Taking a break

fairfranco · At Stud Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 4757

Well last week I had the worst day on the horses in a long time and it wiped out every penny of my Betfair account (apart from a few profitable open bets I had). This made me think long and hard about what I’m doing, I’ve lost a fair bit of money on gambling in different forms and know that I’m long since addicted.

But I feel that I can control myself and the longer I do it the more sensible I get and the more I spot ways to make a profit without risking a lot of money. Every time I take a big fall I’ve picked up valuable experience, it puts me off betting on a certain type of market or following a certain strategy and this is getting me slowly towards finding a profitable way of trading/betting for me.

As of Monday, straight after the world cup I have decided to take on board betfairalfie’s advice as per thread (discipline) and will take a 2 week break from betting. This is mainly to clear my head, I think about gambling too much and really need to just clear my head, forget about it for a bit, do some work when I’m in the office for a change!

I won’t visit any of the sites I normally go to, including this one and I won’t play poker online either. The only possible time out I may have will be for my weekly poker game with mates at the pub. It’s a fun thing and not really a money making thing, however I may decide against it at the time depending on how I’m feeling!

After this time I will take a week to work on some new improved spreadsheets, more designed to trading (anyone who has some good examples would be very welcome….alfie??), I will also work on some new systems, picking out sports that I’m interested in and can have decent up to date information on to trade on. If I chose to trade tennis in play I would find some good tennis information sites where I could get injury news, see form and head to head information and find dates for all the major tournaments.

I will then paper trade on some of these events, keeping a close eye as to how the price moves as points are scored, sets won, goals scored etc. Noting down as much information as possible so that I can catch the best prices I can and trade out at the best time (not necessarily best price as safety in turning a profit doesn’t always allow).

Only then will I start properly.

I will hopefully have about £200 which is what I have won on bet24 and Bet365 over the world cup, many thanks to bet24 who helped me along with £24 free money for my £10 deposit and numerous free bets!

I will report back on this thread 2 weeks after the world cup to let you know what 2 weeks of no gambling was like! And give some updates on how my disciplined efforts are going. I’m sure that after this time I will be able to strongly recommend such an idea to anyone on here as it can only help.

Betfairalfie · Stallion Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 5239

With my loathing of football betting I would personally recommend giving up today !

I am glad that you saw my "improve your discipline" thread and that you are following the advice given. Taking a 1 or 2 week break from gambling is a real mind cleanser and a real test of your discipline, and is nothing in terms of the length of most people's unprofitable gambling career.

I wish you well and will gladly help when you come back, although I am on me hols from 24th July for 3 weeks. I've sent you a good idea by PM Wink

Be Lucky

fairfranco · At Stud Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 4757

alfie i know what you mean football wise but my predictions, certainly for the early rounds were good and i got some good scorer and correct score bets in as well as some small profit trades on afternoon games.

I totally agree about breaks, it's so easy to look at your loss and think that you've seen it happen and now your sorted and ready to chuck some more money in the pot, it's not the way though and it'll make a big difference to get away from it.

cheers for the pm (will read in a min!) and the offer of advice, i'm always eager to hear advice from anyone. you talk a lot of sense with regards disciplined betting and I will try to take on board as much as possible to help me along the way!

fairfranco · At Stud Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 4757

Well i've had 2 weeks out, though i'm going to have another week yet as i'm off to London for a training course won't really have time or access to be able to bet.

As i'd done my 2 weeks successfully i thought i'd pop on while i've got some time at the moment to see what's been going on.

well what have i been doing instead of gambling or thinking about gambling.

Nothing speical really, at work I did a bit more work than usual, had a bit more concentration as i wasn't trying to fit my work around making sure i caught the next horse race! it's busy times in the office at the moment so it would do me good to try and keep putting in the effort!

at home and about the only difference was that I didn't find myself thinking about won or lost bets, stratagies or anything else betting related!

the only thing i didn't quite stick to was the poker, i think i said i'd play my monday night game at the pub which i actually ended up playing in one of the guys garden as the weather was so nice. I also ended up playing a few games online, however I didn't play it often and when i did i set myself a time limit and once i'd played i would decide not to play for at least a week after that. I think i only played 3 sessions, 2 of which were less than 30 minutes!

all in all i reccomend a break if your not doing great and feel that things aren't improving. it clears your head well and allows you to concentrate on other things.

when i get back from London I will start looking at new stratergies for trading and deciding on what and how I will be betting/trading in the future before starting a bit of small money and paper trading on these methods.

Betfairalfie · Stallion Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 5239

fairfranco · At Stud Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 4757

cheers alfie.

just finished my extra week off which i had due to week away training in London.

a good week it was too, though far too expensive! London and it's enforced 12.5% gratuity! on top of their silly prices! £2.90 an acceptable price for a beer Lose

i'll start considering future betting as of today. I will be starting a blog for this which won't be used to document individual bets or trades but to note my progress and planning etc on how i intend to discipline myself and work the betting from now on.

Look out for it later today!