The Sports Trader

Friday 16th March 2007

It was a day of First Class racing today to finish off a great week at Cheltenham and a Star was finally recognised for what he really is, Kauto Star that is. The highlight of my week was to see Ruby Walsh partner Kauto Star to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. I have always admired Ruby's riding skills and it was great to see him win this big event in front of his father and many of the rest of his family.

The Sports Trader followed a similar path as in the rest of this week with not too many trades but a decent result. I ended up trading in just 10 horse races and 1 football match and had just one losing trade.

My day started slowly with 4 small winning trades followed by my only loss of the day in the 15:40 at Lingfield where I laid Lorikeet for £20 @ 3.00 to lose me £40 in a very close short head finish.

My next race, the 16:00 at Cheltenham, was my best result of the day and here I started with a lay of Whyso Mayo for £100 @ 4.00 before backing back £39 @ 5.00. I then laid him again for £64 @ 4.20 and in the final furlong backed him for £6 @ 1.50 to result in a profit of £119. I followed up with another small winning trade.

In the 16:25 at Lingfield I backed Lucayos for £15 @ 2.50 to result in a profit of £23. My next race was the 16:40 at Cheltenham where I laid Saintsaire for £40 @ 21.00 and laid Demi Beau for £39 @ 21.00. I did back back £4 @ 32.00 and £15 @ 5.00 on Demi Beau to leave me with a profit on the race of £60.

My last race trade of the day was in the 17:30 at Fakenham where I laid Ski Jump for £14 @ 3.50 and backed back £12 @ 4.00 to leave me with a small profit of £2.

At the end of my race trading for the day I had managed to make a profit of £177.

In the televised football match between Southampton and Colchester I waited until after the third goal had been scored before having a trade. I then put up a back of the under 3.5 goals for £50 @ 10.00 and was surprised to get matched for just over £40 @ 10.00. I started to lay off almost immediately with lays @ 9.00 for £5, 7.50 for £5, 7.00 for £5 and further lays to cover my liability down to 4.50. I then waited until the price had dropped to 2.70 before starting to green up my position. I ended the match with a profit of £94 and would have had £60 if another goal had been scored. This was a particularly good result as my maximum liability throughout the match was just £40 and yet I managed to make more than twice that in profit.

With 8 minutes left on the clock I saw what I thought were very good odds on offer to lay the correct score line of 2 - 2 @ 7.20 so I laid the score for £30. I backed back £8 @ 13.00 and then with less than 1 minute of injury time left to play I laid the same score line for £12 @ 17.80 to result in a profit of £34.

I had therefore finished my day with a total profit of £305.

It was good to see David at Horsegraphs.com come up with another day of excellent gains today by selecting Pedrobob in the final race of the Cheltenham card with an SP of 12/1. This brilliant system has produced a gain of 25 points over the 4 day Cheltenham Festival. David is introducing a new service to run alongside his original free service. This new Premium service will be by a daily, weekly or monthly subscription and if his results keep coming in the way they have over this last few weeks it should prove to be one of the most cost effective services available. Best of Luck David.

Thursday 15th March 2007

Well the Sports Trader has had another slow but solid day. I traded just 8 horse races, 1 football match and 2 Premier League darts matches and ended the day with just 1 losing trade.

My day had several interruptions which accounted for the lack of trading today. I started with 3 small winning trades on horse races. My first trade of any significance was the 16:00 at Cheltenham where I laid Moncadou for £11 @ 7.00 to result in a profit of £11.

My only losing trade of the day was in the 16:15 at Hexham where I had backed Innisfree for £27 @ 1.25 when leading only to see him start to fade and then make a mistake at the final fence to cost me a loss of £27.

My best result of the day came next in the 16:40 at Cheltenham. I just watched the race and looked for horses that appeared to be travelling badly and with lays available. I decided to keep watching Garde Champetre as he was being held up towards the back of the field and had already been hampered. He started coming under pressure just before coming into the home straight. At this point I laid him for £432 @ 17.00. I immediately put up a back @ 25.00 and was matched for £75. I then put up other backs and got matched for another £23 at varying prices. With 3 furlongs to go my liability was safe and I stopped my covering backs to result in a profit on the race of £333.

I followed up with a small winning trade and then my final race trade of the day was in the 17:30 at Hexham where I laid Uneven Line for £60 @ 7.60 and then baked back £31 at an average price of 8.50 to leave me with a profit of £29.

My race trading had finished with a profit of £352.

I watched some of the AZ Alkmaar v Newcastle match and got involved well after both goals had already been scored. I started with a back of the under 2.5 goals for £5 @ 3.78 and £5 @ 3.00 and laid this off @ 3.05. With 6 minutes left on the clock I backed the unders again for £200 @ 1.60. I laid off £3 @ 1.52 and then £197 @ 1.42. I then partially greened up with lays of £20 @ 1.30. this secured me a profit on the unders for £31.

With less than two minutes plus injury time remaining I switched my attention to the No third goal market and backed this for £166 @ 1.35. I laid off £130 @ 1.20 and £10 @ 1.35 to result in a profit of £29.

I had to go out a couple of times in the evening to take, and bring back,my daughter to her Rainbow club so I missed the first Premier League darts match of the evening. Because of my football trading I also missed the second darts match of the night so I started trading in the Barneveld v Priestley match by laying Barney for £5 @ 10.00 and £32 @ 40.00 to result in a profit of £37.

The last darts match of the night was the Taylor v Lloyd match. I only had one trade and that was to back Taylor in the -3.5 leg handicap market for £50 @ 1.70 and lay off @ 1.20 to result in a profit of £25.

My day had finished with a total profit of £473.

For all the followers of Dave Stewart's Horsegraphs.com it was good to see him get another big win by backing Oscar Park in the last race on the Cheltenham card. At his advised price which was easily obtainable on the Daq his win would have been 42 points but even at SP the return was 22 points.

Wednesday 14th March 2007

The Sports Trader has had a better second day of the Cheltenham Festival but still had few trades. In fact I only traded 7 horse races and 1 football match but had no losing trades.

My first trade was in the 13:40 at Wolverhampton where I backed Kabis Amigos for £36 @ 2.54 in the final furlong to result in a profit of £55. I followed this up with a small winning trade.

In the 14:00 @ Cheltenham I laid Aran Concerto for £3 @ 4.00 and backed Massini's Maguire for £20 @ 1.80 whilst just in the lead and well inside the final furlong, to result in a profit of £19.

My next trade was in the 14:35 at Cheltenham where I laid Aces Four, when making a mistake at the 3rd last fence, for £14 @ 23.00 and then a further £20 @ 40.00 to land another £34 profit.

In the 16:00, also at Cheltenham, I backed Burntoakboy for £150 @ 2.12 when contesting the lead at 3 hurdles out and laid off @ 1.50 to net me a profit of £93.

My best result was in the 17:20 at Cheltenham and I had been keeping a keen eye on Jamie Spencer's mount Enquiring Mind. He hadn't been travelling well throughout the race but with Jamie on board you never know just what will happen in the latter stages of a race. As it happened when Jamie did ask for an effort the horse just did not respond and I hit the lay button and got matched for £458 @ 10.00. I did lay off my liability very soon after with backs for £7 @ 25.00 and £5 @ 850 to result in a profit of £445. (Download screenshot1.ngp).

My last racing trade of the day was next and it was a small winning trade. I had therefore finished my race trading with a profit of £652 and still with no commission to pay thanks to one of Betdaq's outstanding commission offers.

I decided to watch the Manchester City v Chelsea match tonight. I did not take a position until after the first goal had been scored when I backed the under 2.5 goals for £193 @ 2.09. I laid off in stages with the following lays: £23 @ 1.98, £120 @ 1.92, £25 @ 1.82 and £28 @ 1.75. After half time I backed the unders again for £100 @ 1.67 and laid off £98 @ 1.61. This resulted in a profit on the match of £45.

I had finished my day with a profit of £697.

Tuesday 13th March 2007

As expected there was no reply from ATR regarding their xtra service. Some people have suggested that I was being unfair by directing the question to Matt Chapman. Apparently Matt has sent an email to others stating that he agrees with his viewers but has to toe the ATR line on this and say nothing. So they do have something to hide. This was not a personal attack on Matt, in fact I quite like his style of presenting and he is knowledgeable on matters concerning horse racing, but he is the face of ATR and therefore I felt justified in directing a straight forward question towards him. If I have caused any offence Matt I apologise.

There has been a lot of discussion on various forums about the ATRxtra subject and hopefully this will continue until we get the answers we all need. For the life of me I can not see why ATR, SKY, RUK and SIS can not sit down in a room and thrash out a deal where by jointly they can offer a live fast picture service covering all the UK tracks via subscription to any body that wishes it. There are very few individuals that would commit to a 3 year deal for the SIS service covering half of the UK tracks but a lot would subscribe to a service covering all tracks for a fee of say around £30 - £50 / month. Remember by doing this there would be no need for the extra equipment that you need for SIS which makes up a big proportion of the costs associated with the SIS contract.

Well The Sports Trader has had a disappointing day considering the quality of racing on offer. I often find that on days where I expect to make a decent profit I fall short and on days when I am not too confident something turns up to make for a good day. I ended up trading in just 6 races and 1 football match, but had no losing trades.

My day started with the 13:40 at Sedgefield where I laid Surricate for £43 @ 3.20 and backed back £31 @4.30 to leave me with a profit of £8. I followed this up with 3 small winning trades.

In the 16:15 at Sedgefield I laid Reasonably Sure for £21 @ 3.00 to result in a £21 profit. My last race trade was in the 16:40 at Cheltenham where I backed Heads On The Ground for £50 @ 1.20 to give me a £10 profit.

My race trading had finished for the day with a profit of £41. It was good to see that Betdaq had a record breaking day with amounts matched in the Cheltenham races ranging form £1.86m for the quietest race up to £6.20M in the 2:00 Supreme Novices Hurdle race.

In the Sunderland v Stoke football match I had one trade at the end of the match on the correct score line of 2 - 2 by backing for £71 @ 1.20 which gave me a profit of £7.

My day had finished with a profit of just £48.

Just a quick note also on The Purple Layers blog, Gavin has had a technical problem with his site that means it will be down for a few days. I hope he gets the problem resolved and gets back on track soon.

Paul at Punting for Profits has put a lot of effort into analysing the Cheltenham races this week. He started with a 10 point win for today's card and is expecting to make a lot more in the next few days.

You will also find a twice daily podcast on the Betdaq Exchange Views Blog where Russ will report directly form Cheltenham on all the latest news views and latest prices.

Monday 12th March 2007

Why will Attheraces not come clean about the future of their ATRxtra service. Everyone that trades in-running wants this question answered. Atr are really pushing the line that their service is completely free of charge. We all have to pay for Atr via our SKY package and I would assume that some of that revenue filters down to Atr. If we gloss over this fact are Atr, and Matt Chapman in particular, saying 'You don't pay for the service so we will do what the French Connection we want with the service'. We all realise that there must be some sort of political game going on here, perhaps your betting partners are fed up of funding a service that is only of use to Exchange players, perhaps SIS has put pressure on you to stop the fast pictures, perhaps Atr can not afford to continue this service, or perhaps some sparky has pulled out the wrong plug and as yet no one has found which plug to put back into the socket, causing a great deal of embarrassment all round. None of these reasons matter to us your customers, all we want to know is 'Will the ATRxtra service be back and if so when'. You don't have to give away any trade secrets just answer the simple question. To not answer is an absolute disregard of your customers wishes. So I challenge Matt Chapman to tell the nation on his broadcast tomorrow the answer to my earlier question.

I have had so many comments on my blog and via email from people wanting this ATR situation cleared up. I know that people from both Betdaq and Betfair have also been asking questions directly of the ATR management, and both exchanges have been taking a fair amount of stick for not getting the answers. The blame surely has to be put directly to ATR.

Back to today's trading. The Sports Trader has made a loss today to bring to an end my brilliant winning streak. I traded on 8 horse races, 1 football match and 1 tennis match and I had 2 losing trades.

My first trade was in the 14:00 at Plumpton where I backed Netherley for £300 @ 1.50 before laying off @ 1.36. A little latter I backed him again for £137 @ 1.40 and laid this off @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £83.

In the 14:10 at Taunton I backed Noble Bily for £50 @ 1.80 and laid off @ 1.57 to give me a profit of £12.

The next was my worst result of the day and it was in the 14:40 at Taunton where I had backed Spidam for £382 @ 1.50 when well in the lead and going well with three fences to go, then his French temperament started to show and he all but refused to continue to race. I did have a lay up @ 1.18 but only got matched for £2 so I lost £380.  Although a big loss it really didn't get to me as this is just one of those things that will happen when trading.

My next trade was in the 15:30 at Plumpton and here I laid Bright Eagle for £218 @ 50.00,(proof as requested on the Betfair Forum Download screenshot.png ),as he blundered at a fence early in the race. On the run in  I backed Wenger for £160 @ 1.70 and just got beaten on the line, so I ended the race with a profit of £58.

I followed this with 4 small trades, one of which cost me a pound and the other three where all winning trades. I had finished my race trading with a loss of £222.

Later I watched the live football match between Burton Albion and Forest Green. I didn't have a trade until the goal was scored early in the second half when I backed the under 2.5 goals for £366 @ 1.55. I laid off £121 @ 1.40, £66 @ 1.42, £160 @ 1.41 and £20 @ 1.36 to leave me with a profit of £50.

I also had a quick trade on the under 1.5 goal market. With 4 minutes left on the clock I backed the unders for £68 @ 1.50 and laid off @ 1.24 about two minutes later to result in a profit of £17.

In the late evening I started to watch the tennis match between Rochus and Roddick. I only traded during the tie break of the second set and backed Roddick for £100 @ 1.15. I was looking to lay off @ 1.05 but the odds were moving all over the place and in the end I cancelled my lay as Roddick won the match to give me a profit of £15.

I have to take my metaphoric hat off to those that trade tennis, the odds change so much and so quickly. It always seems to me that you can never get a good value trade. But there appears to be plenty of people willing to trade early in a match at very small odds.

Well my day had finished and I have to report a loss of £140.

Sunday 11th March 2007

It has been another solid day for The Sports Trader with 3 good race meetings on. I traded on 13 horse races, 1 football match and 1 Golf tournament with just 1 losing trade.

Like yesterday, my first trade was my best. This was in the 14:10 at Warwick where I laid First Slip for £340 @ 7.94. Somebody was pretty certain that this horse would win as several sizable bets were put up around the 8.00 level. I let the first few go but when I saw First Slip starting to gradually fall back through the field I took the bait. I quickly put up a back for £100 @ 32.00 to leave myself with a profit of £240.

My next trade was in the 14:20 at Market Rasen and here I backed Mendo for £25 @ 1.60 before laying off @ 1.49. with Mendo taking the lead and approaching the final hurdle I backed him again for £496 @ 1.10. I put a lay up @ 1.05 but cancelled after £37 had been matched to result in a profit of £53. My next trade was a small winning one.

In the 14:40 at Warwick I backed Old Benny within a few yards of the finishing line for £300 @ 1.25 to result in a profit of £75. At first I thought he had lost the race on the line and I put up a lay in the photo betting but the result came quickly and in the end he had won by almost a head.

My next trade was in the 14:50 at Market Rasen where I laid Runthatpastmeagain for £40 @ 3.23 before backing back £10 @ 5.00 and then getting matched for £1 @ 112.00 to leave me with a profit of £29.

In the 15:10 at Warwick I laid Ironside for £20 @ 6.00 and backed back £10 @ 11.00 to leave a profit of £10. My next was my only losing trade of the day. It was in the 15:30 at Naas where I backed Flying Dustman for £10 @ 1.50 but lost as he was headed just before the line to cost me £10. I followed up with 2 small winning trades.

In the 16:40 at Warwick I backed Persian Hero for £252 @ 1.10 at the final fence an in control of the race to result in a profit of £25. I finished my race trading day with 3 more small winning trades.

I had finished the day's race trading with a profit of £432.

After racing I watched the Plymouth v Watford match. I had missed most of the first half and started with a back on the under 2.5 goals market for £125 @1.68. I laid all this off @ 1.62 as I had to make a phone call and didn't want to take the risk of holding on whilst I was speaking. Later I backed the unders for £47 @ 1.23 and laid off £40 @ 1.18 and £7 @ 1.16 to leave me with a profit of £10.

I also had a look at the match result market. With the score line at 0 - 1 I backed Watford for £173 @ 1.38 an laid this off @ 1.35. Later, and in injury time, I backed Watford for £75 @ 1.07 and laid off @ 1.01 to result in another £10 profit.

After the match I switched to the PODS golf Tournament and traded during the last two holes of play. I backed Mark Calcavecchia for £58 @ 1.26 and laid Heath Slocum for £25 @ 4.40. To cover these I later laid Mark for £153 @ 1.01. I ended this event with a profit of £41.

So I had finished another day with a profit of £493. This has rounded off a very good week with no losing days and a total profit on the week of £2715.

Saturday 10th March 2007

The Sports Trader has had a good day but almost spoilt it with some poor trading on a football match. I ended up trading in 13 horses races, 3 football matches and 1 boxing match, and had just two losing events.

Before racing started I had a business colleague and friend come round to my office to see how I do this trading thing. I hadn't seen Keith for a couple of years but he tracked me down via a web site that we are both members of and noticed that I had changed my profession, so he did a search and found my blog. He was intrigued by what he saw and asked if I could show him at first hand how I trade with a view of doing it himself on as a hobby. I spent half an hour showing him my IT set up and talking about how we trade and then he sat in whilst I traded the first few races of the day. He went away with the intention of buying a new computer and starting to trade football to get used to using the site before having a go on the horses.

The first trade of my day was in the 14:05 at Sandown where I had a perfect start by backing Albertas Run for £815 @ 1.50 when coming away from the last hurdle in front and looking to go on and win under the famous A P McCoy drive to result in a profit of £408.

My next trade was in the 14:35 at Sandown where I laid Cousin Nicky for £47 @ 2.89 when making a mistake two fences out and coming under pressure to land me a profit of £47.

Next for me was the 15:00 at Chepstow, and here I laid Madison Avenue for £17 @ 6.20 at about 3 out when weakening and not looking happy with the conditions. I also backed Pop Gun for £2 @ 1.25 to end the race with a profit of £18. I followed this up with two small winning trades.

In the 15:55 at Ayr I laid Haut de Gamme for £15 @ 4.20 before backing back £15 @ 4.20 and then at the finish I backed Snowy for £1100 @ 1.01 to result in a profit of £14. Next I had two more small winning trades.

In the 16:45 at Chepstow I backed Nice Try for £5 @ 2.00 and then again for £150 @ 1.60 before laying all off @ 1.35 to result in a profit of £42. I followed this up with another three small, winning trades.

My last racing trade was in the 17:25 at Sandown where I backed the favourite, Hoo La Baloo for £250 @ 1.28 and laid off @ 1.06 to result in a profit of £55.

At the end of my race trading day I had a profit of £599.

As soon as the racing had finished I switched to the Middlesbrough v Manchester United FA Cup Quarter Final match. I had missed most of the first half and started trading the under 2.5 goal market when the score was 0 - 1. I had twelve very quick trades and ended up with no liability when the third goal was scored, so no damage done. I then traded on the under 3.5 goal market and when the fourth goal was scored I had a £1 profit on the overs. I also traded on the correct score line of 2 - 2 with 3 minutes left on the clock by backing for £65 @ 1.24 and laid off £8 @ 1.09 to result in a profit of £15. So I had done a lot of trading and ended up with a profit on the match of £16.

My next match was the Levante v Villarreal game I missed the start but then backed the under 2.5 goals for £196 @ 1.66. I started to lay off my liability @ 1.63 for £47 and had further lays @ 1.56 for £50, @ 1.54 for £50 and @ 1.22 for £70. After the first goal I backed the unders again for £50 @ 1.70 and laid off £9 @ 1.35 to result in a profit of £36.

My final football match of the day was the Grande Clasico in Spain between Barcelona and Real Madrid. I decided to trade this one quite heavily, big mistake. Pre kick off I backed the under 2.5 goals for £157 @ 1.96. I was just starting to put up my lays when the first goal was scored. I then backed the unders again for £55 @ 3.27 and the second goal was scored. Luckily the third goal came very quickly and I hadn't backed again so I was left facing a loss of £212 on the match.

I decided to wait until late on in the match when you can normally find a trade or two to salvage some of the damage. With 15 minutes left I started to trade the correct score line of 2 - 3 with a back for £200 @ 1.88. I laid off £46 @ 1.52, £54 @ 1.48 and £50 @ 1.33. Then the 6th goal was scored to cost me another £50.

I had just about resigned myself to taking a loss of £262 on the match when a brilliant opportunity presented itself on the match result market. I had a few small trades on the draw but with the game already in the first of 4 injury time minutes and the game drawing I backed the draw for £130 @ 1.20 and then with 40 seconds on the clock, up popped £1467 @ 1.15, so I hit the submit button. The referee blew his whistle a little early so I only had a 15 second wait to win back £247. I had therefore finished the match with a loss of £15. A real result.

Later I watched the boxing between Derry Mathews and John Simpson. I only had a few very small trades and ended up losing £3 after what I thought was a little strange result.

My day had therefore ended with a profit of £633.

Friday 9th March 2007

The Sports Trader has had a reasonable day and it was good to see the Ayr meeting go ahead as planned along with Leicester and Lingfield. I managed to trade in 11 races and 1 football match with just one losing trade.

My race trading started in the 14:20 at Leicester where I backed Durante for £200 @ 1.75 before laying off @ 1.66. Later I backed Lenny for £155 @ 1.10 when well clear of the field but with two fences to jump and I laid him for £145 @ 1.03 and £10 @ 1.04 to result in a profit of £11.

In the 14:30 at Ayr I backed Baron Monty for £74 @ 1.32 before laying off @ 1.30. With a furlong to go I backed him again for £165 @ 1.25 to leave me with a profit of £42. I followed this up with two small winning trades.

My only loss of the day was in the 15:10 at Lingfield where I laid Art Modern for £9 @ 8.80 when not looking to be travelling too well but I got it totally wrong and he went on to win leaving me with a loss of £68. Next was another small winning trade.

My best result of the day was in the 15:35 at Ayr. I did nothing until the last furlong when Inch High was well in the lead and running on well. There was a lot of liquidity in this race and I was able to back Inch High for £2993 @ 1.04 to land a profit of £120 on the race. I followed this up with 3 more small winning trades.

My last racing trade of the day was in the 17:20 at Ayr where I laid No Shenanigans for £50 @ 8.00 when weakening at the second last fence to result in a profit of £50.

My race trading for the day had resulted in a profit of £171.

Tonight's televised football match was the Championship game between Birmingham and Derby. I had several other things to do tonight so I just had the odd few small trades on the under 2.5 goal market. I started pre kick off with a back for £12 @ 1.72 and with 14 minutes on the clock I backed a further £20 @ 1.57. I laid all off @ 1.44. I had to leave my computer at this point for twenty minutes and when I got back the score was 1 - 0. I backed a further £30 @ 1.56 and laid this off @ 1.38 to result in a profit of £11.

I also had a small trade on the correct score line of 1 - 0 for £30 @ 1.30 and laid this off @ 1.22 to give me a profit of £2.

That was the end of my trading day which had resulted in a total profit of £185.

There is another new blog started by Gareth. He calls his blog Small Time Sports Trader but looking at his trading over the last few day's it looks like he will have to change his name as his results are definitely not small time. Good Luck Gareth I hope your trading and blog go well.

Thursday 8th March 2007

It was good to have two National Hunt meetings today although the going was described as soft at Wincanton and heavy at Thurles. I ended up trading in 11 horse races and 2 Premier League darts matches, with just one losing trade on the day.

I started with the 14:10 at Wincanton where I had a small but profitable trade. My next was in the14:25 at Thurles where I backed Kazal for £143 @ 2.20 but laid off @ 2.05 as, although that was his 5th straight win, he just did not seem to want to win the race. I ended the race with a £22 profit.

My only loss on the day was in the 14:40 at Wincanton where I had laid Wild Tonto for £5 @ 2.04 to lose me £5. In the 15:15 at Wincanton I laid Trading Up for £15 @ 10.00, at the third last fence when making a mistake, to result in a £15 profit.

My next trade was in the 15:30 at Thurles where I laid Rossback for £60 @ 12.00 when falling back through the field with 5 fences to go, to result in a profit of £60.

My best racing result of the day was in the 15:50 at Wincanton. I had started with a small back on Jericho of £7 @ 3.40 and laid off @ 2.83. A little later I backed him for £107 @ 2.20 and laid all off @ 1.90. Then going over the last fence  I backed him again for £753 @ 1.30, with no challenger for the lead I held on with out laying off to result in a profit of £262.

I finished my horse race trading with 5 more small winning trades and this resulted in a profit on the day of £367.

I always look forward to the Premier League Darts matches on a Thursday evening as I find this to be one of the best trading events, so I missed all the Football matches.

I watched the first match between Dennis Priestly and Peter Manley with no trades. The next game was the one I was most looking forward to with Phil 'The Power' Taylor facing Adrian Lewis. I didn't trade in the early part of the match as I felt Phil was looking tired and quite old compared to last week. He had just won the UK open at the weekend so that must have taken it's toll on him. With the score sitting at 3 -2 and Phil now starting to play like we all know he can the odds started to look more value. Phil was at the oche throwing for the 6th leg when I backed him for £1840 @ 1.41. Within minutes I was able to lay off £500 @ 1.30. Now Phil was 5 -2 up and I laid him for £500 @ 1.21, £300 @ 1.20 and £100 @ 1.18. With The Power well in control I waited a little longer and laid him for another £120 @ 1.12 and then greened up @ 1.05 to leave me with a profit of £375 whatever the result. On Phil's final throw to secure the win I laid the draw for £10 @ 510.00 to give me a profit on the match of £385.

I didn't trade in the Raymond van Barneveld v Roland Scholten match. The final match of the night was between Colin Lloyd and Terry Jenkins. I started with a back on Jenkins for £35 @ 1.57 and laid off @ 1.23. Later I backed him again for £100 @ 1.15 before laying this off @ 1.10. I ended this match with a profit of £17.

My day had finished with a profit of £768.

Wembley Stadium Handed Over To FA

At last Wembley Stadium is to be handed over to the FA in the morning. It's the biggest football stadium in the World with a capacity of 90,000.

Get more facts about the stadium here.

Take a virtual tour of the new Wembley Stadium here.