Just impossible!

[Euler]

Did you give it a try?

[deggsy10]

Pi**ed off ....

If things, any things, 'p1ss you off', stop now, give up. It's the worst thing you can do. Even a genius market reader who gets p1ssed off will lose.

You had a load of great advice before, enough things to keep you busy for months, but you're back in a couple of days! I think you just have an over inflated sense of your own abilities and expect to do this without putting in the 100s or 1000s of hours. Not just 100s of hours playing at it and clicking all over the place, I mean 100s of hours really focussed study, noting and understanding.

What about your stats? Do you know which race types, price ranges, market profiles are working best/worse ? Are your odds-on trades better than your 6+ trades? I'm guessing you don't keep detailed stats, in fact I'd put money on it.

I dont know what you mean by odds on trades better than 6+ trades. What stats should I be collecting and how would I use them to predict future races?

[deggsy10]

Did you give it a try?

Yes and lost more money. Chain of daisies. Backed but price went up so I cashed out for a loss about 5 minutes before off. Of course the minute I cashed out, the odds came back in again.

[Euler]

Your problem is as I described earlier, the instructions I gave were very specific. You wouldn't have lost money following them. You created the loss, not the market.

[welshboy06]

Another decent one.

Try not to get in too early. Its always tempting when you see a big swing, to just jump in at 10mins out. But usually, theres a lot less money in the market, meaning a swing back the opposite way is just as likely.

Try and get in around 5-3mins out. This is when all the big money comes in to the market.

[deggsy10]

can somebody tell me where the in play settings are on bet angel. I cant seem to bet in play on the current settings I have as nothing happens when I click into the box when the event is in play. I would also like the option to keep the bet in play as you can on the betfair site by clicking the keep button.

[welshboy06]

I wasn't aware there were settings. When an event is in play I just click on the ladder and can place bets.

Where are you from? I know some BF doesn't have in play betting for some countties.

[deggsy10]

I wasn't aware there were settings. When an event is in play I just click on the ladder and can place bets.

Where are you from? I know some BF doesn't have in play betting for some countties.

Im from the UK. My unmatched bets get cancelled as soon as the race starts instead of keeping them in play. When using the normal betfair site you have to click the keep button to keep it in play but you cant seem to do that on the bet angel software.

[welshboy06]

When on the ladders screen there's an unmatched bets area under all the ladders.
There should be a button saying 'Keep All' click that, after placing the bets you wish to keep in play

[foxwood]

horse, water

[ShaunWhite]

Pi**ed off ....

If things, any things, 'p1ss you off', stop now, give up. It's the worst thing you can do. Even a genius market reader who gets p1ssed off will lose.

You had a load of great advice before, enough things to keep you busy for months, but you're back in a couple of days! I think you just have an over inflated sense of your own abilities and expect to do this without putting in the 100s or 1000s of hours. Not just 100s of hours playing at it and clicking all over the place, I mean 100s of hours really focussed study, noting and understanding.

What about your stats? Do you know which race types, price ranges, market profiles are working best/worse ? Are your odds-on trades better than your 6+ trades? I'm guessing you don't keep detailed stats, in fact I'd put money on it.

I dont know what you mean by odds on trades better than 6+ trades. What stats should I be collecting and how would I use them to predict future races?

I mean the prices of the horses you traded. Unless you're varying your stake, you might just find that, possibly for no special reason, you're having a spell of losers at high odds (big effect) and winners on the short ones (small effect). It can make your results seem bad when in fact, if they'd all been the same amount per tick you're actually doing ok, or not so bad anyway. Do you stake Fixed amount or % Liability ?

As for other stats, start by just bringing the BF P&L into Excel.

That will let you see things like if you're doing better on handicaps than non-handicaps, or if certain times of the day or days of the week suit you better than others. When I first did that I saw that my first half hour, and between 5 and 6 were killing me, and mid-afternoon was best. So I reduced my stakes early on and stopped to eat at 5. You can add a column to that sheet for the inital price of the horse and a brief note/code for the market shape, and really start to see where you're good and what's spoiling it.

A race with a)one horse at evens and the rest at big prices, trades very differently to b)one with joint faves & rags, or c)a 20 runner handicap with 6 of them at 8/1. For me, in order of returns, it goes a) then b) then c) for you it might be different, see how it looks over a month. Try and avoid what's hurting you most or at least reduce your stakes on those until it gets better.

I'd start by not using that 'Keep bets' button because it will end in tears

If anything, set your unmatched bets to 'Take SP' and always have enough unmatched bets somewhere in the market to get you close to balanced. It's a good idea anyway cos you could get a freak fill from a spike, and it saves a heart attack if your pc goes down 5secs before the off. I have a bot that sets my unmatched bets to 'Take SP' so I don't have to change the status of them all, it also Greens at IP+1s and keeps doing it every 10secs through the race to stop me doing anything stupid like being tempted to trade in-play or having a bet. It's not something I even think about doing now (I used to be terrible at having stupid £2/£5 bets 'for a bit of fun' if I'd f*cked up my trade) but no harm in leaving the safety net there in case of a mis-click or a brainstorm. The incentive not to stray from straight trading is there now because it makes your stats meaningless and you've no real idea of how you're doing.

I didn't mean to sound harsh about the time you have/haven't put in, but the answers to your questions are very different if you've been grinding away for a year or just a few months and a few hundered markets . How many markets have you traded?

[deggsy10]

Thanks for the responses guys but I'm done with it. I have just lost £300 backing New Zealand in the rugby when they were 15-9 up and all over the lions with about 20 mins left. No sign at all of the lions getting back in the match and scoring 2 tries. Just typical of the luck I've been having. I have come to the conclusion that the whole thing is essentially gambling. You may not be betting on an outcome in the traditional sense but you are betting on the odds going in a certain direction which is still gambling which will eventually end in tears. With the money I have spent on trading courses and all these trades that have gone wrong, I'm pissing all the profits away that I have made from matched betting. Not to mention all the time I have spent away from my family glued to a computer screen. I'm bailing out before I lose more money.

[welshboy06]

Thanks for the responses guys but I'm done with it. I have just lost £300 backing New Zealand in the rugby when they were 15-9 up and all over the lions with about 20 mins left. No sign at all of the lions getting back in the match and scoring 2 tries. Just typical of the luck I've been having. I have come to the conclusion that the whole thing is essentially gambling. You may not be betting on an outcome in the traditional sense but you are betting on the odds going in a certain direction which is still gambling which will eventually end in tears. With the money I have spent on trading courses and all these trades that have gone wrong, I'm pissing all the profits away that I have made from matched betting. Not to mention all the time I have spent away from my family glued to a computer screen. I'm bailing out before I lose more money.

I'm sorry, but how much do you know about the game of rugby?
I've played and been a fan since the age of 7. NZ were a man down. I wouldn't have (and didn't) touch the game with 20 mins left. Too hard to predict, the aim of the game is to find value. There was no value in the price, I believe NZ were at 2.2s around the time you mentioned. Man down and winning by less than 10pts with that price, big no no.

What you did was take a gamble that NZ would win.

[deggsy10]

Thanks for the responses guys but I'm done with it. I have just lost £300 backing New Zealand in the rugby when they were 15-9 up and all over the lions with about 20 mins left. No sign at all of the lions getting back in the match and scoring 2 tries. Just typical of the luck I've been having. I have come to the conclusion that the whole thing is essentially gambling. You may not be betting on an outcome in the traditional sense but you are betting on the odds going in a certain direction which is still gambling which will eventually end in tears. With the money I have spent on trading courses and all these trades that have gone wrong, I'm pissing all the profits away that I have made from matched betting. Not to mention all the time I have spent away from my family glued to a computer screen. I'm bailing out before I lose more money.

I'm sorry, but how much do you know about the game of rugby?
I've played and been a fan since the age of 7. NZ were a man down. I wouldn't have (and didn't) touch the game with 20 mins left. Too hard to predict, the aim of the game is to find value. There was no value in the price, I believe NZ were at 2.2s around the time you mentioned. Man down and winning by less than 10pts with that price, big no no.

What you did was take a gamble that NZ would win.

They were 1.22 when I backed them.

[iambic_pentameter]

Deggsy,

I hope that I can offer some words of encouragement here.

Think back to the point when you knew nothing about matched betting. From the posts you've made, I can see that you've managed to become profitable doing that.

The point being that ANY new skill takes time to learn.

Anyone who is consistent with their trading on here was at exactly the stage you are today - the difference being, is that the stuck with it, learnt from their mistakes and now enjoy the fruits of their labour.

You can do this but a big factor is going to be your mindset i.e if you tell yourself it's gambling, then that's what it will be.

The other advice I would give you is:

1) Take a week off from trading - clear your mind and write down why you want to trade

2) If / When you come back, make sure your Betfair account has no more than £20 and trade with £2 stakes - at this stage of your journey, you need to focus on not losing money.

Best of luck

Iambic