Genesis of AMP
Don’t worry, I’ll save you tales from my childhood. I suppose gambling in some shape or form has always appealed to me. I distinctly remember sat in a G.C.S.E English class and pouring over the weekend long-list. My mother used to get the coupons for me. At 15 I had my first big win. A two pound six team ante-post match bet which returned something like 80 quid. I was hooked.
At school I hated artistic subjects with a passion and was drawn to those requiring analysis. I did like to write though. I decided to do a dual joint major degree in Business and Writing and Publishing. One look at the book list and a class with the students telling Jane Austen jokes was enough for me. I’d just scored extremely highly in my financial accounting exam so being a lazy bastard I decided top scores and little or no studying was the way forward. I graduated with a joint major Accountancy / Business type degree. Whilst at university I also worked for Ladbrokes around west London as a cashier. I loved being around gambling all day, if not the customers!
A series of quick ventures into the world of shirt-and-ties ensued after Uni. I’ll maintain that I was lucky as I got made redundant and given 6 months wages in my last office job. I’d worked there for just 3 months. I deliberately pissed off the workers who didn’t get layed off by singing “Viva, Las Vegas” around the office whilst I “worked” the handover period. Trust me. They deserved it. Well, I deserved it more than them I reasoned anyway.
Luckily I wasn’t past the stage of $5 or $10 trebles at that stage else it could’ve gone seriously wrong. However, I did reject the advice of sensible friends to buy a house and brought a 6-month around the world ticket. Whilst I was away I couldn’t really see myself back in the world of “paridgms” and “working together to go that extra mile”. So I went to the South East Asia to teach the Queen’s English (or my bastardized version of it) to the natives.
The world of forums
I first came across gambling forums around 2001/2002. From my study of business I was conscious of the Reg Holdsworth maxim, “Knowledge is power!” I’ve always thought that done correctly fixed odds football gambling could provide a return equal to and above saving accounts and stock market indexes. I decided to look to gambling forums to provide that all important information I needed.
Posting on a forum for the first time can be a daunting experience. Originally I just stuck with what I knew, my own team Bristol City. At around this time I became aware of the possibilities that the fledgling Non-league books offered. As discussed in my article
”EMH and Non-league gambling” I was looking for a field of endeavor where the bookies would be at a disadvantage, and I found it.
Research is Key
Like most things you have to work for your returns. If asked I’d identify research as the reason I’ve managed to stay profitable for the last 2 or three season. Last season I suppose I was spending about 10 hours a week surfing the net, looking for possibilities. This may sound mundane but knowing my background you won’t be surprised that I like it.
Like others who spend time in forums I have to ask myself what the attraction is. For me it’s a few things. I’ve been lucky to have numerous friends but only a few of them gamble. None of them go to the lengths of checking the internet for information, but their $10 / $20 occasional trebles or live game bets probably don’t necessitate it. So the opportunity to have a bit of banter and discuss winners and losers online is great.
I like writing tips too, and this is probably my writer side coming through. I use the process as a sounding board for myself. I’m grateful for people saying they like the style of my tips. My rationale is that if I can’t convince others that the bet is a good one then I shouldn’t be punting on it in the first place. To this end my tips are sometimes quite lengthy affairs, but I like to present both stats and opinion. If others come to the same conclusion that it’s a good bet I’m on the right path. If it goes down (and they do) the fact that others agreed that it looked good is a consolation. I’d rather have the money though!
I‘m a “Forum Purist”, in that I believe a forum should be about a collection of like minded individuals sharing information to beat the bookies. This has got me into problems in the past (no prizes for guessing where or with who) as this does conflict with “business interests” shall we say…
I look forward to being part of Punters Paradise and hope if you haven’t posted yet for fear of getting involved then do so.
Good luck for 2006/07,
AMP
BBC
