The Sports Trader

Tuesday 6th November 2007

The Sports Trader missed the first  2 hours of trading as BT were here sorting out my internet problems. It looks like it was the double socket on my office wall that was faulty as they have now given me two separate sockets and I have had no interruptions to my service since. I traded on 5 UK horse races, 1 football match and 1 tennis match with no losing trades.

The first trade of my day was in the 15:50 at Exeter where I backed Pablo Du Charmil for £194 @ 1.63 and laid off @ 1.20 to result in a profit of £83.

In the 15:20, also at Exeter, I backed Templer for £100 @ 1.40 and laid this all off @ 1.12 to give me a profit of £32. My next 2 trades both resulted in small profits.

The last race trade of my day was In the 16:20 at Exeter I backed The Crazy Parson for £64 @ 1.50 to result in a profit of £32.

My race trading had produced a profit of £147.

In the evening I decided to trade on the Celtic v Benfica football match. I started by backing the under 2.5 goals for £130 @ 1.75 and proceeded to lay off in £25 chunks from 1.66 down to 1.48 and then made 1 final lay of £16 @ 1.36 to green up my position. I also backed Celtic to win in the later stages of the match for £500 @ 1.20 and laid off @ 1.09. In injury time I had a further back of Celtic for £100 @ 1.06 to result in a profit of £58.

    After the football I watched the Kuznetsova v Ivanovic tennis match and I backed Ivanovic for £500 @ 1.70 before laying off @ 1.58. I partially greened up with a back on Kuznetsova for £10 @ 2.50 and this left me with a profit of £46 on the match.

My day had finished with a total profit of £268.

Monday 5th November 2007

The Sports Trader had a frustrating day mainly due to internet problems again. BT are coming round on Tuesday so hopefully we will get to the bottom of this problem. I ended up trading on 9 UK horse races and 2 Football matches, and had 2 losing trades.

My day started with the 13:50 at Wolverhampton where I tried my hand at trading before the start of the race. I had several trades looking to make just a couple of ticks at a time and this produced a profit of £20. My next trade resulted in a small profit.

My best result came in the 14:10 at Warwick where I backed Twist Bookie for £25 @ 2.26 before laying off @ 2.11. Later I backed him again for £351 @ 1.43 and laid off £274 @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £127.

The first of my two losses came in the 14:30 at Plumpton where I had started by backing Coolers Quest for £155 @ 2.24 and then bailed out at 2.29, 2.71 and 3.00 before she kept on at the finish to end up costing me £27. I made a real mess of this one but that is trading, it's not a precise art. I followed this with 4 small but profitable trades and 1 small losing trade.

My race trading had finished and I had produced a profit of £116.

As it was Firework night I had my fatherly duty to perform with the children so we had a few fireworks in the garden and then went off to a local Firework display. By the time we got back and then got the children all into bed I had missed most of the evenings football.

I did trade a little, right at the end of the Barnsley v Blackpool match and backed Barnsley to win for £149 @ 1.28 which I laid off @ 1.22. Later I backed Barnsley to win again for £112 @ 1.11 to result in a profit of £21.

I also caught the final 10 minutes of the Manchester City v Sunderland match and here I backed City to win for £664 @ 1.28 before laying off very quickly @ 1.23. This resulted in a profit of £21. I also backed the under 2.5 goals for £147 @ 1.06 to produce a further £9.

My day had finished with a profit of £177.

Sunday 4th November 2007

The Sports Trader had a short day of trading as my second eldest daughter, Josie, came to Glasgow for the day, so I missed the start of racing. I ended up trading on 10 UK horse races and 3 football matches and had 1 small loss that brought to an end another run of 54 consecutive winning trades over the last 4 days.

My first 8 trades resulted in 7 small profits and 1 small loss. My first significant trade was in the 15:55 at Cork where I laid Holy Tree for £80 @ 5.70 before backing back £30 @ 7.29 and £10 @ 12.00 to result in a profit of £40. My last trade resulted in a small profit.

I had finished my race trading with a total profit of £63.

After racing I caught the end of the West Ham v Bolton football match. With just a few minutes remaining, and the score at 1 -1, I backed the draw for £5 @ 1.20,  £240 @ 1.10 and £305 @ 1.04 before laying all off @ 1.01 to result in a profit of £26.

I started watching the Barcelona v Real Betis football match with the score at 2 - 0 and backed the under 2.5 goals for £241 @ 1.68, which I laid off within a minute @ 1.61. Later I decided to green up with a lay for 313 @ 1.16 to give me £12 whatever the final score. I had also backed the under 3.5 goals market for £578 @ 1.06 with a few minutes of the match left to result in a profit of £35.

My final match of the day was between Athletic Bilbao and Recreativo Huelva. I watched this match from the start and backed the under 2.5 goals for £84 @ 2.20 and a little later a further £82 @ 2.15. I laid off £116 @ 2.06 and £50 @ 2.06. I had to make a few phone calls hence the reason I laid off so quickly .During injury time I backed the unders again for £350 @ 1.02 to result in a profit of £35. I also backed the under 3.5 goals for £165 @ 1.08 to give me another £13 profit.

My day had finished with a profit of £171.

That was the end of a good week for the Sports Trader where I managed to finish up with a profit of £1486.

For any readers that missed my second interview with John at WUBT RonBot Radio you can here it by pressing the arrow on the media player below.

The Sports Trader live on Thursday 1st November 2007.

Saturday 3rd November 2007

It Can Be Done! The Sports Trader past a milestone in trading results and one that many an aspiring Sports trader aims at. I have today managed to turn my original £200 bank into £100,000, and that is after all commissions have been taken into account. As most of you know my original £200 was deposited with Betdaq when they launched in September 2001. I traded on a part time basis from then until December 2005 when I turned full-time. My bank at that time sat at £10,000.

The period of part-time trading included long spells of several months at a time when I did not trade due to my full time work commitment and it also included me building my bank up to £3.5K and then going all the way back down to £300. This was my apprenticeship and without this foundation I would not be trading as consistently as I do now. Since turning full-time I have had 1 losing month, March 2006 and this coincided with when my wife's illness became so bad that she had to spend a month in hospital and was also therefore the first time that I had full care of my three young children on my own. I was clearly not in the best frame of mind to trade.

Todays trading was difficult to start with as I kept losing both my internet connections at the same time but after I sent BT yet another email about my problem things did improve. I traded on 12 UK horse races and 3 football matches, with no losing trades again.

My first trade was in the 12:45 at Wetherby where I backed Battle Cry for £221 @ 1.70 before laying off @ an average of 1.37 to result in a profit of £78. I followed this with a small winning trade.

The best result of my day came in the 13:05 at Newmarket where I backed Twice Over for £600 @ 1.25 to result in a profit of £150.

In the 13:50 at Wetherby I backed Ellerslie George for £7 @ 4.20 and a further £3 @ 3.30 before laying off @ 1.01 to result in a profit of £20. My next trade resulted in a small profit.

In the 14:10 at Ascot I laid Boychuk for £22 @ 32.00 to give me a profit of £22. My next 2 trades both resulted in small profits.

Next was the 15:40 at Down Royal where I laid Galway Legend for £44 @ 4.40 to result in a profit of £44. My last 2 race trades both resulted in small profits.

My race trading had finished with a total profit of £323.

After racing I caught the final 15 minutes of the Wigan v Chelsea football match and I backed the under 2.5 goals for £81 @ 1.25 to result in a profit of £20.

Later in the evening I traded the Mallorca v Valencia football match and here, with the score at 0 - 2 I backed the under 2.5 goals for £49 @ 2.77 which I laid off @ 2.26. I then backed the unders again for £65 @ 1.64 which was laid off @ 1.50 and finally I backed the unders again for £114 @ 1.11 which I laid off @ 1.05 to result in a profit of £40.

The final trades of my day came in the Sevilla v Real Madrid football match. This was a game where there were 2 early goals. I had backed the under 2.5 goals for £270 @ 2.20 soon after kick off and had laid off £245 @ an average price of 2.12 when the first goal came and left me with a liability of £25. I backed the unders again as soon as the market was reformed for £67 @ 3.25 and within a minute or so the second goal had been scored, so my liability now stood at £92. I then backed the unders again for £50 @ 10.00, £17 @ 9.70 and £18 @ 8.20 and then I started to lay off @ 6.10 for £28 and all the way down to 3.52 until I had no liability. I then proceeded to gradually green up and had an all green £38 profit with a few minutes of the game left. I also backed the unders, with the last minute of injury time being played, for £288 @ 1.10 to result in a profit of £62 on the match.

My day had finished with a profit of £450.

Friday 2nd November 2007

The Sports Trader had a very much shortened days trading due to having to appear at an Interim Diet (pre trial hearing) in Glasgow Sheriff Court in connection with my tax case, which is one of the things that has been weighing on my mind over this last 12 months. This is in connection with a previous employment of mine and does not refer to gambling income. I was told to be in court for 10:00am but my case did not call until around 2:45. I therefore only traded on 6 UK horse races.

My first race resulted in a small profit. The best result of my day came in the 15:45 at Down Royal where I backed Kranji for £98 @ 2.01 and laid this all off @ 1.30. I then backed Kranji for a further £350 @ 1.01, when well in the lead on the run in, to result in a profit of £73.

In the 15:50 at Uttoxeter I laid Nils Anderson for £24 @ 7.90 and then backed back £8 @ 23.00 to leave me with a profit of £16. The other three race trades of my day all ended with small profits.

My day had finished with a profit of £101.

Thursday 1st November 2007

The Sports Trader made a good start to this new month. I traded 13 UK horse races, 1 tennis match, 1 football match and 1 snooker match with no losing trades.

My day started with an interview with John at WUBT RonBot Radio which you can hear by clicking the link to his blog. John has now archived all his previous interviews with blog authors and you can here my first one by clicking the arrow on the media player below.

Well my trading day got underway with 3 races that all produced small profits. In the 13:50 at Stratford I laid Arthurs Dream for £15 @ 17.00 to result in a profit of £15. I followed this with 4 more small winning trades.

The best result of my day came in the 14:25 at Clonmel where I laid Asian Royale for £72 @ 5.00 to give me a profit of £72. Next was another small winning trade.

In the 15:20 at Stratford I laid Scibano Eile for £108 @ 4.00 before backing back £60 @ 5.16 and £8 @ 6.00 to result in a profit of £40. The last 2 horse race trades of my day finished with small profits.

My race trading had produced a total profit of £142.

In the early evening I decided to trade on the Federer v Nalbandian tennis match. I wanted to back Federer initially and did so with a back of £190 @ 1.85 which I laid off at 1.66. Later I laid Federer for 350 @ 3.00 and backed him back for £30 @ 3.90. I did have a few more small trades in the match and I finally finished the match with a profit of £23.

Later I traded on the Valladolid v Barcelona football match. I  could not spend much time on this match but I did have a quick trade on the under 2.5 goals in the first half but before any score. I backed the unders for £157 @ 2.24 and laid off @ 2.10 to produce a profit of £22. Near the end of the match I also backed the draw for £12 @ 1.28 for a profit of £3, and I backed the under 3.5 goals for £170 @ 1.14 which I laid off @ 1.11 and then I had a further of the under 3.5 goals @ 1.02 for £67, this resulted in a profit of £7.

Whilst the football match was on I had a few trades on the Jimmy White v John Higgins snooker match. The biggest trade I had was a lay of the draw @ 5.00 for £125 which I covered with a back of the draw @ 6.50 for £90. This, along with a few more small trades on Higgins to win, resulted in a profit of £45.

My day had finished with a profit of £242.

Wednesday 31st October 2007

The Sports Trader finished this month off with a very quiet day. I only traded on 9 UK horse races with 1 losing trade.

I started with a small but profitable trade. In the 13:30 at Lingfield I backed All The Aces for £23 @ 2.31 to result in a profit of £30. My next race finished with a small profit.

The only losing trade of my day came next in the 13:50 at Nottingham where I laid Turn Left for £5 @ 5.30 to cost me £22. I followed this with a small winning trade.

In the 14:30 at Lingfield I laid Having a Ball for £22 @ 33.00 to result in a profit of £22. My final 2 horse race trades both finished with small profits.

I did start to trade on two football matches but the evening turned out to be hectic due to Halloween with the kids so I just traded back out of my opening positions and spent time with the children and our visitors.

My day had finished with a profit of £45.

Yet another month has gone by - it is true that time goes faster the older we get. It has been a disappointing month as far as results go but I did still make a £1778 profit.

I will be doing a little slot on the WUBT RonBot Radio show today at around 12:40 so please listen in and if you have any questions call live into the show on 05061 560824, the call will cost less than 5p / minute.

Tuesday 30th October 2007

A good days trading for the Sports Trader with no losing trades after trading on 8 UK horse races and 1 football match.

My day started with the 13:25 at Punchestown where I backed Ah Ya Boy Ya for £40 @ 1.88 to result in a Profit of £35.

Next was the 13:55 also at Punchestown and here I backed Narquois for £60 @ 1.50 before laying off @ 1.08 to produce a profit of £25. I followed this with 2 small but profitable trades.

In the 14:40 at Yarmouth I laid Al Rayanah for £100 @ 4.20 to result in a profit of £100.

The best result of my day came in the 14:50 at Wolverhampton where I laid What's for Tea for £142 @ 2.00 to give me another £142 profit. I followed this with 2 more small winning trades.

My horse race trading had produced a profit of £315.

In the evening I decided to trade on the Coventry v West Ham football match. Well I made a real mess as I tried out a new, and not well thought out, trading strategy. With the score sitting at 0 -0, I backed no more goals for £33 @ 2.50 whilst off-setting this with a lay of the draw for £33 @ 2.04. Soon after Coventry scored and I decided to back them for £100 @ 1.45 with the idea of laying off within a few minutes. Well West Ham scored and now I am in a real mess with losses on the no goals market and now mounting losses on the match result market.

I had been doing my normal trading on the under 2.5 goals market and had in-fact at this stage of the game got a potential profit of £150 on  under 2.5 goals with no liability on the overs. In goes the winner for West Ham and now not only have I got 2  losses but I have also lost my potential profit on the unders. But, not to worry there are still 2 of the three minutes of injury time left. Then someone sticks up £5555 @ 1.03 trying to lay West Ham, I wait until only 15 seconds are left on the clock and the West Ham goal keeper has the ball and take the whole amount and back West Ham for £5555 @ 1.03. I then put up a lay of West Ham for £5555 @ 1.01 and this results in a profit on the match result of £50 which covers my losses on the no goals market and leaves me with a £17 profit on the match. Next time I will stick to the under 2.5 goals market.

My day had finished with a profit of £332.

Monday 29th October 2007

The Sports Trader got the week off to a profitable start even after two bad results early on in the day. I traded on 9 UK horse races, 1 tennis match and 1 football match.

My first 2 trades both resulted in small profits and then came my 2 losing results. The first was in the 14:05 at Galway where I laid Rinroe for £6 @ 3.50 to result in a loss of £16.

The worst result of my day was in the 14:35 at Galway. I had put up an early lay on Royal Paradise at 12.00 and by the time I decided I should cancel £15 had been matched which resulted in me losing £165.

Fifteen minutes later, in the 14:50 at Leicester, I had the best result of my day as I backed New Guinea for £4 @ 2.40 which I laid off @ 2.03 and then with the horse in control of the race I backed a further £420 @ 1.77 to result in a profit of £274. I followed this with 4 more small but profitable trades.

My horse race trading had resulted in a profit of £99.

In the early evening I caught the final few games of the Mathieu v Ancic tennis match in Paris and just had 1 trade backing Ancic for £50 @ 1.10 to result in a £5 profit.

After this I watched the Cyrstal Palace v Watford football match and traded on the under 2.5 goals market. I started with a back of the unders for £290 @ 1.90, I then laid off £250 @ 1.77 and £40 @ 1.85  then had one further lay to green up my position for £25 @ 1.36. This resulted in a profit of £26. In the final few minutes of the match I backed the under 3.5 goals market for £180 @ 1.07, £44 @ 1.03 and £96 @ 1.02 to produce a profit of £16.

My day had finished with a profit of £145.

Sunday 28th October 2007

The Sports Trader finished the week off with some mediocre trading. But on the bright side I really enjoyed my little slot on the WUBT RonBot Radio Station and look forward to talking to John again.

Friday 26th October 2007 - I only traded on 8 UK horse races and 1 football match. I had 2 losing results on the day, 1 of which was just £6 but the other in the 16:40 at Fakenham I lost £260 by laying Lik Wood Power for £50 @ 6.20 when making a mistake after leading the race. It's unusual for a horse to lose the lead and then make a mistake and still get up to win so I stand by the trade, it's the type of thing that will happen from time to time. I did trade the under 2.5 goals market on the Eintract Frankfurt v Hannover 96 football match which helped to recover some of my earlier losses but the day still finished with a loss of £185.

Saturday 27th October 2007 - As mentioned earlier this was the day that I spoke to John on his radio show and I wish I had spent a few more minutes on the radio as in the first race of the day, the 13:10 at Aintree, I backed John Dillon for £364 @ 1.68 whilst leading and travelling well but just before he blundered and was soon headed, giving me little chance to trade out of the position. This cost me £358. I traded on 25 Uk horse races but still ended the day with a loss of £250.

Sunday 28th October 2007 - At last a decent day of trading to finish the week off. I traded 16 UK horse races and 3 football matches with just 1 losing trade all day. My football trading was particularly good with all three matches showing good results to leave me with a profit of £230 on the day.

Well this has been a difficult week for the Sports Trader and one where I have to report a small loss of £51 for the week. Next week will be better!