matt106

Hi all!

Once again another apology from the sunshine island of Tenerife!

It's been a really long, really hard month. So much stuff has happened. I've had to deal with so much stuff, but also been able to experience some incredible things! I've met a great girl with a great family that own a bar - learning to surf and dive thanks to her! The grand plan is to leave in september next year to persue a career as a diving instructor... but we'll see how that goes!

I've finally managed to sort out the sky and the broadband, so i'm getting somewhere near where I was hoping to get about 7 weeks ago! lol!

Anyway bets...

below is my p/l since I turned up on the reef:

Cricket: £1,207.34 | Rugby League: -£569.96 | Rugby Union: -£250.40 | Soccer: £989.27  Total P&L:  £1,376.25

Cricket     Showing 1 - 15 of 15 markets
Market     Start time     Settled date     Profit/loss (£)
Cricket / India v West Indies (2nd ODI) : Match Odds     02-Dec-11 09:00     02-Dec-11 17:37     214.69
Cricket / Mashonaland v Southern Rocks : Match Odds     01-Dec-11 12:00     01-Dec-11 14:55     133.83
Cricket / Mashonaland v Mid West Rhinos : Match Odds     30-Nov-11 12:00     30-Nov-11 15:05     105.64
Cricket / Pakistan v Sri Lanka : Match Odds     25-Nov-11 16:00     25-Nov-11 19:14     239.96
Cricket / Pakistan v Sri Lanka (5th ODI) : Match Odds     23-Nov-11 11:00     23-Nov-11 18:44     44.82
Cricket / South Africa v Australia (1st Test) : Match Odds     09-Nov-11 08:30     11-Nov-11 10:35     190.80
Cricket / India v West Indies (1st Test) : Match Odds     06-Nov-11 04:00     09-Nov-11 07:16     102.14
Cricket / Zimbabwe v New Zealand (Only Test) : Match Odds     01-Nov-11 08:00     05-Nov-11 14:59     1.03
Cricket / India v England (Only T20) : Match Odds     29-Oct-11 14:00     29-Oct-11 16:47     11.46
Cricket / Pakistan v Sri Lanka (2nd Test) : Match Odds     26-Oct-11 07:00     29-Oct-11 14:21     56.34
Cricket / South Africa v Australia (3rd ODI) : Match Odds     28-Oct-11 13:30     28-Oct-11 21:14     157.19
Cricket / India v England (3rd ODI) : Match Odds     20-Oct-11 10:00     20-Oct-11 17:53     -130.21
Cricket / South Africa v Australia (1st ODI) : Match Odds     19-Oct-11 13:30     19-Oct-11 22:14     -1.47
Cricket / Zimbabwe v New Zealand (1st T20) : Match Odds     15-Oct-11 13:00     15-Oct-11 15:37     33.30
Cricket / Bangladesh v West Indies (1st ODI) : Match Odds     13-Oct-11 09:30     13-Oct-11 16:06     47.82



So things have gone ok, but i've had to lay out plenty for 1st and last month's rent for the apartment and stuff etc...


Hopefully things work out for the spanish betting farce, and we can continue to bet over here. It really is as close to paradise as u can get this side of the caribbean!

Thanks for reading guys!

Matt

Good evening folks!


So i'd like to start this edition / post with an apology - I haven't posted for at least 2 weeks, which is somehing i'm certainly not proud of.

I've been having to sort so much stuff out that I just didn't anticipate prior to moving abroad. I won't go into specific details, but it's mighty harder than u could imagine moving abroad!! (congrats to morse who evidently made the switch to his spanish mansion with no dramas! )


So I think i've finally sorted most of the things I needed to sort. I absolutely love the fact that I feel significantly healthier than I did in the UK, a bad day here is slightly couldy and 85 degrees and the girls are fantastic! I've started working out to try to alliviate the boredom that living out here provides! My mate works 9-1 and 6-10 so if there's no sport to trade I have to find something to keep me occupied!


I now have an apartment with pool, a really good local bar to watch all the sport and some really good new friends. If I can inspire just one person to make the switch to sunnier climes i'll be delighted. It really is such a better lifestyle and, even tho the jobs don't pay as much, it's so much cheaper to live. My 2 bed apartment with pool and sea views is 600 euros. (550 quid!) All bills included, no council tax, 5% income tax!! Really really great!


Back to the betting. My overall p/l is poor for the last 3 weeks since I have been doing more betting on my iPhone and less "trading" due to internet issues. I feel better for the fact that im around 600 quid up since my internet issue was sorted 3 days ago. Made a few quid on the SA v aus game, the pak test and the t20. Added to a slightly fortunate punt on 3-0 utd in the caarling cup and it's turned into a reasonable week.


As I post liverpool v wba is about to start. I was guna lay the scousers at odds on as I don't fancy them to win, but 2.2 is jst slightly too big to lay for me, so will sit and wait for an in play opportunity. If all else fails and the game is a shocker, the pool is approximately 20 feet away so it' not all bad!!


Thanks for reading this and sticking by the blog through this big change, i'll be posting significantly more often from now on!!


Good luck guys!


Matt

Cricket     Showing 1 - 2 of 2 markets
Market     Start time     Settled date     Profit/loss (£)
Cricket / Chennai v New South Wales : Match Odds     04-Oct-11 15:30     04-Oct-11 18:30     739.72
Cricket / Cape Cobras v Trinidad + Tobago : Match Odds     04-Oct-11 11:30     04-Oct-11 14:38     -1,864.51




I thought I'd document yesterday's events, as much for me as for anyone else.


Yesterday taught me a lesson that I hope to never forget and to learn an incredible amount from...


I leave for Tenerife on Tuesday and for some reason i'd got it into my head that I wanted a certain amount of money in a certain account before I left. (The figures don't matter but just for clarity I had just short of 8k and wanted to leave with 10)

That meant I set myself a target of earning 2k this week and putting it all into this account that i'd use as a float for anything I required to sort me out over there. Obviously this theory is flawed.

So I got it into my head that I needed to make 500 quid per game over the 2 games yesterday and the 2 games today. So instead of closing a perfectly reasonable book at around the 260 green mark, I left it to run.


I can come up with any number of excuses and blame any number of things: The final ball of Steyn's over (when t&t needed 15 off 7) going for 6 for example. The fact of the matter is that I was solely to blame. I've been around long enough and traded enough t20 games to know that u just don't do what I did. If I wasn't leaving or if it was in 3 or 4 weeks I never would have done it.


The most annoying part to this whole saga is that 6, 7 or 8 thousand is more than enough to go over there and see if I can live.


The second match may look like a chase, but I traded it brilliantly. I don't know why exactly, but I seem to focus more after a sizeable loss. I must have 'bouncebackability' The odds on NSW were far too big for a long time, but I was hardly ever overly exposed and I was really pleased with my performance.


However that doesn't take away from the fact that I was stubborn and stupid in the first game and in my overall strategy for the week. That theory is hopefully consigned to history, never to be repeated.

It's important to have targets and goals in life, but putting a target like that in place just caused me to act like a casual gambler and not like this is my job... lesson learnt (I hope)



"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing."  Thomas Edison



Matt

Why? Why?? Why??? 


Ok so i'm not exactly living a poor life right now... Watching sport for a living, seeing a couple of really nice girls and having just come back from a Caribbean holiday... BUT...


Nothing ever seems to go easily for me! It may be that things just don't go easily for anyone full stop, and we all complain that we are 'unlucky' but the week before i'm due to go to Tenerife and try to begin a new life out there... my flatmate sends me a txt demanding more rent!


I am just venting at the mo, so apologies if this isn't the most informed and interesting post, but to quote the forum I am "incandescent with rage!!" haha!


It was always jst a temporary thing, and I only stay there mon-thurs, but she put it up from 30 quid a week, to 50, now she wants 75!!! This may seem a pittance to u cockneys, but trust me for 1 bedroom in Lancaster it's scandalous! It works out the equivalent of £570 / month which is a complete joke!! The apartments we've looked at in las americas are around 700 quid (350 each) with a pool and 1 minute from the beach!! Also, i've found so many incredible places in and around Manchester for a sight less and offering a sight more for the money!

It's her fcking boyfriend i'm sure of it... grrrrrrrrrrrr


Anyway... rant over...

lost another 200 quid on the Zums game this afternoon after laying RCB at 1.1x and 1.2x and not getting out at 1.4x!

Annoyed because I was sure we'd see 4/6 on RCB on that road but just didn't happen, had over 2k on zums too... oh well, what can you do??!

Can't wait for the RWC quarters next weekend... going to be a fantastic final weekend in the UK!! Looking forward to a busy week, where i'm hoping to turn in a 2k profit... fingers crossed heh!

Be lucky!

Matt

Afternoon all (for those of u in Europe - elsewhere, who knows!)


So it's been a while since my last post, so i'll try to go chronologically through all the stuff that's happened to me since that first day of the Champs League:


Tuesday 20th September - Monday 26th Septmeber

Alarm went off at 4am for me to begin the long, arduous journey to Manchester Airport. I had to drive from my place in Lancaster, pick my mum up, drive to her friends and drop my car off there, he drove us to the airport and we ended up at the wrong terminal... bad start and i'm in a bad mood already thanks to having about 3 hours sleep!

Anyway, we finally get to terminal 2, do all the formalities and end up in the bar at about 8am. Now tradition states that you must (and I do mean MUST) have a beer at the airport before u go away... so reluctantly I order a stella for me and a glass of white for the mommatron. She also wants some breakfast. 1 pint of stella + 1 small glass of house white + 1 bacon barm = £16.75 WTF???!!!

Gets on the plane, watches some shocker of a movie, eat some very average food and get bored for the next 9 hours... (for some strange and unkown reason I cannot sleep on planes. I have no idea why and it's incredibly annoying, but anyway!)

Right, so now the drama begins: Get's to the Dominican and u have to pay an "imigration tax" (basically it has to be 10 dollars in and 20 dollars out, only cash and no change - so u can only guess where that goes) fill in a bunch of pointless forms, get stared at by a bunch of mean looking dudes with guns and try to find a taxi to get to the hotel....

Try to picture the scene; 2 tourists asking for a taxi in a very foreign land - no communication to speak of, the guy takes us on a half mile walk away from the airport terminal to his "taxi" - he takes our bags then opens the door for us... lying on the footwell in the drivers seat is (and i'm not exagerating) a 4 foot machette! This knife is 1 of the scaariest things I have ever seen!! And so begins the longest taxi ride (and the scariest 20 minutes) of my life! He could be taking us anywhere and we could never be seen again....

Fortunately we turn up at the hotel (glorious) and have a brilliant time just chilling out! It's the most beautiful part of the world I have ever had the fortune to visit. We do nothing other than drink at the beach bar, lie (in the beds) on the beach and lounge in the pool. Fantastic!

However for some reason I begin to lose my cool about not betting or looking at the CLT20 scores. For the first 4 days I didn't even pick up my phone, but I get itchy fingers and begin to check how things are going. Firstly it's jst the cricinfo app, but I begin to get it into my head that I can trade the games on my phone using nothing other than ibetmate and cricinfo. What a stupid, ridiculous, horrible, cocky, immature thought that was! On the day we were leaving I lost just over 800 quid and it felt horrible knowing that i'd basically just doubled the cost of my part of our trip to the Caribbean. What a f00king idiot!


So a 9 hour flight plus a 3 hour wait (because some idiot in a suit somewhere decided that people need 3 hours to check in for a transatlantic flight and only 2 for a european flight - genius u!) in a thatched airport with 1 waiting area for all departures with that stupid loss playing on my mind. We get on the plane and there's these IDIOTS with 'hand luggage' the size of my suitcase trying to get it in the overhead compartments then kicking off at the air stewardess when she explains they shouldn't have it on the plane and it doesn't fit

The pilot comes on the comm and says "we appear to be 7 tonnes overweight (gee I wonder why?! ) so we're going to have to add another 2 tonnes of fuel or we'll be running on fumes around ireland." Another hour wait and finally the fat plane tanks down the runway annd somehow manages to get these fat, annoying, imbeciles off the ground and away we go (travelling disturbingly close to the bermuda triangle ((which I try to explain to some idiot only for him to not understand - go figure!)) )


Wednesday 28th September


We land at 7am, i've been up about 18 hours and now have to navigate the m60 at rush hour (think the northern version of the m25) which pretty much caps off my miserable day... oh... no wait there's more...

I get back to lancaster with the time around 10.30am - sleep or a brew and a T20... no contest

I get myself into a nice all green position of around 200 by ht - Then lay the chasing side (think it may have been NSW) when it appears obvious they're really struggling against a tight T&T bowling lineup (layed a bunch around 1.4 iirc. I had a position of about -200 + 1100 and then got another huge lay in at evs as the market flipped - got a bunch out at 1.8 T&T and then some more at 1.5x

So i'm sat with an all green of around 650 and i'm so happy to have got most of my stupid bet back at the first attempt. What happens... Rampaul bowls possibly the most ridiculous 20th over i've ever seen with no one on the deep mid wkt / deep sq leg fence. Words can't express the anger / frustration / despair I felt when they needed 2 off the last ball. I just knew it'd be a thai.

I'd made my mind up at least 18 months ago to never take tie ins as I felt it is nearly always bad value. I said to myself the greens and reds that were voided would even themselves out. Well the last couple of months have cost me around 3 grand on tie's and it really has hurt. I may need to re-evaluate this strategy...


I blew off the second game and went and got well and truly plastered! Venting and moaning at anyone who'd listen inbetween copious grolsh (can't spell it) blonde!

Not overly sure why, just thought i'd occasionally post the odd profit and loss

Cricket: -£297.49  Total P&L:  -£297.49

Cricket     Showing 1 - 5 of 5 markets
Market     Start time     Settled date     Profit/loss (£)
Cricket / Chennai v Cape Cobras : Match Odds     28-Sep-11 15:30     28-Sep-11 19:03     202.76
Cricket / New South Wales v Trinidad + Tobago : One Over Eliminator     28-Sep-11 11:30     28-Sep-11 14:58     112.30
Cricket / Kolkata v South Australia : Match Odds     27-Sep-11 15:30     27-Sep-11 18:39     -801.27
Cricket / Mumbai Indians v Trinidad + Tobago : Match Odds     26-Sep-11 15:30     26-Sep-11 18:33     16.84
Cricket / Kolkata v Somerset : Match Odds     25-Sep-11 15:30     25-Sep-11 18:42     171.88


Thursday 29th - Friday 30th September


Had a good last few days with a couple of girls I know - 1 of which has left the most horrific bite marks on my shoulder, but hey ho! So... I'm back and prepared to have a really intense couple of weeks before my potentially permanent trip to the Canary Islands.


Good luck in the upcoming rugby and cricket matches peeps. It promises to be an exciting weekend all over the world!

Matt

Wow!

So, today was spent partly running round like a lunatic buying last minute things for my holiday and partly watching the drama that was the T20 Champions League. I'm not sure how much to go into my thoughts on the 2nd champs league game. It was, at the very least, (as beefy would say) strange! To lose coverage at such a key time is remarkable and to regain coverage on the final ball of the game is truly incredible. I'm not going to be in the country for the next bunch of games, but it will be interesting to see if the pattern continues!



I made a tidy sum (about 350 quid) on the first game, but was in a horrific position at ht of the second game having failed to believe KKR would falter so badly. The RTD runout, in particular, hurt me. I was -2100 Aukland, +1600 KKR, but thanks to a few big lays at 1.1x and 1.4x I managed to salvage a loss of around 50 quid and that felt like a better result than the first game!!


As I have to be at Manchester airport at silly o'clock in the morning, the plan was to be asleep for 9, but that blatently isn't going to happen! I'm sat here blogging and watching some guys trying to sell the idea of a beehive on Dragons Den!! I may even stay up to trade the Giants game later and go straight to the airport after that! Can't beat a pint in the bar at 7am knowing ur flying to the other side of the world :)


On top of that i'm 26 on Wednesday so celebrating on the beach has to be the order of the day! I wish all u guys trading the Champs League the very best of luck. Please don't get overexposed tho guys as this afternoon has prove that it really is the "crack cocaine" of cricket betting!!


All the best

Matt

Friday night

So it's 6.30am on Saturday 17th August... I've just come out of some girl's house after a quite brilliant night in York followed by a 'happy ending.' I look around... no one about. I pull my phone from my pocket... no battery. So i'm in the middle of nowhere in a town I have no clue about and I have to find the Marriott York... So which way, right or left? Right... 10 minutes later I spot my first person on the street, a paperboy. (grown man but nonetheless...)

Matt "Hi, can you please tell me where the hell the Marriott is?"
Paperboy "Oh... it's a fair way from here pal" (I didn't ask that genius, I asked where is it!)
Matt "Great, how far and which way?"
Paperboy "About half an hour, down there (points) and follow the road around"
Matt "Cheers"

45 minutes later i'm beginning to get tired and stressed. But wait... there's the racecourse and you can see the grandstand from our room in the hotel, result! Oh wait... I'm on the wrong side of the course, so either walk all the way around or just walk up the home straight and straight accross the course?? Obviously the latter!

So I can proudly say i've walked the final furlong of York racecourse having, not 30 minutes earlier, been hammering away at a married woman, who could down a pint of cider in under 5 seconds!! ... what a night, York you absolute beauty!


Saturday night

4 hours sleep, another one of my mates rings... he's already in Leeds having his first beer and i've not even got out of bed - didn't trade the NRL, missed breakfast, jumped in the car while quite obviously still drunk and high tail it to Leeds. By the time we get there Arsenal are beaten by Blackburn (not good when 1 of ur mates is an Arsenal fan!)

I can't even look at a beer and it takes until 4pm before I start again, poor attempt Matt! Hotel is nice but the room isn't what we asked for, so my mate goes nuts! Go to Nandos for some food, my mate doesn't get what he wanted so he goes nuts again!!

Anyway, Leeds has to be the best place in England to go for a young man. I swear it's 3 girls to every guy and they're all stunning! Plenty of lionel things happen thatcertainly can't be written here, but as good if not better than last night. I'm still drunk now writing this so apologies for the rambling nature, but we got to get bck to Manchester to see the Warriors destroy Saints then watch Rooney and co tear the Chelsea pensioners apart (one can only hope!)


On the betting front it's been quiet, other than tick nicking in the France game this am, haven't had a bet all weekend (other than bets at the bar)

Off to the Dominican on tuesday, so will have many a story to tell i'm sure!

Good luck to you all trading the champs league - i'm sure it'll throw up plenty of 1.0x gubbings!

Matt

Morning!

So yesterday belonged, predominantly, to a cricket side they said would be relegated. A side with no "stars". A side with a bunch of young english lads playing for each other and a coach that deserves huge credit...

Congratulations Lancashire! 10 wins from 16 is an incredible achievement and to come so close to making the FLT20 final (and a possible crack at the Champs League) and bounce back in such stunning fashion is credit to them!

On a personal note, it was a massively successful day for me thanks to warwickshire's inability to take wickets at the rose bowl and lanky smashing the somerset bowlers around the park to make their 200odd chase look very straightforward.


So, on to today and the rest of the weekend:

Unfortunately i'm not going to be able to trade any of the cricket this weekend (tho I agree with Michael Vaughan about India's chances today should they bat second) as i'm off on a lads weekend in two of the best cities for nights out in the north! York tonight and then Leeds tomorrow, can't wait!! Studentville in leeds (Headingly) is a superb place for a night out and, according to my mates, York is a beauty of a night out too!


I'll be watching both rugby matches this morning before the drive from Lancaster to York () and I think the all blacks could run riot against a second string Japan side. I don't have a strong enough opinion atm to back them on the cap pre match, but may well get involved in play. I also think the Warriors could cause the Tigers a few problems in the NRL eliminator, but again, one to trade in play.


I spent much of last night watching HBO's 24/7 on youtube and I have to say, the Victor Ortiz story is a pretty special one. Mum left at age 7, dad a few years later and he and his brother had nothing. To go from there to where he is today, with a fight with the best fighter of my generation is remarkable! I wish the kid luck and having watched the Andre Berto fight, he may just have a squeak. For those of you who haven't seen it, highlights are below - it was a remarkable fight. How he got a knock down when he looked done and dusted i'll never know!

Good luck to the lad. Mayweather appears to have mellowed slightly as he gets older, however he is still a remarkable fighter who will more than likely have too much for Ortiz. Hopefully i'll be back in the hotel in Leeds in time to watch!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OybNRIDExU - Ortiz v Berto highlights


Ps. If anyone knows some decent bars in York, please feel free to post them so I know where the hell i'm going tonight!

Cheers,

Matt

Ok so I've been thinking about creating an online blog about my trials and tribulations for a while! Didn't really have any idea where to start online, so decided to do it here and this is the beginning...

So... a few random things for people to laugh / cry / sream / shout at me for:

1) both my parents despise gambling and gamblers
2) both my parents think I work for a rather large bank (who I haven't worked for since last june!)
3)over half my friends believe that I have a bet here and there and my main source of income comes from being a self employed financial advisor (again not true!)
4) my flatmate is one of those that doesn't know about my full time "sordid" gambling job!
5) I'm 25 nd went to private school and if my parents ever found out I wasn't into finance (having put me through private school) but was a full time gambler they would no doubt tie me to the roof by my berries and see hit me over the head with a very large stick!

Ok... so that's a bit of intial background, now for the more interesting part...

I'm about to go on holiday with my mum to the Dominican. She hasn't been well and has recently had an operation in hospital, so I wanted to treat her to some r&r somewhere nice. When I get back from there (end of sep) I have 2 weeks in the UK then i'm off with a bunch of mates to Tenerife...

A couple of the guys who are going hate living in the UK and fancy a change of scenery, so we booked 1 way flights and are planning to stay there indefinately!!

I've done some relatively in depth research and have found places to rent for 6-12 months and agencys for work etc. I've also been told that getting sky in isn't a problem...

Ok so that's basically the background to how this blog is going to begin. Fingers crossed it'll provide entertainment for both me and the occasional reader and we'll see what happens...

Ps. I guess I should talk about bets occasionally since i'm blogging on bf...

made a bit from backing georgia on the cap (+21.5) this am - Scotland could easily have been turned over had Georgia been like 10% better!
had a lovely green in the odi until I burned 2/3 of it when Younus produced a stunner to catch Taibu
but 3 late wkts at the rose bowl left me feeling pleased with my days work, as had a monkey (500) on warwks at avg odds of 2.3

Ok for now that is all, off to watch utd in portugal in "glorious hd"

a dios