Moving to Korea

Bankroll $ 338,68

As they eat dogs in Korea and they've been severely pissing me of again.

If you've read most of my blog you've probably noticed that I have a love-hate relationship with the greyhounds. One day I'm over the moon because I've had one or a couple of good sessions and the other day they've been raping me again and I hate the mutts.

The thing I've been lacking is structure. I use the same stakes I use with the horses and if I get destroyed I get destroyed bigtime.

Last night I came home from work and earned a quick $ 9,- on the US horses after work. Today I did some greyhounds and lost a quick $ 9,- before work. Lifes all about balance huh! Thing is, why use the same stakes as with the horses when I'm not consistently profitable over a longer period? It's stupid! Why pay more if I can get the exact same experience with minimal bets!

It only starts making sense raising the stakes when I'm consistently profitable, because I then maximise my profits. I'm done maximising my losses. So there. :-)

What I 'm going to do now is make a virtual dog wallet. I'm going to use minimal stakes until I make $ 100,- profit of the dogs from the first of May. Once I hit $ 100,- I'll move up to $ 10,- if I fall below $ 75,- I'll go back to $ 5,- again.

This way I'll keep building bankroll with my US horse profits and not have to give up on the dogs. As I shall crack'em! Can't stand not being able to do well on them. Strange thing is that I've been profitable on them overall this month. I'm up $ 23,44 on the dogs in April up till now. But with way too many ups and downs and good sessions followed up by terrible sessions. The fact that I've dropped almost 1/3 of my monthly dog profits in 5 races (without getting caught and having it go in play) today shows me I need to work on consistency bigtime.

Tonight I did well on the US horses so I'm happy overall. As you can see by my bankroll I'm slowly but surely recovering from the $ 158,- hit when I got caught and the race got suspended with a lay bet open.

In May I don't even want to make a big deal of that dreaded $ 400,- mark but just go right over it and move on to $ 500,-

US horse racing resources

Bankroll: $ 302,45

As promised I'll let you in on what I've found out about US horses.

Lot of credit goes to Geno, who commented earlier and I chat on MSN with. He pointed me towards a number of sites.

Correct post times that get updated so refresh while you get closer to the race:

www.ebetusa.com/racing

Here you can find a lot of streams etc:

http://www.ildado.com/horse_racing_live_broadcasts.html

What I've found up till now:

Golden Gate and Hollywood:

http://www.calracing.com/video.php register here and you can stream them both.

Keeneland:

http://ww2.keeneland.com/racing/frames/livecoverage.aspx

Philadelphia:

http://www.philadelphiapark.com/video/asx/PPLive.asx

Tampa Bay:

http://stream.robertsstream.com/stream.asp?stream=tampa_bay_mbr&referer=TampaBay

Turf Paradise:

http://totalwebcasting.com/live/turf/live.aspx

I have all the streams as a bookmark in a folder on my desktop. So I can keep the mediaplayer open and only have to click on the name of the track and get the stream. No messing around with internet sites etc etc.

What I'm looking for desperately is a stream for Mountaineer Park and Penn National! If someone can help me here that would be great! They usually attract a lot of liquidity. Anything I find myself I'll update in this post and will let you know it's updated in the newest blogpost.

If you have a stream of any other US track that Betfair allows wagering on that I might have forgotten I'd be very much obliged if you'd let me know.

What I do now is simply ignore the Betfair time. It is useless. I check the ebetusa site to see which race is up next as the order the races are posted in on Betfair are wrong too!

Then I put on the livestream so I can visually see when the race is about to start. I'm noticing that I don't really like trading the races without a stream as my edge is so much bigger with it. Sometimes I get an extra couple of minutes of trading even after the post time of the ebetusa site! And the real money comes in then while at the same time people without the streams are getting desperate to get matched.

In my experience up till now the race won't suspend on Betfair until a couple of horses are in their box at the starting line. So if you stick to hedging once they're about to load up the first one you should be fine.

DISCLAIMER: Please see for yourself when the races get suspended, the stream might be a bit in front or behind compared to mine and it can be detrimental if you take my word on something that is potentially extremely costly to you.

I will take no responsibility at all :-) I provide the links, you can provide the common sense to use them to your best interest yourself. If you look a couple of blogposts down you'll notice that I'm not the king of not getting caught and I'm still recovering from the last time I got caught with my pants down.

I hope this helps some of you to be able to trade the US horses better. It sure has helped me!

Getting back in the saddle

Bankroll: $ 283,18

Just a quick post to let you know I'm still around as Geno has been getting a bit worried judging by the comment by him in my last post :-)

Basically I've been spending a lot of time getting setup in a fashion that this won't be happening again. That and losing money at the dogs and making it back and a little bit more at the horses.

I'm planning a big US horse racing post in which I'll combine all the info I've found with links and everything. In short you'll be getting all my hard work for free and I don't even have Google adds on this page! But if you've stuck around long enough to read all my ramblings I probably owe you some so it's in the pipeline.

I've pretty much dealt with the loss and know how to avoid it now. Also Tinerzz who posts on www.racingtraders.com told me to only back for a while and although I still find it silly to pass up good lay opportunities when you see them it has helped me. And I did pass them up because if you try something you have to give it a fair chance.

Not only because you don't have that extra pressure of having a huge liability becuase I'm not too worried about that as long as I have the off time correct, but more so out of a learning perspective.

I think people tend to be either back or lay persons. So they will instinctively prefer to get in on one side. And I'm a layer. By forcing myself to look at backing only for a while I've learned a lot about the market.

Oh and for you Greyhoundtraders out there.. I said earlier that this: http://live.williamhillradio.co.uk/radio-main.php?st=HR is a good spot to listen to dog commentary. Well it still is but I also gave some bad advice. I said that if you wait for them to say "here comes the bunny" or something to that extent you'd still have time to close your position.

Now that depends very much on who the commentator is and how much he had to drink the night before. I got caught the other day, luckily with a back bet, and no of course he didn't win, and have noticed since then that it's certainly not consistent enough to trust it.

That's all for now. Hoping to end up between $ 325,- and $ 350,- for the month and pas the $ 500,- mark in May but we'll see how things go. Certainly not going to force anything just to hit a certain goal as that is a recipe for more disaster and I've had my share for a while.

Disaster

Bankroll: $ 254,29

Worst case scenario has happened. An US race went of 2 minutes earlier then posted on both Betfair as the website I use. I had a liability open of $ 158,- and the odds of the horse were 8 so an outsider. And the bastard won.

I guess the $ 400,- mark is bad luck because every time I break it something happens.

Good news is that I won't have to worry about that bad luck as it'll be some time before I'm back up there. A quick look at my older blogposts showed me that I was at this bankroll amount at the 3d of April so 3 weeks of trading down the drain.

What I learned from this is that the website I use (www.ebetusa.com/racing) shows the correct time but they also update it as it can change closer to the race. What I did was write down all the times I could see on the screen so I wrote this one down about 40 minutes before the off. When I checked the other times I wrote down I noticed that some of them changed too. So the solution is to double and triple check closer to the off.

It's terribly frustrating but as I can see where it went wrong and what I can do to make sure it doesn't happen again it's just a bit of learning money. Better now then later on when I have even bigger amounts open.

I just wish I would've gotten caught with a back bet open on this horse that race!

Frustrating day

Bankroll $ 379,98

One to forget quickly.

I had a great start. Went over $ 400,- in the first two trades and then went up to $ 417,-. I was already seeing myself going through the $ 500,- mark in no time at all. If it wasn't going to happen today, tomorrow for sure! This is easy!!

As usual that is the moment everything goes south..

So I started doing one stupid trade after the other. Can only blame myself, for the first time I've been trading I felt my old friend tilt creeping in. Luckily I know the feeling well and I stept away and took a shower. I was at $ 189,- then.

Just got back in and did a couple of good trades and started getting my confidence back when I just got destroyed by a freak amount of money being dumped in completely against the market with 30 seconds to go. So that was another $ 10,- down the drain. I know this happens and it's part of the game but the timing sucked. On the other hand I was pissed of enough with today that this didn't really matter anymore.

Time to quit as my motivation is completely gone and I would trade with scared money if I'd continue now.

Milestone

Bankroll: $ 398,79

I've been struggling to break the $ 400,- mark. Not that I've had that much trading time since saturday but somehow the milestones seem to affect me a bit. Maybe being a bit too eager and looking for bigger wins but certainly not consciously doing so.

I had the same with the $ 225,- and the $ 300,- milestone. Got there quickly and then needed a couple of sessions to clear the last bit. The solution would be to set my next target at $ 250.000,- and see if I'll get to the $ 249k quickly and then take the money and run like a bandit :-)

Anyhoo, my better half has promised me to go enjoy the nice weather outside with the kids for a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon so I can get some greyhound time.

Staking revisited

Bankroll: $ 387,42

Last time I talked about my staking strategy I was still seeing if the theory I came up with would work for me in practice too. Having more experience under my belt I've come up with a system that fits me well. And although I believe that correct staking is very much based on ones personality and how you deal with risk vs reward vs loss I think the way I do it is a good start for everyone new to this.

First of, I'm in no rush to make lots of money. For me this is a hobby and I'm running a marathon not a sprint. Of course this hobby is all about making money so I am naturally trying to make as much as possible but I don't think raising the stakes out of my comfort level is the way to go. For me it's very important to not go bust so I try to keep my ROR (Risk of Ruin) as small as possible.

So I have never more then 10% of my bankroll on either back or lay. That's the simple base of my whole staking plan and by only doing this you should be fine when starting up. So if you're bankroll is $ 150,- you never have more then $ 15,- on back or lay. Easypeasy! I do work with milestones. So I'd for instance say that if my bank goes over $ 200,- then I'll move up from $ 15,- to $ 20,-. If I go under $ 125,- I go back to $ 10,-.

So what's the big deal? Well because I keep going up or down in stakes in direct relation to my bankroll I would have to have a huge losing streak to go bust. I'd even dare to say that if I go bust I'll quit it all together. Very important is though is that you are a pure trader and never bet. You always close a trade before it goes into play, red or green.

Seeing as I'm still very much a learning trader I split my bets up in 1/3s. So with my bankroll being over $ 300,- my max stake is $ 30,- but I have $ 10,- units set in my software. Depending on how sure I am about what's going to happen yet I click once, twice or three times to get my amounts in. So if I don't get any big signs I'm straining to get my money in I'll only put in $ 10,-. Same when I'm not sure if the counter bet will get matched easily. This happens a lot when I'm trading US horses. I trade on a horse where I'm completely confident that the odds won't go against me, but I am afraid that I won't get matched on the other side. Then I just put in a single unit. If it gets matched a new one goes in instantly.

When I see patterns I know I can exploit I mostly put in 2 units and if it starts going the right direction I'll quickly pop in the 3d one. I'm a swing trader, not a scalper. I seldomly go for one tick only.

If I see a big wave coming up and I want to be on it as soon as possible I just ram in the 3 units and try to not fall of :-)

When I do the counter bet I pretty much do the same. I try to get the most out of the situation whilst at the same time not bringing myself into anymore risk then necessary. If I put in 1 unit it's easy, I just put the counter in as far up/down as I think it will go within a reasonable time. If I put in 2 units and there is a gap I just put it just under/over the closest bet on the other side. If however back and lay are closed and there is a string of amounts I'll put one down midway I think the odds are going soon and the other one where I think it will end.

Main thing of this system is that if I'm not sure and put in only one unit and it goes against me I'll only use 1/3 of what I would've lost if I put in everything. If I'm really sure I stick in everything and don't lose any value and maximise on the situation. So I try to achieve through this that I limit the amount of learning money I pay when things go bad yet growing my bankroll as quickly as my stakes allow.

Hope this makes sense! If not ask! And if you think I'm not going about this in a smart way, have some suggestions or think I should do it completely different I'd love to hear.

I can't overemphasize the importance of discipline concerning your staking and how you deal with profits and losses. I'm certainly not saying that you should follow mine, try to suss out what works for you but do come up with a plan and stick to it. This should help you not chasing losses by suddenly thinking the Martingale system is a good idea. (and we all have an inclination to quickly make up for a loss by upping the stakes) Also the other way around, thinking you've got it nailed and suffer from invulnarabiltiy complex and suddenly use much bigger stakes. It's just a worry less when you alway know what you should be betting and leaves more room in your head to concentrate on the market.

Couple of days ago I got the fright of my life though. I was trading an US race and suddenly the race suspended. I had the starting time wrong (which you should ALWAYS check here: https://www.ebetusa.com/racing/ and not trust the Betfair time) and I had a liability out there of - $157,-!! as I layed first. What I could win was marginal as it was the outsider. If he would've come in that would've devestated my bankroll and would have forced me to go severely down in stakes. So what I'm planning to do is when I hit $ 1000,- to first take out everything over that and get my better half that dishwasher. Then I'm going to get another $ 1000,- and keep that in my Neteller account just as a insurance against something stupid happening. So if I through some sort of cockup, internet failure, Betfair breakdown or whatever else could happen I lose a big chunk of my bankroll I can just replenish it and keep going as I was.

Hopefully I'll pass the $ 400,- mark tomorrow. I'm hoping to end April over $ 600,-.

A nice day of.

Bankroll: $ 325,54

After nearly two weeks without a day of I finally could sit down and have a nice and long session.

I've been wondering what I would be able to make if I could get stuck in it for a whole afternoon or evening instead of just doing the odd hour here and there.

Well I made over $ 45,- today! Happy days!

I'm getting more and more comfortable with the dogs and I'd say that I could at least double my stakes and just as easily got matched as I did today. So good things are ahead as my bankroll grows.

I'll try to get into some of the techniques I use in the next posts as just stating my new bankroll and how I did on the dogs and horses will grow old pretty quick for both you my loyal reader and me as well.

Blogpost disappeared?

Bankroll: $ 268,22

I could've sworn I did a blogpost when I hit $ 250,- but can't see it anymore.

So either it's disappeared or I'm writing blogposts in my dreams now :-)

Good news is that I'm doing fine tradingwise as you can see. US horses and doggies only though so I still have to pop my cherry with some hefty UK sessions on which I'll probably be paying some learning money.

Something in me is saying to just belt on to $ 500,- and get a decent income from the dogs and then see further. We'll see how things go. Now it's of to bed as it's yet another hectic busy day tomorrow working silly hours.

March totals

Just a quick extra post as I was planning to do this but forgot about it.



Here's my total P&L for March:

I think it would be nice to do one end of every month and see the way they go up and down from month to month.

Stay focused

Bankroll: $240,46

Got raped on monday with the US horses. I was doing stupid things thinking I was the king of trading. Getting into the market way too soon, before it is formed and thinking I could easily get away with big tick profits. Naturally this just ended in me taking a couple of big hits and seeing my bankroll melt away.

So I took a break, thought about what happened and decided it was my own fault for being cocky. Sat back down and got to work.

As you can see by my new bankroll, I made it all back and then some! Best bit is that I had yet another profitable session on the dogs which makes me really happy.

Work is getting really busy though, last year April, May and June were the busiest months of the year and the way it looks now we're reasonably recession proof and should do the same, and maybe even more as last year. Hopefully I'll have enough time of to keep this momentum going.

Tomorrow I'm planning an 1,5 hour session with the dogs before work. Friday the same with hopefully some evening horses also.