THE 30K CHALLENGE .............

THE 10K CHALLENGE ................

2008-12-05T13:29:00.000Z

http://digglers10kchallenge.blogspot.com/ is up n running starting from the 1st Jan , Happy Christmas all !!

RETURN OF THE DIGGLER ..................

2008-12-03T22:25:00.002Z

1st January 2009 will see my return to the world of blogging .................. im now in full time employment, and using my gambling to supplement my income. It needs to............. the credit crunch and redundancy to my better half has reached DIGGLER TOWERS !

I enjoyed my first stab at the 30K CHALLENGE and the blog that covered this, it gave me extra discipline in my gambling and i made a few friends with a interest in gambling who im still in contact with today.

Trying to make a living from gambling as your sole source of income is bloody difficult .......... no shit sherlock !!! i hear you say.............. I am talking about pure betting not I/R trading, my eyes aint great and im a rather clumsy chum always prone to the odd fat finger !!! so that avenue i have never explored. Gambling for a living and gambling in a effort to supplement your income are two entirely different beasts, the physcology and pressures involved cannot be underestimated. I have been down both routes and i know which path i prefer especially thesedays as i have a dayjob that encompasses and to a certain extent encourages my passion for gambling and getting a slice of the bookmakers FOBT pie !!!!

So the challenge in 2009 will be to supplement my income for the year to the tune of £800/month, i feel confident so lets raise the bar a tad and go for £10,000 during 2009.

THE 10K CHALLENGE ......................... Coming soon to a blog near you !!!!

THANKS ...................

2008-02-25T22:29:00.002Z

to all your kind words and support not only over the last few days but since the blogs inception , the blog has had an added bonus of bringing me into contact with many decent like minded people, who i aim to stay in touch with .

to you all , thanks happy punting & be lucky !!!!

a nice day to finish on ...............

2008-02-23T18:00:00.003Z

i think after pigeon islands success @ 7/1 , if only irish legend could have stayed on for 3rd it would have been a very nice day indeed !!! i start my new job on tuesday so i think today will be my final day of regular blogging , i have been asked to continue on a daily basis by a few readers of the30kchallenge but this blog has never intended to be a "proofing service" it was my journey throughout the year in trying to make a living in excess of £30k ............. i will now use the services in an attempt to supplement my income , i have set aside some funds that will be my gambling fund and hopefully it will pay for a nice holiday and a few treats later on this year.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

2.05 kemp PIGEON ISLAND £300 ew @ 7/1 WON +£2520
4.50 kemp IRISH LEGEND £70 ew @ 20/1 £50 ew @ 18/1 £30 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

4.55 chep HIGH JACK £150 ew @ 12/1 3rd +£300

daily p/l +£2520

i will post the weekly and year to date figs asap

sometimes when gambling as with life in general ..............

2008-02-22T18:05:00.002Z

you dont get the rub of the green , with gambling you can suss out a match or race and get it spot on but still end up with a loss ............... thats especially the case with jump racing , yes i know the fences/hurdles are there to be jumped but i had to feel for andrew @ optimum today , a nicer more genuine bloke you will never meet , and yes i realise thats no guarantee of success , he does know his stuff but he has been going through a lean period of late after a period of continued success late last year and today his analysis of the 4.40 sandown was near enough spot on , one to avoid in the race and oppose the king of angels ............ first one beat @ 4/1 and pulled up , the danger was mokum and selection oakfield legend , 12 lengths clear when tipping up 2 out leaving the door open for mokum ................. the period this blog has covered has not been one when the gambling gods have smiled kindly upon my services as a whole ........ hopefully with its demise imminent things will improve !!!

friday

MARK HOLDER

4.05 sandown ELLWAY PROSPECT £75 ew @ 33/1 unpld -£150
4.05 sandown CALL OSCAR £225 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£450

4.50 warwick RAWDON £150 ew @ 16/1 3rd +£450

OPTIMUM RACING

4.40 sandown OAKFIELD LEGEND £300 @ 11/4 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£450

weekending 16th feb ....................

2008-02-17T13:08:00.002Z

well a marvellous week from isiris kept my head above water , played in 3 races producing a 14/1 and 5/2 maximum account winner , i hope that i dont miss too many winners when i start my "proper" job !!!!!
the figures are as follows for the week just gone ................

ISIRIS main account +£1200 (24pts)
ISIRIS insiders +£1579.20 (31.58pts)

MARK HOLDER -£900(6pts)

OPTIMUM RACING -£900(6pts)

weekly p/l +£829.20

THE30KCHALLENGE.............................-£3007.37

no wedding this saturday ....................

2008-02-17T10:38:00.002Z

but sadly a similar saturday in respect of the p/l with a loss of £1200 ..............

i have been asked what will happen to these services when i start work , well i believe that mh & optimum will be able to supplement my income and i will still play to much smaller stakes say £25/£50 pt i wont be able to necessarily get the best terms or prices on a regular basis but with the offer of best odds guaranteed and a few other concessions around i feel i will be ok , yes i realise it has been a poor start to 2008 from these two but so it was in 2007 and they still both produced decent returns come year end.

its slightly different with isiris, the most exciting service around no longer open to new members , the timimg of messages will prove a difficulty in regularly getting on, but on days off and during lunch breaks i will try my best.
throughout 2007 i was moaning about the high number of bets , i even stopped backing the insiders as trying to get on in excess of 3 selections at one time was proving nigh impossible especially at the advertised prices, i had trumpeted the message of quality not quantity and at the latter end of 2007 we had the change in the service, with a more selective and customer friendly approach, an approach that i had been advocating for some time............. nice to know some people take notice !!!!
yes i will be backing these selections when possible as i dont think my boss or colleagues would accept me popping down the bookies during my working day 3 or so times a week but again it will be at reduced stakes tomy current staking.
on the subject of isiris a marvellous week for its members a 14/1 winner and a maximum main account winner , many congratulations to the isiris team , on a marvellous week.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

4.50 win MERRY MUSIC £300 ew @ 7/1 unpld -£600

OPTIMUM RACING

2.05 win KALDOUAS £300 @ 3/1 3rd -£300

2.45 hay GEEVEEM £150 ew @ 15/2 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£1200

not too much damage done ..........

2008-02-15T23:15:00.003Z

although prior to the 4.20 sandown today things were not looking too good , although the service that shall remain nameless has had a cracking week , as will be shown in tomorrows weekly figs. last day of the blog will be monday 25th feb ........................

thursday

OPTIMUM RACING

3.25 sandown kalca mome £150 ew @ 6/1 unpld -£300

friday

MARK HOLDER

2.05 sandown SONNING STAR £450 @ 11/4 unpld -£450

4.20 sandown GALANTOS £150 ew @ 20/1 4th +£600

p/l -£150

the end is nigh ..................

2008-02-12T15:16:00.001Z

only for the 30k challenge and the blog .................. as i have been offered employment with 2 other interviews lined up this week its a 1.01 shot that come chelters i will have a "proper" job , so will update further tomorrow as going to take advantage of the superb weather while i can and find a country pub and have a few jars .....................

update

firstly thanks for all the emails,texts,calls and comments i have been overwhelmed by the reaction, i will continue as usual until i start my full time employment which will either be the 25th feb or 3rd march.

tuesday

MARK HOLDER

1.30 folkes CAPTAIN TIDDS £150 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

february so far ................

2008-02-10T12:32:00.000Z

well started the month with a deficit of £1671 ............

upto and including saturday 9th february my p/l figs are as follows :

ISIRIS main account -£74.55 (1.491 pts)
ISIRIS insiders nil
MARK HOLDER -£1389 (9.26 pts)
OPTIMUM RACING -£345 (2.3 pts)
OPTIMUM SPORT -£537.50 (21.5pts)
PERSONAL TRADING +£180.48

overall p/l ...................... -£2165.57

THE30KCHALLENGE ............................. -£3836.57

Well im beating last year !!! was over £5000 in the red this time last year , but the difference in me personally is huge , last year i was enthusuastic and even through the trying time i was upbeat, positive and looking forward to the future months .............. thats not the case this year.

YES i still have confidence in MH and OPTIMUM to turn things around but my heart is not in it , i suppose the bookmakers have ground me down , take yesterdays bet from mh , mortimers cross , i went into one laddies and asked for £80 ew @ 20/1 , the battleaxe of a cashier rang up and notified that she had a non regular customer wishing to place £80ew @ 20/1 , but before that she rang up two laddies shops nearby to ask them if anyone has been in the shop to back mortimers cross @ 20/1 .............. well i was cut back to £40 ew , i had a wedding to go to and could not go around shops but thankfully i got some help and got the whole £150 ew on.
I heard from a mate in the industry yesterday that a betting shop that he manages in the east end of london took over £8.5 million on his FOBT machines last year , i think he has five of them in his shop , thats £5,000 a day per machine , yes i realise that takings NOT profit but it still gives you an insight into where the bookmakers priority lies thesedays.

what a wonderful day ..............

2008-02-10T11:33:00.000Z

for a wedding , had a brilliant day ..................... as for the "day job" it could not have been any worse and took the edge off what should have been a most enjoyable day , it wasnt my wedding by the way , no i would have had a day off for that !!! before the alcohol took effect had some decent and well considered discussions with friends and family who know me well and know the gambling industry inside out and the future for me is a lot clearer.

saturday

MARK HOLDER

1.15 ayr SOUBRIQUET £300 ew @ 11/2 unpld -£600

2.20 ayr MORTIMERS CROSS £150 ew @ 20/1 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM RACING

1.45 ayr SOMETHING SILVER £300 @ 11/4 unpld -£300

OPTIMUM SPORT

SCOTLAND +11 to beat wales £137.50 @ 10/11 lost -£137.50

daily p/l -£1337.50

i just hate it when jockeys ...............

2008-02-08T17:21:00.000Z

get all cocky and start looking under their legs ............... is all i will say !!!!! members for a certain service will know what im talking about................
thought at one point we were going to take the crown jewels today with the optimum selection briery fox but the rag of the party came with a perfectly timed run to deny us and win going away.

friday.

OPTIMUM RACING

3.40 kemp BRIERY FOX £225 ew @ 9/1 2nd +£180

PERSONAL TRADING

well i made a extra quid on the briery fox race as there was an arb in the win market, i thought it would filter through to the place market but this never materialized and i decided to keep the place bet of £100 @ 9/5 as the selection was trading above the 2.80 level at the off , i layed £105 @ 8.60 in the win market . i collected £180 from the place bet and the win trading virtually levelled out for a profit of £180.48 on the race.

daily p/l +£360.48

a unsatisfactory day all round .....................

2008-02-08T08:45:00.000Z

really , another nail in the coffin for me. i think i now know that i wont be doing this in a few months time , the bottom line is that im not enjoying it anymore ................ just like a couple of my previous marraiges ............ ive fallen out of love with the old girl !!! even if we make 100 points in the next month or so i know i will feel the same , i have enjoyed my time punting but im a great believer in each job having a definite shelf life and this "career" has reached its shelf life. i felt exactly the same when i was a fx dealer in the city but i was lucky enough to be offered redundancy no chance of that this time around !!!
i say it was a unsatisfactory day all round , well thats not quite true as i went for a interview , first time in over 20 years went pretty well and fingers crossed on that front.
so why such a bad day , well members of the service not to be named will know what im talking about after listening to last nights message , mh gave a good word for songe in the 3.10 , i had a interview at 2.45, but at the time of the message the price was under pressure 9/1 with a few small shops but a general 8/1 shot , well at 2.30 7/1 was the general price , well the horse drifted and won @ 10/1 ..................... why dont these guys leave a price proviso ??? they do on some occasions but not on others , we are told to only have the bet if 8 run or 16 run so why not say songe is a bet if 10/1 is obtainable ??? yes i backed the horse and made money out of it but thats not the point , i just feel there is some inconsistency here , that need not exist.
my day was completed by the egyptians comfortably turning over the ivorians .

thursday

OPTIMUM SPORT

IVORY COAST £150 @ 7/2 african cup of nations lost -£150

PERSONAL TRADING

i made a few quid arbing songe in the 3.10 hunt , but if i had taken a small chance it would have been a nice tickle as i shall explain. songe was 8/1 with hills & lads but 15/2 with better odds guaranteed , the price on the exchange was 8.4/8.6 and 2.18/2.22 win & place i had £300 ew @ 8/1 and layed back £300 @ 8.4 and £300 @ 2.20 the horse won and i collected a nice profit of £300 BUT if i had the balls to have my bet with better i would have scooped a very tasty profit of £1020 !!! as the 15/2 would have become 10/1 ....................

daily p/l +£150

well guess what ..............

2008-02-06T19:21:00.000Z

another loss for me .............. feb not going too well at present but still remain positive and upbeat. i believe it was too early to say if the optimum selection would have been involved at the finish but the way they finished and the style of running of kirkside pleasure i think he would have had a say in the finish ,but thats all conjecture and the name of the game is jumping .
i used my discretion with the staking today on mark holders selection phardessa , he advised 2 pts win 1 pt place but i decided to have 1 1/2pts ew instead my thinking was that if phardessa won i would have been more than satisfied with 1 1/2pts (£225) on , on this occasion i was correct to stake in this manner but even if phardessa won i would have had no regrets ,a small winner on the selection especially when you take into account the rule4.

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

2.40 lud phardessa £150 ew @ 10/1 £75 ew @ 8/1 3rd +£111

OPTIMUM RACING

1.50 car kirkside pleasure £300 @ 7/2 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£189

paid for breaking one of my rules today ...........

2008-02-06T18:55:00.000Z

as i layed one , yes it won like a fours on shot , returned at 4/1 i layed it at 12/5 so i had the value but bugger all else !!!! it didnt cost me a kings ransom but it was a loss none the less and one i could do without ...............

tuesday

PERSONAL TRADING

it has been a very quiet few days and perhaps this led to my indiscretion of laying one , i could not have picked a poorer race today in the 2.00 market rasen and mh voiced stamina concerns over the venetia williams trained maraafeq ............... not gonna dwell too much on this as this one could be called the winner some way out travelling like a dream , i layed him to lose £150 @ 3.40 i could have had an all green book as he drifted severly but i decided to take him on ......... a loss on the day of £150 .

daily p/l -£150

still awaiting first profitable day in feb ..............

2008-02-04T09:54:00.000Z

no messages today from any of my racing services , and the golf/football advice from optimum sport failed to produce any profitable returns .

sunday

OPTIMUM SPORT

£100 aston villa to bt fulham @ 5/4 lost -£100
dubai desert classic l westwood £25 ew @ 14/1 unpld-£50
fbr open j leonard £25 ew @ 25/1 unpld -£50
fbr open s stricker £25 ew @ 16/1 unpd -£50

daily p/l -£250

a quiet day ....................

2008-02-03T19:11:00.000Z

with no account bets , but i was in the bookies to watch a couple of dogs at romford and had a couple of bets on mentions from mh & optimum , not much damage done but another losing day .

saturday

PERSONAL TRADING

mh was keen on kalahari king in the first at doncaster i had £100 @ 6/4 , it ran flat behind the impressive paul nicholls debutant rippling ring my other bet was on kalca mome in the 2m chase at sandown , unfortunately another disappointing display from kalca mome and the £25 ew @ 8/1 never looked like paying dividends .

daily p/l -£150

not a great start to the month ..............

2008-02-03T18:59:00.000Z

but it could have been a lot worse , the optimum selection pharleight dei finished 4th , as so often happens a rag was withdrawn a hour or so before the race reducing the ew terms to just the first 3 places ............... but an offer from my bookmaker pays out on the 4th if the field is reduced to 14 or 15 if you place the bet before the non runners are declared , yes i had a stewards in the betting shop its a rule that is not widely advertised and the cashier couldnt get it into his head that i should be paid out as his machine was telling him the bet a loser , a few calls to the trading office and eventually i got paid it , in all it took me about 30 mins but it was well worth me standing my ground ........... they wouldn,t pay me out at the 8/1 although they were offering best odds guaranteed but i was well chuffed to recoup £375 .

friday

MARK HOLDER

2.25 chep SHOUDSWOUDACOUDA £300 ew @ 15/2 unpld -£600

OPTIMUM RACING

4.05 chep PHARLEIGHT DEI £150 ew @ 6/1 4th +£75

daily p/l -£525

REVIEW FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY ..........

2008-02-01T08:58:00.000Z

At the end of my first month for 2008 my bottom line shows a deficit of £1671. The month tailed off badly in the last week , but at least im in a more favourable position p/l wise than last year whereby at the end of jan my defecit was £6890 and by the end of feb i was in profit to the tune of £1500 a turnaround of over £8000 ................. lets hope for a similar story in feb this year !!!

ISIRIS MAIN ACCOUNT +£285 (+5.7 pts)
£3600 invested
8 bets 2 winners 1 placed
profit on investment +7.92%

ISIRIS INSIDERS +£310 (+6.2pts)
£2000 invested
8 bets 2 winners
profit on investment +15.5%

MARK HOLDER +£375 (+2.5pts)
£2250 invested
8 bets 1 winner 1 placed
profit on investment +16.67%

OPTIMUM RACING -£2752.50 (-18.35pts)
£3900 invested
12 bets 1 winner 1 placed
loss on investment -70.50%

OPTIMUM SPORT +£599.02 (+23.96pts)
£2100 invested
24 bets 7 winners 1 placed
profit on investment +28.52%

SERVICES OVERALL -£1183.48
£13,850 invested
60 bets 13 winners 4 placed
loss on investment -8.54%

PERSONAL TRADING -£487.52

THE30KCHALLENGE ................................ -£1671

So they are the bare facts for the month of january 2008 , obviously the figures from optimum racing stand out , it was a poor month for them , no awards for spotting that but i have every confidence in the service. lets not forget that in the last 3 months of 2007 the service produced a profit well in excess of 45 points.
The reintroduction of the sport service from optimum has been a success and although not spectacular the solid returns from isiris and mark holder bode well for the rest of the year i feel .

the last few days .................

2008-01-31T22:29:00.000Z

have unfortunately brought back memories of the start to 2007 ........... it has been a shocking start to the week yesterdays £600 loss was followed today by a £575 loss , at no stage did any of my bets look like collecting ..................the only bright spot for me was a win in A2 company for my bitch gregorys girl but even that had a couple of downsides ...... the first is that she was unsupported by her owner and secondly i missed the race !!! but saying that she was sent off at 5/2 and considering i made her a 4/1 shot at the very least i would not have backed her , but missing the race did give me the hump to be honest , NOT A GOOD DAY , LETS MOVE SWIFTLY ON !!!

thursday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.10 winc ASHWELL £450 @ 5/2 unpd -£450

OPTIMUM SPORT

darts J PART to beat P MANLEY £125 @ 8/11 LOST -£125

daily p/l -£575

not the best of days ................

2008-01-31T09:00:00.000Z

for a few reasons , the obvious was a losing day but had a funeral to attend which overshadowed any p/l today .

wednesday

MARK HOLDER

4.30 leices SARAHS GIFT £75 ew @ 12/1 unpld -£150
4.30 leices ITS RUMOURED £75 ew @ 16/1 unpld -£150

OPTIMUM RACING

3.40 newc HOLD THE BID £300 @ 4.30 unpld -£300

daily p/l -£300

varying fortunes on the day ...............

2008-01-30T08:46:00.000Z

but the most important thing for me is the bottom line and that shows a profit. the day for me contained a sour note as in the shop i mainly use , a oldish lady had her bag stolen , a nice old girl regular in the shop placed her bet got back to her seat and as if by magic her bag had disappeared , she learnt the hard way today but in wood green you need anything valuable locked n chained ............... even then its still no guarantee it wont get pinched .
mh had no bets today but on the whole his message was worth listening to today especially with the cautionary word for haldibari the 2/5 fav in the first at taunton who finished out of the frame.

tuesday

OPTIMUM RACING

2.20 folk RUAIRI £300 @ 15/8 WON +£562.50
3.20 folk TIGER TIPS LAD £150 ew @ 8/1 unpld -£300

daily p/l +£262.50

not much to report..............

2008-01-28T18:00:00.000Z

as no account bets from mh or opt , strongest news of the day was from mh where he was negative on the chances of mamlook in the first at ludlow and perhaps my only play of the day should have been to lay this one @ 3.80 especially as he was unplaced but also drifted in the market to an sp of around 5.5 , but im not a fan of laying in the win mkt as i have mentioned before but with hindsight i should have broken my rule on this one !!! instead i played in the 18 runner hcap with no success .

monday

PERSONAL TRADING

mh briefly mentioned the 18 runner hcap hurdle at 2.30 and his preference at the prices were hot lips page and littlemissdynamite i had £25 ew @ 20/1 & 11/1 respectively but both ran poorly ande never looked like threatening the judge .

daily p/l -£100

a day dominated by sport ..............

2008-01-28T08:52:00.000Z

other than horse racing , with personally my attention on the fa cup tie at old trafford , at the end of the day united go into the hat for todays draw but i saw enough during the game to suggest that spurs continue to progress under ramos , a decent game in which spurs contributed much although the achilles heel of defending and goalkeeping still remain , if only ledley king could remain fit and pat jennings had been born 30 or so years later !!!!

sunday

OPTIMIM SPORT

qatar open LEE WESTWOOD £25 ew @ 11/1 5th +£43.75
buick invitational RORY SABBATINI to bt VJ SINGH 72 hole matchbet £125 @ evens WON +£125

daily p/l +£168.75

weekending 27th jan ......................

2008-01-26T23:14:00.000Z

the bottom line was a small loss of £497.78 , still in profit for the year but not by much i agree , the week started promisingly with three winning days but tailed off badly , but im reasonably pleased with the start to 2008 , the figs for the week are as follows ;

ISIRIS main account -£400 (8 pts)
ISIRIS insiders +£320 (6.4 pts)

MARK HOLDER +£825 (5.5 pts)

OPTIMUM RACING -£1050 (7 pts)
OPTIMUM SPORT +£11.52 (0.46 pts)

PERSONAL TRADING -£204.30
--------------------
weekly p/l -£497.78

THE30KCHALLENGE .............................+£522.75