New day, new challenge

I couldn't resist one more bet last night. The Copa Del Rey game between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo was goalless approaching half time and odds for over 0.5 goals were down to 1/9. Seizing an opportunity to make a bit more gains on the money lost yesterday, I invested the small pot of £13.75. A goal did indeed arrive but not for Madrid as expected, as Celta took the lead on 64 minutes. It didn't matter to me. We clawed back a bit more and increased our winnings to £15.28. Respectable gains after the earlier hammer blow!

I’m trying to think of some ways to make this challenge more failsafe. There will always be the chance of being nobbled, but there are certainly ways of minimising risk.

Patience is absolutely key. Yesterdays downfall was due to trying to rush a bet through. I can’t make that mistake again.

Secondly, research is vital. I can’t go in betting blind just on a hunch. Team news needs to be checked before anything is placed. League tables need to be checked. Form needs to be looked at.

Also, there was a fear creeping in of maybe missing a bet opportunity which contributed to yesterdays loss. I can’t let that fear influence a bet. If there is a day without a suitable bet, then so be it. There is always tomorrow.

Having said that, I am likely to be scrapping the one bet a day rule. Especially on weekends when there are so many opportunities. The idea behind it was that it should minimise risk by just having to pick out one game a day. Whilst I do think I will still mostly stick to this, weekends offer the chance to place several bets in one day without being rushed or panic betting. There is no benefit in missing out on this.

Additionally, it may be worth focusing on games where the home team are big favourites to win and hope that they don’t score in the first half hour or so. Balancing the odds is a big factor in this though. If the home side is too big a favourite, then the odds for a goal in the game take longer to drop. It helped us in previous games featuring Napoli and Braga at home. Maybe we’ll try to experiment with this where possible, but it isn’t a strict rule.