The Sports Trader

Tuesday 27th February 2007

Very little trading again today for The Sports Trader with just 10 UK races traded and 2 football matches.

My day started with the 14:20 at Leicester where I backed Caribou for £200 @ 1.50 before laying off @ 1.27 to result in a profit of £46. Next was a small winning trade.

In the 15:30 at Lingfield I laid Pawan for £60 @ 41.00 when making no headway approaching the final furlong to result in a profit of £60. My next race was the 15:40 at Catterick. I backed Ring The Boss for £50 @ 1.70 before laying off @ 1.43 to leave a profit of £13.

My next race was my best result of the day. It was the 15:50 at Leicester and I backed Brumous for £2000 @ 1.30 in the final furlong when four lengths in the lead. I thought that Esprit Saint had got up on the line and tried to lay off in the photo finish market but didn't get matched. When I saw the still TV pictures of the finish I started to take comfort that I was safe and then the result was announced to my great relief. I had therefore made a profit of £600 on the race. I know that Matt and Boycee go on a lot about the At The Races video service, but it is very good, and the abillity to re-run races soon after they have finished is brilliant. Take a look at this close finish in the 15:50 at Leicester.

In the 16:20 at Leicester I backed Irilut for £90 @ 1.40 when just clearing the last fence and in the lead, I did lay of @ 1.01 just in case to land a profit of £35. I had 4 more small trades, one of which was a loser and the others all winners.

My race trading day had finished with a profit of £765.

I decided to watch the FA Cup replay between Reading and Man.U. I backed the unders for £46 @ 1.86 just before kick off and had put up a lay @ 1.74 but the first goal came very early and caught me out. The market had just been reformed when the second goal came along so I had not backed the unders any more. The same happened for the third goal which probably saved me money as I would have bet the unders again if the goals had not come so quickly. Anyway I had lost £46 on the under 2.5 goal market.

Later in the game I laid the correct score line of 0 - 3 for £23 @ 10.00 and backed back £10 @ 12.00. This resulted in a profit of £13. I also backed Man. U. to win for £314 @ 1.06 in the final minute of injury time and laid off £164 @ 1.03 to result in a profit of £14. I had therefore ended the match with a loss of £20.

After this match I listened to the Radio 5 commentary of the West Brom v Middlesbrough match and traded on the To Qualify market whilst penalties were being taken and somehow managed to lose £15.

My result for the day was therefore a very decent profit of £730.

Monday 26th February 2007

The Sports Trader's day was shorten due to having to take relatives back to Prestwick Airport. I only managed to trade in 3 UK horse races and on 1 Football match, however I had no losing trades and a decent result in the end.

My first race was the 15:40 at Hereford, I looked for a decent opportunity of backing the favourite, Officer De Reserve. This came as Water Taxi, the leader at the time, blundered and fell and I took all that was on offer on Officer De Reserve. I backed him for £1430 @ 1.34 and very quickly put up a lay for the full amount @ 1.21, this was taken and I ended the race with a profit of £188. Please take a look at the Hereford Racecourse website by clicking on the link as the owners have put together a decent promotional video of their facilities which is worth looking at.

My next trade was in the 16:50 at Plumpton where I started by laying The Hairy Lemon for £34 @ 6.10, then I backed for £30 @ 7.10. Later I laid him again for £25 @ 6.00 before backing him for £14 @ 8.60 to leave me with a profit of £15.

My best result was in my last race, the 17:00 at Wolverhampton, where I backed Our Kes for £259 @ 2.60 just as he challenged for the lead at about a furlong from the finish and looked to be going the best of the front runners. This resulted in a profit on the race of £414.

So my short race day had ended with a profit of £617 and still with no commission thanks to Betdaq's 0% commission on all UK in-running horse racing markets.

I had a look at the stats for the televised football match between Stoke and Barnsley on the SoccerStats.com website and decided to trade on the under 2.5 goals. It was predicted to be a low scoring match. I missed the start so my first trade was at around 8 minutes into the match where I backed the unders for £43 @ 1.75. I laid this off @ 1.65. I backed the unders again after the goal had been scored for £103 @ 1.72. I then laid off in £25 chunks @ 1.68,1.60,1.52 and 1.46, to result in a profit of £20.

With 3 minutes of the match left to play I also backed the under 1.5 goals for £7 @ 1.50 to result in a profit of £4. I therefore ended the match with a profit of £24 to bring my day's total profit to £641.

Sunday 25th February 2007

I must admit to feeling just a tad jaded today after my son's 21st Birthday party last night. But I sill managed to trade in 12 races with just 1 losing race.

I started the day with my loser in the 13:30 at Kempton where I backed Binnion Bay for £15 @ 1.83 to lose £15. Next I had 4 small but winning trades.

In the 15:00 at Kempton I backed Ansells Pride for £126 @ 1.60 whilst in front and being tackled for the lead to return me a profit of £76. I followed this with another small winning trade.

My next race was the 15:50 at Exeter and I started with a back on Howrwenow for £20 @ 4.00 before laying off £17 @ 3.00 and a further £3 @ 2.50 to leave me with a profit of £21.

The 16:20 at Exeter was my best result of the day as I laid Glasker Mill for £2 @ 50.00 and a further £4 @ 865.00 after coming down at the third fence. I later laid Professor Jack for £100 @ 6.75 when well beaten to result in a profit of £106.

In the 16:50 at Exeter I backed Le Beau Bai for £140 @ 1.38 before laying off £55 @ 1.07 to land a profit of £44. Next I had another small winning trade.

My last race of the day was the 17:10 at Naas, where I backed Bootlegger for £140 @ 1.50 and laid off £103 @ 1.30 to result in a profit of £39.

I had finished my race day with a profit of £300, and with no football trading in the evening due family guests staying with me that was the final result for the day. My week has finished with a profit of £1543.

Saturday 24th February 2007

As mentioned a few weeks ago it was my eldest son's 21st Birthday party last night hence the reason for a late update on yesterday's trading. My day was shortened due to me having to go to Prestwick Airport to pick up my twin sister and her son who came for the party.

I ended up trading in 14 UK horse races and had just 1 losing race. My first 3 trades  were all small and resulted in two winning and one small loss. In the 14:35 at Kempton I backed Natal for £6 @ 2.00, £100 @ 1.60, £50 @ 1.05 and £10 @ 1.02 to result in a profit of £68. Next was another small winning trade.

In the 15:10  at Kempton I started with a lay on Lucifer Bleu for £90 @ 2.75 before backing back for ££70 @ 3.30 and £3 @ 3.00 and close to the finish I backed Simon for £16 @ 1.50 to return a profit of £23. I then had a further two small winning trades.

In the 15:45 at Kempton I backed Punjabi for £100 @ 1.50 before laying all off @ 1.20 and then backed again for £125 @ 1.01 on the run in to result in a profit of £31. I then had a further four small winning trades.

I kept the best till last in the 17:15 at Kempton where I started with a lay of Clay Hollister for £105 @ 2.00 before backing back £4 @ 27.00. I then laid the winner for 325 @ 4.60 before backing back for £15 @ 7.00 to result in a profit of £106.

I had therefore finished my race trading day with a profit of £239.

I didn't trade any of the football due to the party.

Friday 23rd February 2007

Well the Sports Trader has had a day of interruptions caused by a rat. I know what you are all thinking - it must me one of those forum rats - but no this was one of those furry rodent types belonging to my Au Pair. Apparently Gaby, the rat, is on her last legs and had to be taken to the vets so I had no childcare for the afternoon and had to snatch the odd few minutes here and there to trade. I ended up trading in 9 UK races and 1 football match.

My race trading started with the 13:50 at Warwick where I laid Salesin for £119 @ 3.25 and backed back £83 @ 3.93. Later in the race I backed the eventual winner, At The Money for £21 @ 1.30 to end the race with a profit of £42.

Next I traded in 5 races that all resulted in small profits. In the 16:25 at Nad Al Sheba where I backed Opportunist for £12 @ 2.53 to lose £12.

My next race was the 16:40 at Warwick and was a bad result for me as I backed Helen Wood for £150 @ 1.50 when tracking the leader and looking to be going well only to fade quickly after the last hurdle to cost me £150.

In the 17:10 at Warwick I laid the favourite, Coursing Run, for £120 @ 10.00 when going nowhere and could have laid for much more but with my confidence taking a knock over the last couple of days I felt I had committed enough on this race so I settled for a profit of £120.

That was the end to my racing day and I ended up with a profit of £13.

With the twins in bed and Zoe doing her homework and playing I decided to have a look at tonights's televised football match between Cardiff and Preston. Although this was expected to be a low scoring match before kick off I decided the odds were too low to back the under 2.5 goals market.

I waited until the 8th minute of play and then decided to back the unders for £28 @ 1.72. I decided not to commit any more to the unders but just to hold on to this one trade and lay off around 1.25. I therefore hadn't laid off when the first goal came. Again I decided not to go back in on the unders as I would normally do. Just as well when you see what happened early in the second half, with 3 goals in 2-3 minutes. So I had lost my £28.

Late in the match with 8 minutes plus injury time to go I backed the correct score line of 4 - 1 for £61 @ 1.61 and laid this off @ 1.42. I then backed for £21 @ 1.40 and £38 @ 1.30 before laying this off @ 1.20. With 70 seconds to go I backed the same score line for £190 @ 1.18 and put up a lay @ 1.03 but cancelled this with just £3 matched to end the match with a profit of £54 on the correct score and therefore a match total profit of £26.

I had finished my day with a profit of £39.

Thursday 22nd Febraury 2007

The Sports Traders 18 day winning streak came to an abrupt end today but not until the last race of the day. I traded in 16 UK horse races, 1 darts match and 2 football matches.

My first race trade was in the 13:50 at Southwell where I laid Mid Valley for £10 @ 12.00 and later, on the run in, I backed the winner, Doctor's Cave, for £34 @ 1.30 to start the day with a £20 profit. My next trade was a small winning one.

In the 14:10 at Haydock I laid Atahuelpa for £14 @ 5.00 with about 3 furlongs to go to land a profit of £14.

My next trade was in the 14:20 at Southwell where I laid Lawyer To The World for £37 @ 25.00 when in mid division and never looking like contending the finish to give me a profit of £37. I then had another small winning trade.

In the 14:40 at Haydock I backed Auntie Kathleen for £7 @ 5.60 for a profit of £31. Next I had to more small winning trades.

In the 15:30 at Nad Al Sheba I laid Blue Sky God for £14 @ 1.50 for a profit of £14. Next was the 15:35 at Huntingdon where I laid Lightning Strike for £13 @ 4.00 before backing the winner, My Turn Now, for £210 @ 1.01 at the final hurdle for a total profit on the race of £15.

Next was the 15:45 at Haydock and here I laid Nacadour for £3 @ 8.00 and backed Tyson for £100 @ 1.10 for a profit of £13.

In the 16:05 at Huntingdon I laid King of Gothland for £25 @ 10 before backing him for £5 @ 25.00 to net me a profit of £20. Next was the 16:15 at Haydock where I laid Artic Jack for £2 @ 25.00. I then backed Cobreces for £33 @ 2.13 before laying off £32 @ 1.20 and a further £25 @ 1.10 to finish the race with a profit of £30.

In the 16:45 at Haydock I backed Mister Potter for £100 @ 1.21 and a further £202 @ 1.02 for a profit of £25. I had one more small winning trade before my disaster in the last, the 17:15 at Haydock. I backed Castlecrossing for £580 @ 3.25 at about two furlongs out when going well after being held up for much of the race. She just didn't have the pace or stamina in the final furlong to keep with the eventual winner and I lost my £580.

My race trading day had therefore finished with a loss of £343.

As you know I like to trade in the Premier League darts matches and in the Lloyd - Scholten  match I backed Colin Lloyd for £250 @ 1.22, £250 @ 1.33 and a further £178 @ 1.36 before laying off £320 @ 1.06 to land a decent profit of £182.

I had a few small trades on the other matches resulting in a very small profit but Amie was still not that well and I had to keep looking in on her so I didn't trade seriously.

I had a small trade on the Newcastle game where I backed the correct score line of 1-0 for £86 @ 1.20 with 4 minutes of the game remaining and laid off £50 @ 1.07 to earn a profit of £14.

I also did something similar in the Rangers match where I backed the correct score line of 3-0 for £167 @ 1.20 with 2 minutes of the game left plus injury time. I laid off £56 @ 1.04 before the last kick of the match which resulted in a 4th goal for Rangers and cost me £111, but at least Rangers are through to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.

I have therefore finished my day's trading with a loss of £258.

Wednesday 21st February 2007

The Sports Trader has had a slow and interrupted day's trading. My youngest daughter Amie was not well at nursery school so I had to go and pick her up and look after her until our Au pair turned up at 3.30. So my early results where not too good but once the Au pair got here my trading got better. This just proves again what I have always said about the importance of having no interruptions when trading to allow total concentration on the job.

I only managed to trade on 11 races and 1 football match. My first 4 trades where all small with two winning and two losing. In the 15:00 at Ludlow I started with a back on Mapilut du Moulin for £5 @ 24.00 and laid off within a few seconds @ 22.00 I then laid Wreford Lake for £10 @ 8.80 and I had a small back on the eventual winner, Walton Way for £10 @ 1.05 to net me an £11 profit.

The next at Ludlow was another small, winning trade. In the 15:55 at Punchestown I laid Caitlin's Flyer for £23 @ 16.00 as she was struggling near the rear and just before she was pulled up to give me a profit of £23. My next race traded resulted in another small profit.

The 16:55 at Punchestown was my best result of the day. I laid Indifference Curve for £78 @ 4.50 soon after he had been headed at the start of the finishing straight to land a £78 profit. My day finished with another small winning trade. This left me with a race day trading profit of £111.

In the evening I was still having problems with the children so I didn't get a look at any of the matches before kick off. I finally started to watch the game between Barcelona and Liverpool. I had a few trades after the half time interval and with the score standing at 1 -1 . Al l did was to back the under 2.5 goals for £100 @ 2.55 and laid all this off @ 2.40. I later backed the unders for £39 @ 2.41 and laid this all off @ 2.30. Well Liverpool went and scored and, although the goal cost me a potential £20 profit, I was still pleased to see Liverpool take the lead and go on to win the match. I think it is brilliant to see any of the British teams do well in Europe.

I have therefore ended the day with a profit of £111.

I have added a new button on the left hand side of my blog named ONTOPLIST.COM. If you click on this button you will be taken to a new listing for Sports Trading Blogs. Eventually all the Sports Trading Blogs will be listed to give readers an easy reference point to see what is new in the traders blogging world.

Tuesday 20th February 2007

After all the excitement of yesterday it was back down to earth today. I have been, once again, overwhelmed by all the messages of support from fellow traders and it is very much appreciated. I traded on 16 races today and had 3 losing trades.

My first trade was in the 13:30 at Southwell where I backed Mahmjra for £200 @ 1.10 just coming into the final furlong when well in the lead to secure a profit of £20. My next race was a small, profitable one.

In the 14:00 at Southwell I started with a back on Mister Incredible for £3 @ 2.76 before laying him for £25 @ 3.01 and then on the run in I backed him for £10 @ 1.01 to end in my first loss of £43 on the day. My next race was another small,profitable one.

My next race was my biggest loser of the day as I had backed William John in the 14:20 at Sedgefield for £101 @ 1.10 whilst he was well in the lead and coming into the final furlong. He just could not get up the hill to the line and was overtaken to cost me £101.

I had another small profitable trade in my next race. Then in the 14:40 at Taunton I backed I'm So Lucky for £20 @ 1.09 when again well in the lead and again got mugged just before the line as he couldn't get home in the stamina sapping conditions. At this stage I felt nothing would go right for me today. I had an enforced break as I had to go and pick all the children up from school.

My next race was therefore the 15:20 at Sedgefield. I only got back home to see the closing couple of furlongs and with Top Cloud well in the lead I backed him for £265 @ 1.10 and then close to the line for £210 @ 1.01 to claw back £30. I had another small winning trade in the next race.

In the 15:40 at Taunton I backed the very short priced favourite, Granit Jack for £380 @ 1.20 before laying off £30 @ 1.12 and a further £361 @ 1.01 to land me a profit of £71.

My next race was the 15:50 at Sedgefield and I laid Go Nomadic for £37 @ 7.50 before backing back £15 @ 15.00 and on the run in I backed Nevada Red for £6 @ 1.20 to result in a profit of £23. Next I had a further two small winning trades.

My next trade was in the 16:30 at Southwell where I laid Rebellious Spirit for £20 @ 2.38 when in the final furlong and stuck behind the three leaders to land a profit of £20.

The final race of the day for me was the 16:50 at Sedgefield where at about half distance I laid Nobodys Perfect for £71 @ 10.00 and then backed him back for £8 @ 54.00 and £2 @ 34.00. In the final furlong I backed Never So Blue for £20 @ 1.10 for a final result of the day of a £63 profit.

At the end of my race day I had managed to claw back my early losses and end with a profit of £64. I wonder how big a difference that break mid way through the day had been for me. I certainly came back with a better, more refreshed, attitude.

I had a lot of things to do this evening so had to miss almost all the Champions League football. I just caught the final few minutes of the Celtic v AC Milan match. The only trade I had was to back the draw with 30 seconds of injury time left and the ball out of play for £256 @ 1.08 to result in a profit of £20.

I have therefore finished my day with a profit of £84.

Of the many comments left today on my blog one was left by John Wheatland, he has recently started a blog on his trading on the exchanges called The Dream Lives... John has been based in the UAE working as an Operations Manager for a very good golf club but has decided to leave his job, come back to the UK and become a full time trader. He has developed a system for trading horse races and also enjoys playing poker. Take a look at his blog I am sure we can all learn something from him.

Monday 19th February 2007

Today has been one of the most interesting day's for The Sports Trader since starting this blog 3 months ago. I have been forced to defend both myself and Betdaq from a barrage of abuse and disbelief by people hiding behind sudo names on forums dedicated to our brilliant trade of Sports Trading.

It appears that some people have read my blog and think that I should start each day in the time honoured fashion of 'Once upon a time'. Well I am sorry but this blog is 100% FACT not fiction, and I have proved that it is fact, by copying and pasting 3 days of last weeks trades on one of these forums.

Writing this blog has, more or less, done what I set out to do, and that is to create a group of full and part time traders that could become 'work colleagues' to make up for the fact that apart from being a lighthouse keeper, it is one of the loneliness professions that you could embark upon. The upside has been that I have made many really good friends and contacts from across the trading spectrum and using not just Betdaq, but all the other exchanges as well, the downside is the kind of abuse I have had to take this last two days.

They say 'success breeds contempt' well that has certainly happened here. Although  I have not reached the level of success that I know many others have. I am happy with my performance, but I will continue to improve this performance and more importantly I will continue to use Betdaq as my preferred Exchange. I have written many times about my dislike of monopoly businesses and my determination to support competition in these markets.

To show the readers the type of accusations that have been made against us I have included two links to the threads that I have commented on. Please be aware that the language gets a little abusive towards the end of one of the threads, although it does not come from me.

The first is entitled Betblog Scams and it is on here that I have copied my full results to prove my case. The second is entitled Ray - The Diary of a Betdaq Trader.

Another old saying is 'Any publicity is good publicity', well this has also proven to be correct because my site meter is going crazy and I hope that many of the new readers, now that it is proven that you can make a serious living using Betdaq, will give Betdaq a try.

I have been asked to copy every bet that I make every day onto this blog to prove my profits. I really think that would be over the top and would take up a lot of space, as well as making the blog more difficult to read. The fact that I could prove 3 days from last week on demand surely proves that my blog is a true and accurate reflection of my trading.

End of rant.

I have had a very good day trading and have answered my critics in the best possible way by proving, yet again, that I can make this job pay on Betdaq. I traded on 10 races and 1 football match today and had just one losing trade.

My first action was in the 13:30 at Market Rasen where I started with a back for £101 @ 1.80 on Murphys Million. I laid back £10 @ 1.02 with a furlong to go and I also laid Storm Talk for £7 @ 21.00 to give me a profit of £88.

Next I had 3 small but profitable trades. In the 14:30 at Market Rasen I laid Ice Melted for £21 @ 2.75 for a profit of £21. I then had another small but profitable trade.

My only losing trade of the day was in the 16:25 at Carlisle where I backed Cloudmor for £20 @ 1.75 when in the lead and on the flat only to see his effort falter near the line to cost me £20.

My next race was the 16:45 at Market Rasen and in this race was a horse, Theatrical Moment, that I had made a mental note of about 4 weeks ago when last running very impressively. As you all know I do not look at form or take a view on a race before the start but I did just keep in mind how impressive this horse had been whilst the race unfolded. I decided to back him for £250 @ 1.60 when being held up and still pulling quite hard, which is the reason his odds where higher than his SP. I laid off @ 1.45. A furlong later I backed him again for £100 @ 1.48 before laying this off @ 1.25 and then on the run in I backed him for £400 @ 1.01 to result in a profit of £64.

My next race was a small, profitable one and then my final race of the day was my best result of the day. It was in the 17:10 at Lingfield. I watched the race until just into the final furlong when Convivial Spirit started to come under serious pressure and was making no headway with the leaders and at this stage I laid him for £825 @ 4.30, I had an anxious few seconds, as is normal when wagering such a big sum, but I was soon feeling very relaxed as he could not match the leaders and I therefore netted a very nice £825 profit.

That was the end of my race trading for the day and I ended with a race trading profit of £991 and again with not a penny of commission thanks to the Betdaq 0% commission offer.

There was one match live on TV tonight, Brentford v Northampton,  and of course my target was to win at least £9 to make the magic £1k profit for the day that I had just missed out on two days ago. I did not trade before kick off and waited until the 15th minute before placing a back on the under 2.5 goals for £100 @ 1.50. I traded very cautiously as I was determined to make my target so I began laying off in £25 lots @ 1.45, 1.42, 1.42 and had my final lay @ 1.35 but only got matched for £7 when the goal was scored. As soon as the market was reformed I backed the under 2.5 goals again for £2 @ 2.50 then £117 @ 1.94. I laid off £65 @ 1.83 and most of the rest @ around 1.80. With a decent profit in the bag I then had about another 10 trades for small sums to end with an all green figure of £25. Later on with 3 minutes on the clock I backed Northampton for the win for £109 @ 1.20 and laid off @ 1.15 and then in injury time I backed them again for £200 @ 1.10 and laid this off @ 1.08. I also had a small back of the under 1.5 goals in the final few seconds of injury time for £58 @ 1.03. In total I made £36 on the match

I therefore made a total profit of £1026 on the day.

Sunday 18th February 2007

I have had another decent day with a reasonable quality of horse racing. I ended up trading in 17 races with no losing trades, although most of my trades where quite small. I had my best friend Graeme and his family coming down from Aberdeen to stay with me tonight so I had little time to trade in the evening. I had to prepare a meal for all of us of Chicken Balmoral which is chicken fillets filled with haggis.

I started with 3 small and profitable trades. My first reasonably sized trade was in the 14:30 at Fontwell where I backed Backed Turko for £50 @ 1.80 before laying off @ 1.60 to land a profit of £10.

In the 15:00 at Fontwell I backed Superrollercoaster for just over £7 @ 3.40 to earn another £18 profit. I then had a further 2 small and profitable trades.

In the 15:30 at Fontwell I backed United for £45 @ 1.40 before laying off @ 1.25. I had another very small back on United to net me a total profit of £21. My next trade was a small, profitable one.

In the 15:50 at Towcester I got matched for £41 @ 1.88 on Whitford Don to secure a profit of £36. My next race was the 16:00 at Fontwell. I started with a lay of Vinnie Boy for £67 @ 3.50 before backing back £40 @ 4.30 and £7 @ 6.00. I then had further lays on him at 7.90 for £20, 10.00 for £10 and 20.00 for £2 to result in a profit on the race of £52.

I had a further 7 trades that were all small but profitable. This left me with a race trading profit of £168 on the day.

I did have a couple of very small trades on the early evening match between Valencia and Barcelona which resulted in a very small profit. I have therefore ended another solid week with no losing days and a total profit of £1810 and I have only had to pay a total of £12 in commissions due to the great Betdaq offer of 0% commission on in-running UK horse racing markets.