Bath Time

After something of a whirlwind couple of weeks involving stops in locations as diverse as London, New York, Manchester, Bath and Weymouth, to name but a few, visiting family and friends, it is back to normal although I am not sure I am as rested as I should be.

It's rather embarrassing that as an Englishman, I had never before visited Bath, and only did so this time at the behest of my American wife, but it is a wonderful city and if you haven't visited, I recommend it. The Roman baths are quite an historical treasure of course, but the highlight was tripping over a pub in the city named Crystal Palace which I felt obliged to visit. It would have been rude not to.

Updating the FTL sponsored by TFA with two weeks worth of data took several hours yesterday, but the end is in sight. Fortunately the Cup matches in England and France, and the break in Germany meant a lower number of matches this weekend, but Spain returned to action as did Serie A with several games scheduled for tomorrow which is a public holiday in Italy as they celebrate the Epiphany. Don't we all?

It wasn't just the FTL updates that took up most of this weekend, but sad bastard that I am, I keep other spreadsheets too which all needed to be updated. 2013 wasn't the strongest of years for my Betfair account, which is the whole intent of the Super Premium Charge I suppose, and sports trading is taking a lesser role in life as other opportunities and activities take precedence. The end of March this year marks the tenth anniversary of my return to betting, and perhaps 10 years is enough. I can't say I missed the action during my self-imposed break, unlike the majority of sports investment bloggers who start the New Year refreshed and raring to go, and confident that a change of year will mean an epiphany and change in fortune. It won't. You still need that edge, and you still need discipline.

The latest FTL table is no doubt much anticipated, and while I would normally wait for the completion of the weekend matches, which means Monday's matches, here are a few highlights from the past couple of weeks.

The Football Analyst has moved into positive territory, which is not good news for bounty hunters, but good news for the well-respected Graeme and his service. Webbo also had a good festive period with Boxing Day generating a whopping 20 points in profit as he found seven winners from the ten Premier League games played that day including Sunderland (11.08) at Everton.

Scatter Gun has also had a good end to the year, with three consecutive profitable rounds including one of 10.6 points when 7 of the 10 matches ended 1-1, 2-1 or 1-2.

Not so successful this holiday season was Neil, who looks likely to drop into last place. Forza Fizzer has also hit a brick wall with 19 selections generating just two winners for a loss of 12 points and a steep fall into the red.

For the professionals, it has also been a tough time for Matt's Football Elite. Of his last 23 completed selections, just three have been winners.

Skeeve has made a small profit since the last update, and Peter Nordsted's Drawmaster has also been profitable. His Premier Betting account service is still deep in the red, although the losses have been trimmed a little over the holiday.

As for my own efforts, the XX Draws are back into profit even if there are no more winners today or tomorrow. The Bundeslayga system made a small profit on the last round of football in Germany, and the Cassini Value selections are also up at the time of writing. Two winners from three over the holiday, and a game to come tomorrow.