Just a short post today.  With tomorrow being the last day of the month, I’d rather update figures and post a review on Monday so that I can neatly tie everything up.

What I would say is that this past week has seen something of a shoot out between eSoccer Edge and SharpBetting Football to see who wins the much-coveted and highly prestigious Bet Diary Service of the Month for May.  Bearing in mind the former was more or less breaking even for me halfway through the month, you can deduce that the last week or so has been fairly spectacular, whereas SharpBetting Football has been the very model of consistency from the 1st of May until yesterday.

With the 31st falling on a Saturday, I’d usually be saying that a busy Saturday’s betting could mean either a month ending with a bang, or if the Variance Gods are feeling somewhat malicious, undo a lot of good work that has come before.  However, with back to cricket coaching and playing this Saturday, it’s more likely than not that the last bet I strike this month will be today, Friday.

The comment made above about Saturdays though, is now, with the portfolio in its current guise, equally as relevant for any other day of the week.  Both eSoccer Edge and SharpBetting Football (I use the model to find my own bets) are high turnover and each therefore have the power to make a big impact on any day of the week.  So far in May, that impact has been very positive.  One more day in the same vein would be very much welcomed.

I’ll let you know how it goes on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

The Law of Sod dictates that as soon as I write a glowing piece about a tipster or service, the very next day I experience my biggest single day’s loss using that same tipster or service!  And that is exactly what happened on Saturday with SmartBetting Football.

I wouldn’t mind but regular readers will know that during the summer months I often am unable to place any bets at all on a Saturday.  This week however, a mix of old age and a bad back meant that Saturday was free, and so I used the morning to get a lot of bets down.  Typical.

That said, a cracking day on Friday with SharpBetting Football and a touch of profit on Sunday meant that across the three days, the service was up and Saturday’s loss of -72.8pts was barely a ripple anyway.

Good to see some weekend profit from The Value Machine Exchange Profit too, and when I add three profitable days from eSoccer Edge you can understand why the month is currently standing at a new profit high.

Going into the final day of the golf on Sunday and I was fearing a relatively hefty week’s loss, and those feelings didn’t dissipate when the earlier to finish DPWT event ended up with not one golfer in the placed positions.  However, three finished as placers over in the US event and instead of a hefty loss, I was rewarded with a small profit.  Happy days!

So all in all, a profitable weekend.  A good week this week and May will have been very fruitful indeed.  Let’s see what happens.

May 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 994pts, +883.57pts, ROI 88.8%, ROC 58.9%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 4,320pts, +257.19pts, ROI 5.95%, ROC 17.14%

The Value Machine: Staked 1,692pts, -456.69pts, ROI -26.9%, ROC -30.4%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 473.85pts, +148.62pts, ROI 31.3%, ROC 9.9%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 4,838pts, +545.28pts, ROI 11.27%, ROC 36.3%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 357pts, -8.47pts, ROI -2.3%, ROC -0.5%

TOTAL: Staked 12,674.85pts, +1,374.73pts, ROI 10.8%, ROC 18.3%

SBC’s Pete released a video to members that he did with SharpBetting’s David Hipkin, the expert behind the recently reviewed SharpBetting David’s Daily service.  I wrote the review, and on the back of doing so and seeing all the data analysis that we put into every review, decided to sign up.

To be accurate, I actually signed up not to the David’s Daily service, but the full service that provides access to all bets that are spun out by their model.  I felt that backing different teams/selections to those on the DD service, at varying times that suit me, is well suited to my style of following pro tipsters/experts.  I limit the number of bets I strike with any one individual bookmaker on any given day, spreading out the volume between a number of accounts I have access to, and I keep stakes relatively low, looking to put down plenty of volume and churn over the bank quickly and efficiently.  It takes me five to six days of betting at current levels to fully turnover the bank I’ve allocated to it.

So far, the results have been superb.  It’s coming up to six weeks since I signed up, and as of today I’m sitting on an ROC figure (bank growth) of 51.7%.  Using the bespoke ‘Sharp Staking’ system, I’ve undoubtedly sacrificed a bit of profit for the sake of reducing variance, and this seems to have worked.  A total profit of 776 points with a deepest drawdown so far of just 98.6 points is testament to this.  This week has seen the quiet accumulation of a further 8.5% worth of bank growth.

I’ve no doubt I’ve been fortunate to get off to a flier, and the current ROI of 11.7% is unlikely to be sustainable.  I think there may be opportunity to follow profitably on the Exchanges, but I can’t say that with any level of confidence at this stage.  I believe David is looking at the potential for Exchange use and will hopefully report back to SB members when the time is right.

Finally, it was interesting to hear from the video interview with Pete, David say that they’re looking to introduce more sports to their offering, with an announcement being made in June.  I’m excited to hear more.

May 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 744pts, +814.57pts, ROI 109.4%, ROC 54.3%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 4,020pts, +133.69pts, ROI 3.32%, ROC 8.91%

The Value Machine: Staked 1,296pts, -510.87pts, ROI -39.41%, ROC -34.05%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 361.65pts, +188.96pts, ROI 52.24%, ROC 12.59%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 4,096pts, +510.69pts, ROI 12.46%, ROC 34.04%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 357pts, -8.47pts, ROI -2.3%, ROC -0.5%

TOTAL: Staked 10,874.65pts, +1,128.8pts, ROI 10.38%, ROC 15.05%

I have a bit of a quandary, in that with not having placed a single bet over the weekend, I don’t have a great deal to report.  That’s going to be the way of it though for the next month or so, as cricket kinda takes over.

Without boring you, this is how the weekend panned out, and is fairly typical at this time of year.

Saturday: leave the house at 8.00am, two hours of coaching 8.30-10.30.  10.30 is the team I play for meet time, match starts at 12, finishes at 7.00pm, couple of beers, in at 10.00pm.

Sunday: Leave the house at 8.30am to get to Liverpool (35 miles away) to manage/coach Women’s 1st XI – match starts at 11.45, finishes at 6.30pm, drive home and arrive at 7.30, eat, glass of wine, fall into bed.

As you can see, no betting!

So this Monday update, until the autumn anyway, is really likely to cover only Friday’s betting plus an update on how the golf went each week.

Sadly, not even close to a repeat of the heroics performed last week by Weekly Golf Value, whose one sole, shared place return from the US PGA Championship gave very little back.  94% of the total staked across the tournament was loss – the nearest thing to being a blank week without it officially being a blank week.

However, Friday saw another (third) nice winning double from Tilt The Odds land to push it up to a new profit high, and that is now running along very nicely at 81% ROI for the month.  Coming close to getting three winners in a Lucky 15 too which should produce some very healthy returns, but have hit the bar twice last week on that front.  It’ll come.

SharpBetting Football continues to be the model of consistency and like TTO, is sitting on a current profit high.  It’s notched up bank growth of 43% in just a day or so over a month, which it has to be said, is a pretty spectacular start!  I’m not counting on that rate of growth continuing but to say I’m pleased with how things have started, is something of an understatement.

So May continues to produce profit, and let’s hope that continues.

May 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 744pts, +814.57pts, ROI 109.4%, ROC 54.3%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 2620pts, +82.69pts, ROI 3.15%, ROC 5.5%

The Value Machine: Staked 1,032pts, -354.39pts, ROI -34.3%, ROC -23.6%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 270.75pts, +220.86pts, ROI 81.5%, ROC 14.7%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 3,226.5pts, +382.09pts, ROI 11.8%, ROC 25.4%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 357pts, -8.47pts, ROI -2.3%, ROC -0.5%

TOTAL: Staked 8,250.25pts, +1,137.58pts, ROI 13.7%, ROC 15.1%

It’s fair to say that The Value Machine Exchange Profit is enduring something of a drawdown at the moment.  Nothing out of the ordinary and nothing to cause any worry, but normally I’d be checking the previous day’s results to update my figures, thinking and hoping that a good winner or two had reversed the downward trend.

After the big, big winnings on the golf last week though, and with eSoccer Edge (which has gone from -135pts to +135 pts since Monday) and SharpBetting Football proving so consistent this week, that sort of very low level anxiety over the TVM drawdown just hasn’t been a thing.  The conclusion – and it’s a very obvious one – is that when other services are doing so well, one that isn’t doesn’t register even remotely on the when-is-this-losing-run-going-to-end-ometer!

In addition to those two, I’m still looking for a big win to hit via Tilt The Odds but in the meantime another nice winning double has added nicely to the pot, and very quietly and without any fuss or fanfare, we’re running at an ROI of 53%.  Why can’t it always be as easy?

All this is a nice position to be in.  It won’t always be like this, of course.  But at present, I feel I’m just sailing away merrily on a flat sea, with a prevailing wind filling the sails and not so much as a cloud in sight.  We all know it won’t last, and sometime, sooner or later, will come a storm.  But for now, I’m going to sit back, chill, dangle a fishing live over the side and make the most of what’s happening in the here and now.

All sounds very Zen that, doesn’t it?

It’s the USPGA Championship on the golf this week, so only one tournament for Weekly Golf Value to sink its teeth into.  Ten players carrying the money.  Let’s see how they get on.  Is it too much to ask for three winners in two weeks?

Have a lovely weekend.

May 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 570pts, +976.9pts, ROI 171.3%, ROC 65.1%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 2,320pts, +135.25pts, ROI 5.8%, ROC 9%

The Value Machine: Staked 972pts, -336.39pts, ROI -34.6%, ROC -22.4%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 230.1pts, +121.97pts, ROI 53%, ROC 8.1%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 2,846pts, +324.92pts, ROI 11.4%, ROC 21.6%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 357pts, -8.47pts, ROI -2.3%, ROC -0.5%

TOTAL: Staked 7,295.1pts, +1,214.08pts, ROI 16.6%, ROC 16.1%

Three tournaments, four placed, two winners (both at 40/1)!  The result was my biggest day’s single profit figure following the Weekly Golf Value service.

The performance from the week’s Weekly Golf Value picks has seen a return the equivalent to bank growth of 68%.  When the golf betting gods smile down at you, they don’t just smile, they positively beam with a warmth and radiance akin to a Mediterranean sun.  The last knockings of the final round of the Truist Championship saw a face off between two WGV selections, and always looked likely to produce a winner, to follow Martin Couvra’s earlier victory in the Turkish Open.  It was more a matter of how big was the second win going to be, with a heavier stake on Sepp Straka than Shane Lowry.  Straka prevailed, and so the jackpot was hit!

Frankly, this was a phenomenal tipping performance, and a week that demonstrated in a very sharp light the need for patience in betting on golf.  WGV has been ticking along very nicely this year, but it is not unknown for it to go for months without generating any forward momentum.  And then, bang! Two winners and fantastic returns, and we push on to a new profit high not only for the service, but for the year to date across the board.

All this somewhat overshadows everything else.  I’m finding with cricket essentially taking over my life, especially at weekends, that turnover suffers on The Value Machine Exchange Profit, SharpBetting Football, and Tilt The Odds.  I guess for the next few months most of bets across these services will be struck across the week, which although isn’t ideal, is no great catastrophe either.

A bigger concern is how the accounts coughing up considerable golf winnings are going to react.  Do they remain viable?  I guess we’ll find out this week, but last week saw the closure of an account by one firm which for the life of me I can’t work out why.  It was primed, hadn’t produced any profit, odds on bets hadn’t shortened ridiculously…I’m genuinely flummoxed by it, but not surprised.

Catch you later in the week.

May 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 570pts, +976.9pts, ROI 171.3%, ROC 65.1%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 1,360pts, -135pts, ROI -9.9%, ROC -9%

The Value Machine: Staked 588pts, -121.13pts, ROI -20.6%, ROC -8%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 156.6pts, +84.28pts, ROI 53.8%, ROC 5.6%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 1,907.5pts, +172.96pts, ROI 9%, ROC 11.5%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 357pts, -8.47pts, ROI -2.3%, ROC -0.5%

TOTAL: Staked 4,939.1pts, +969.74pts, ROI 19.6%, ROC 12.9%

Not the best weekend of betting.  I say weekend, but really I mean Friday and Sunday, with Saturday being a blank day as cricket takes over.

It was a bad week for Weekly Golf Value with just one golfer placing across two tournaments.  It happens.

This was exacerbated by a small losing weekend for each of WinnerOdds Football, Tilt The Odds and eSoccer Edge, although I appreciate any readers who use these services may have experienced vastly different fortunes.  A small profit for The Value Machine Exchange Profit and SharpBetting Football, but not enough to even things out.

The weekend was essentially dictated by WGV, which tends to be the way of it.

Some updated thoughts around eSoccer Edge.

It has been very noticeable that the last week saw a bit of a different dynamic emerge.  Prices and lines of the advised picks started to change very quickly.  It used to be that if I happened to be in the kitchen making a cuppa or something when a bet alert flashed through on Telegram, I could saunter back to the laptop and get the bet on no problem after logging into the bookmaker account and then finding the relevant match.  Last week in particular, if I wasn’t actually sitting at my laptop when the bet came through, I had no chance.  That largely remains the case.

The guys there have acknowledged this shift to the group of members they have following, and are conducting all sorts of analysis to see how they might improve this situation moving forward.  Full credit to them for doing so and not burying their heads in the sand and pretending the problem doesn’t exist.

Hopefully the price movement will improve.  Like I say, if I happen to be sitting working at my laptop, by being particularly quick and efficient, I can get on most, if not all picks.  Let’s see what happens.

May 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 206pts, -157.2pts, ROI -76.3%, ROC -10.4%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 580pts, +28.5pts, ROI 4.9%, ROC 1.9%

The Value Machine: Staked 228pts, -50.02pts, ROI -21.9%, ROC -3.33%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 77.95pts, +9.44pts, ROI 12.1%, ROC 0.6%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 931pts, +66.76pts, ROI 7.1%, ROC 4.4%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 318pts, -31.37pts, ROI -9.8%, ROC -2%

TOTAL: Staked 2340.9pts, -133.69pts, ROI -5.7%, ROC -1.4%

eSoccer Edge!!!!!

There’s no arguing with the figures.  An ROI of 8.25% and bank growth (ROC) of 35.5% for April alone are outstanding figures.  Certainly I feel the decision made part way through the month to transfer from a flat, level staking approach to the graded one, two or three unit stakes advised for each bet now has been justified.

The month of April as a whole has been far more satisfactory and much less frustrating than March proved to be.  The end figures read an overall ROI of 4.6% and bank growth of  7.9%.  I would like that ROI to be a touch higher but in the absence of a long-priced golf winner something hovering around the 5% marker is ok.  Moving forward and a big win from Tilt The Odds could easily boost the ROI number.

In second place behind eSoccer Edge has been the new ‘Trial’ Service that I started following just under two weeks ago.  I can now reveal this to be the David’s Daily service, for which the SBC’s in-depth review was released just yesterday.  For clarity, I don’t simply follow the David’s Daily advised bets, but use the real time live model to source my own.  I appreciate that the current ROI figure of 10.4% is a bit higher than I can reasonably expect over the longer term, but it’s always nice to start with a new offering on the front foot and much better to run a little hot at the beginning than a little cold.

Weekly Golf Value started the month with an ROI in the 50/60% range without actually tipping a winner as a series of golfers provided place returns.  These dried up a little through the back end of the month, which meant some of the previous profit was temporarily donated back to the bookmakers.  Any month that ends in profit is a good one though, as far as I am concerned!

I’m going to write a post on each service, starting next week, and so will not say anything for now about WinnerOdds Football and where we are with that currently.

April 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 1,017pts, +57.35pts, ROI 5.6%, ROC 3.8%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 6,455pts, +533.05pts, ROI 8.2%, ROC 35.5%

The Value Machine: Staked 1,978pts, -17.39pts, ROI -0.8%, ROC -1.1%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 365.1pts, +12.78pts, ROI 3.5%, ROC 0.8%.

SharpBetting Football: Staked 2,534.5pts, +265.57pts, ROI 10.4%, ROC 17.7%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 2,967pts, -137.57pts, ROI -4.6%, ROC -9.1%

TOTAL: Staked 15,363.6pts, +713.79pts, ROI 4.6%, ROC 7.9%

I had wanted to write a normal post-weekend update last night, but for some reason couldn’t log into the WinnerOdds Football site to do some tallying up and see the profit/loss for that service.  So I didn’t write the post, and now we have only two more days betting for the month and an end of month review.

So, what I propose is to put a hold on the post and figures until Thursday, and do a round up for April’s betting at that point.

To be honest, in the grand scheme of things there’s not much to report from the weekend anyway, with an overall small loss being recorded.  There was no big golf win or something exciting like that.  The Trial Service continued running very hot for me in the first week of following which is nice, but I’m expecting a reversion to mean to hit some time sooner or later.

More detail on Thursday, and then I’m thinking about writing a series of individual posts summing up thoughts on each particular service. There’s one which is reaching something of a “crisis point” for me, but I need to get my thoughts together properly before committing them to screen.

Back later in the week then, with a monthly review.  See you then.

The trouble with betting is that it feels as if any mistake you make is invariably punished to the max.  I’m sure it’s the same brain processing switched that means you are affected more by seeing a horse you’ve backed get touched off at the line by a nose than when you witness your nag trot up to land the spoils.

I was reminded of this on Tuesday when I somehow managed to miss backing two The Value Machine Exchange Profit horses which then of course went on to win, one at a good price (at least I noticed the Betfair Starting Price was so I imagine decent odds were available in the five minute lead up to race time).  All told, it cost me about 100 points profit and although on the day TVM Exchange Profits netted about 40 points of profit for me, it’s taking a while to shake off the, “How could I?” vibes.

After what felt like loads of eSoccer Edge betting on Monday, the rest of the week has felt fairly quiet, relatively speaking.  At least the bets that have come through have tended to be more prolific at the times I’m not sitting at my laptop.  Not a problem of course.  It’s just been the difference in personal volume between Tuesday and Thursday, compared to Monday’s has been stark.  Still pushing on to a new profit high though for the month to date.

It’s been pretty quiet in terms of WinnerOdds Football too, but again a bit of profit that slowly chips away at reducing the current drawdown.  Could really do with a decent weekend!  I noticed too that they are opening their doors to anyone and everyone to subscribe, after previously restricting new members.  I have no idea what is the thinking behind this move.  Clearly they feel the markets can take more money.

And finally a really strong start to the new Trial Service.  You’ll be able to read a full review of this via an SBC membership very soon.

Have a great weekend!

April 2025 (stakes normalised)…

Bookie Bashing Golf Tracker/WGV: Staked 815pts, +137.91pts, ROI 16.92%, ROC 9.19%

eSoccer Edge: Staked 6,095pts, +537.05pts, ROI 8.81%, ROC 35.8%

The Value Machine: Staked 1,668pts, +85.82pts, ROI 5.14%, ROC 5.72%

Tilt The Odds: Staked 217.6pts, +68.7pts, ROI 31.57%, ROC 4.58%.

Trial Service: Staked 1,160.5pts, +117.4pts, ROI 6.3%, ROC 10.11%.

WinnerOdds Football: Staked 2,486pts, -92.39pts, ROI -3.71%, ROC -6.15%

TOTAL: Staked 12,489.1pts, +854.49pts, ROI 6.84%, ROC 9.49%