Scorching Summer!

Wow its hot, not had a summer like this for a few years where day after day its blue skies...not enjoying the humid nights though, ah well best not moan as dark at 4pm and freezing crap will be here before we know it...sigh!

Great to see Andy Murray win Wimbledon, not always been a fan of his monotone interviews etc but he played great and Lendl has really turned things around with him, maybe it will get some younger people in this country into tennis aswell. My Selby Men's team match vs Stamford Bridge was very tough, but we had a good result away at Pocklington the following week where we won all three of our matches!

Back at work means I have missed quite a lot of the better tennis trading but had Tuesday off and had some good results...

Have been watching The Sopranos from the beginning and have just finished the first season, good stuff though it took me a bit to get into, not up there with Breaking Bad and 24 imo but you can see it was a big influence and am looking forward to the rest of it...

Have not played much online poker this year, but had another crack at Pokerstars which with the big fields is very tough, but had a nice result coming 3/1360 for $4324...it was an $8.80 turbo rebuy and was a bit crazy in the first hour but got a decent stack and ran pretty well from there, 3 handed had ak v kk and hit an ace on the turn, his river flush was a bit of a Percy Thrower though lol, but cant moan at the end dollerage.

Might have a go at a few of the Betfair poker tourneys as they have quite a few good ones now as the site has got bigger with a few merging on Ipoker, but will still concentrate on the tennis trading...

Go Laura Robson!

Been a fantastic week off work, had a great week trading and loved watching a lot of the matches...

Laura Robson has had a great week so far and think she can beat most on her day, but her concentration levels are the problem and in a best of 3 that could be her biggest battle. Have actually only watched 10 mins of Murray's matches as other more exciting matches have been on at the same time, but that's because he's been so consistent and won pretty easily so far...

Really enjoyed the shocks of Nadal, Sharopova and Federer, but as usual none of the players could back their scalps up losing tamely or retiring the next round, shame.

Have actually done ok on some pre race trading this last week, just steady trades that add up which is useful, I will never be a numpty who follows race form, anyone who puts their trust in an animal to win a race for a living needs to see a head doctor imo! I am just going against the low odds pre race...

Will miss Wimbledon as at work Mon/Tuesday!! but got rest of the week off to watch/trade the rest of it...still playing in Selby's Men's Tennis team and playing away at Stamford Bridge this time, hopefully we dont get beat for once lol!

Its Kind Of Summer...

Into the middle of June and I guess this is Summer, hmm well I hope it gets better! waiting for the Queens final at the moment between Murray and Cilic which I expect Murray to win, on and off with the court covers though...hope Wimbledon has better weather as I have most of the two weeks off.

Missed one of my club nights because of the weather at the local tennis club, was gutted! really enjoy it down there, different match every time as we swap over partners after one set.

Nearly won the legend of Horneris this week, 1 set all and im 5-3 up serving for the match...but yep I turned into a french tanker right at the end, to be fair he suddenly smashed some great winners at the important time, hit my best bank hand ever though which brought a "what the fk!" from the young maestro lol.

Another nice weeks trading in between work, and was suprised to see my smallish horse trades had added up to a nice figure...

Will post again during Wimbledon where I will be trading all of the first week, and then am off from the Wednesday of the 2nd week...looking forward to it!

French Open 2013

Ahh Simona fancy getting rid of nature's gifts! still you have played a bit better this year ;)

So the French Open is well under way now and sadly but not surprising all the British hopefuls are out, Laura Robson really needs to put in more hard work I feel, she has the talent but has she got the raw hunger to get to the top?

Heather Watson has just recovered from illness so in the circumstances she did ok, Baltacha...hmm well good luck at Wimbledon!

A lot of one sided matches so far and its a bit painful coming in from work and been stuck with Fed or Williams just thrashing the next no chancer, much better when there is the red button choice of matches that you get with Sky (most tourneys) and the Beeb at Wimbledon...

Here's the last seven days trading...

A few reds in there but that's all part of sensible trading, taking the red and moving on to the next match/trade...its vital really, not to sit there and watch that red get bigger and bigger...just get out while you can!


Playing in New Earswick for Selby's tennis team this week, the score cant be any worse than last time! (not sure if my last partner is playing this time...) and hopefully the Saturday night beers in leeds wont affect it too much ;)

Clay Season

The clay season is leading up to its big tournament - the French Open and I can only see Nadal winning unless he gets some form of burnout, truly amazing since he has come back to win so many titles.

Murray has zero chance and his attitude has been awful recentley, to retire when he had just won the 2nd set must have burnt a lot of trading accounts, glad I was at work, why fight through the tie break then just retire..hmmm...but then to slag a Sky commentator off on his twitter account, well just not on imo.

In the Womens on her day Serena can beat anyone very easily, but if she has a bad day one of quite a few could have a chance, hopefully Laura Robson has a decent run...

Had another good week on the trading front...

Enjoy the sunday night golf when its the final round as people overreact on the leader even if he is just in the lead by one shot, put a lay in as they hit the back nine and hopefully there is the odd wayward shot so the odds shoot up, tennis has carried on been a good profit maker and am looking forward to the French starting on Itv/Eurosport this weekend.

Played in my first doubles match for Selby's team this Sunday, felt rough as was out on the Saturday till 1.30am and my partner (who i won 6-1 in singles the other week) was off form and they just constantly hit the ball at him, with that combination we managed 0-12, 0-12, 1-11 LOL! Still enjoyed it and having fun at the club nights played some mixed doubles this week, wow some women can actually play ;)

Good Times!

Great news that 24 is going to make a comeback, the show needed a break but I never thought it would return, nice surprise out of the blue! hopefully they will try a bit of variation as it had got a bit samey in the last few seasons, imo though seasons 1-5 were the best tv ever!

Been having some great trading sessions aswell, taking the green's when I can and not getting greedy, of course a few times I could have left it and won a lot more but then on the flipside if I hadnt have greened up I would have had a large red, Murray V Berdych is a good example, took the green after having backed Murray, Berdych came back to win 2-0 so I was wise to get out, not one red over the last week at tennis and have managed to trade quite a few with a lot of the matches running into the evening...

Loving the tennis and have been to club night at Selby Tennis Club a few times now, some good people down there and people of all ages and skill levels, think I have over done it though as my left foot is constantly hot and painful now most of the time, I will fight through it though!

I see Bt Sports have got all the Wta tennis from next year, hopefully some better coverage as Eurosport are a bit hit and miss, prefer the Wta as much more swings in it so better for trading and like to cheer Laura Robson on who if she can sort her double faults out could move onto big things...

A Post

Not posted in a while and read The Sultan's post over at http://centrecourttrading.blogspot.co.uk/ and made me think I should at least keep this place updated at least every now and then lol...I enjoy reading other blogs and am guilty as most of just giving up after a while...

As you may know I work full time and most tennis is in the day at the moment so not many trading chance's for me, day off today though and pulled in a few £££...

Made a few blunders over the last couple of months all involving backing at sub 1.30, from now on those odds are just treated as value lays, as I speak it looks like low backers are going to get hit as Fognini hit 1.01 and is now over 2's.

Snooker is a good sport to trade as it is slow moving (unless its near the end of the match) and you can weigh up your options without panicking, though my fave will always be Tennis as I love to watch aswell as play it...

Have played Horneris again recentley and managed to win a set and took it close in the third after getting bageled in the 1st :) its great to have a proper challenge against a decent player. Have also played at Selby's club night, partnering up with my old Headmaster! winning 6-4 and then 6-1 (myself at singles) against some random Pole...

Rewatched all of Breaking Bad recentley in preparation for the last ever episodes in August, abs brilliant again and picked up on loads of stuff I missed first time round...most films pale in comparison these days, some of what i've seen recentley...

Lawless - Ok but predictable

The Last Stand - Some good action but sad to see  Schwarzenegger looking so old...

Taken 2 - Switched it off, just so cliched dull and boring, seen it all before years ago in 24 and done much better...

Still Winter?

Wow this winter seems to have gone on forever, funny the years fly by but it always seems to be cold and grim weather...really missing playing tennis now, hopefully March will bring some decent playing conditions.

Djokovic showed he was the boss at the Aussie Open and Murray was never really in it...did Novak let him win the US Open? :)

Gasquet Vs Paire in the French final today and Gasquet starting low at 1.31, will be putting in a lay there...Gassa has one of the best backhands in the game but normally starts a bit slow and Paire is no slouch am expecting a 3 setter...

Premier League Darts started this week and was an enjoyable selection of matches Van Gerwin as low as 1.02 but only managed a draw in the end vs Taylor, goes on for many weeks so will be following it and hoping to catch some of those low lays.

Film wise:

Silver Lining Playbook - Fantastic stuff, dont normally like this type of film but this one really hit home...

Wreck It Ralph - Ha family time! but as a massive 80s arcade gamer this was made for my generation aswell, guest spots from Pacman, Qbert, Street Fighter etc...brilliant and some fantastic end titles.

Life Of Pi - Great looking visuals (apart from the ridic Meerkat island) but very overrated slow paced and religious preaching. Will probably win all the oscars then...

Australian Open 2013

The first grand slam of the year starts tonight over in Australia, midnight starts mean I will miss most of it which is a shame but it should be a great spectacle as always...

Think Djokovic has got this one in the bag with a straight forward draw all the way, on the outsider front I have had a sneaky £10 on Almagro at 500s as he has shown some decent form these last few months, looking to trade out after a few rounds...

In the womens, Serena should have no problems if she is fully fit, she is simply miles ahead of all the others and makes the world no 1 Azarenka look like a world no 50!

The darts BDO touney which has been shown on the BBC has been a big letdown compared to the PDC that is shown on Sky, no walk on dolly birds, quiet sound system, compere who can barely say "one hundred" and poor quality players. I even miss the drunken mob shouting "boring boring tables" lol.

Seen some good films this last week:

Skyfall - Excellent Bond film after the poor Quantum Of Solace

Seven Psychopaths - New film from the director of In Bruges, not as good as that but still great and  quirky, violent and original much the same way as the former....

Django Unchained - Quality Tarantino form here with Christoph Waltz giving a brilliant performance as the German.

Ok Burglar alarm was going off at 4am so im off for a lie down!

All The Best!

All the best and a happy new year to all the sports traders out there. Tennis is back big time tomorrow with Eurosport covering Doha all day live which should be good, i've heard rumours that they are going to lose tennis to yet another pay channel which would be a shame as they show lots of the smaller tourneys...

Loving the darts, i've actually become a big fan of the sport now which always helps to trade, if your sat watching the sport and cant stand it (thats me with cricket) its not going to help you move on at trading. Tonight Taylor vs Barney will be awesome, and Taylor saying Barney had told him he had wanted to die in his sleep after losing to him has added fire to the match. Did pretty good yesterday on the two matches...

Watched a film called The Imposter last week which is a documentary/film but because it is a true story it ended up been completley enthralling - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1966604/

"A documentary centered on a young Frenchman who convinces a grieving Texas family that he is their 16-year-old son who has been missing for 3 years."

 "His impersonation fooled several officials in Spain and the U.S., and he was apparently accepted by many of Nicholas's family members, even though he was seven years older than Nicholas, spoke with a strange accent, and had brown eyes and dark hair rather than Nicholas's blue eyes and blond hair."

Fact much stranger than fiction and how the family believed it was him when he looked nothing like him and had a french accent is incredible! you end up questioning did the family murder the kid?

Much better than another yawnfest cgi blockbuster, I havent even bothered downloading the new Batman film as The Dark Knight was the most overrated film ever imo, Expendables 2 was a laugh though...ok bring on the tennis!

Atp World Tour Finals 2012

Have been enjoying the end of season Mens tournament and expecting two cracking semi finals today...hard to say who will take the crown, but I think Murray has a very good chance, only sour note was Tipsfixavic been there...he makes a mockery of tennis imo and is 100% only in it for the money, pretty sure he wont make it next year and a more worthy player will get a chance...

Some steady trading this week and some exciting times on the horizon thanks to my ol buddy Sniper, hopefully all goes to plan...

Got to mention Dexter again, it had been a cracking season up until the last 5 mins when the writers had Dex regenerating Christmas lights and a snow machine (hes an electrical engineer aswell...) and then decided to turn it into a Mills And Boon love story yet again, totally out of character and a bottle job...

Ok off to smack some Sunday morning tennis balls...

* Lost 1-6 4-6 ooof hangover tennis no good, radar was way off, top consistent serving from Sniper...

Istanbul 2012

The end of season Womens Tennis Championship is upon us and is a chance for the top 8 to compete against each other, even though Williams isnt the world no 1 she will probably put the rest of them in there place at the age of 32. It runs into the evenings so some good chances to trade...

Got to be careful as recentley I have been leaving big reds when trading and have been lucky a couple of times which can turn into straight gambling, as Sniper told me today...trade within your bank!  all pretty obvious really but you've got to keep that in your mindeset...

Winter setting in now but managed a game of tennis against Sniper today 6-1, 6-0 (been off form since his manflu) and may be one of  the few times to play for the rest of the year with the cold weather arriving this weekend, shame as its a good way to keep fit and I really enjoy the sport these days and I retired from football a few months ago due to an ankle injury...

Full House!

A crappy week at work...but a good weeks trading, hitting a full house with profits over 7 different sports (even just short of £2 at football lol). The main success personally has been the profits in the horse racing, most of this has been pre race and I am starting to finally get a feel on how the markets move, the £60+ loss was my own daft fault, when I left one to go in play and forgot and was browsing across the internet, flicked back to Fairbot and just caught the odds hitting 1.01 and a loss, of course I could have easily greened up if I had been paying attention!

Tennis has carried on been a great sport for trading and at least there are some evening matches to trade this week...

A few films watched recentley - The Dictator - crazy stuff and a lot of miss but when it hits some comedy moments

The Avengers - Wow expected better, non stop cgi action but I found it very boring as it was just like watching someone else play a videogame in cheat mode, you know they are invincible so whats the point?

Prometheus - A let down when compared to the amazing trailer and not really an Alien film, but still enjoyed it a lot as it was never predictable and made some interesting points about where mankind actually may have come from...

...and the return of Dexter has been great after last years abs terrible season, anything can happen now I guess!

E U R! E U R! E U R!

"E U R" its not got the same irritating tone as the shouts of "USA USA USA" but what a joyous comeback that was in the Ryder Cup, never thought they would make the full comeback, but obv the odds were too low with so many holes to play, got my lay in at 1.17 and of course in hindsight would have been great to just leave it, but later on the odds were flying all over the place and it was a straight coin flip so took a nice green when I could...

Made a bit last week on the tennis but not what I excpected and a lot of the matches were taking place at like 4am, and I couldnt resist my lie ins! same again this week with early morning stuff from China so will miss that while at work, made a mess this morning though backing Cilic in the third set and blew £60 which went against all my rules, just jumping into a game with no pics (just slow scoreboard)...thats why im still working as I get complacent and greedy and just fly in and think the greens will come...

THATS NOT TRADING THATS GAMBLING GONK!

So with not much tennis left this year i will try and get my head round the pre horse markets again...or maybe not lol...

Week Off Work

Well third time lucky in keeping this post up! twice i've tried to post and it seems to vanish somewhere after publishing! ah well I will say again - IM OFF WORK FOR THE WEEK....;)

The Toray Pan Pacific Open (WTA) is on all morning this week on Eurosport so will be trading that, didnt get much trading in over the last week as the mens and womens tour has been over in the far east so most of the matches have been played in the morning while i've been at work..

Hopefully there will be the usual big swings and the unreal double faults from even some of the top players in the womens game...

I dont play online poker much anymore but do try to play a few of the decent mtts on Betfair on a Sunday, smaller fields than the ridic sizes on Pokerstars...and last night had a nice result...came 2nd for $3582 in a 959 peeps tourney. Was a steady journey with no big suckouts, just played solid and tight, was unlucky in the end heads up, blinds had got massive and I shoved with kq, he called with qj off and hit a jack to take the $5k plus...

Really happy with the $$$ but you still end up a bit peeved when you dont take the first prize, ah well beats a week at work!!!

6 Players left and close in chips...

Gone for a slash, heads up....

Us Open 2012 - Andy Murray

What a brilliant final, stayed up till the 2.30am finish and was well charped at work next day! When it got to 2-2 I thought Murray had blown it but he he fought really well and I had already greened up by then so all was good! Never thought this would be 3-0 to either player so had layed that in the set betting from the start...

Has been a fantastic few weeks tennis trading, also layed Woods in the golf which seems to be a good move these days as people just back him at low odds blindly whatever hes doing...

The smaller tennis tourneys that are on at the moment are looking good with plenty of swings with them been Wta, most of these women outisde the top 50 can barely serve!

Below is the last week which has been my best ever and even a green in the mugs field that is horse racing!

Us Open 2012

Been a really enjoyable Us Open with many close matches and some great trade chances! great to see Laura Robson do so well and she has a brilliant future ahead of her, love her carefree attitude in interviews aswell...

Hopefully neither Sharopova or Azarenka will win the womens tournament as the noise they make is just ridiculous and they really should forfeit points at certain moments. Think Murray really may have a chance this time even when he went a set and 1-5 behind he bounced back!

As usual a few losing horse trades to go along with another good week, just a shame not much more televised tennis to come apart from the smaller tournaments that get shown on Betfair...im on a roll so want as much tennis as possible! ;)

*** Tonights Trade ***

Just traded the Tipsarevic Vs Ferrer match...Tips went 2-0 and his odds dropped from 3.5 to just above 2s, I put in a lay on Tips as it was Ferrer making errors not Tips playing brilliant, thankfully from this point Ferrer stormed forward and I took a nice green...

Edit - 10pm - Ferrer hit 4s in play since, anyones match now!

Cracked It!

Oh hi der! after throwing away too much on silly horse trades not long after the last blog post I said sod it and didnt trade much, returned to lose another lay on the horses and I packed it all in for a while...

Started trading on the Fairbot simulation after that and tried a few things out, learnt a few things and returned with a new bank...since then my tennis trades have mostly gone to plan and have had a cracking few weeks, looking forward to the Us Open next week which may involve a few late nights!

Horse trading to me is the devils work but with so many chances every day and so many meetings I feel I have to find a way to make some money at it, I  see a new nags service starts next week which I may join for some inspiration...

I love the sport of tennis to play and watch so making money at it is pretty cool, have had some good matches vs Sniper recentley, injured myself at football about 11 weeks ago when I twisted my ankle, its never been the same since but strangely feels the best when im playing tennis...I end up limping in the hours after!

So im singing when im winning again...heres to more of that! lol!

In The Jaws Of trading

Yup sometimes fells like im stuck in the Jaws of a trade...that happened recentley when I was determined something was going to happen when what I was watching was pretty obvious it wasnt going to happen. That is just stubborn gambling which is my last hurdle to get over.

 Nice win on Williams today when she battered Stosur, she must look around and think heck I could play till im 50 as the Wta tennis circuit is so weak at the moment, as i speak the other semi looks like its going to be 6-0 6-0 to an average player...crazy!

 Still keep taking one step forward and one step back at Horse trading, build up nice amounts with small trades then wipe that out with one greedy one...

 Loads of tennis to trade in the next couple of months just hope a lot of it will be televised as most of them are smaller tourneys, I think a lot will be on Espn so may subscribe to that.

 Lost to Sniper the other week at tennis but came back yesterday to win, hopefully have another match this week although the weather looks terrible so may just sit at the computer for 12 hours instead...

Quality Darts

Well quality darts on the tv, but not my trading...parted with about £50 yesterday evening as I traded the darts or should I say gambled, have learnt that trading the Premier League darts is pretty tough. Its just too hard to predict as all the players are top notch, and dont even think about opposing Phil Taylor at the moment.

No tennis streams at all this week, starts on Sky tomorrow from Indian Wells, early round matches have been on without streams but I like to actually see what I am trading, not guessing on a delayed scoreboard where the player might have even retired while your still sat there looking at 30-30.

Wactched Tower Heist with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller, after a promising start it turns into such a ridic farce with the biggest plot holes I have ever seen...shame.

Right off my first tennis of the year, off to play the mighty Sniper!

* 6-4 6-4 3-0(R)