Back to earth with a bump

Yesterday's Result: £316.83

Well I guess after the recent highs and my celebrations over the blog's 1st birthday there was a kind of inevitability about yesterday's loss! The irony of losing after getting so many emails saying well done for winning is certainly one that appeals to my warped sense of humour. And the outcome of a losing day first day back after a couple off is one I might have even had a sneaky side bet on if I could have!!

It's not all bad news though. The amount certainly isn't pleasant. But losses are always just around the corner and this one serves a useful purpose. Brings me back down to earth and is a timely reminder that noone ever really cracks this trading lark. It's not just a case of turning the computer on, watching sport and making money. Profits require concentration, strategy, discipline and a good old dollup of Lady Luck. Enter the markets without them all and you'll quickly kiss your money goodbye. As I proved rather well yesterday.

My timing was just awful from start to finish really. In fact, it seems my only really good piece of timing was not bothering to get up early for the start of the Bangladesh v India ODI and then discovering it had been rain delayed and I hadn't missed that much of the match anyway! But unfortunately it was pretty much all downhill from there. A pretty steep one at that.

I won't go into too much detail but I was amazed to see the India price was 1.25 when I got up. Considering this is what it had been when I went to bed and Bangladesh were 74-0 from 15 overs I considered it a massive lay. So after a quick check of the match thread on the Betfair Forum and catching up on team / pitch news I layed them - though the price had reached 1.29 by then. Great timing! Two wickets in three balls put it down to the mid 1.1x range and left me wishing I'd stayed in bed!

Still, it didn't leave my book in too bad a shape and there was plenty of time to put it right. Unfortunately I made a few more mistakes along similar lines in the Indian run chase and got caught out by a fast and large price swing against me. Was literally unable to lay Bangladesh from 1.9 to 2.4 during maybe a 5 minute period no matter what price I seemed to offer! Throw in a slap in the face from Lady Luck - Dhoni, who saw the Indians home in an impressive innings, was given not out to a plumb LBW when facing his first ball of spin - and I ended up with a not so healthy all red situation.

The amount, including insurance on the tie, wasn't too big though so I waited until I had India as the winners and started reducing it on them. Just by small amounts. I'd already decided I'd take a loss if needed rather than start getting involved for large sums and risk too big a liability for the sake of a small green. The end result was a £130 or so loss on the match.

Later on I had a look in on a couple of tennis matches and made around £60 of it back before totally screwing up the Starace v Davydenko match. The root of which was a total lack of concentration. Completely my fault. Was going along well with a nice green when I took a call. Part way through the call I realised I had a red figure next to Starace's name and judging by the price he'd broken Davydenko's serve. Like a true muppet I'd left a back of Davydenko in the system without cancelling it and someone had helped themselves to some free money.

I left the position pretty much as it was but when Davydenko went a break up in the second I switched. Had fancied him to win from the start and still did. Unfortunately that's when my poor timing resurfaced again. He served two double faults and made two unforced errors in the next game and the set was back on serve. Throw in a couple more positions that I got into and ended up having to bail from for a few ticks loss here and there and before long I had a not so nice all red book.

At which point I decided to just leave the match. Everything I touched was going wrong. It was probably a mistake to have started the game. And I figured it would definitely be a mistake to carry on. Just wasn't feeling right about it. Was annoyed by the silly mistake. Didn't want to increase my red. And the match was getting towards the more volatile stages with the extra risk that involves. So I quit and walked away. Live to fight another day and all that. I simply levelled my red off at around £250 the pair, turned the tv off and got on with some other stuff. Only realised Davydenko had won this morning.

So there you have it. A £315 or so loss. Not the best of days really. But certainly not the worst and I'll have put it out of my head before I get involved again. As for when that'll be I'm not sure. Off to London shortly for a meeting and then to pick up my resized wedding ring before drinks and a meal this evening. So not sure if I'll fancy the early start for the 2nd Bangladesh v India ODI tomorrow morning. Emma goes abroad on business on Sunday so no doubt we'll spend tomorrow afternoon doing something together rather than me hiding away in my trading den. So unless I do get up early tomorrow it'll probably be Sunday or Monday before I fire up the trading software in anger again.

Best of luck if you get involved in the mean time :-) And a big thankyou to everyone who left left comments and sent emails following my post about the blog being 1. Much appreciated.