Day 80 and beyond: Going, going, gone

It is with mild regret that I have to report the initial challenge is over. On Friday 11 September (what would have been day 83) I deliberately didn’t bet on anything meaning I lost my bet with my brother from day one and also forfeited the bet with Andy from the same day and failed to have a gamble of the day.

The regret is only mild though because the experiment had started to become a chore. That in itself was not necessarily enough to quit, but the fact remained after 80 days I was over £500 in the red and extrapolating this out across a full year could well have meant two grand down the drain.

So, although the psychological barrier of £500 was probably a factor, I was more concerned that I just didn’t have the time to focus on this, or at least to give it enough time so the bets weren’t just wild stabs in the dark. Betting on things quickly paid out sometimes, but more often than not it was a waste of money. The stats speak for themselves.

I bet on 140 seperate things during the 82 days. I won 38 times, drew or voided three times and I still have four bets outstanding. That means I lost 95 of the bets which is a whopping 68%. I actually won over £1500 but as I staked over £2045 of my own money this is the most meaningless of stats.

My biggest win was £183.02 on Day 41 and my biggest loss was £115 on Day 43. That was a rollercoaster week!

So now I’ve ditched the daily dose of drudgery and replaced it with a new challenge:

Can I get back into the black before my 35th birthday on June 21, 2010?

There’s already a glimmer of hope things are turning around as on Day 80 I bet on Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the Shanghai Masters with a tenner on at 7/2. Two days after I quit he won and I was £45 up.

So, as things stand today, 16 September 2009, I am £446.49 in the red and so there’s quite a bit to do, but I only have to bet when I want to and I now have five pending bets outstanding as I’ve gone double or nothing with Tommo that I can’t do this second leg of the challenge.

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Day 73 – Day 79: Deeper and deeper into the red

Day 73: Nada

That’s Spanish for sweet fa and that’s all the much anticipated return to the friendly blackjack tables of Stan James was worth.

I dropped £30.50 quick as a flash and then headed over to the poker tables of ‘Stars where I dumped out another £36 on the tilt. Crap day all in.

Day 74: 1 in 14 million

Quickly tiring of this poor streak I decided to take a long shot and bought two lucky dips at a cost of £2. Neither helped.

Day 75: Murray’s mint?

Let’s hope so. Way back on day 2 I saw a man on telly tip Andy Murray for the US Open so I stuck a tenner on him at 5/2. So far, so good.

Day 76: Jugs full o’ cash

Sophie won Big Brother as predicted last week so I had a good start to the weekend with a £21 winner.

It didn’t last long as I quickly lost £15 on my first try at online roulette and followed it up with £10.50 down on the blackjack.

Day 77: Sharpner

Capping a disappointing run on (well, pretty much any) tables I further proved I’m no Devilfish just because I spent a weekend with a few pros. £31.68 (give or take the odd cent) dropped over two hours across 4 tables. At one stage I won $50 in two hands but this only made me more cocky and I wasted it with some draw hands I shouldn’t have been anywhere near as well as a few badbeats, natch.

Day 78: Stick a pin in a page

At a loss for what to do I plumped for Jim Furyk (cool name!!) to win the Deutsche Bank Championship Golf. He went straight on to shoot a round at two over par

It ain’t over yet but it ain’t pretty.

Day 79: Football Factory

I missed the footie acca this weekend because of the England match so I went as close as I could and backed England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to win their respective matches on Wednesday at a combined price of 12/1.

About as random as it gets!

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Day 66 – Day 72: Home and Away

Another busy week at GOTD Towers…

Day 66: Shoot for the moon…

…because even if you miss you’ll end up amongst the stars. Unless you pick a bunch o’ duds and you crash and burn and pop the promising bubble of the acca. So much for only missing by one as over half of my “certs” failed to deliver. Still as much £4 would have paid out over a grand if they’d all come in I think it was still worth a go.

Hartlepool v Burnley : Burnley @ 5/6 Lost
Hull v Southend : Hull @ 1/2 Won
Portsmouth v Hereford : Portsmouth @ 4/11 Won
QPR v Accrington Stanley : QPR @ 1/3 Won
Southampton v Birmingham : Birmingham @ 10/11 Won
West Ham v Millwall : West Ham @ 2/5 Lost
Reading v Barnsley : Reading @ 8/11 Lost
Blackpool v Wigan : Wigan @ Evens Lost
Tranmere v Bolton : Bolton @ 10/11 Won
Wolves v Swindon : Wolves @ 4/9 Lost
Leeds United v Watford : Leeds United @ 11/10 Lost

Day 67: Two good

Playing tight poker on four tables against a bunch of monkeys for 10c/25c last night and tonight made me a respectable £35 over two evenings. I definitely felt I’d learnt from my poker pro friends from last weekend.

Day 68: My bad

…but it ain’t a foolproof system and I won’t always win. Missed a couple of straight draws and went all in twice when I should have chilled back. Annoyed with myself about that. Couldn’t play too long, had to pack for a weekend break to the Costas.

Day 69: Viva Espana

Set off for Spain with a bet on Dogface (aka page 34 stunna, Sophie) to win Big Brother next week. Either way she’ll end up in Nuts magazine so I can’t really lose. £8 on at 13/8.

Day 70: Football Crazy

Never gonna give you up said Mr Rick Astley and I echo that sentiment with the third in my series of Premiership Accumulators.

Chelsea v Burnley : Chelsea @ 1/6 Won
Stoke v Sunderland : Stoke @ 11/8 Won
Tottenham v Birmingham : Tottenham @ 1/3 Won
Wolves v Hull : Wolves @ 11/10 Lost
Bolton v Liverpool : Liverpool @ 4/7 Won
Blackburn v West Ham : Blackburn @ 5/4 Lost

Boo

Day 71: Great British Hope

Jenson Button was third favourite at 8/1 before qualifying began. On the day of the race he was 14th on the grid. 21 laps later he was having a shower.

Day 72: Nikolai!

Everything about his game tells me I should beat him severely whenever we sit down at the board. Recently I just can’t. Having lost 10-7 in a friendly and then 5-3, 5-3 in two five euro a match games I ruefully wondered if it could be due to the fact we play a different game. I believe he picked up the art of the world’s finest game whilst drunk, playing a drunken Turkish man he’d just beat in an arm-wrestle. They don’t stack more than five counters on a point and for some reason this has stayed with Nikolai. I’ve read a lot of books and none of them mention this rule. From now on, when money changes hands, we play proper.

Back to the Jack tomorrow…

 

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