible to trade on slower moving markets with out live pictures, for instance on the under/over 2.5 goals in football, but again I would still advise to watch live. I don't know what else I can say Shawn, but good luck.
Ray

[shawn]

thanks ray for replying. I have tried to trade the under 2.5 but whenever i do it a goal always comes in in less than 20 minutes which left me in a situation where i don't know what to do. should i just trade back for a lost? or continue to hold on?

[Ray]

Hi Shawn,
In that situation I would normally back the unders again to lower the break even exit price and then trade out. But it is improtant that your original stake is low enough to allow you to follow this strategy.
Ray

[Nathan]

Hi Ray
Glad your back on top. Good to see you managed to trade on the snooker, it is ideal for trading :-) The liquidity has been good on Betfair, what's it been like on Betdaq ? Also for those abroad you can get pictures via www.bbc.co.uk/snooker (about a 2 second delay).
Nathan.

[shawn]

In that situation I would normally back the unders again to lower the break even exit price and then trade out. But it is improtant that your original stake is low enough to allow you to follow this strategy.

sorry but i do not quite understand ur last sentence... (your original stake is low enough to allow you to follow this strategy) and you say (back unders again) and how much should the stake be?

[Ray]

Hi Nathan,
Thanks for your comments. The snooker is good to trade on but I prefer to trade something where the action, in the event, is a bit faster. Liquidity was reasonable on Betdaq and I also traded this on Betfair. Good Luck with your trading.
Ray

[Ray]

Hi Shawn,
If I start trading on the unders with a £100 stake, for instance, I would be prepared to back that up with another £100 if a goal is scored and then even a further £200 if a second goal is scored. That is the worst case senario. With my first back I would look to start getting out after 10 minutes so if a goal is scored after I had laid say £50 back then my second back would be £50. So it is rare that I go to my full liability. Likewise if I think the odds on offer, after a goal has been scored, are too high I would probably stake more and look to get out quicker. So as you can see I always remain flexible with my staking but to do this you must keep your first bet at a reasonable level otherwise you will either not have enough money to continue increasing your exposure, or, which is more likely, you will feel uncomfortable with the amount you have exposed. I hope that helps you.
Ray

[humble]

Hi Ray a good week for you this week well done you seem to be well on the way to recoverng all the money you lost on that bad day you had.we always get warned not to chase our losses but i think your attitude is spot on in recovering any money you have lost as you seem to do this with a sensible staking plan and determination and discipline.when you say you need "live" pictures are you just refering to ATR nd racing Uk.We look forward to your posts every day thanks ray

[Ray]

Hi Humble,
Thank you for your kind comments as always. Yes by live pictures I do mean ATR and RUK but better still is the BBC2 and C4 coverage which is as near to live as you can get. Goo Luck
Ray

[hanuman]

Love reading your daily diary ray its helping me make more sense of trading before i pitch in and have a go,thanks and good luck today.

[Ray]

Hi Hanuman, and thanks for your comment. I hope you trade successfully. Good Luck
Ray

[mick]

Hi Ray
Just a quick comment from your saturday blog. I was at Haydock which is my favourite course. I have always thought it an excellent course to trade in running as there is a finishing straight of about 4 furlongs and most of the more difficult fences are on the far side. Most jockeys on the more fancied horses dont get into the race until they enter the straight. It is uncommon for a horse to win that is leading round the final bend. It is also much easier to pick the winner at that point than it is at the start - as I found to my cost on Saturday! So glad you did well and thanks for this blog.
Mick

[Ray]

Hi Mick,
Thank you for your comments and your observations on the Haydock track are interesting. I rarely go to tracks as I feel that I am losing out on trading opportunities, but it is a brilliant experience just to be up close to the track when the horses go rumbling by, you can't get that feeling from watching the TV. I have only been to Ayr and Perth this year. Good Luck
Ray