The week ahead...and beyond

After such an exciting weekend and a few days at work it was back to the daily grind this week with a full 5 days of hard graft. Not an appealing thought, but the coming weekend offered the promise of great excitement and merriment.


Punting wise I was going to have a final golf bet of the year in the Dunhill Links, after the success of the Ryder Cup, whilst in horse racing, there were some decent Saturday cards, followed on Sunday by my favourite race of the year, the Prix de l'Arc de Triumph in gay Paris. There was certainly going to be a pretty heavy weekend of punting for me.


On Sunday however, my beloved Featherstone Rovers are playing Leigh in the Championship Grand Final at Leeds, so I am not sure whether to avoid the racing results and watch it when I get home on Monday, or try to find a pub/bookies to watch it in Leeds before the match.


Either way its going to be an epic weekend. After the weekend I've decided to take a breather from punting until we get into the proper heart of the national hunt season. This will be as much of a challenge as actually making money, but it will give me the chance to start saving a betting bank, in a period when results are notoriously difficult. The main focus will be Cheltenham 2015, and I'll need serious money for this battle.


I'll be back early next week, hopefully with good news.

Tuesday 30th September 2014

It certainly was a dramatic weekend after a relatively quiet week, with a decent days racing on Saturday and the conclusion of the Ryder Cup. For me, apart from a break to see The Horrors in Manchester on Saturday night, it was almost 18 hours of sport a day.

 

On Saturday results started pretty poorly, as a combination of my own bets and Nick Mordin’s fails to bring in any returns and increased the pressure on my ever decreasing betting bank balance. It all hinged on the Cambridgeshire Handicap and Ben Linfoot’s picks Bronze Angel and Tiger Tail, whom I’d invested heavily at decent prices. I could barely watch (for once on a Saturday I was watching live), as the horses burst out of the stalls, all 30 odd of them. Tiger Tail led early, but into the final couple of furlongs was under heavily pressure, but from behind my hands which covered my eyes I saw Bronze Angel under a perfect ride hit the front and storm clear for a comfortable win. I was on at 18/1 for decent stakes, which meant that the win was big, and watching the replay I’d even bagged the each way money on Tiger Tail who finished a brave 6^th. The relief was greater than the excitement, and helped bring about a calm to me.

 

Sunday was all about the Ryder Cup, and things looked promising, Justin Rose already guaranteed of top European each way money was in a strong position to win, I had a few correct score combos in decent shape, and there was an outside chance of Rory getting a place in the top outright scorer market. Well, what an afternoon, at first it looked like Rose was out of it, only for things to switch around, and eventually he secure the win at 13/2 with a birdie at the last. Rory, smashed Fowler and therefore I even nabbed a bit of the each way money on that bet. The icing on the cake came when Johnson birdied the last in a bed rubber to win me the correct score bet as well. My luck was certainly in this weekend.

 

My last bet of the weekend was one which I wanted and now could afford to lose, it was on Sheffield Eagles to beat Featherstone Rovers, my rugby league team in the Championship semi finals. On recent form I could only see Sheffield winning, and was amazed that the bookies were offering 11/8 the Eagles. Rovers were fantastic though, they got out of the traps fast and established a 21-0 lead by the half. Despite a little scare, as the Eagles bagged a couple of early second half tries, the win was completed meaning a rather boozy day for me at next Sundays Grand Final in Leeds.

 

What a weekend....

 

Friday 26th September 2014

Had a few days off work this week for my wife's birthday, which given the stress in my current job is a god send. Been pretty quiet on the punting front this week, but its getting busy now as we approach the weekend. I have a few bets on the Ryder Cup, which haven't started so well after the morning session, and have invested money on Sheffield to beat my team Featherstone Rovers in Sundays playoff game.


Having had the time this week to consider things, I'll be betting this week and of course next week for the Arc, but will more than likely be taking the rest of the year off after that to undertake research on better punting, and to build a decent betting pot for next years Cheltenham and Aintree festivals, which is where I usually make my biggest profits.


Today, I'd got a small bet on Captain Cat, as suggested by Nick Mordin, and later on in the day I'd expect the Ben Linfoot tips for Saturdays racing.


I'll be back with more in due course.

Monday 22nd September 2014

The weekend didn't start great, too many beers on Friday, left me feeling less than good on Saturday morning. My bets were already on though so I didn't need to be too clear headed, I'd gone for Ben Linfoots 3 bets, picked a couple of Nick Mordin's and an old favourite of mine Blaine in the Ayr Gold Cup, he had a great draw and I fancied him to continue his revival.


As usual I watched the racing later after a evening out in Cheadle, but there was little joy, the only returns came from the each way bet on Blaine. After so many profitable Saturdays, this was a bad one, and got worse when I saw that Leeds has lost to the Catalans as well.


My only hopes rested on the golf, and it looked decent as Luiten had the lead by 2 after 3 rounds. However, he bogied the first 2 to drop into a tie, and it looked like being one of those weekends. Things improved as the Dutchman surged ahead again in a tournament that no one seemingly wanted to win. After watching United get battered 5-3 by Leicester, Luiten offered hope of a decent end to the weekend, but when only needing a par on the last, a par 5, to secure the win, he proceeded to shank his tee shot into the rough. He carved his second into the rough, leaving a long 3rd onto a green surrounded by water. I knew what was going to happen, straight into the water, with even the each way returns lost, that was how this weekend was going to end. Phew, Joost hadn't read the script and he calmly found the green before two putting for victory.


Its a tough life being a punter sometimes....

Thursday 18th September 2014

On the way to work yesterday I heard a report on the radio which said that ‘talent/skill’ is something that you can gain through practise and hard work. It beggars the question however, that why would we as humans would give such dedication to something that we weren’t good at already, since this usually brings little joy.

 

Not sure if this applies to punting, which I definitely enjoy, especially when I win. However, this is to be my new  philosophy, more research and studying, both the form and data concerning the events, and also the general ethos of punting. In this vein, I have already ordered books by such punting gods as, Nick Mordin, Pricewise, and Alan Potts. I will be punting in the hard hours, with hopefully the resultant improvement in my skills/talent.

This week I had a few picks in the Welsh Golf, and I was going to follow my old mate Ben Linfoot, the Sporting Life's value bet.

I also decided after much thought to have a dabble on the Super League playoffs, something I've historically had good results when betting upon, except last year when Wire through away a half time lead to Wigan. This year I liked Leeds, I'd expect them to rediscover their best form in the playoffs, and challenge for the double, just like Wigan did last season. I also liked Wire again, and had a bit each way on at a generous looking 11/2.

Further updates to come, more than likely on Monday.

Wednesday 17th August 2014

Its been over a week since my last post, just busy mainly and I was away for the Leger weekend at the Long Division festival in my hometown Wakefield. If you've never seen then I'd recommend the band Cribbs, they were superb.


In betting terms, its been pretty quiet, I didn't have any golf winners last week and the horses were pretty moderate, with Value bet's only winner of the festival coming on the day when I was too busy with work to bet, typical. Vulturi also blew out in the Irish greyhound derby final, so I had to make do with each way returns.


This week I've decided to refocus, and have purchased some classic gambling books, Betting for  a living by Nick Mordin, and Alan Pott's book, The inside track. Hopefully it will help me get things back on track and provide me with a better strategy.


So this week, it will be a few bets on the Welsh Golf, and I'll be following Ben Linfoot's Value bet on Saturday.


Stay lucky


Steve

Monday 8th September 2014

Quiet day on Monday, especially as I was determined not to bet on the dreadful week day horse racing cards. The main objective for me this week was to stay disciplined and only bet on the better events.


This week, we were looking at 2 golf tournaments and the big St Leger meeting at Doncaster later in the week. 


Steve

Sunday 7th September 2014

Sunday was a cracker, with almost everything going right. The only horse bet of the day was on one of Mordins, Ivanhowe in the big German race, for which I used a free £25 bet generously provided by William Hill. Ivanhowe powered past the much vaunted favourite to land the money at 15/2, although it was slightly disappointing to see that the SP was over 10/1, mustn't be greedy I suppose...


In the European Golf it looked so promising for one of my bets Tommy Fleetwood, but he performed relatively poorly and to be honest I was grateful for a 5th place tie, and some returns. Ironically he tied with Willet, who I'd backed win only.


The best was yet to come though, as despite suffering a few nerves Billy 'the kid' Horschel got the job done in the American golf, to land me a juicy 66/1 winner. To be honest I didn't even watch it, and I'd gone to bed just hoping for some each way returns.


Yipee, what a great start to the new week.

Saturday

Having quit Tipping Legends, due to the number of bets on average days of racing, I was left with Ben Linfoot, Nick Mordin, and a couple of bets from the Racing Post Weekender. As is the usual case for me on a Saturday I recorded the racing and left it to 'enjoy' in the evening. The golf was looking promising, with Fleetwood well up there in Europe and my/Ben Coley's outsider Horschel up with the pace in America.


Felt quite tired today, thus it was a few pints in the local in Cheadle rather than a trip to town, after an exciting afternoon watching Vuelta with a couple of beers.


Rather bleary eyed when I eventually managed to put the racing on, it was exciting, and fortunately although I didn't have any winners on the day, some good each way returns kept me in the game. Gwafa looked like the winner only to be mugged by the favourite in the final furlong, whilst although not officially tipped by BL, he did mention it in his podcast, Communicator finished 3rd at Haydock to land some big each way cash. Ben's other losing tips, were Es Que Love, and Baccarat in the Sprint Cup. I'd decided to leave Mordin's tips on Saturday, which resulted in one winner and one loser.


Later in the evening further good news was to come, when my greyhound contact messaged me with the fantastic news that Vulturi had qualified for the Irish Greyhound Derby final, so guaranteed money for the each way part of the bet, with the possibility of a jackpot.

Back - September

It’s been a bit of a break from my last post, and it’s been a mixed time. A couple of times during the week I lost my head and some ill thought out bets on very poor racing. On the first occasion I got away with it and even made a small profit, but the second time really reduced my monthly winnings, the only conciliation being that, I didn’t chase my losses and I took the defeat on the chin. Thankfully I settled down for the second half of the week, although a casualty of the ill discipline was that I decided to ditch Tipping Legends, I just don’t think that betting every day is suitable for me, I need to keep it concentrated to weekends and big meetings with regards to racing. I guess the early part of this process in refining my technique.

 

As usual the action on the week involved the golf, and Saturdays racing. For the racing I was betting the tips put up by Ben Linfoot, Nick Mordin’s tips (although I don’t always pick all his as selections), plus I had joined another big race service, although I was only paper trading with this one at present. There were no bets from Scottish football Betting tips this weekend. The other interest I had on the weekend was Vulturi which I’d backed ante post at 33/1 for the Irish Greyhound Derby. This was tipped up to me by a friend who is in the greyhound breeding game, and the dog had done great thus far, qualifying for the semi finals, meaning one more top 3 finish in the semi final would mean a lucrative payout for me. I’d backed Vulturi with PP, who were each way the first 6, which was effectively a payout for reaching the final.