November Review - Part 1

The month didn’t end particularly well with a couple of losing days but no massive damage done and a decent month in the end with £641 gross profit posted. Net profit therefore was £205 which gives me £6.83 a day – well below my “modest” target of £20 per day. Subscription fees continue to punish the profit at my stake level and clearly there are things I can do to change that.

Obviously luck plays its part and I suppose it evens out in the end but missing 3 winning bets one Saturday cost me £200+ profit on the month. C’est la vie.

So November my 6^th winning month of the year so far and total profit for the year stands at £3,545 which on paper looks and sounds lovely, the reality being that unless December proves to be a stormer I will finish the year in a net negative position. 2009 and thousands of pound profit seems like a long time ago.

Anyway here’s the number for each service;

Steve Lewis Hamilton: -£224 (-4.5pts). Admittedly 1 winning bet missed which would have made a difference but still a negative for Steve with another disappointing month to post. Think the fact that we’re into the NH season proper now makes the result much more frustrating. A lack of bets doesn’t help matters but I think its worth keeping the faith. One winning bet would’ve turned things into profit. My level staking approach paid dividends with 1pt bet Prophete De Guye delivering and 3pt Tempest River flopping. I’ve just re-subscribed to SLH until 1 April 2012 so we shall see how the rest of the season goes.

Equine Investments / Equine Turnover. Small losses on both these services as they kicked off the AW season proper on Saturday 26^th. Hopefully both can turn a substantial profit throughout the winter. I need Equine Investments to do tremendously well to break even. I’ve mentioned before my staking level with the main service is not sustainable with subs how they are, this joined with an impossible task of getting bets on at recommended prices make the service unsustainable for a punter like myself. A great service with handsome profit over the long run so cannot be criticised too much but not one I will continue with at renewal point – I just can’t make it pay. Equine Turnover has performed magnificently this year and I do plan to keep going with that one but it’d be fair to say pressure on prices appears to mount as each passing tip delivers.

Northern Monkey: +£190 (+19pts). Another very good month for Wayne at Northern Monkey. I had to laugh at his end of season review where he mentioned he wasn’t very happy with annual performance. Give yourself a break man! Happy as larry, could not be happier… Highlight of the month has to be Sugar Beet. It’ll be quieter over the next few months but tipping at its best for very low cost.

Football Elite: -£101 (-4pts). Disappointing month for Football Elite. I’d say this was a service that was on my watch list. Matt sent an interesting email at the end of the month which overall I couldn’t disagree with in terms of volume of bets and long term profit. I think the question is – how long do I want to wait before I return a decent profit? Again my level of staking is the issue here – not so much relative to the cost of the service – which is a very reasonable £15 a month – but in terms of volume of bets and odds achieved. It probably feels like you should be betting £100+ on each tip to feel the benefit of the service. However whatever the level of tipping over the last two years including subs I’ve made a loss and it does reach the point that you have to draw a line and move on – can I wait another year or two to turn a profit. I don’t think the nature of who I am will allow me to do that!

4PA: +£14 (+0.7pts). A poor month for 4PA with a flourish of winners in the middle helping us scrape over the line in the black. I’ve flipped my betting on this service with and am following the basic system bets over the account bets. Any account bet that isn’t a basic system bet I’m covering to minimum stakes. Clear evidence from the stats to show that this is the right thing to do and good profit can be made from simply following the basic system at £20 a point. As you will know I’ve re-subscribed for three months to see how things go and to allow me to try and do the basic thing myself. Well last weekend it never happened as I had no time and this weekend will be the same as I’m away for a wedding. So there is value in paying £400 a year for a service that can deliver +£2.5k a year on profit. Now questions are – could some one provide the tips at less than £400 a year and if they did would that be ok to do considering it’s a SBC tool. Answers on a postcard. PS – if anyone from SBC is reading this – I’m not going to do it so don’t have a go!