All In The Mind

If you follow JP's blog listed on the right, you will know that he has pretty much ended the year with a net profit of somewhere around £30,530. Not too shabby.

As JP says, he'd have happily taken that number at the start of the year, but being human, it's how we arrive at the final total that determines how we perceive it.

A 3-3 draw in football is great if you were 0-3 down at one time; not so great if you were 3-0 up.

Two people could each have a net worth of a million pounds, but if one has arrived at that figure after inheriting £10 million a few years ago, and the other by starting with nothing but investing wisely, who is the happier?

In JP's situation, he peaked in late October, but then had a dismal run from then on, so it's natural and understandable that the end of his profitable year is accompanied by a feeling of some disappointment. I'm guessing that Tiger Woods knows the feeling.

It could be the time of year (i.e. no flat racing) or it could be time to clear out a few tipsters. Anyway, following his blog and results has certainly been interesting and I hope he comes back in the new year with continued success.

My 2009 has been a little more steady, with just one losing month back in April, although the cause of that one still hurts, even eight months later! Of course, December is not over yet, so I should probably not tempt fate, but my last losing December was back in 2005 when I was still something of a novice.

My style is obviously significantly different from JP's, for one thing my interest in horse racing is almost zero, whereas for JP it's his main focus, and it is less than a month ago that I signed up for my first tipping service (on the back of the results JP was achieving) whereas JP uses them heavily. With the exchanges, there are clearly many ways to make a profit, and we all concentrate on the methods and style that suits us.

The final two picks from Football Elite today were Sampdoria (2.57) and Gijon (3.45) but the former could only draw at home to Roma, while the latter lost 0-1 at home to Sevilla.

Including 5% commission, their recommended bets are now 3 wins, 6 draws, 2 losses and a loss of 34.97 to a 10 point level stake, but their short-list selections fare better at 7-5-2 with a profit of 79.99 to a 10 point level stake. Overall 10-11-4 (+45.02).