So here’s the question.  Which is better – Christmas Day or Boxing Day?

As a bettor, it’s got to be Boxing Day, surely?  Don’t get me wrong, I do love a Christmas Day.  Our family is weird in that we have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, so there’s no dinner to cook. We tend to rise fairly early – although not at the sadistic hour we used to get up when the kids were younger! – have a cooked breakfast, a walk along the beach and then home to open some pressies.  A decent old film in the afternoon or a snooze followed by a laugh at Eric Morecambe in an endlessly repeated Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special….what’s not to like?

But Boxing Day.  Now that’s different gravy.  A copy of the Racing Post, a scan of the cards and a beer before the action kicks off at Kempton.  The build up to the King George to enjoy, Racing Service 2 bets to place and write-up to read, and all the while we’ve got the festive footie starting.  And if all that wasn’t enough, this year we have the first day of the Boxing Day Test Match in South Africa to watch.  I suppose family will fit around it all somehow, but bearing in mind there’s only the four of us in a South Devon cottage miles from anyone else who isn’t in the local pub, there’s no stress.  Kids’ll probably be on their screens anyway!

Nope, there’s only one winner for me (probably similar on the Boxing Day racing, knowing my luck) – Christmas Day is great, but it’s better when the sport’s on the day after.

As this is the last Bet Diary post of the year, may I take this opportunity to say thanks for reading, and make sure you enjoy the holiday period.  Eat well, drink well, be well.  I’ll see you on the other side.

Portfolio performance for December to date

Main portfolio: ROI 47.76%, ROC 10.19%.

Individual Service Performance

Bet Alchemist: Staked 11pts, +16.725pts.

Racing Service 1: Staked 13pt, -7.5pts.

Football Service 1: Staked 13pts, +0.164pts

Golf Insider: Staked 17.5pts, +103.5pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 14pts, +4.113pts.

Precision Value: Staked 41pts, +9pts.

Football Service 2: Staked 12pts, +3.59pts.

Racing Service 2: Staked 5pts, 6.95pts.

Racing Service 3: Staked 18.5pts, +2.3pts.

2020.  Blimey.  I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid 2020 had a very, very futuristic sound to it.  2020 was going to be the time when we’d be flying about in hover cars, transporting us from A to B at ridiculously high speeds.  There were the completely unrealistic predictions too, back in the 80s when I was just a nipper, about how by 2020 we’d have trains that ran on time, main roads that wouldn’t be closed off with the first flurries of snow each winter, and a national television broadcaster that wouldn’t show repeats on Christmas Day.  Pfft.  As if?!?

But 2020 is nearly upon us and I must confess that my thoughts have been turning to how to increase betting profits next year.  The broad conclusions I’ve reached are that I’m going to run a streamlined portfolio made up of services that historically at least, have generated higher levels of ROI.  In other words, I want to cut down on my workload and get more bang for my betting buck.

To that end I’ve already decided that I would copy the Making Punting Pay blogger when it comes to following Northern Monkey and go win only on his advice.  I like the approach and I know it’s something that Wayne himself has mulled over in the past before opting to stick with tipping each way in order to make the betting paths as smooth as possible for his followers.  I can’t help feeling I’m an experienced enough bettor now though to be able to put up with the deeper drawdowns and longer losing runs as a sacrifice for potentially better returns, especially if set up properly in terms of betting bank.  This is in fact a change I’ve already implemented for this month’s betting.

I am wondering long and hard about sports betting.  Golf, if got right (and my word didn’t Golf Insider get it right last week with a 200/1 winner!?!) will always produce a high ROI provided the tipster has a genuine edge.  As for football, I just don’t know.  I just have a nagging feeling that the markets are becoming more and more efficient.  One still to ponder.

Pleased I didn’t miss that Golf Insider winner.  Don’t know what I missed on Saturday – a traditional pre-Christmas family get together meant I didn’t bother trying to place any bets at all.  Some things are more important, especially at this time of year.

Portfolio performance for December to date

Main portfolio: ROI 53.42%, ROC 5.75%.

Individual Service Performance

Bet Alchemist: Staked 4pts, 0pts.

Racing Service 1: Staked 1pt, -1pt.

Football Service 1: Staked 5pts, -0.07pts

Golf Insider: Staked 17.5pts, +103.5pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 11.25pts, +1.426pts.

Precision Value: Staked 23pts, +4.5pts.

Football Service 2: Staked 8pts, +2.676pts.

Racing Service 2: Staked 0pts, 0pts.

Racing Service 3: Staked 8.5pts, +8.55pts.

The last couple of months have been tough going indeed.  October was a poor month and there have been times when it’s felt that November was going the same way.  I can’t say that the consistently wet weather we’ve seen these past few weeks are affecting things too much when the poorest performing services have included all three footie tipsters in the portfolio.  I guess there are times when you have to concede that there’s no rhyme nor reason to what happens and that these ups and downs we experience are simply a natural part of betting.

I’ve seen plenty of these hard times before, of course.  Experience teaches you that if you can remain focused, calm and accepting of what the punting Gods are throwing at you, you come out the other side and successfully forge into profit again.  These are the times of course when your bank management and set up is stress tested, as is your mentality.

All of this sounds like November has been a disaster.  It hasn’t been – it’s ended in a profit, albeit a very small one.  But there are times when not losing money is a big win, and this feels like one of those times.

Hats off to Bet Alchemist this month, which has performed quite superbly.  Great to see the return of Racing Service 2 who has picked up this season as if never having been away, and an impressive first month for Precision Value.

That the month ended only just in the black after the above mentioned services all performed admirably, tells you that there was some pretty shocking performances elsewhere…

‘Main’ portfolio: ROI 1.89%, ROC 1.07%.

Individual Service Performance

Bet Alchemist: Staked 32pts, +30.45pts, ROI 95.15%, ROC 30.45%.

Racing Service 1: Staked 43pts, -6.9pts, ROI -16.04%, ROC -3.45%

Football Lay Profits: Staked 68.9pts, -4.5pts, ROI -6.53%, ROC -2.25%

Football Service 1: Staked 24pts, -3.798pts, ROI -15.82%, ROC -7.59%.

Golf Insider: Staked 29.5pts, +4.045pts, ROI 13.71%, ROC 1.01%.

Northern Monkey: Staked 33pts, -8.831pts, ROI -26.76%, ROC -8.83%.

Precision Value: Staked 111pts, +26.781pts, ROI 24.12%, ROC 16.73%.

Football Service 2: Staked 35.5pts, -5.41pts, ROI -15.23%, ROC -13.52%.

Racing Service 2: Staked 20.25pts, +7.125pts, ROI 35.18%, ROC 10.68%.

Racing Service 3: Staked 59.5pts, -20.7pts, ROI -34.78%, ROC -16.73%.