Q and A with Andrew David

Hi Andrew and many thanks for joining us this month. First up would you tell us a little about yourself and your background? What attracted you to the world of sports betting and in particular that of football and horse racing?

Hello and many thanks for the invite!

My early background is non-betting related. Leaving school and then going into the Print and Design industry and shortly after entering photography related to that area. Although interesting, it wasn’t where my passion was ignited.

Way before that, even in my paper round days, I was attracted to horse racing and the whole arena of betting e.g. the faces at the course, the big gambles, the even bigger gambling characters of the day.

Seeing my selected horse win after carrying out my own ‘first hand’ research, and proving the experts wrong, was a big draw and soon after I caught the bug. Put simply, my mission using the old sporting life weekender was identifying flaws in mainstream form the experts quite commonly overlooked.

Nowadays I’m more into playing the numbers rather than the form.

That way I feel more confident in turning a profit, as playing cold hard numbers does not lend itself to the swings in emotions and moods that can affect judgement if trying to interpret form, especially after long losing runs.

What made you take the plunge and move from being recreational punting to professional gambling? New and old punters alike can struggle to make a success of their betting. If you could give them just one piece of advice to improve their profitability what would it be? Are there any key mantras you suggest that they follow?

I dipped my toe into the world of pro-gambling first whilst working with the enemy for a time as an assistant to an on-course bookie. So the first step was going part time and working in few other non-betting related occupations over the formative years.

Then I went fulltime by 1997, but even then still ducked in and out of the workplace environment due to a few non-betting business interests.
My advice to those starting out is to specialise in one or two niche betting areas and learn everything you can about them. Live and breathe them to the point of obsession. That way you will have a leg up in terms of identifying value and pricing errors often made by the mainstream bookies odds compilers.

Also bring into play the Psychological aspect of sports betting, an area quite often neglected and can give you a greater edge and value!
I cover what I believe are a few unique angles in my new Quick Fire Betting course as I’m always looking to identify new and profitable edges that despite popular belief pop up all the time, especially in team and individual player sports.

Other than that, having a plan and sticking with it with primary focus being on protecting your betting bank from profits already made.

What style of approach do you take to your betting on a personal level? What is your opinion on staking plans, loss retrieval systems etc.?

My approach is firmly focused on portfolio betting, whereby having three or four strong products and following them daily with a separate betting bank for each.

This approach helps me spread risk across the strategies so when one or two may not be performing the others will serve to protect the overall portfolio pot. This helps smooth out the Profit/Loss curve so we don’t have drastic highs and lows that can be derived from the single strategy approach.

Some loss retrieval plans do have their place, so long as they are just – that sensible! They must be based on accurate historical data, and then you can think about adding a slight loss recovery based on the strategies Win/Lose pattern that organically develops. No staking plan can turn a losing period into a winning one, so such losses have to be taken on the chin.

I see a good staking plan as one that protects the bank gains already made as much as making profits when things are going well.

Would you describe for us your typical working day?

Early start – 7.00am. (Not Sunday!)

8.00am – Quick look over the Racing Post and ATTHERACES Websites and a few others to make notes. (I am an avid note taker).

9.00am – Form evaluation for various strategies that I may consider using for that day depending on sports and market conditions available.

11.00am – Updating results for various methods.

12.00pm – Check in on prices for selections shortlisted, and the odd call here or there to my other pro betting friends.

12.30pm – Re-Visit the Racing Post and ATTHERACES Websites for going reports, non-runners, jockey changes etc.

1.00pm – streamline my own selections down for betting/trading strategies on that day.

2-6pm – implementing strategies and selections above in the ‘live’ betting markets

6.00 – 6.30pm – Reflection time, and prepare for next day’s events, or may continue with evening racing and/or football depending on family commitments.

The racing industry is often criticised for having too many races and poor quality meetings with insufficient prize monies to encourage entries etc. Is there anything that you would like to see changed within the horse racing industry and why?

From a punter point of view, yes there is far too much poor quality racing to satisfy the needs of greedy bookies wanting bigger turnover of races with the sole mission of building their bottom line profits.

I would like to see the quality we see over the weekends spread across weekday racing but due to economics this ain’t going to happen.

It’s hard to solve the low quality racing aspect simply because it’s gone too far now with so many horses in training and the thirst from many owners to get their vanity run. Maybe a bigger levy on Bookmakers going back into the sports at ground level would be a start. Although I don’t think the shareholders will be happy with that suggestion, and therein lies the problem ‘Shareholders’.

What about Football? The monies invested now in teams and players are the reverse of horse racing and appear excessive to many. Is this a good thing for football or does it detract from the sport. What is your opinion?

It’s great we have this wealth of money in football if only it was distributed in the right way it would be even better but of course it’s not.

It’s been well documented this big money has had a detrimental effect on our home grown English players not getting much of a look in first team wise. Hence why it’s one reason why the national side has suffered. I’m sure there are plenty of home-grown world class players out there but do they get the chance at a higher level?

In my opinion the answer is NO! Simply because managers don’t want to take the risk blooding them and therefore look for quick fixes by buying in yet another big named star. Short term-ism doesn’t work in any form of life in my humble opinion, especially gambling.

In addition the book maker industry is constantly being criticised these days for their treatment of their customers with account restrictions etc. Is this something you have a strong opinion on and if so what do you feel needs to be done to give the punter a fairer deal?

Bookmakers want losers, so if you’re a punter that’s been allowed to continue betting with them, it’s about time to have a long hard look at your betting records, unless you are a restriction dodger using a few crafty methods, again just my opinion.

It’s disgraceful what they have been allowed to get away with. Even punters who have won small amounts have been restricted. Glad to see a new bookie on the block that promises not to restrict punters up to a certain amount so long as they are not arbing, but can’t see this going industry wide.

Real Bookmakers of the olden days could accommodate a % of winning punters simply because they would ‘work’ the book in their favour to a certain degree despite the short term outcome. These days it’s all about computers and modules developed with in built set margins on every event, so Bookies know how much they can take or not to deliver them that set edge over time no matter who wins.

What traits do you think make a good tipster service? What should the average punter consider when investing in a tipping service? What does Quick Fire Betting Profits offer its customers that other services do not?

An ideal service would be one that offers their clients realistic expectations on what to expect going forward. I feel punters need and want good support from their chosen vendor in order to feel that are not alone and to help them over any down periods.

A slight plug if I may, with my Quick Fire Betting Profits course I offer one to one support, video tutorials, webinars and all with the mission of making sure members don’t feel they are alone once they have signed up. Pleased to say it’s gone down very well, to the point where I have actually learned from members with their own tweaks on strategies that I have shared with all Quick Fire members. So its one big club really with the same mission in mind and that’s get and keep the betting account in profit.

Quick Fire Betting centres on building up a balanced portfolio from the 24 strategies given over the duration of the course. The end user then picks the ones that are most suited to them in terms of time and funds available, and also ones that suit their own risk appetite. Then by the end of the course they choose the ones most suited and follow them daily, and where necessary adding the extra filters I advise to increase winning strike rates. Also plenty of betting related articles with unique but often overlooked theories on the psychological side of betting to help members get the edge long term.

What do you do to relax and unwind? What interests have you outside the world of horse racing?

Very little time to relax unfortunately and when I can I head for the hills cycling with a few fellow bikers (a few of them pro punters too). Then to undo all that hard work we head for a curry after. Well it’s gotta be done!

Along with the above, playing juvenile games with the tiny tots no matter how mad they are, from Hide & Seek to tag helps reset the old brain.

Do you have any personal gambling experiences which when reflecting back bring a smile, or for that matter any which bring a grimace; you can share with our readers?

Yes a few experiences re biggest wins and biggest losses.

A biggie in my early days, ranged from £200 – £500 (that was 25 years ago). Also £2,000 on Only Fools & Horses at 2/1 at Corals to be most watched TV show in the Christmas ratings in the late 90’s. Not bad considering all other bookies were offering 11/10!. Had trouble getting the bet on though, so had to place 20 x £100 bets amongst every Coral shop I could find. Probably needed the £4,000 winnings to pay for worn shoe leather.

Biggest win more recently £17,500 on Hawkeyethenoo Stewards cup at Goodwood 2012. Nothing as big more recently simply because I concentrate on smaller but more frequent wins rather than the big ‘one offs’.

Damaging losses?

Blowing my £500 betting bank when I was 18 in one afternoon of Bank Holiday madness chasing losses! Then with my last 10p I treated myself to a packet of pickled onion flavoured Monster Munch and went home licking my wounds.

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