Give me a break!

For those in full time, paid employment, there are such things as holidays. You give your boss some notice, stick your initials up on the holiday board, and count down the days until you can escape for a week or two. Or if you fancy a day off, following the same process results in an extra lie in or two. It's a pretty simple concept to get your head around.

Now look at the chap or chapess who is running a full time gambling portfolio (and by full time, I have this vague notion this term refers to a portfolio that contains say, ten or more services)? Things aren't quite as straightforward to get some time off as they are in the office job. There's no colleague to stand in and pick up the slack. There's no boss to oversee affairs in your absence. And trouble is, there are some pretty significant consequences to taking a well deserved rest from your betting.

Before considering these consequences further (in subsequent posts), I'd like to ask if some of you who do run a portfolio ever feel the need to take a break from it all once in a while? And not just because you're losing - I have seen people give advice that when on a losing run, it might be a good idea to stop gambling and take stock for a while - but because, put bluntly, you're knackered. The pressure to get the best odds, to ensure you're spreading your bets to protect your accounts with the bookies, the record-keeping done in the evening after a long day at work, the endless football bets to place on a Friday night when you'd rather be slobbing out on the sofa with a pizza and beer...I'm telling you, it all begins to take a toll, whether your losing or winning. It's bound to. And I don't care how detached you can force yourself to be from the events your betting on, there is always, always a stress involved in this game - it is the nature of the beast, is it not?

I can't help thinking that a fresh gambler is likely to be less error-prone than a weary one. I also think that when doing something stressful every day, whatever it is, there is a real risk of suffering burn out from it in the long term.

I've had an idea or two that might soothe some of these stresses, and I intend to share it with you through the week. Nothing ground-breaking and I'm not sure how practical it'd be for everyone. So if anyone out there has any ideas of their own, please do share.



Today's Action

Typical Monday - quiet, and loss-making. None of the four racing services in action turned a profit and only one hit upon a winner - ProBandit (Desert Strike - Wolves - 5/1) and this was a minimum stake in a race in which two other selections were backed to larger stakes. It was a blank everywhere else.

PJA NH: Staked 1pt, -1pt.
On The Nose: Staked 0.5pts, -0.5pts.
ProBandit: Staked 2pts, -0.5pts.
Winning Racing Tips: Staked 0.4pts, -0.4pts.
Financial loss on the racing of £74.

Monday 7th February: Staked £134, -£74.
Week to date: Staked £134, -£74.
Month to date: Staked £4,856, +£749.52, roi 15.43%.