Worse luck

Don’t worry. I haven’t done anything stupid. My absence hasn’t been down to me going for a swim in the Thames wearing concrete boots. It’s just that this project is taking over my life. I spend most of my free time studying form or gambling. And the last thing I want to do is then write about it, particularly as have had only a couple of winning days since starting the project.

Take the Saturday before last, for example. West Ham were playing away from home, so I had no commitments. Consequently, I went up to the paper shop at 07.00, before returning to bed to study the form for a few hours. I then gambled on the horseracing and football from midday until 20.00. I lost about £50. Not a disaster, but if I’m going spend such a major chunk of my leisure time betting, it has to justify the investment.

Anyway, my trading on the horses has improved immeasurably, helped in large part by signing up to At The Races and Racing UK. My latest strategy is to find a horse that is under pressure during a race, and to lay it at long odds. It has generally been successful, but laying even one winner in 10 or 15 at odds of 20/1 (and I’ve laid two) soon wipes out all your profits.

My football betting is causing me great consternation. I know it’s every gambler’s favourite lament, but my luck has been incredible. Take last Tuesday, for example. I did an accumulator featuring four games to have ‘more than 2.5 goals’ and Werder Bremen to beat Anorthosis Famagusta in the Champions League. The first four legs of the bet won comfortably, but Werder, the top scorers in Germany last season, drew 0-0 with the Cypriot team making their debut in the competition. Their failure to justify their position as ‘the night’s banker’ at odds of 1-7 cost me £400.

Things were no better last weekend. Five out of my seven ‘more than 2.5 goals’ selections won. The other finished 2-0, with a goalkeeper man of the match in one, and the woodwork being struck twice in the other. One more goal by either side in either game and I would have won £500. One more goal in each and it would have been £1,500. I’m confident that it’s just a matter of time before I win a decent sum, although any sum would be nice.

Despite ¬a heavy loss on the Ryder Cup – I know very little about golf, but backed Europe to win after an ‘expert’ said it could be a record margin of victory – I’ve lost a negligible amount in the past fortnight, which suggests that my trading skills are certainly improving.

Running total: I’ll work it out when (if) I have a win