Author: lpaton80

It will depend on exactly what you are doing but if you are in this game long enough ,you are likely to experience some significant downswings. I have found downswings in the last ten years of 30%+ on a couple of occasions. It isn’t fun. Variance can be an absolute nightmare and is a tweet … Continue reading 49. Big downswings

You can have some great positions but you cannot think of the money as yours until you have either closed out the trade/bet or the market has expired/ended. Even then I am always a little nervous until the money actually hits your bank account. Let’s talk about a crypto coin called Solana, as I know … Continue reading 48. Unrealised Gains

One opportunity to look out for and to try and truly understand are what I would call ‘Trading prices’. Within a market, when betting is taking place in running (on the exchanges), you can sometimes find a disconnect between what people expect to happen in a short timeframe and what people expect to happen over … Continue reading 47. Trading Prices

One thing you soon learn with this game is that if you have an edge you have to be utterly relentless in your pursuit of capitalising on it. You have no idea how long that edge will last, or if and when it will diminish. So many factors can cause that edge to disappear. This … Continue reading 46. Relentless

There are parts of the life of a pro punter that are great but one aspect that can really grate after a while are the time commitments/sacrifices that you have to make. Some of it will depend on what sports you bet on and how you are placing those bets. As a general rule though … Continue reading 45. Working Hours

I think the story that is speculated on again today surrounding Phil Mickelson and his gambling losses just serves as a timely reminder that people are human and you really never know what is going on behind the scenes. It has been rumoured for many many years that he had significant gambling debts ($40m+). It … Continue reading 44. Human

There is no getting away from what a large part luck can play in the fortune of a pro punter. What I am talking about is things that happen beyond the field of play as such. Over a longer period of time variance should see that level out, although it rarely does. I am talking … Continue reading 43. Luck

I guess it happens in all walks of life but never is it more abundantly clear than in betting that people just want the quick win. People seem to think that they are entitled to be able to find a quick and easy way to make extra money without putting in the requisite effort. This … Continue reading 42. Quick wins

I think it is really important to understand what the incentives are in play for different parties within this industry. Once you understand those incentives it really helps to understand why people look at things the way they do and behave as they do. Those incentives are not always as transparent as they should be. … Continue reading 41. Incentives

I touched on it when talking about Record Keeping (6) but you have to realise that every single bets counts. Make sure every single bet is a good one (positive expected value). Those throwaway bets on the live match really add up. Those interest bets are not so interesting if they are losing. Its one … Continue reading 40. Every bet counts