More thoughts gathered whilst away on holiday last week, this time centred around the sports part of the the portfolio.
Losing bookmaker accounts probably has less of an overall impact on the Sports services I currently follow than on golf, and definitely on horse racing (more on which, see tomorrow’s post). But it does have an impact, nevertheless. I’m fortunate however, in that both Touchdown Profit and The Poacher are both very much geared towards using the Exchanges, and the latter only quotes prices available on Betfair. I don’t see any reason why I just can’t carry on as normal with these two.
I guess come the end of the year a decision needs to be made based on the longer term performance of The Poacher. This year to date has been underwhelming, but I’m not stupid enough to fail to realise that this could just be bad variance having an effect. I don’t see any differences in approach, and I certainly don’t see any lack of effort going in, so at this stage I’m minded to give it longer and see if results don’t pick up.
The issue with Touchdown Profit is much like that of The Value Bettor, in that it operates for only half a year, and with few bets being offered up it can take longer for variance – both good and bad – to come through. It would be very easy for a bad season to be had, or two consecutively, without the edge having been lost simply because the data sample is of a size that definitive conclusions can’t be made.
What is really unfortunate is that the Sports service most heavily impacted by a lack of viable bookmaker accounts is this year’s Star of the Show, On The Oche. My task now is to see if quoted prices can be achieved by the time I can get to the shops. I do wonder too, if I may be affected more seriously by those bets that are issued in the smaller competitions. Guess we’ll see.
I do have a plan though.
What I need is a service that can add turnover, and which I can use cash to follow. The answer is staring me in the face and is something I’ve privately begun to use and with some success to date…the Bookie Bashing Football Coupons Tracker. Reviewed (and review updated) by the SBC here, I can easily get on, turnover through the main European seasons should be strong, and it’s far a very trusted source.
More thoughts on this over the coming weeks, and I’ll start recording results on the Bet Diary from the start of this month.
