Thursday, February 15, 2007

Throwing money away

Daily Result: £296.14

Funny how things can make a turn for the worse so quickly. A great start to the month has turned into an ok one in just two days. But I've got to put my hands up regarding today's loss. Completely my fault. And far, far more annoying than several bigger losses I've had before. Possibly the most annoying since I started the blog. And it's all down to the fact that I simply made a totally basic error. Schoolboy stuff.

I lost the money on the Davis v Dott match in the Welsh Open. Had got into a small to moderate all red position earlyish in the match but nothing that couldn't be sorted. As Davis progressed to 3-1 I backed him, had him as a smallish winner and Dott obviously a larger red. The 5th frame was a messy tactical affair, suited Davis better than Dott, he was 30ish points ahead and the reds were all tied up on a cushion. I was watching expecting a 4-1 scoreline.

At which point the tv coverage stopped. It was neither on BBC2 Wales nor Eurosport - who were showing highlights rather than live snooker, before switching to some indoor hockey! I flapped around looking for an interactive service, or at least delayed internet pictures, but all I could find was the official scoreboard. Which had too long a delay on it to be of any use to me.

So I sat there watching the scoring. I knew Davis was a big favourite to win the frame from what I'd seen and the frame odds market so decided to wait and see if he did. If he did I'd get out and leave the match with a profit. If he lost it / looked like he'd lose I'd get out all red.

Trouble was it was just pretty hard to make head or tail of what was going on because of the scrappy frame. Both players got in but just got the odd red. Anyway, eventually Dott won the frame and I felt I had little choice but to get out and take the loss. It was basically impossible to continue.

Eurosport was back on at 6pm with the snooker so I tuned in for that figuring I could limit the damage event though the match had progressed by then but once again the channel started showing recorded highlights rather than the live match. So infuriating! So I just left the market and accepted the loss.

So basically by not double checking the state of tv coverage I dug myself into a hole, which I probably made worse by not getting out immediately I lost live pictures. A stupid mistake. One I don't recall making before. And certainly one I don't intend to make again! Honestly, sometimes you just think you'd be better off headbutting a wall!!

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