I suggested in the last post that I was looking to tweak things a little.  I have.

Issue no.1: how to look to raise the ROI using SharpBetting Football?

As time has gone on, I’ve tended to drift my betting towards services that run models.  I guess this is fairly typical.  With technology advancing, such a move is probably unavoidable, but that’s not to say there aren’t some very good “traditional” tipsters out there providing a heck of a good service to their customers.  Subscribers to the SBC know there are.

So any model that can churn out a large number of bets that have a proven long-term edge, is always going to be of interest to me.  This is the secret of faster bank growth -the ability to churn.  The other advantage this approach has is that stakes can be kept at a relatively low level.  We’re betting more, but in much smaller chunks, which is something I feel can only help extend the life of bookmaker accounts for as long as possible.

All of this is why I was so keen on SharpBetting Football.  I subscribe to the “full” package, which means that in addition to the David’s Daily picks, I have access to the model as it spits out value bets.  15 minutes in the morning I can get down 15+ bets.  Repeat at lunchtime, and you can see why this fits the criteria I’ve just written about.

My ambition here, backing in singles, is to run along at something around the 5% ROI mark.  I’m at roughly half of that at present, although I feel the last couple of months have seen the variance Gods be a touch angsty towards me.

However, the David’s Daily picks provide multiple bets as well as singles, and from writing the SBC review of the service a few months ago, I know that the multiples have been responsible for providing the majority of the overall profit and at a much higher ROI.

So, why not continue to back the singles in the way I am, and add the DD picks when I can?  Other than the fact that there are a couple of sportsbooks that DD recommend bets at that I don’t have, I don’t see the downside.

I started a couple of days ago.  And if the Variance Gods were touchy, whichever God responsible for allowing my first set of bets to produce a winning patent, should drop me a line and I’ll sacrifice a goat tout suite!  That’s 34.84pts profit right there!

Happy days then, except that WinnerOdds Tennis has continue its recent slump for me and saw me give two thirds of that profit back to add to previous heavy losses last week and the beginning of this.  I absolutely flew when I started following, but those Gods I keep talking about…I reckon they saw me as another Icarus, and soon sent my tailfeathers spinning.  The last couple of weeks or so have been heavy going, losing up to 31.22 units of profit.  Still in profit, but the ROI has dipped to 1.76% across the 569 valid bets I’ve struck so far.

As far as “long-term” is concerned, 569 picks doesn’t cut it.  Let’s get to 1,000 and see where we’re at.  What’s clear is that the problem is largely based in having three relatively very-highly staked bets losing at a price of 1.2 or lower.  It’s a killer, and looking at the graph on my WinnerOdds account stats page, the strike rate of bets priced up to 1.2 is at 81.2%, below what it needs to be. Again, we see variance toying with me.

Before we get too gloomy though, I am still sitting on bank growth of 21.66% achieved in less than two months.  Perspective is everything.

So overall, September has got off to a marginally profitable start, thanks to that one big winning David’s Daily patent.  But it’s been a rocky road so far.

Have a great weekend!

September 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 0pts, 0pts, ROI 0%, ROC 0%

BB Tracker Each Way Golf Doubles: Staked 0pts, 0pts, ROI 0pts, ROC 0%.

David’s Daily: Staked 110pts, +357.76pts, ROI 325.23%, ROC 32.52%

The Value Machine Exchange Profit: Staked 230pts, -19.87pts, ROI -8.63%, ROC -1.32%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 58.6pts, +106.48pts, ROI 181.7%, ROC 7.09%.

SharpBetting Football Model: Staked 898.5pts, +2.68pts, ROI 0.29%, ROC 0.17%.

WinnerOdds Tennis: Staked 3,432pts, -218.84pts, ROI -6.37%, ROC -10.94%.

TOTAL: Staked 4,924.1pts, +109.64pts, ROI 2.22%, ROC 1.3%

August has not been a kind month.  Prior to it, and even halfway through, I was flying.  And then the worst drawdown I’ve seen so far in 2025 hit, and as I type, I’m still sitting at the lowest point.

Let’s go through each service, with some brief thoughts on each.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 6,151pts, -140.96pts, ROI -2.29%, ROC -9.39%, Current Drawdown -411.74pts, Max Drawdown -549.09pts.

I mentioned in the post the other day that it feels a good while since the last profit high had been reached.  A poor last week of the month did for August as up until Monday/Tuesday it was sitting on about 5% ROI and 100 points of profit.

Slight tweak this month in the way I’m following.  I’m going to try to get down as many of the David’s Daily selections as I can, which is viable bookmaker account dependent (for example, I can’t get anything more than pennies on at the Betfair Sportsbook, which is a firm DD uses a fair amount), but hopefully with the odd multiple hit, the ROI will at some point rise above it’s current 2.81%.  With the same aim in mind, I’m going to start putting on some of the longer priced bets from the Tracker.  I was tending to concentrate on those selections between a price of 1.7 and 3.5, but I’ll get rid of these arbitrarily drawn parameters and just get on anything that comes up at the bookmakers I can still bet at.

The Value Machine Exchange Profit: Staked 1,700pts, -526.07pts, ROI -30.9%, ROC -35.3%, Current DD -898.6pts, Max DD -898.6pts.

This is the service I have most concern about.  Another two Saturdays, and I’ll be able to get on Saturday and Sunday issued bets, which I’ve not been able to do since April and I appreciate this will have had some impact on my P&L.

Up until this point, I’d been using a mix of bookmakers and the Betfair Exchange to get the bets on at.  The former if the quoted price was available at a bookmaker I had access to, or on the latter if not and I could get the required price in the five minutes leading up to the off.  With my list of available bookmakers getting shorter by the week, I’m going full Exchange on these moving forward.  This is a theme I’ll write more about later this week.  Yup, those restrictions are biting again!

Tilt The Odds: Staked 595.8pts, +325.04pts, ROI 54.55%, ROC 21.66%, Current DD -47.25pts, Max DD -417.07pts

The one shining light of August, largely thanks to a winning Trixie and a Double that came home at decent odds.

The one issue I have with TTO (other than the declining number of bookmakers I can bet with) is that I’m not really in a position to get a lot of bets down and I know I’m understaking as a result.  Being free at weekends will help here, but I also feel I need to do something to make up the deficit in overall staking.  I have a couple of ideas on how to do this which I’ll reveal shortly.  It’s all about making your betting bank work efficiently for you, and try as I might, I can’t quite get there with TTO.  So for now, and until I have no online bookmaker to bet with, I’ll keep plugging away with TTO and squeeze out of it what I can for as long as I can.

Weekly Golf Value: Staked 1,295pts, +1,031.4pts, ROI -16.68%, ROC -14.4%, Current DD -398.72pts, Max DD -398.72pts

WGV remains my most successful service to date for 2025 despite a losing month that had no winners.  As you can see too, I’m at the deepest point of drawdown so far this year, but it should be noted the actual amount lost remains fairly minor.  We can expect a lot worse with any golf service.  One good win, and the loss will be eradicated and we’ll be at a new high point.  We weren’t far away this weekend gone with Sami Valimaki finishing in second.  We know the winners will come, it’s just a matter of when.

WinnerOdds Tennis: Staked 16,854pts, -7.7pts, ROI -0.04%, ROC -0.38%, Current DD -569.61pts, Max DD -677.34pts

If ever a service showed the so very fine lines between success and failure, it has been this one.  It was absolutely flying, and then a couple of weeks ago a couple of very heavily staked bets at 1.08/1.15 area lost, and 40% of the profit I’d made was given back within just a few days.

It is so very tempting to just ignore the bets that come through at very short prices.  You can’t help but ask yourself why you’re risking almost 200pts on a 1.08 shot.  But the WO advice is to just keep on taking the bets.  They all hold +EV, they all contribute to a growing pot over time.

The other challenge for me is that it has cost me a few accounts already, and that has had a knock on effect in terms of following other services.  This month, I’ll be using WO to help me squeeze as much juice out of one particular sports book as a I can.  That firm has already stopped me betting on eSoccer, has restricted me to pennies on horses (although not on multiples as yet), but still allows me to stake unrestricted on tennis and golf.  It’s only a matter of time though before I can’t get on these sports either.  Going to be interesting to see just how long it does last.  Watch this space.

Finally, I need to update the Each Way Golf Doubles figures which I’m running as a sideline trial.  Nothing doing last week, nor this week as the PGA Tour in America takes a breather.  I need to pick up a (minimal) return from a couple of weeks ago though, and as yet I’m not entirely sure how much that will be for.

I’ll leave you with the total portfolio figures for the year to date.  Later this week, I’ll talk about the looming issue I’m facing (losing accounts) and how I intend planning to make another shift towards Exchange and shop betting.  I’ve made that journey before, and before long, I’m going to have to make it again.

Tune in for that.

2025: Staked 82,609.15pts, +4406.89pts, ROI 5.33%, ROC 55.08%, Current DD -1,395.55pts, Max DD -1,395.55pts

It’s not been a good couple of weeks or so.  In fact, they’ve been pretty darned poor.

A small overall profit yesterday (Thursday) dragged me away slightly from the point of the deepest drawdown so far this year.  But the surface water that represents the previous high point feels like a long way up and I’m in a mini-submarine with the headlight on trying to pierce the black depths.

Which is all a little dramatic.

Time for a little context.  The main “culprit” has been WinnerOdds Tennis which until two weeks ago, was absolutely flying for me.  Since then, a number of very heavily staked, very short priced matches have gone the wrong way, and that has had a massive impact.  I know there is a strong temptation to simply ignore such bets.  Do we really want to be sticking 175 points on a 1.08 shot?  The fact is is that those very short odds ranges have proven to be significantly profitable over many, many bets.  This is just a nasty spike in negative variance.

When I look at my WinnerOdds Tennis performance overall, my bank growth stands at just over 30% from just shy of six weeks of betting.  I know it doesn’t work like this, but if I was to simply extrapolate those figures over a year, it would mean annual bank growth of around 250%, which is not too shabby!

The other culprit has been The Value Machine Exchange Profit.  I’m going to write more thoughts around this (spoiler: I need to get on more bets, which I should be able to do in the not too distant) next week, once I’ve updated figures and posted for August (which should be Monday).

Let’s leave it there for now.  Have a great weekend, and will see you the other side.

Not much by way of returns from the in-shop Bookie Bashing Golf Each Way Doubles this week.  I think a small return is due but tbh I’ve not had chance to get down the bookies yet.

The summer has almost passed and yet it still feels a little strange for my betting pattern to be midweek betting heavy and weekends light.  But that’s the way it will remain for another three weeks, and then I envisage weekends to see a lot more action.

In the meantime, I want to write a series of posts about each service and provide some current thoughts on each.

Let’s start with SharpBetting Football.

First, the figures for August:

Staked: 4,843pts, +101.01pts, ROI 2.08%, Bank Growth 6.73%.

And now the figures for the year to date (or at least from when I first started using the service):

Staked 24,427pts, +966.75pts, ROI 3.95%, Bank Growth 64.45%.

The biggest drawdown I’ve experienced reached -549.09pts, and I’m still recovering from this with a new profit high not being hit for a fair few weeks now.  The current drawdown from the previous high stands at -168.97pts.

I reckon starting to follow a new betting service can be compared to your football team buying a brand new and expensive striker.  The striker has an amazing goal scoring record in another country, has scored goals for fun at every level he’s played at, including in the Champions’ League and in internationals.  The lad is class, pure and simple.  But the transfer fee was biiiiig.

Now that striker might take a little time to settle into his new surroundings and there’s a need for patience as he gets used to his new teammates, and his teammates to him.  There’s an integration period, and until that process has been completed, he’s not scoring.  You’re convinced he will, but you kinda need him to do it soon!

Other times, the goal getter just hits the ground sprinting, knocking in a quick brace on his debut, and never looks back.

SharpBetting Football was that striker who wows right from the off.  It essentially knocked a 25-yard curler into the top corner in minute one of game one, and went on a scoring spree that made Lionel Messi look like a non-league hoofer.  Seriously, the first few weeks of following the SharpBetting model, it was like owning a money printer.  I seem to remember writing, in these very pages, that there was no way that the rate of progress could be maintained.  And so it has proven.

A fairly hefty drawdown hit (just over a third of the bank), and whilst that in itself was fairly sharp, fully recovering from it is taking longer.  But here’s the thing.  Because the first weeks were so lucrative, it stuck a whole heap of credit in the bank.  Confidence in its capabilities remains unshaken.  Let’s just keep putting those bets on, because we’ve seen just what it can do when things go well.  This striker has has what is an inevitable lean spell…but we know he’s going to start hitting the back of the net again soon enough.

Compare that and the psychological difference had SharpBetting Football had the drawdown in my first weeks.  I think I’m experienced enough now to maintain confidence.  This is just the fella who is getting used to his teammates and how they play.  The goals will come.  But even so, I’m sure doubts and reservations might start to kick in sooner.

Anyhows, what a very tortuous and convoluted way of saying that it currently feels like my SharpBetting Football activities are making heavy weather of it, but I don’t care because there’s a lot of profit and growth already banked, and my confidence in it remains undimmed.

See you later in the week.

With BetFred sponsoring the British Masters golf tournament at The Belfry this week, there was plenty of value to get stuck into at the Fred offices this week, doubling up with some golfers playing in the Tour Championship over in the States.

I went early, driving around to my nearest BetFred on Tuesday afternoon rather than the Wednesday.  I asked for a coupon, marked out the golfers I wanted, and handed it in to the chap behind the desk.  I think possibly because it was early and the markets hadn’t matured sufficiently, but there were more price cuts than I’m used to, a couple of which were pretty significant.  Enough to make me to not want to bet them.

So, taking some time to find replacements for those golfers at odds judged to be too short, I left, used the Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker, and drove to the next nearest Fred shop some ten minutes away.

Armed with a new list of golfers to back, off I trot to the counter and again, ask for the coupon.

Now the chap I’m talking to, I didn’t know.  Not my usual Fred shop, you see.  He seemed nice enough, but perhaps not…shall we say…the brightest bulb in the house?

“Sorry, mate”, he says.  “No coupon with both tournaments on it.  Got one just for the British Masters, you can have that.”

Well yes, I could have it, but it wouldn’t be much use bearing in mind I’m trying to back in doubles. Which, to a blank expression, fell on deaf ears.

I mean, how many times can you ask someone for a coupon and insist there is one?  That you KNOW there is one?

After about five minutes of asking to re-check, and then re-check again, I gave up. He was beginning to lose a little patience as I was keeping him from his fish and chips, which to be fair, did smell good.

Ten minutes later, and I’m in my third Fred shop, and funnily enough, when asked for a coupon they were able to produce the correct one within seconds.

Not sure what the lesson learnt here is, but I feel there is one somewhere!

It’s been a bit of a tumultuous week results-wise (and not in a good way), and I have a fair number of thoughts formulating and brewing.  So I’m going to think on those over the weekend, and report back properly on Monday.

Have a lovely weekend!

A pretty quick update today as to be honest, what weekend action there has been has been pretty poor.

Weekly Golf Value was due a bad week and this weekend it came.  Not a write off, but the biggest weekly loss that I can remember hitting for some time.  It may well be I’ve forgotten one that occurred relatively recently, but like my eyesight, I think age is beginning to have an impact on my memory!

Winner Odds Tennis had got off to what can only be described as an absolute flying start, but these past few days have seen the first real stumbling block in terms of results.  Very temporary, I’m sure.

Not only has Sharp Betting Football been treading water but the back end of last week saw two bookmaking accounts bite the dust.  One of them I used to stick on a fair number of SB Football bets each day, and so will be missed.

And that’s it, really.

Premier League footie is back, and that can mean only one thing…that the next International Break can only be a couple of weeks away!  Yippee!!! (said no-one ever).

And in my second post this week, we should have some news re. the Bookie Bashing Each Way Golf Doubles.  With the British Masters at The Belfry this week being sponsored by BetFred, I think it’s fair to expect there to be some decent value flying around.

Why is it that you can be going along quite nicely, some sources of bets making a profit and some a loss most days, but then a day comes along when everything loses?

That’s how it feels, and yesterday was one of those days.  Yesterday saw a drawdown bigger than the deepest there had been in August to date.  It’s a psychological trick, of course.  There are days when each service wins well, but the days when each lose hits harder mentally.  I seem to remember reading somewhere that this is all part of the way the human brain is wired.  That for the purposes of survival, the brain evolved to register harmful things to a greater extent than good things so that we are more wary of that which may do us damage, and subsequently we proactively avoid them.  Or something like that.  Got to admit, if I was mauled by a woolly mammoth or a sabre tooth tiger and somehow managed to survive, the next time I saw one, I’d likely run a mile.  Bit like I do now when I see a spider.

I digress.

Yesterday was a blank day from eight bets struck for The Value Machine Exchange Profit, and this service for me, is now sitting on something of a drawdown (just less than 30% of the bank assigned to it).  This comes with a massive caveat, however, and other users may be enjoying a far better experience.  During the summer, I literally don’t place any of the bets released over the weekends due to not being around to do so.  With Saturday commonly being the busiest racing day of the week by far, it’s possible that my abstinence on this day is having a significant impact.  So now is not the time to be judging.

It feels like Sharp Betting Football has been treading water for a bit now.  Last month was profitable but I’ve been below the profit high for around nine weeks now.  The situation was a little brighter earlier this week when, having introduced some multiple bets to run alongside singles (in an attempt to a. help boost the ROI, and b. look more like a mug punter for the sake of the books) a nice 4/4 was lander in a Yankee.  Just need to be patient. I’ve seen what the service can do.

Two consecutive losing days for me with WinnerOdds Tennis means I’m on the deepest drawdown yet, albeit one that is very small.  Actually, strictly speaking, that last bit isn’t strictly true.  WOT has introduced the ability to see a break down of maximum and current drawdowns to its user statistics page.  What a professional service this is!  Seriously, it would be great to see other services incorporate this sort of tool for their users.  It provides context and with that comes an understanding that perhaps your current drawdown isn’t your worst.  Anyway, I work out my drawdowns on a daily basis, but of course worse can be hit – easily if using a high volume service like WOT – during a day or night but subsequent wins means that when I tot up my figures, I’m out of it.  That’s the case here.  WOT tells me my worst drawdown hit 246.96pts, whereas my “daily” records has it down at -115.1pts.

Finally, not much by way of Bookie Bashing Each Way Golf Doubles action this week.  Just not much value to pair up from the Tracker on Wednesday afternoon.  I imagine this has something to do with the US event this week being a reduced field?  Not to worry – managed to get a couple of doubles down and there’ll be plenty of opportunity moving forward.

Have a great weekend!

August 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 558pts, +110.88pts, ROI 19.87%, ROC 7.39%

BB Tracker Each Way Golf Doubles: Staked 142pts, +176pts, ROI 123.94pts, ROC 17.6%.

The Value Machine Exchange Profit: Staked 820pts, -189.8pts, ROI -23.14%, ROC -12.65%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 302.6pts, +154.32pts, ROI 50.99%, ROC 10.28%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 2,884pts, +5.02pts, ROI 0.17%, ROC 0.33%.

WinnerOdds Tennis: Staked 9,163pts, +470.29pts, ROI 5.13%, ROC 23.51%.

TOTAL: Staked 13,869.6pts, +726.71pts, ROI 5.23%, ROC 8.07%

It was nice to walk into one of the local bookies yesterday afternoon and pick up some decent returns gained from the first week of doing the Each Way Golf Doubles.  

Now I know this is a generation/age thing, but I have to admit I had to ask the cashier how to use the SSBT terminal in terms of being paid out.  I had worked out pretty easily how to get my bets on last week, something for which I was ridiculously proud of myself for, to the extent that when I got home I immediately talked my wife through how I’d figured out how to use the very latest in cutting edge technology.  To be fair it took me about a month to figure out how to use the new television we got recently (who needs two remote controls!?!), which is why she merely raised an eyebrow and dismissed me with a far from sincere, “very good, dear”.

Anyway, as those who bet in shops know, it’s always good to build a rapport with the shop staff.  So I made fun of myself whilst asking for help and the young chap was very polite in lying to me about how it wasn’t an age thing and that he struggles at times with the machines too (I now have him labelled as a well-intentioned liar who has had a good upbringing!).  But when all was said and done I walked out with a couple of hundred quid or so in my pocket and a small grin.  It’s always nice to get off to a good start when doing something new!

What also made me smile last week?

Well, a nice 75/1 winning double for Tilt The Odds perked me up a bit, and the continued golden form of WinnerOdds Tennis gladdened the heart.  The latter is bouncing along, but I’ve got to admit to some trepidation when Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays come around.  The relatively massive outlay in such a concentrated period of time always gets the adrenaline going a little, no matter how experienced a bettor I am and no matter how much faith I have in the laws of probabilities.  It’s not that I ever think I’d not recover from a (very) sharp drawdown.  It’s more that I enjoy winning and having profitable days.  They’re just more fun than losing days and they help make life feel just a tiny bit better and easier when you see a positive return for the previous day’s efforts.  It’s a bit like waking up to a warm, sunny day compared to a cold and wet day – you know you’ll get through the latter but the former is just nicer.

And then a smile facilitated by Weekly Golf Value who gave winner of the Nexo Championship in Scotland, Grant Forrest (30/1).  Bit of a weird week for WGV in that the FedEx Championship in the US saw some pretty hefty stakes going down, none of which were returned.  So a good winner on the week plus a couple more placed over on the LIV Tour, and yet the actual profit for the week was not more than if we’d had say, three or four placed.  But look, I certainly ain’t complaining!  More observing what feels like a bit of a quirk.

So when all had been counted up, another very profitable week.  Things have been going swimmingly for three months or so now.  I can kinda guess what might happen next.

Tune in on Friday to find out.

PS. A note re. the figures below for the eagle-eyed.  I’ve ‘added’ a bank to cover the Each Way Golf Doubles to the total bank, which will obviously bring the overall ROC down a little, despite this being a week making good profit.

August 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 558pts, +110.88pts, ROI 19.87%, ROC 7.39%

BB Tracker Each Way Golf Doubles: Staked 142pts, +176pts, ROI 123.94pts, ROC 17.6%.

The Value Machine Exchange Profit: Staked 650pts, -146.61pts, ROI -22.55%, ROC -9.77%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 202pts, +192.26pts, ROI 95.17%, ROC 12.81%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 2,041.5pts, -86.8pts, ROI -4.25%, ROC -5.78%.

WinnerOdds Tennis: Staked 5,923pts, +429.38pts, ROI 7.24%, ROC 21.46%.

TOTAL: Staked 9,516.5pts, +675.11pts, ROI 7.09%, ROC 7.5%

Since being able to “reboot”, I’ve missed going into betting shops.  A bit like top flight football, betting shops have largely been sanitized.  The characters that made going into my local William Hill as a teenager always something of an adventure, seemed to have disappeared.  I’m sure the characters are still there, it’s just that they’re subsumed by those infernal slot machines as opposed to passing on “inside information” to their co-bettors,  telling anyone who might listen about their latest conquests, or chatting up/winding up the counter staff as appropriate.

Betting shops are now clean, air conditioned (some of them), and “corporate”.  They’re the equivalent to all seater stadia with rooves and the like that means you can watch your football and stay dry, compared to the terraces that I used to stand on getting piss wet through whilst in constant worry that at some point in time the away fans will think it a bit of a laugh to mount an attempt at a bloody takeover of enemy territory.

But look, I still like to go to the Emirates to watch the Arsenal, just as I still like to go into the local BetFred to put my bets down using that old fashioned thing called cash.  And if I’m really honest with myself, I don’t really miss passively smoking two packs of Marlborough whilst I’m in there, either.

We all know however, that the easiest way to make money from betting is through access to soft, online bookmakers.  Which I’ve had, but realise I might very well not have for much longer.  So for the past few months, I’ve gone back to mainly betting online, but now it’s important to have a contingency plan and to start transitioning again to shop betting.

The question was where to start?

I’ve previously had great experience of, and success in using the various Bookie Bashing Tools, so moving in this direction makes a lot of sense.  And then I started to watch Tom Brownlees’ BB YouTube channel, which has a weekly video of him utilizing the BB Golf Tracker to put down each way doubles on golfers playing across the DPWT Tour and PGA Tour events.  A plan was easily hatched.

This is how it’s going to work…

I’ll use the Tracker on my ‘phone to find out what bets to strike.  I’ve a BetFred (which produces golf coupons each week) and Ladbrokes (who have their golf markets on their SSBTs) literally opposite each other, less than two miles away.  Should I be fortunate to experience a very big win one week, I can easily give that shop a rest for a while as there are at least two other BFs and Laddies within a short drive.  It’s the perfect set up.

I started this week, and I’ll report back on results alongside all the others so you can keep track.

As with anything, the first time you do something, you learn.  What I learnt this week (assuming this week is typical) is that there is a fair bit of odds movement.  With the coupons at BetFred, some had come in a little, but others had gone out, so my feeling is that unless there’s a major move, to just take what’s on offer.  At Ladbrokes however, particularly on the DPWT event, there were significant odds cuts.

The answer moving forward is to go into Laddies first, and check the prices.  Without striking any bets, I can then nip over to Fred’s place, stick those bets on, and before returning to Ladbrokes look at the Tracker to see if the reduced prices still hold value and to look for some possible alternatives if not.  Within a couple of weeks, I reckon I’ll have this running like clockwork!

Watch this space for more detail as the weeks go by.  Something tells me this is going to be fun.

August 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 0pts, 0pts, ROI 0%, ROC 0%

The Value Machine Exchange Profit: Staked 430pts, -220.92pts, ROI -51.37%, ROC -14.72%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 119.2pts, +255.86pts, ROI 214.64%, ROC 17.05%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 1,286.5pts, +36.97pts, ROI 2.87%, ROC 2.46%.

WinnerOdds Tennis: Staked 4,093pts, +304.32pts, ROI 7.43%, ROC 15.21%.

TOTAL: Staked 5,738.1pts, +363.23pts, ROI 6.33%, ROC 4.54%

This morning was damp.  Very damp.  In fact, it was bloomin’ wet as the rain from some “Storm” or other hit the North West of England.  Not sure storm is an accurate description, but it’s been a bit breezy and certainly, the rain was at times pretty torrential.

Which is in stark, stark contrast to where I was last week, holidaying in Crete.  Hot, sunny, warm sea to swim in.  Why oh why do I live in England?!?

Being on holiday meant that other than ten minutes sticking on the Weekly Golf Value bets, I had a gambling free week, and I feel much refreshed for it.  It was the first time my wife and I had been away just the two of us for any longer than a couple of days, for 22 years!  I think the last thing she would have appreciated would have been me taking up time on the laptop.  Far better to swim, explore, find good food, drink good wine.

The upshot of all this is that I didn’t really do anything to add to or subtract from the July figures.  So now is time for a quick review of the month.

Final Figures: Staked 14,938.8pts, +1,233.38pts, ROI 8.23%, ROC 15.41%, Biggest Drawdown: -334.04pts.

That is a fine month.

The biggest contributor was WinnerOdds Tennis, which generated bank growth of 32.9% in just two weeks worth of betting.  I had considered waiting to sign up until I got back from holiday, but I’m pretty pleased I didn’t!  That ROC figure and an ROI of 15.4% is way over the norm so I know that I was simply the fortunate beneficiary of some short term positive variance.

My observations of the service are that Tuesdays/Wednesdays are ridiculously busy and results over those two days have real potential to fundamentally impact whether I have a winning or losing week, that odds on many bets disappear before I can get on but that said, by being quick, there are plenty I can get on.  What will be interesting is how long it is before restrictions kick in.  The main account I use for WOT is the same as that I used for eSoccer Edge (more on that anon), with that same firm – and I’m sure everyone can guess which it is! – now restricting me to pennies on Esports and football, but remaining perfectly happen to take my business on golf, tennis and horse racing.

In the meantime, Service of the Month winner for July 2025 has to be, without any doubt, WinnerOdds Tennis!

The we have three services that each produced a very solid month.

The first of these is The Value Machine Exchange Profit.  After a couple of weeks of July I was flying but a bit of a drawdown knocked some, but certainly not all of the shine off.  Bank growth of 12.5% and an ROI of 9.5% is more than respectable and losses from a biiig drawdown suffered earlier this year are being clawed back.  I have to acknowledge too that once the summer is over, I’ll be in a position to get on a greater percentage of the bets, and so with increased turnover I’m hoping will come increased profitability.

I can apply very similar comments re solidity of performance through July and losses being clawed back from a bigger historical drawdown to SharpBetting Football.  A not dissimilar level of bank growth of 11.4% came at a much lower ROI of 3.5%.  I started to experiment with placing a few selections in Doubles towards the end of the month, with a view to increasing the ROI figure and also in an attempt to appear a bit more “muggy” to the books.  We’ll see how that goes.

The third – with an ROC of 11.5% – is Weekly Golf Value.  There’s not much I can say here.  I just love the service and those that run it!

Overall though, I’m delighted with SB Football – I can get plenty of bets down each day and since starting just a couple of months ago, and despite a biggish drawdown, I’m sitting at 57.7% ROC.

The sad news that hit during July was the restrictions that brought my eSoccer Edge betting to a sudden halt.  I’m looking to resolve this issue, helped by exploring some “clone” options to see if I can find alternative market entry points.  In a short space of time, this service was a revelation, and I miss it badly already.  I’ll be doing everything I can to make it an “au revoir” and not a terminal “goodbye”.

Finally, a small losing month for Tilt The Odds, but as ever with this service it’s a case of waiting for a big one to hit.  It felt like I hit the bar more times than is fair last month, but I’ll keep trying to land a big one or two.  As I type this, I have a race starting in just over an hour which if it kicks up the right result, will represent the type of “big one” I’m talking about.  Fingers crossed!

If August turns out literally half as good a month as was July, I’ll be a happy man.

July 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 1,156pts, +173.4pts, ROI 15%, ROC 11.56%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 1,860pts, +116.5pts, ROI 6.26%, ROC 7.76%

The Value Machine Exchange Profit: Staked 1,960pts, +187.86pts, ROI 9.58%, ROC 12.52%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 814.8pts, -76.01pts, ROI -9.32%, ROC -5.06%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 4,913pts, +171.82pts, ROI 3.49%, ROC 11.45%.

WinnerOdds Tennis: Staked 4,280pts, +659.81pts, ROI 15.41%, ROC 32.99%.

TOTAL: Staked 14,983.8pts, +1,233.38pts, ROI 8.23%, ROC 15.41%