Another boring diary

[Matchstick]

I'm not sure there's much space and or interest for another one, but I was thinking of putting my diary on here for some self-motivation and analysis. My only concern is the risk of compromising myself with the bookies, but as long as I'm careful not to put exact bets on here I should be okay, no?

Week 0: 17-23 Jan 2011
Started looking for ways to make a bit of extra cash. Came across Matched Betting on MSE, and read lots and lots. I'd come across it before, but not with the valued opinion from MSE that it was a relatively safe thing to do.

Week 1: 24-30 Jan 2011
Time to stop reading and give this a proper go. I started with a small bankroll of £200 for my travels following the MSE Newbie thread. I got rather impatient trying to find matches I could do, so doubled my float to about £400. This is spread aross Betfair, Betdaq and Moneybookers so I'm tempted to empty Betfair while Betdaq has a low commission and reduce my outlay.

TGT: Subscribed to just at the wrong time, 3 days after it was changed to a 12 month membership. -£28

Betfair: Opened an account. Followed the MSE guide to bet £25 to gain +£25 account credit +£20 RAF passed back to me +£15 tracked at TopCashback. The latter took a week and a prod to materialize.

Bet Chronicle: Bet £25 for £25 SR. +£23.35 return from my first two bets +£5 TGT cashback. Everything going to plan.

Betdaq: Just missed out on the 1.01 minimal loss loophole described at MSE. Probably not a bad thing in the long run. Bet £30 for £20 account credit which I foolishly matched against Betfair for a dissapointing +£15.55 return. I think I should have waited and matched it against a book, but got a little confused by the MSE forum post. +£20.20 tracked at TopCashback.

Stan James: Bet £25 for £25 SNR. +£19.56 return +£5 TGT cashback. This was my first bet on a foreign football team but I stook to the principle of only betting on teams that I'd at least heard of.

Betpack: Skipped for now due to links with Stan James.

Week 1 totals

Top Cashback: +£35.20 tracked
TGT cashback: +£10 pending
RAF: +£20 banked
Matched betting profit: +£83.46
TGT subscription: -£28
Total profit: +£75.46

[bella]

Great read..
Cashback is never guaranteed, apart from tgt , so only count if and when you get it...
BTW, you'll make more than enough from your subscriptiion that will cover the 28.00

[clarke9]

You will probs already read some threads about cheltenham but some bookies do give better free bets then any other time in the year in the past but to name a few.

Ladbrokes
Coral
Whill
Stan james
Tote
Blue square
and other's

Theres no guarantee this will still be the case but its probs worth waiting on a few books just in case. This forum is unbelievably helpful and people are very generous with there time so ask as many questions as you want and get the best offers out there. Feel free to pm me if you want to ask anything you dont want to post on the forum and i know many others wont mind if your do this also have a good read of the tgt diarys as these are a good source of info for offers you may not have noticed.

Good luck!

[Matchstick]

Cashback is never guaranteed, apart from tgt , so only count if and when you get it...

Fair point, have decided to only take account of it once I've got in my grubby mits.

BTW, you'll make more than enough from your subscriptiion that will cover the 28.00

I'm sure I will, still bitter about three days though

You will probs already read some threads about cheltenham but some bookies do give better free bets then any other time in the year in the past

Thanks for this tip. I have read about it before and deferred some until then but I may have made a mistake with Stan James. So be it though, if that's my only mistake thus far I think I've done well.

Feel free to pm me if you want to ask anything you dont want to post on the forum

Thanks, that is really helpful if I come unstuck.

have a good read of the tgt diarys as these are a good source of info for offers you may not have noticed.

I'm gradually reading through some of these, feel like I have a lack of time at present so I'm taking it reasonably steady but subscribing for future updates.

[Matchstick]

Busy week so I didn't get round to posting this until now.

Week 2: 31 Jan-6 Feb 2011

New signups

Betclic: Bet £25 refund on lose so treated as SNR for +£18.06 return. Signed up using a RAF deal that amounts to £5 with a 3x WR when I make 10 bets at min 1.5 odds on three outcome events. I'm not holding out much hope there.

188 Bet: Bet £25 refund on lose for +£19.35 return +£5 TGT cashback.

Bet internet: Done £50 for £25 SNR qualifier with my first non-football bet, but I've not completed the free bet yet. Overall result on this deferred until next week.

Coral: Skipped due to better expected offers around Cheltenham Festival?

Bet24: Deposited £60 for £30 SNR. Bust out with +£28.89 return.

Existing member offers:
My first existing member offer!

Stan James: I received the Stan James casino chips offer email and initally ignored it. But then I read up on it a bit more on here and MSE and realised that although there were no guarantees of winning, I could take adavantage at little risk. My last bet too long ago, so I made a £10 bet for £0.12 loss. Overall result on this deferred until next week.

I think I screwed this up a bit. Betdaq odds were 0.02 higher, but with lower commission worked out better. Better to screw up at a cost of two pence than pounds! Was originally hoping to try and arb on this, but for 12p loss I'd rather use the time to go down the pub.

Week 2 total

TGT cashback: +£5 tracked
Matched betting profit: +£66.30

Cumulative
TopCashback: +£35.20 tracked
TGT cashback: +£15 tracked
RAF: +£20 banked
Matched betting profit: +£141.76

[Matchstick]

Week 3: 7 Feb-13 Feb 2011
Had a busy work week so didn't get round to much betting during the week.

New signups:
Bet Internet: Finished off this £50 for £25 SNR qualifier for +£16.98 return. Bit disappointing, but I struggled to find good odds.

Bwin: Deposited £30 for £30SR (advert says £25, T&Cs say £30) +£28.67 return +£5 TGT cashback. I felt like I'd made a small mistake here. Had found a couple of options for loss around £2, one odds around 3.5 one around 1.5. Took the lower odds one (less than evens) to reduce the float tied up at the exchange. But after backing I realised I'd have been better to take a match with higher odds so that it was more likely to lose and bust out avoiding the 5xWR. Turned out my back lost anyway, so I avoided the WR and money is straight in the exchange. I know it's not guaranteed, but is higher odds at the bookie a good strategy in the long run?

Existing member offers:
Stan James: 'Completed' the Stan James casino chips offer by busting out before I could withdraw it as cash. I didn't realise there was a 10x play requirement, so I'm now doubtful I'd have been able to make anything from it though I'm going to have another go next week, perhaps using Blackjack if I have time to read up on it. -£0.22 loss.

Week 3 total
TGT cashback: +£5 tracked
Matched betting profit: +£45.43

Cumulative
TopCashback: +£35.20 tracked
TGT cashback: +£20 tracked
RAF: +£20 banked
Matched betting profit: +£187.19

[AllGone]

Good diary matchstick. Not sure if I'm reading your method right for the stan james chips; but anything above the £10 can be played in sports.

Good luck

[Matchstick]

anything above the £10 can be played in sports.

I'd assumed the play requirement was to be played in the casino. So, it looks like if I get anything above £10 I need to transfer it to the sportsbook to complete WRx10 or bust out. Cool.

[Matchstick]

Week 4: 14 Feb-20 Feb 2011
Was away so didn't do much this week either.

New signups
Centrebet: Nearly did this one, but deferred as I don't really have enough float if I have to complete the WR.

Samvo: Bet £30 for £30 SNR. Yet to complete free bet so return deferred until next week.

Existing member offers:
Stan James: Had the casino bonus email again so did my first dutch against another bookie. £0.12 profit (deferred until next week) unless the bonus is profitable this time. Remain doubtful after last weeks effort.

Week 4 total
Nil

[Matchstick]

Week 5: 21 Feb-27 Feb 2011
Another busy week so not much until the weekend, and then not much.

New signups:
Samvo: Completed £30 for £30 SNR for +£24.73 return.
William Hill: Bet £60 for £60 SNR for +£48.19 return

Existing member offers:
Stan James: Played £10 free casino chips through. With some hand holding and clear direction on chat on the key point that the WR disappears once funds are transferred to the sportsbook, I bet through every time I got above £10 to the sportsbook. I struggled to find any good matches and couldn't really be bothered for a pound or so so mugged it on low odds. Pressed the wrong button so doubled up a £6 win (balance at £13) and lost so that was a bit of a mistake. It would have been more worthwhile had I been under £10. Return of +£7.88 including +£0.19 arbing across to the exchange and +£0.12 from the original qualifier.

Placed £10 qualifier for next week's casino bonus for a return of +£0.20 (deferred until next week).

Week 5 total
Matched betting profit: +£80.80

Cumulative
TopCashback: +£35.20 tracked
TGT cashback: +£20 tracked
RAF: +£20 banked
Matched betting profit: +£268.11