Hey Freddie, juggling a sched with shapeshifter jr out of school now. 

Essentially I have to "mentors" that have given me advice over the years.  One is a gentleman here who is essentially full-time as a gambler.  He makes most of his money on in-running.  His set-up is pretty extraordinary (I nick-named it the "Enterprise").  Far beyond bfexporer, gruss, etc.  Designed to make transition from placing a position to then trading/hedging a breeze.  Graphs and signals to help make decisions are there.  Custom-made "warnings" that if they come up, you simply hit F12 and macros take over to get you out of a corner. 

Tech aside, he taught me alot about trading in-running as well as positioning for in-running for football.  Speed, to him, is not the key to making money.  It was a common point we have which is I look at in-running, hedging, etc, like a chess match where it is more important to position your pieces rather than constantly try to go for checkmate. 

The other is someone in the States that is part of a betting forum I belong to (not public, through a mate of mine).  I'm one of the few people outside the states (maybe a dozen in all) who also understands U.S./Canadian Sports.  He's old skool and basically helped me with the psychology of betting, getting past some barriers, as well as making me better understand how to research sports.  He also helped me better my criteria for the long-list each day then creating another list of criteria for the shortlist.   

I've also developed an approach for staking through advice from both of them that suits my approach to selection, betting, etc.  Obviously success comes down to strike-rate and ROI but staking takes the pressure off of some of the decision making.

The common point we had is I look at betting like boxing:  Each bet is a jab then everyone once in a while you calculate your moment and go for the bigger punch but keeping in mind you are in it for the entire match.  But the "bigger punch" doesn't mean putting down a ton on your bank.  It can mean following a team and then finding the two or three games in a row to bet with or against them.  It can also mean researching a match then putting several bets down on the event rather than just the final result (not talking hedging but looking at all the bets on offer and finding value). 

Muqbil said it: we never stop learning.  Several times over the years I have hit "walls" that feel like burn-out.  I'm not talking about losing streaks.  More about mind-melts where you go through the motions so much that there is no drive, no thrill on a good day, not even kicking yourself for a "stupid mistake", etc.

Working with both these people through last year returned me to tapping into the same feeling I had when I played golf and came off the course feeling fantastic about the day or if after a bad round, figure it out and go right back out on the course rather than dwelling on the past.

All in all, betting is alot more enjoyable and the returns seem to be reflected in the enjoyment I am getting out of the game.

is this you Sam?? iquitmy etc.