Hello and Welcome,

an exciting evenings action in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. I was hoping for some good wins here after preparing thoroughly during the week, knuckling down, doing my homework trying to find good opening positions for trading in play.

Unfortunately events didn't unfold quite as expected - I still made a (v small) profit, but at Sub-McDonald rates of pay, and of course that was not really what I had hoped for in the run-up to the games. In fact I only managed to salvage something by monitoring the BBC live score updates for the evenings fixtures, and noting that Germany were on song (yet again), and luckily being able to buy odds I thought were good value on the +4.5 goals market when Germany were already 3-0 up and looking hungry for more. The German team are pretty reliable at the moment and give the impression that they score goals in predictable intervals! Were it not for that piece of opportunism it would have been a losing night. I had to cut my losses and salvage a proportion of my stake in a couple of games that prior to the event I'd expected would be profitable - salvaging a couple of quid from the ROI v Czech Republic game was a chastening experience as I'd confidently backed the CR prior to the game, but I believe in the trading principle that it is important to try and protect your stake, if that is possible. Often this means that you don't make as much profit on an event as you otherwise might, but the upside is that you don't dent your bank so severely when events go against your opening position.

Positives

A substantial level of excitement on the cheap! Managing to salvage something from what could easily have turned out to be a losing night. Eeking a fraction of a point closer to the goal of the fund.

Negatives

It is taxing to try and keep on top of several in-play games at once, especially when listening to more than one in play radio commentary. Try listening to two radios at once and you will understand what I mean. No video feed does not help (I can't justify/afford Sky TV at the moment). It was tempting to throw in the towel and accept a loss today, but I managed to play until the final whistles. Thats works out today at 4 hours in match effort + half an hour blogging for £2.97. I've just done the sums and they are not pretty reading! But what the hell, this is a hobby, and a quest, and I never give up!

Points to take forward from todays play

Maybe don't overstretch by committing to several different in-running markets simultaneously. It can be hard to win when one's concentration is fully focussed on a single event. Managing several different games with a single computer and screen increases the difficulty level. I can understand why some traders have a bank of computers each with their own screen, since the trader is then spared the manual tasks involved in switching between several different views on a single monitor. Still the main thing that hampers my trading is the lack of Sky TV, and reliance upon radio commentary, and worse, internet scoreboards, and even worse, a BT wireless connection that drops out reliably a couple of times an evening, and often slows to a speed slower than a dial-up connection. Unfortunately Sky is too expensive for me currently, so I guess I'll have to continue doing things the hard way for the time being.

best regards,

FT

Todays Results

Soccer: GBP2.97 Total P&L: GBP2.97  
 
Soccer / Wales v Cyprus : Over/Under 2.5 goals 11-Oct-06 20:00  £3.08
Soccer / Wales v Cyprus : Match Odds 11-Oct-06 20:00                £-5.69
Soccer / Norther Ireland v Latvia : Match Odds 11-Oct-06 20:00    £-1.00
Soccer / Slovakia v Germany : Over/Under 4.5 Goals 11-Oct-06 19:45 £ 4.32
Soccer / Rep of Ireland v Czech Republic : Match Odds 11-Oct-06 19:30  -£3.98
Soccer / Iceland v Sweden : Match Odds 11-Oct-06 19:05  £0.82
Soccer / Croatia v England : Match Odds 11-Oct-06 18:00  £5.42
 
 
Profit and Loss is shown net of commission. 
All times are UKT 
 ? 
 unless otherwise stated.