Well, it has been some time (To say the least, as this post was started near the end of 2016!) since my last post for many reasons but nothing to do with hanging up my 'gloves.' A generative disease called old age has dealt me a blow in the form of a herniation on my spine, which inflamed my sciatic nerve. The agony it served upon me stopped me in my tracks but after a series of injections and specific exercises, it has reduced the pain factor considerably, making life a little more bearable. Anyway, enough of my trials and tribulations.
Progress is slow when it comes to technology but by the beginning of January 2015 my BOT was beginning to make a small profit, a very small profit. By BOT, I mean an automated betting software which places bets if and when all the values of the thresholds set (By me) are met. Those gains are purely dependant on the amount bet and the odds returned. My software is set to place five two pound bets per race, making a liability of ten pounds. Percentage wise, the returns are small, between nine and thirteen percent (Not including commission of course) Progress would have been much better but for software bugs. Software bugs are a nightmare and debugging software as complex as mine is even more of a nightmare. I had suspected for some time that the programmer I had engaged (Via the internet) was not as sharp as he made out!
By August 2015 I became totally cheesed off of emails flying backwards and forwards on a daily basis between myself and the programmer. Composing lengthy emails of a technical nature was time consuming, especially when it is lacking in technical knowledge (That's me) trying to explain in laymans terms what exactly was going wrong. Programmer's are all geek's, which is more a term of endearment than crisitism. As intelligent as they are, in almost every case, they have no clue in how to boil an egg and 'blinkered' in many aspects of real life. They're only interest is programming and everything else takes a back seat. Enough said!
After extensive exploration of the internet, in October 2015, I started corresponding with three prospective geeks. I made my choice a few weeks later, after seeing examples (Screen shots) of their work. I also found information on two of them on the internet and chose the one who worked from home. A self-employed geek working from home is a fair pointer that he has regular work coming in.
On the 17th January 2016 at Leopardstown, a 'freak' win produced a return of £3,881.99p A horse named Killultagh Vic, ridden by Ruby Walsh, was in a comfortable lead coming to the last fence. For those who are not into horse racing, Ruby Walsh is (Now retired) one of the most experienced and talented Irish jockeys in the modern era. The actual race report read:
Led, 6 lengths clear halfway, reduced advantage 2 out, travelled powerfully and 4 lengths clear when sprawled badly on landing last fence, rider lost iron and dropped to 3rd, stayed on, accelerated past two runners on run-in to lead again close home.
The horse won the race by three-quarters of a length! Below is the video showing the amazing turn of hoof and talent/determination of the rider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pRt688PyRk
Below are the five auto bets (minus the commission) placed by my BOT.
Progress is slow when it comes to technology but by the beginning of January 2015 my BOT was beginning to make a small profit, a very small profit. By BOT, I mean an automated betting software which places bets if and when all the values of the thresholds set (By me) are met. Those gains are purely dependant on the amount bet and the odds returned. My software is set to place five two pound bets per race, making a liability of ten pounds. Percentage wise, the returns are small, between nine and thirteen percent (Not including commission of course) Progress would have been much better but for software bugs. Software bugs are a nightmare and debugging software as complex as mine is even more of a nightmare. I had suspected for some time that the programmer I had engaged (Via the internet) was not as sharp as he made out!
By August 2015 I became totally cheesed off of emails flying backwards and forwards on a daily basis between myself and the programmer. Composing lengthy emails of a technical nature was time consuming, especially when it is lacking in technical knowledge (That's me) trying to explain in laymans terms what exactly was going wrong. Programmer's are all geek's, which is more a term of endearment than crisitism. As intelligent as they are, in almost every case, they have no clue in how to boil an egg and 'blinkered' in many aspects of real life. They're only interest is programming and everything else takes a back seat. Enough said!
After extensive exploration of the internet, in October 2015, I started corresponding with three prospective geeks. I made my choice a few weeks later, after seeing examples (Screen shots) of their work. I also found information on two of them on the internet and chose the one who worked from home. A self-employed geek working from home is a fair pointer that he has regular work coming in.
On the 17th January 2016 at Leopardstown, a 'freak' win produced a return of £3,881.99p A horse named Killultagh Vic, ridden by Ruby Walsh, was in a comfortable lead coming to the last fence. For those who are not into horse racing, Ruby Walsh is (Now retired) one of the most experienced and talented Irish jockeys in the modern era. The actual race report read:
Led, 6 lengths clear halfway, reduced advantage 2 out, travelled powerfully and 4 lengths clear when sprawled badly on landing last fence, rider lost iron and dropped to 3rd, stayed on, accelerated past two runners on run-in to lead again close home.
The horse won the race by three-quarters of a length! Below is the video showing the amazing turn of hoof and talent/determination of the rider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pRt688PyRk
Below are the five auto bets (minus the commission) placed by my BOT.
17/01/2016 Killultagh Vic 15:34:45 11.00 x £2 £19.02
17/01/2016 Killultagh Vic 15:34:45 1000.00 x £2 £1900.10
17/01/2016 Killultagh Vic 15:34:45 1000.00 x £2 £1900.10
17/01/2016 Killultagh Vic 15:34:46 11.00 x £2 £19.02
17/01/2016 Killultagh Vic 15:34:47 24.00 x £2 £43.75
The chances of the above occurring again must be almost as rare, if not more than coming across a hen's teeth!
A summary of the autobets placed would possibly read like this:
Almost definitely, the five bets (Lay bets) placed against my backing bets, were placed manually by a punter but more likely punter's, who were actually watching the race on screen live as it took place. I use the word 'live' loosely, as Betfair impose a two second delay on all bets being placed (To prevent cheating) plus, there is always an on-screen delay. So as soon as the horse is seen sprawling after the fence, fingers are in action around the world, placing bets against the horse winning the race (Lay bets)
On studying my log, which refreshes five times a second, I estimate that my five auto bets were placed very close to two seconds before the horse jumped the fence. So my bet was ready to be matched by a lay bet as the horse started to go down after the fence. Watching races live on-screen, whether on terrestrial or 'piped' video (Even at the bookies, which have the fastest feeds) can be described as 'fools gold,' and a waste of time and money, as is studying race form, especially if one is an 'ordinary' punter, if there is such a thing as an ordinary punter.
By the end of 2016, my BOT (With the help of Killultagh Vic and Ruby Walsh) had made me a tidy profit, which came close to my yearly state pension. However, one is never satisfied and wants to do better, or is it simply inherent human greed? The latter is the closest to the truth, even though I do not like to admit it (To be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment