Full Time Matched Bettors - Day to Day life

[shanezer]

Just gone fulltime today on this. Not really through choice since I lost my job last week! The good oul recession!
Anyway if anyone has any good earners feel free to PM me all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have a lot of wee earners going oon myself which Im happy to share, some risk free some EV but they all work for me anyway.
Anyways fingers crossed this goes well I didnt like my job anyway lol

[anglo123]

May you have many profitable days, shanezar !


You have probably done it already, but the Betfair 25% cashback on your 1st mobile bet is on till Weds evening. Easy £100 ish

[cruncher]

What a great read this was. I'm not full time but spend most of my spare time doing it along with reading the forums. I enjoy it but often when I get home and find dozens of post that I feel obliged to read I'm envious of the guys at home all day. Having read the full timers comments it's made me feel fortunate that I get to avoid a lot of the feelings that they have to contend with so thank you for posting.

[mikehunt]

iv been full time for about 5 years now
used to do it quite a lot whilst at university for a few years before that, effectively being full time in my final year tbh used to skip lectures in afternoons so i could arb horses
scuppered my chances of getting the first i was on course for at end of second year
ended up scraping a 2.1 but had no debt and plenty of beer money so wasnt too upset


id go crazy if i didnt have hobbies, luckily i have 2 dogs who expect an hour or 2 walking every day, which i find is great thinking time as its about the only time i get some peace

also golf, luckily a couple of the boys are self employed so can manufacture afternoons off, so i play at least twice during the week in summer plus 1/both days at weekends, and in winter at least twice a week depending on what weather and gambling allows

there are certain gambling things that are so profitable that they cant afford to be missed, other quieter days then golf and dogs dictate what happens and only gamble a little around that

hate winter as it means more time stuck indoors

i find a rest for the eyes every now and then is great altho it is very very rare that il completely take a day off and not be on pc at all

overall i think im far happier doing this than i would be in any realistic real job
slow days can be boring and iv learnt im better off going out than sitting in all day and pondering how iv only made 40 quid

i think you have to enjoy your own company for this to work full time
i know a lot of people who start climbing the walls if left on their own for even an evening by their girlfriend and friends

iv often pondered how id fare if more stress were added.
atm i can get by easily on 1k a month but probably spend closer to 2k anything over that goes in bankroll.
but if i had dependants or girlfriend pushes thru her plans for bigger house with bigger mortgage which i imagine would mean far larger monthly outgoings for me then life may no longer be quite so rosy

if i knew i had to make 3k a month to support her and a child (touch wood birth controlSSS dont fail) then id be miserable.
any day i didnt make £100+ id be in a mood especially if there were 2 noisy people in the house watching jeremy kyle coronation street and emmerdale, it would feel much like the position i imagine most working folk are in constantly chasing their ass waiting for pay day pi$$ed off with the wife and kids


longer term i want to invest in something, possibly a business, possibly property to rent out so that i atleast have a secondary income stream

i do a bit on ebay and used to do a bit with computers, but tbh both are a bit of a pita and not profitable enough to even consider if AP failed me

oddly a £20 profit on something iv picked up cheap and flogged on ebay is somehow more satisfying than the same profit from AP


i do very little with casinos, i just cant handle the variance and dont have the patience/inclination for these 50x wrs
obviously do wh risk free, laddies, odd bf promo, but very little else
gambling is not for me, and whilst i may tilt the odd arb/freebet, it is very very rare for me to gamble

i have red misted and lost a grand on one occasion about 5 years back and 2k another about 4 years ago after a cock up arbing tennis because of rule differences
these days i try not to expose myself to any red mist temptation, its just not worth it for me, and casino offers arent anything like they were in the old intercasino, ritz and littlewood monthly days

i did used to try trading a bit, but dont feel like i approach it right, clinging onto unprofitable ones too long fingers crossed hoping price goes back, and getting out of profitable ones at the first sign of being all green

the other thing i used to do quite a bit was books on various outrights nfl nba divisions conferences etc most top footy leagues, all tennis majors. start with a 3%+ arb in any longish term and just keep building and get commission breaks and reutilise same liabilty money, fairly enjoyable but a pita to keep track of all the bets with spreadsheets and often liabilities at 3 or 4 exchanges


something which suprises me is how bored i get watching sport
barely watch football now only big premiership and champ league knockout stages
i usually prefer to leave tv off in day and get some peace

i dont know if this is a phase and iv just overloaded on sport, or whether gambling has spoilt my enjoyment of just sitting there watching it

dont think theres any sport on tv that id sit in to watch over playing golf or playing with the dogs

hopefully theres something of interest in there to someone, dont feel tired and its 3 am lucky i dont have to get up and drive to work in the morning

[thefreshness]

something which suprises me is how bored i get watching sport
barely watch football now only big premiership and champ league knockout stages
"i usually prefer to leave tv off in day and get some peace

i dont know if this is a phase and iv just overloaded on sport, or whether gambling has spoilt my enjoyment of just sitting there watching it

dont think theres any sport on tv that id sit in to watch over playing golf or playing with the dogs"

very true! ever since i started this game nearly 4 years ago my interest in football which used to be huge, Is deminishing with every passing week. I put it down to always monitering the odds on betfair when live game is on and missing half the action on the telly!!!!

[Stevesharpe]

In April I cut my hours at work (It was that or get laid off) and spent more time AP'ing. Since then I have considered myself a full time AP'er that had a part time job. In October the job finally went altogether. I have a wife and 3 kids, the eldest is 10 and youngest is 3. I probably put in about 40 hours a week, but usually 30+ of these will be Fri, Sat & Sun. I set myself a realistic monthly goal of £1200 to avoid putting too much pressure on myself, despite this I have averaged £800 per week for the last 6 months. As well as paying the bills I am also planning financially for my future, so I operate AP'ing as a business, drawing a wage and putting some aside.

I have been AP'ing for nearly 4 years and in that time have made a considerable sum. I've paid down a large proportion of my mortgage, made sure I get my annual limit in my ISA's and just recently invested in solar panels to take advantage of the feed in tariff before they cut it next week. I keep my float around £30k, which I generally only have all in play maybe two or 3 times a year. Anything over that goes back to the savings / current accounts every month. I don't have a works pension, only a personal one which I can't pay into any more as I'm not employed. I have set myself a target of £500,000 savings by the time I retire in 30 years. That may sound like a lot of money but take into account inflation and you're probably looking at the equivalent of £15k p/a for 15 years. Unlike a pension though if I die young someone else get's the full benefit of the money.

I put my success down to not getting stressed about it. I don't worry if I miss an offer and I don't let it get to me if I get some poor variance. I lost a lot of accounts very early through stupid arbing, literally £100's per day every day. That singles you out as a non recreational player. Having learnt my lesson I signed up the OH where I could and now only take arbs occasionally on big leagues / races to try and preserve my accounts for when the offers come. I don't like burning accounts for nothing as you never know which bookie will be the next to start splashing the offers. Last year I never thought I'd see another offer or reload from Bodog, or Unibet etc. Ladbrokes had virtually given up on sports offers and look at them now.

If you're going to consider full time then you need to have the right mindset and mentality. Sure and steady gains is the way forward, especially when you have a family to support. Don't expose too much of your money to any one site, that includes Moneybookers! If there's no offers to do on any given day, walk away and do something else. Don't get bogged down in trying to force a bit of income from nothing. As for getting fat, that happened when I stopped playing rugby 15 years ago

[shanezer]

Just a quick note to everyone been fulltime now for a month have my daily routine almost completely sorted and am much happier with life now! Hoping 2012 brings a lot of money my way, doing a bit for mates is also helping with the income and I should be set up for sharbing come March. Anyone that is looking any tips Im happy to help out as Ive been at this for about five years now and far from being a pro I do have a brave bit of experience. Happy new year to all and thanks for all the posts and replies that have really helped.

[Bananaman]

I know this thread is about the day to day life, but I noticed how Steve said he doesn't pay into his pension anymore because he's not working. A lot of people aren't aware that non-taxpayers of any age can pay into a pension up to £2880 a year, and that will be topped up to £3600 because of the 20% tax relief that even non-taxpayers can get. Wealthy people do this for their kids as soon as they're born. Nice tax break for the rich, eh? If you did that until they were 18, you've set them up for a secure retirement. So I put £240 into ETF's and a couple of emerging market funds every month and the tax man adds £60 a month. The rest of my pension/investments go into ISAs which don't get tax relief for money going in, but are tax free on the interest/dividends coming out and if you build up that ISA over 30 years, that'll be a lot tax saved. And of course ISA money can be cashed in any time.

I know that the markets are very volatile at the moment and potential losses put a lot of people off investing rather than saving cash, but saving up cash is not a viable long term strategy to beat inflation.

[bigblue]

Having just read thro this thread I have to say it really is a superb read.

I take my hat off to anyone who has the bottle to AP full-time.

Well done guys & hopefully 2012 is prosperous for all of you.

[lorrainewade]

I've been thinking lately about why I continue to AP despite hating it and not needing the money, and I have realised that I am in fact addicted to it. APing all day and night means I don't have to face other problems, no different to an alkie drinking all day. Just happens that my addiction makes me money rather than costing it. I dont think I could go a day without doing an offer, i'd get restless and depressed. No win is enough, I could win £1000000 and it wouldnt make me cheerful, but each loss pisses me off still. Interesting. I might start a support group.