A little relief.

Anon. posted a comment after last night's lament of a post and made some very valid points. He/she pointed out that at just c.£325 down, losses were very recoverable. Another valid point was that the proceeds of gambling are not being relied upon to pay the bills (thank goodness, at the mo!), and reiterated the value of patience. The final piece of advice, and a piece well worth heeding, was to chill out. Amen to that!

My aim yesterday was to post from the heart. The aim was to highlight that no matter how level headed and detached one can be most of the time, there will inevitably be times when things get you down. This is unavoidable, I think, but the most important message that I was trying to get across is that these times are not the right times to start making decisions that can affect portfolio performance in the future. I tried to spell out the temptations that arise after a really bad day to start meddling and make ill-advised decisions which can adversley impact long term results - changing stakes, dropping services, etc. In short, bottling it. As Anon was correct in pointing out, the losses are not that big, and in the context of returns gained over the last seven months or so, the losses are in fact an irrelevance. Sometimes, I think that doing nothing is the hardest course to follow, but the course that ultimately will lead to the greatest gains. The trick is to leave things as they are and only review events and make alterations at a particular time, ideally one that has already been set in the mind of the gambler. I would suggest that perhaps the end of each month is such a time.

Today's Action

Winning Racing Tips managed to recommend a bet today, the result of which succinctly summed up what is happening at the moment. An each way treble was the suggestion. On checking the results this evening, I found that the first two horse had won. The third selection finished third. OK, slightly disappointing I thought, but at least stakes would be returned with perhaps a little extra? Oh, no. The third horse did indeed finish third, but there were three non-runners, leaving seven that went to post which of course reduced the number of official places in the race from three to two. I had to laugh.

On The Nose and Chasemaster each failed with their one selection for the day, and PJA's sole runner finished in the places.

A slightly better day on the football. Football Elite managed two from two and Strike Zone recorded a very small loss with one coming in from two selections. The Sports Investor selection was Real Madrid at -1 on the Asian Handicap this evening. They won 1-0 so stakes returned, although this feels like a victory as Real had their goalie sent off in the first minute!

The Sportsman had an account bet but I couldn't get on as I was out with my lad in the woods this morning, climbing trees, would you believe!?! Couldn't get a decent 3G connection on the Iphone so left it. As it happens, the bet wasn't a winner, but the saving stake recommended would have come in, so I neither lost out nor gained by not putting the bet on.

PJA NH: Staked 1pt, -0.033pts.
On The Nose: Staked 0.5pts, -0.5pts.
Winning Racing Tips: Staked 0.5pts, -0.5pts.
Chasemaster: Staked 0.25pts, -0.25pts.
Financial loss on the racing of £55.65.

Football Elite: Staked 2pts, +2.155pts.
Strike Zone: Staked 2pts, -0.167pts.
Sports Investor: Staked 1pt, nil profit/loss.
Financial profit on the football of £207.17.

Sunday 13th February: Staked £475, +£151.52.
Week: Staked £3,841.50, -£997.23.
Month to date: Staked £8,563.50, -£173.71, roi -2.02%.

So, a pretty darned poor week closes. As Vinnie Jones once said, it's been emotional.