Ok, I'll put up my bets here and see how we go.

Mostly spread bets with Sporting Index if anyone from UK wants to follow. Might be the occasional lay on Betfair, but mostly Sporting Index bets. Been going quite well from mid-December when I re-started sports betting, so hopefully things will continue.

Bank of about 500 points recommended. Different stake sizes are made for the various different markets. The stake on each market is usually set to reflect the volatility etc. Rare double bet might be made.

BET 1

Sporting Index
EVENT: Barcelona v Racing (Player Specials)
MARKET: Iniesta - Player Performance
SELL @ 83
STAKE 1.00

result: +6

I'm thinking of playing the under 41.5 pts in the Green Bay Packers v. New York Giants game today...any thoughts?

A few years back, NFL was my biggest sports market(nice profits) but I'm really out of it now. I have no idea, except to say that 'total points' isnt my sort of market generally.

I prefer something like performance markets on the spreads. Perhaps buying Giants performance @ 28 with Sporting would be my stab at that game.

As for todays bet - the first in this new series - we had a small profit.
Result of Bet 1:
PP: Iniesta 20-Jan-08: 77.00
Profit = 83-77 = +6 points

Didnt watch the game, but I assume he had a usual busy midfield game. The thing about these sells of player performances is that there is usually so little downside(apart from the mighty Zidane who stung me years ago for 140 points), but the potential upside is decent.
We'll keep playing the game of selling overpriced stars that appeal to the gambling man(the quotes are set accordingly by the compilers by their own admission).

QUOTE

Perhaps buying Giants performance @ 28 with Sporting would be my stab at that game.

So Giants made up to 50 in the end...

you bet on iniestas performance? How is that rated? Or have I just read it wrong.

Doug, spread betting is truly the greatest form of betting ever invented, and if you live in the UK and bet, but don't spread-bet, then you're missing out on a wonderful benefit of the punting paradise that is the UK.

The firms used to be IG, Cantor, Spreadex and Sporting Index, but Cantor is gone. Sporting Index is the best IMO, and you can go to their website to get an overview. Heading out now, so will post later to clear up any queries.

The player gets varying points for different activity on the field(cards, goals, fouls, assists etc) and the tally is compared to the initial quote. You may be long or short(buy or sell) against the initial quote.

Yeah I live in the UK. I think my uncle spread bets but he is a dope. I don't plan on doing it though.

Next bet is African nations football for Tuesday 22nd.
Total Goals is not a favourite market of mine, but hopefully this bet has some decent upside.


BET 2

Sporting Index
EVENT: Zambia v Sudan
MARKET: Total Goals
BUY @: 2.4
STAKE: 10.00

result: +6

Oops!! Look like I picked the ^{*insert edit*} wrong African nations game to bet goals with. The Egypt-Cameroon game had 6 goals, but this Sudan-Zambia only got 3.

There were so many clear chances in this game as well, with many blazing shots over the bar.
Still it's a small profit again...

How did you make money on that bet if another game had more goals? Secondly, why did you bet on that game (im assuming you dont know much about african football, especially sudan.)

Doug, look at my bet again.
It was the Zambia-Sudan game, and the market was total goals for that game. I bought the total goals at 2.4, and there were 3 goals in the game. Therefore my profit is 3-2.4 = 0.6 points. I bought at 10 points, so total profit is 0.6 x 10 = 6 points.
I was just remarking that had i made that bet on the Egypt-cameroon game, i would have made a bigger profit. That was a results-oriented remark.

As for why I picked that game, did you watch the match??? Sudan were right in it with numerous chances and some bad misses. If that game is played 100 times in parallel universes, my bet shows a profit. I don't pick bets randomly Doug. The defences were both shaky, yet the attacking play was free-flowing as is typical of African football(compared to say Bolton-Everton or some such fixture).

One of the reasons total goals(whether for 1 team or the whole match) is not a favourite market of mine is that it often doesn't truly reflect the action(Arsenal is a team that illustrates this idea). I prefer performance markets in football - just my strength I suppose.

Hope that answers some questions. Any other queries on spread betting, I'm happy to answer. There should have been a horse racing bet(or 2) today on the Heavy going but i was too busy to post. I can guarantee that this thread will show a profit in 3 months. That's not because of 2 silly winners so far - it's the result of 20 years of successful sports betting(yeh i do have a job, because I'm not psychologically capable of doing it full-time as I found out twice in my life).

Ok, I think there's a decent value situation taking place today in the Man Utd-Spurs FA Cup fixture.

The game may be quite open, so quotes are high, but I believe the value is in selling Rooney and Ronaldo.

BET 3

Sporting Index
EVENT: Man Utd v Tottenham (Player Specials)
MARKET:Rooney: Player Performance
SELL @ : 55
STAKE: 1.00
result : +12

BET 4

Sporting Index
EVENT: Man Utd v Tottenham (Player Specials)
MARKET: Ronaldo: Player Performance
SELL @ : 83
STAKE: 1.00

result : -20

Ok our bets so far today totalled a loss due to Ronaldo scoring twice. Good game Ronaldo, though slightly fortunate to get 2 in this match(a penalty and a soft 2nd). Oh well, on we press with a sell of Robinho in Real-Villareal


BET 5

EVENT: Real Madrid v Villarreal (Player Specials)
MARKET Robinho: Player Performance
SELL @ : 62
STAKE: 1.00


result: -61

Ouch, I'm badly off today. Worst Player Performance I can ever remember...

I think I have to go back to basics...

BET 6

EVENT: Sunderland v Birmingham City (Player Specials)
MARKET: Jones: Player Performance
SELL @ : 40
STAKE: 2.00


result: +8

Had a small profit today. Really thinking hard about BET-5; it was seriously a bad bet. Not just because of results, but it had no real strong basis, and shows how indiscipline can wreck people. That bet had no massive likely upside, but the downside came and killed me.

Anyway, a little lesson re-learned and looking forward to the future.

These bets seem to make small wins and big losses.

Not really. 6 bets so far is really a very small sample. Also, consider the Ronaldo sell which lost 20 - he scored twice. That bet is golden in the long run. The Robinho bet on the other hand was a deadfully poor bet with absolutely no chance of me even selecting such a bet in past or future. I've only just recently come back to it, and the rust showed.

I have a set of principles which I used to go by religiously - that bet had no appropriate features, and I paid for my mistake. i cant remember ever, ever losing that much on a Player Performance(Zidane stung me for 45 points some seasons ago).

Usually they made small losses, and larger wins.
Full of confidence, just need to keep the discipline and all will be OK.

BET 7

EVENT: Man City v Arsenal
MARKET : Bookings
BUY @: 38
STAKE : 1.50


result: -27

BET 8

EVENT : New England v NY Giants (Player Match Bets)
MARKET : R.Moss/P.Burress Rec Yards
BUY @: 15
STAKE: 1.00


result: +20

BET 9

Betfair
EVENT : 2.20 Ayr
MARKET : Win Market - Companero
BUY @: 8.4
STAKE: 100.00


NB - looking at a possible arb, lay at 6.0 - finally matched at 8.4, laid in running for 130 @ 6.0

result: +28.50

Man, I'm really rusty and cowardice/fear/conservativeness took a devastating toll in the last bet(Bet 9).
I had correctly foreseen Companero coming there strongly and being a short price late in the race, but I bottled and laid at 6.0

In the old days, my in-running play would have been about 3.5(Companero traded as short as around 1.6). Could have made at least 70 points there but 28.5 will have to do as a confidence-booster(first horse-racing bet for a while).
Maybe the fact that he drifted to upwards of 17.0 before the off made me nervous, and desperate to recoup anything...

BET 10

EVENT: Sevilla v Barcelona
MARKET : Bookings
SELL @: 65
STAKE : 1.0


result: -40

Do you bet any Americas soccer leagues at all? (Argentina, Mexico, Brazil etc.)

The way I'm going right now, I don't want to be betting anything at all - lol.

Seriously though, no I have never ever bet on a league game outside of Europe/UK(international tounaments are a different thing). I don't study any other leagues or styles.

I thought the barcalona game had a lot of bookings. Is there any way to tell if you're betting under/over on the amount of bookings from the information you've given because I dont think I understand it fully still.

buy = bet over
sell = bet under
yellow card = 10 points
red card = 25 points (2 yellows to 1 player = sending off = 35 total)

Yeh that game stuffed me.

BET 11

EVENT: Slavia Prague v Tottenham
MARKET : Match Performance
BUY @ 91
STAKE: 1.00


result: -3

BET 12

Betfair
EVENT : 2.25 Fakenham
MARKET : Win Market - Oscar Park
LAY @: 1.63
STAKE: 194.00


NB - looking at a possible arb, back at 1.8 back @1.64 for 193

result: 0
lol

BET 13

EVENT: Ascot Match Bets
MARKET 3.00: Lyceum/Zilcash
BUY @ : 3.5
STAKE : 1.00


result: -18.5

BET 14

EVENT: Roma v Real Madrid (Player Specials)
MARKET : Totti: Player Performance
SELL @ : 70
STAKE: 2.00


result: +42

BET 15

EVENT: Celtic v Barcelona (Player Specials)
MARKET : Messi (Player Performance)
SELL @ : 85
STAKE: 2.00

The best UK sports betting guy ever.

BET 16

Betfair
EVENT : 4.50 Kelso
MARKET : Win Market - Natiain
BACK @: 3.35
STAKE: 100

laid at 2.52 @120

result: +52