Early October, it’s about 6.30pm, it’s dark, and I’m trying to convince myself that I’m not really fearful for my life. I grew up around here. I’m a native, as it were, as was Marcus Rashford if you want a clue as to my whereabouts.
Having just been into the bookies to get a couple of Football Coupons down, I was driving home, and waiting for the lights to change. Two gangs of kids – and I mean kids, about 13 to 15 looking at them – one on the pavement to my left, one to my right. Before I had a clue what was happening it was like Baghdad in 1990 when the Americans moved in. I felt like BBC News legend John Simpson (only I didn’t have a flak jacket!) as huge bangs and whistles screeched about 10 feet above the car. The little blighters were shooting fireworks at each other, across the busy intersection, through what looked like short pieces of drainpipe which made for the ideal rocket launcher.
It was going to happen, surely. Any second, some rocket was coming through the car window and that would be it. I’d go up in smoke, although I suppose I’d be going out with a bang. And the bloody lights were taking forever to change. Fortunately, somebody had obviously informed the local constabulary and within seconds every Tom, Dick and Scroat had vanished. Like earwigs scurrying for cover when you turn over a big stone, as a police van ambled (should have been screeching to my mind, blues and twos and all) up behind me.
Took years off me, that did.
Anyway, I survived, and the experience hasn’t put me off what is the next big challenge of my betting career – using old fashioned cash in old fashioned bookie shops. It’s been a bit like going back to my betting roots. There was no online option when I started gambling, but it had been a long, long time since I’d set foot in a betting shop. Where were the clouds of suffocating cigarette smoke? Actually, where were the customers!? I have been a regular visitor to each of seven different offices, all within a 30 minute drive of home, and have been doing since the 1st of October. Not once have I ever seen more than four other people in at the same time, and usually it’s one sole chap sitting at one of the Blackjack machines or similar. Not sure how these shops are surviving.
What am I betting on?
OK, so, this is my coverage…
I’m trying to get Lucky 15s down from the Bookie Bashing Horse Racing Tracker. I do still have one online account which remarkably still allows me to bet despite two four figure returns from Lucky 15s in the past couple of months or so, plus Weekly Golf Value’s last two winning golfers. The account MUST be on borrowed time, but until that point when I get the dreaded email through, I’m going to carry on using as normal.
More and more of my golf bets will be in cash, and as previously mentioned I’m now using the Bookie Bashing Football Coupons strategy. There are other edges that I’m looking to exploit too from the site, including +EV Boosts available in the shops, trying to take advantage of similar using the Exchanges when those Boosts are only available online, and then looking at the NFL and other concessions such as the in shop Double Delight/Hat Trick Heaven offer at BetFred.
I’ve also, on my one last available online account, been placing the ‘Mug’ combination bets. You know the type – the RequestaYourOddsSpecial-type. Something along the lines of “Man Utd to score three own goals, Harry Kane to actually get a booking, and Christiano Ronaldo to go off in a huff between the 75th and 90th minute” type bet. The vague hope is that by placing these type of bets – which again using the BB Trackers will actually be marginally +EV or at least neutral – will prolong the lifespan of the account because they make me look like a mug. Seriously, all the Traders need to do is talk to my Missus to be persuaded of that, but there we go.
So there we have it. Something of an introduction. Next week, I’ll start posting my figures too for each approach. Spoiler: Football started off fantastic but very mixed more recently, Lucky 15s posted one big win but otherwise I can hardly get a horse placed, had my first winning NFL strategy bet on Sunday, and the DD/HH has been a success to date whilst other +EV bets haven’t.
Until next week…
