In. Out. In. Out. Shake it all about...

Yesterday I alluded to having a concern about Shaolin Betting; something that I needed to give some thought to. It is only a concern because of an experience I had when subscribed to another service.

It has come to my attention - and I believe that this knowledge was known by many others already - that Yakir, the chap who runs the service, has been joined at SB by a chap who previously had dealings with AH Betting, another football advisory service. Now this in itself is no problem at all, of course, but in the context of what happened at AH Betting, I do have a cause for concern. My experience there was a poor one. AH were going along quite nicely thankyou, but then went through a spell which can only be described as being a period when the wheels fell off somewhat. After the event, it was said that the reason for the poor spell was disruption caused by this mysterious figure and a subsequent acrimonious split.

I am not going to pretend to even begin to know what actually happened. The ins and out are none of my business. Whatever happened though did affect my betting performance as the service's results level declined, and you can see why I may be a little cautious now with regard Shaolin. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

I believe that SB have been approached by independent analysers/reviewers of the service, and the feedback from Yakir is that his new colleague is having no input at all into the selection process of the tips, but is simply helping out with the admin side of the service. In this light, it could be that this is actually a very positive thing for SB and it's subscribers. We have discussed in earlier posts on this blog the dangers of an expanding service being overwhelmed by increased admin levels as a consequence of success and how this may adversely affect the tipsters ability to concentrate on what they do best, ie. find value-priced winners. Ian from Football Betting Index quite rightly (in my opinion) pointed out that the ideal set up for a tipping service is to have someone to work as the tipster and someone else to "run" the service. I do wonder if this set up, implemented last year by On The Oche, is behind that service's recent upturn in performance.

So, what to do? Under the circumstances, I have decided to essentially run Shaolin Betting on a "trial" basis until the end of the season. This means halving the stakes to £50/point. I emphasise that this decision has not been based in any way at all on performance levels. I am making it as I think it fair to accept Yakir's explanation at face value (as there is no reason to do otherwise), but I want to assure myself that the problems that AH Betting experienced are not repeated, because if they were, it would be to the detriment of my betting bank. One thing I have learned about betting...you cannot lose by being cautious. If, as I hope, things are fine over the next couple of months, then I can go into next season with every confidence in the potential of Shaolin Betting as an ongoing part of the portfolio. Let's hope that is the case.


Now, I have a confession to make. An admission, as it were.

Last week we discussed on here the dropping of Sports Investor from the portfolio. I didn't back the weekend's selections and missed out on about a point of profit. Last night I read the SBC's thoughts on the service and after making a point about how fine the margins are with this service this season between making a profit and a loss, I have decided to reinstate it to my portfolio. I don't wish to go into more detail about the comments made by the SBC because it is not my material to reproduce; suffice to say that they made me look at things from a different perspective. As a result I shall follow the selections until the end of the season and reassess then.

Is this simply making a pig's ear of things (quite possibly!), or is it making a decision for the best reasons at the time but not being too stubborn to refuse to listen to an alternative point of view? I prefer to think I fall into the latter category! I'm not sure everyone would agree.


Today's Action

Not much joy with the racing today. Only ProBandit found a winner (Pelmanism - Kempton - 5/1) but it was only enough to ensure the service broke even. Northern Monkey Punter, On The Nose, and Chasemaster each failed to provide a return.

Northern Monkey Punter: Staked 2pts, -2pts.
On The Nose: Staked 1pt, -1pt.
ProBandit: Staked 1.5pts, no profit/loss.
Chasemaster: Staked 0.25pts, -0.25pts.
Financial loss on the football of £75.

Football Elite had their second loser of midweek tonight. After all the rigmarole, the Sports Investor bet merely returned stakes, and Football Investor's one bet was a winner.

Football Elite: Staked 1pt, -1pt.
Football Investor: Staked 1pt, +1.46pts.
Sports Investor: Staked 1pt, no profit/loss.
Financial loss on the football of £78.10.

Wednesday 2nd March: Staked £350, -£153.10.
Week to date: Staked £810, -£40.60.
Month to date: Staked £680, -£61.60, roi -9.05%.