This week's diary entry was by our very own Moderator, Mariner13, and whilst we might be a little bit biased we think it was one of - if not THE - best diary entries ever! Whether you're just new to advantage play and online gambling or a seasoned pro, his article is definitely worth checking out and gives a great overview of the life of a professional gambler/advantage player, and some top tips to boot.
Read on for the full diary...
Introduction
First I’d just like to say thanks for the positive feedback I received from people for my diary entry last week. I knew roughly what I wanted to say in it, but it was hard to know how much detail to go into, as I didn’t want to bore everyone with too much detail, but equally I wanted to give a taste of life doing this full time. I’ll continue to do that in this week’s entry.
Motivation
Generally APing is rather a mundane activity, involving staring at a PC for long hours, and in some ways quite similar to my old “proper job”. Sure you get the odd “fun” moment, like when a BOG comes in, or you hit a number on roulette for a big win, but the excitement soon fades, and it’s back to the boring stuff. When you’re arbing it can also be quite stressful at times – I seem to remember blowingbubbles making reference to this – that after several hours non stop arbing on a Saturday you end up feeling stressed/drained. That’s certainly how I feel by midday on a busy Saturday.
APing full time could easily lead to a life without leaving the house, so that’s one of the things I try and do everyday. I go running (5 miles) 4 or 5 times a week, and either play badminton or go swimming once a week. I also have a walk to my local supermarket roughly 3 times a week, and a wander round town to visit the library, M&S (for a pizza) and the bookies for coupons once a week.
In my opinion it’s necessary to have regular breaks from APing and away from the PC completely. Even on a Saturday I’ll force myself to have a break for a cup of tea for 10 minutes or so.
It’s also good to treat yourself, at least now and then, but especially if you have a good day / week / month. Even if it’s just stuff like a take away or a nice bottle of wine (or three), it gives you something to look forward to when you’re beavering away. It’s easy to end up just seeing money as a number on a spreadsheet, but treating yourself or friends / family makes you remember what it’s actually for.
Targets can also be good, and I have relatively achievable monthly profit targets. If it’s halfway through the month and I haven’t made that much so far, I can step up my activity, whereas if I’ve had a good start in the first half of a month, I can take things a bit easier. It is important not to set the targets too high though, otherwise you create stress / worry for yourself, if you’re having a poor month.
I like to have longer term targets too, the financial ones mostly revolving around paying off my mortgage. I also try and make sure I am setting enough money aside to be able to go on holiday. Again this gives me something to look forward to when I’m working hard, and makes it all seem worthwhile.
Arbing
A lot of my profit comes now from just arbing, 95% of it being football arbs. Arbing really isn’t rocket science, it’s just a question of finding out of line odds (there’s usually plenty on a Saturday), and then using them to their full potential to guarantee a profit. The key point is to maximise the profit you make by laying / dutching in the most profitable way. Smarkets (1%) has been great for this, but I still quite often dutch using Asians / Pinny if that makes me more money.
If you do find an arb, then once you’re “on it” you should be looking if the same arb is available elsewhere and if there are any similar markets that can be arbed on the same match. Don’t just use one odds comparison site – use 2 or three, that show odds at different places. Plus once you’ve explored the online options, think about if you can get the same arb (or better) at phone books you use, and in shops.
It’s really useful (essential imo) to have money already in places where you’re gonna be arbing. To do this, you need a reasonable sized float and experience of which books will offer the best arbs. Having to deposit at a book can often be the difference between getting on the arb or not before it’s cut.
Learning how to dutch is essential too. It seems complicated / difficult at first, but then I’m sure matched betting did to most when they first started out. Start with straight forward 2 way dutching using match odds and the other team +0.5, and once you’re ok with that, move onto the more complicated 3 way dutches. Although I dutch quite a lot, 99% of them are either using +0.5 or using +0.25 and Draw, so would recommend anyone to learn those. I use the grumblebus spreadsheet for my calculations, and have to say it’s an absolutely fantastic tool – big thanks to pokebus for creating it.
Decent PC equipment also makes things a lot easier – a big widescreen monitor (the bigger the better) and a fast PC. I got a new PC earlier in the year (it was actually a reconditioned one I bought through Amazon for about £130) and the speed of it compared to my old one is amazing. I feel as if I can arb at the same speed as my brain now, rather than having to wait for stuff to load etc – I probably kept my old machine for far too long.
As far as stakes go on an arb, I try and stick to no more than £500, but often less than this, depending on the odds, and the book. Quite a few books have “Max Stake” type buttons, which are very useful – I always try and stay below the max stake at somewhere I’m not gubbed at, but if I’m only gonna get a few quid on I will normally bet the max.
Eventually you’ll get gubbed everywhere you arb, but to try and stave it off as long as you can, stick to the above re stakes, and stick to betting on major sporting events. For football I just use the English leagues, SPL, and the top flight leagues in Spain, Germany, Italy and France. Horses I try and stick to big meets / races and I do sometimes arb test match cricket, usually just England matches.
Once you do get gubbed, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end for that account. If the arbs are good enough, you can still make money with lower stakes, and small amounts do add up. Last season I did loads of arbs with SJ even though I was gubbed and made a decent profit. The stakes were anywhere from £15 - £200. Unfortunately now I cant get anything on at all!
Final point on arbing, is that if you’ve still got plenty of subs to do mixed in with a few reloads and offers, don’t worry about arbing too much. Arbing for arbing’s sake is far less profitable on an hourly rate basis, and ties up lots more funds. Do the subs and reloads and build up your float, and just keep an eye out for the odd arb. By doing this you’ll probably find that when you have done all the easier stuff, you’ll have a big enough float to arb with, you’ll have lots of bookie accounts open, so better chance of access to the best odds, you’ll be more experienced and hopefully not gubbed at too many places.
General Tips / Advice
If I do have to withdraw I try and withdraw 3 figure sums. May not make that much difference but I just think 4 figure amounts are gonna stand out for both withdrawals and stake. The aim is to stay under the radar for as long as possible. Avoiding contacting CS is also advisable if at all possible – you don’t want a human being looking at your account basically.
I’d also probably say try and avoid using Moneybookers at your big UK books, and stick to debit cards. I know before I started this lark I’d never heard of Moneybookers and reckon a bookie’s gonna view you as more than just a mug punter if you use it.
Try and limit your exposure to dodgy books by having a strict balance limit. I try and avoid having more than £1.5k of my float in any one place, although I will go over that at certain places for short periods.
Try and check your bets are definitely placed correctly, by looking at open bets. When you’re rushing from arb to arb it is easy to make a mistake. The bigger the bet size the more important this is!
If you get stuck in a rut, have a read of some of the diary entries in both this thread, and the £400 a month thread. A lot of very inspiring stuff in both, and can give you a few new ideas.
If you’re looking for matches / arbs and not finding anything – give up, go do something else, and look again later / another day.
Keep an open mind to different ideas / ways of doing stuff, and try and improve your knowledge / skills.
Don’t get too distracted by reading threads / chatting in the chatbox. It’s easy to spend several hours doing this, and then realise you haven’t placed any bets / made any money. Sometimes you just have to stop procrastinating, and get on and do stuff.
Organise yourself properly – write a to do list and use a diary so you don’t forget stuff. I use a google diary (think Fella mentioned this ages ago) and have a link to it on my iGoogle homepage.
This Week
A pretty poor week again, in terms of profit, although I have got some wr done at a few places. This was mainly due to lack of arbs over the weekend – I hate international weekends, as I don’t like arbing matches not involving home nations plus there’s less matches compared to a normal weekend. Did do a sub and a reload + a couple of offers though. Time spent was 15 hours.
Looking forward to the rest of the month, as got a few things in the pipeline. Gonna do the Bet770 reload (will probably just do £100 for £100 and underlay lots), I’ve got about £180 due in from Moneybookers, a 25% reload at MyBet up to €100 that I’ll underlay heavily and hopefully plenty of arbs, plus a few other bits and pieces. I’ll probably be under my average this month but still expect to make 4 figures.
Well that’s about it, except to say thanks for reading! I’m adding a pic of myself wearing my TGT polo shirt - many thanks to Andy for it, and for the hoodie. The photo was taken on holiday in Crete earlier in the year – the faces have been hidden to protect the innocent!
First I’d just like to say thanks for the positive feedback I received from people for my diary entry last week. I knew roughly what I wanted to say in it, but it was hard to know how much detail to go into, as I didn’t want to bore everyone with too much detail, but equally I wanted to give a taste of life doing this full time. I’ll continue to do that in this week’s entry.
Motivation
Generally APing is rather a mundane activity, involving staring at a PC for long hours, and in some ways quite similar to my old “proper job”. Sure you get the odd “fun” moment, like when a BOG comes in, or you hit a number on roulette for a big win, but the excitement soon fades, and it’s back to the boring stuff. When you’re arbing it can also be quite stressful at times – I seem to remember blowingbubbles making reference to this – that after several hours non stop arbing on a Saturday you end up feeling stressed/drained. That’s certainly how I feel by midday on a busy Saturday.
APing full time could easily lead to a life without leaving the house, so that’s one of the things I try and do everyday. I go running (5 miles) 4 or 5 times a week, and either play badminton or go swimming once a week. I also have a walk to my local supermarket roughly 3 times a week, and a wander round town to visit the library, M&S (for a pizza) and the bookies for coupons once a week.
In my opinion it’s necessary to have regular breaks from APing and away from the PC completely. Even on a Saturday I’ll force myself to have a break for a cup of tea for 10 minutes or so.
It’s also good to treat yourself, at least now and then, but especially if you have a good day / week / month. Even if it’s just stuff like a take away or a nice bottle of wine (or three), it gives you something to look forward to when you’re beavering away. It’s easy to end up just seeing money as a number on a spreadsheet, but treating yourself or friends / family makes you remember what it’s actually for.
Targets can also be good, and I have relatively achievable monthly profit targets. If it’s halfway through the month and I haven’t made that much so far, I can step up my activity, whereas if I’ve had a good start in the first half of a month, I can take things a bit easier. It is important not to set the targets too high though, otherwise you create stress / worry for yourself, if you’re having a poor month.
I like to have longer term targets too, the financial ones mostly revolving around paying off my mortgage. I also try and make sure I am setting enough money aside to be able to go on holiday. Again this gives me something to look forward to when I’m working hard, and makes it all seem worthwhile.
Arbing
A lot of my profit comes now from just arbing, 95% of it being football arbs. Arbing really isn’t rocket science, it’s just a question of finding out of line odds (there’s usually plenty on a Saturday), and then using them to their full potential to guarantee a profit. The key point is to maximise the profit you make by laying / dutching in the most profitable way. Smarkets (1%) has been great for this, but I still quite often dutch using Asians / Pinny if that makes me more money.
If you do find an arb, then once you’re “on it” you should be looking if the same arb is available elsewhere and if there are any similar markets that can be arbed on the same match. Don’t just use one odds comparison site – use 2 or three, that show odds at different places. Plus once you’ve explored the online options, think about if you can get the same arb (or better) at phone books you use, and in shops.
It’s really useful (essential imo) to have money already in places where you’re gonna be arbing. To do this, you need a reasonable sized float and experience of which books will offer the best arbs. Having to deposit at a book can often be the difference between getting on the arb or not before it’s cut.
Learning how to dutch is essential too. It seems complicated / difficult at first, but then I’m sure matched betting did to most when they first started out. Start with straight forward 2 way dutching using match odds and the other team +0.5, and once you’re ok with that, move onto the more complicated 3 way dutches. Although I dutch quite a lot, 99% of them are either using +0.5 or using +0.25 and Draw, so would recommend anyone to learn those. I use the grumblebus spreadsheet for my calculations, and have to say it’s an absolutely fantastic tool – big thanks to pokebus for creating it.
Decent PC equipment also makes things a lot easier – a big widescreen monitor (the bigger the better) and a fast PC. I got a new PC earlier in the year (it was actually a reconditioned one I bought through Amazon for about £130) and the speed of it compared to my old one is amazing. I feel as if I can arb at the same speed as my brain now, rather than having to wait for stuff to load etc – I probably kept my old machine for far too long.
As far as stakes go on an arb, I try and stick to no more than £500, but often less than this, depending on the odds, and the book. Quite a few books have “Max Stake” type buttons, which are very useful – I always try and stay below the max stake at somewhere I’m not gubbed at, but if I’m only gonna get a few quid on I will normally bet the max.
Eventually you’ll get gubbed everywhere you arb, but to try and stave it off as long as you can, stick to the above re stakes, and stick to betting on major sporting events. For football I just use the English leagues, SPL, and the top flight leagues in Spain, Germany, Italy and France. Horses I try and stick to big meets / races and I do sometimes arb test match cricket, usually just England matches.
Once you do get gubbed, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end for that account. If the arbs are good enough, you can still make money with lower stakes, and small amounts do add up. Last season I did loads of arbs with SJ even though I was gubbed and made a decent profit. The stakes were anywhere from £15 - £200. Unfortunately now I cant get anything on at all!
Final point on arbing, is that if you’ve still got plenty of subs to do mixed in with a few reloads and offers, don’t worry about arbing too much. Arbing for arbing’s sake is far less profitable on an hourly rate basis, and ties up lots more funds. Do the subs and reloads and build up your float, and just keep an eye out for the odd arb. By doing this you’ll probably find that when you have done all the easier stuff, you’ll have a big enough float to arb with, you’ll have lots of bookie accounts open, so better chance of access to the best odds, you’ll be more experienced and hopefully not gubbed at too many places.
General Tips / Advice
If I do have to withdraw I try and withdraw 3 figure sums. May not make that much difference but I just think 4 figure amounts are gonna stand out for both withdrawals and stake. The aim is to stay under the radar for as long as possible. Avoiding contacting CS is also advisable if at all possible – you don’t want a human being looking at your account basically.
I’d also probably say try and avoid using Moneybookers at your big UK books, and stick to debit cards. I know before I started this lark I’d never heard of Moneybookers and reckon a bookie’s gonna view you as more than just a mug punter if you use it.
Try and limit your exposure to dodgy books by having a strict balance limit. I try and avoid having more than £1.5k of my float in any one place, although I will go over that at certain places for short periods.
Try and check your bets are definitely placed correctly, by looking at open bets. When you’re rushing from arb to arb it is easy to make a mistake. The bigger the bet size the more important this is!
If you get stuck in a rut, have a read of some of the diary entries in both this thread, and the £400 a month thread. A lot of very inspiring stuff in both, and can give you a few new ideas.
If you’re looking for matches / arbs and not finding anything – give up, go do something else, and look again later / another day.
Keep an open mind to different ideas / ways of doing stuff, and try and improve your knowledge / skills.
Don’t get too distracted by reading threads / chatting in the chatbox. It’s easy to spend several hours doing this, and then realise you haven’t placed any bets / made any money. Sometimes you just have to stop procrastinating, and get on and do stuff.
Organise yourself properly – write a to do list and use a diary so you don’t forget stuff. I use a google diary (think Fella mentioned this ages ago) and have a link to it on my iGoogle homepage.
This Week
A pretty poor week again, in terms of profit, although I have got some wr done at a few places. This was mainly due to lack of arbs over the weekend – I hate international weekends, as I don’t like arbing matches not involving home nations plus there’s less matches compared to a normal weekend. Did do a sub and a reload + a couple of offers though. Time spent was 15 hours.
- £7.53 - Arbs
- -£4.38 - Coral (injury cashback – 2 games neither came in)
- £32.17 - Lads (locked in on the England offer, when they scored early)
- £12.32 - Titan (second chance)
- £60.00 - Intertops (took their 20% reload bonus gonna wager on NFL offer)
- £32.02 - 10Bet (reload – bust my deposit and have wagered bonus in full)
- £2.51 - Jaxx (monthly points bonus incl wagering)
- -£4.51 - Bet770 (bust out the £70 bonus from the sub)
- £9.56 - Whitebet (bust out the sub)
- £2.54 - PaddyPower (winnings from £1 games credit and £2 in casino)
- £2.50 - Hills (winnings from risk free casino £5)
- £1.25 - Pools (winnings from £1 spin on Monopoly slot)
- £28.06 - ComeOn (profit from underlayed winning bet on reload)
Looking forward to the rest of the month, as got a few things in the pipeline. Gonna do the Bet770 reload (will probably just do £100 for £100 and underlay lots), I’ve got about £180 due in from Moneybookers, a 25% reload at MyBet up to €100 that I’ll underlay heavily and hopefully plenty of arbs, plus a few other bits and pieces. I’ll probably be under my average this month but still expect to make 4 figures.
Well that’s about it, except to say thanks for reading! I’m adding a pic of myself wearing my TGT polo shirt - many thanks to Andy for it, and for the hoodie. The photo was taken on holiday in Crete earlier in the year – the faces have been hidden to protect the innocent!
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