Now an independent writer for www.laytheodds.com, I was initially only betting on football for fun at school with my friends and generally did well. I must have been about twelve when my dad, an accountant for a large insurance company in London at the time, entered me in a World Cup prediction competition with about 50 of his colleagues. I came second and, with the top three sharing the £1250 total prize money, won a lot of money for myself. >From then on, my dad often came to me on advice on correct scores and he won more than he lost.
As soon as I was old enough, I began betting in bookies myself and it all took on from there really. I've tried other sports apart from football, too, but wasn't anywhere near as successful, although at the time of writing, I'm studying horse racing a lot as I view my one-dimensional betting as a personal betting weakness.
Fortunately I was never what you'd call a 'mug punter'. I understood the concepts of good money management, looking for the biggest price and the importance of finding value very early on. Time passed and I'd currently call myself a part-time punter, although I use the term lightly as I do a lot of trading on betfair and play a little poker. The other part of my income comes from journalism and football coaching, mainly working with kids in academies.
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I expect the name Joseph Buchdahl, is familiar to many of you. Not only is he the author of the highly regarded book ‘Fixed Odds Sports Betting: Statistical Forecasting and Risk Management’, heavy, yet essential, reading for people looking to take their betting to the next level, he is also webmaster of football-data.co.uk, a site which charges a minimal fee for a plethora of football statistics over a wide database and owner of his own very successful football betting system (1x2betting.co.uk). I bought it when it only cost £10 (it’s now £25), and it was the best £10 I ever spent!I expect the name Joseph Buchdahl, is familiar to many of you. Not only is he the author of the highly regarded book ‘Fixed Odds Sports Betting: Statistical Forecasting and Risk Management’, heavy, yet essential, reading for people looking to take their betting to the next level, he is also webmaster of football-data.co.uk, a site which charges a minimal fee for a plethora of football statistics over a wide database and owner of his own very successful football betting system (1x2betting.co.uk). I bought it when it only cost £10 (it’s now £25), and it was the best £10 I ever spent!
When I asked him if he’d answer some questions for laytheodds, Joseph was very cooperative. Below are the questions asked, and his informative responses.
Can you tell me more about yourself and how you got into gambling?
I had a friend at college who was making big money on the horses. He ran a premium rate phone line and had numerous people placing bets and collecting winnings from the highstreet bookies to ensure he didn't get known to them. I remember collecting winnings from a 9/4 payout. It was £325 so the stake must have been £100. He told me he would average about £5k per week profit I think (or it might have been per month, I'm not sure). Anyway, that was back in 1992. I was intrigued and always had it in my mind to try something similar with football. So in 1997 I was bored one lunch break at work and started rooting around the Internet for some betting odds and results data and I came across Mables Tables. That website is still there although I don't think Bll Huinter is updating anything anymore. I collected data for a few years, tried some systems and then decided in 2001 to start my own website providing the data to others who wanted to do similar, and that’s how Football-Data.com was born. The rest as the say is history.
Would you describe yourself as a betting exchange trader or a punter, if possible, describe some of sports you bet on and a few of the methods you use?
I don't do a lot of betting myself anymore, partly because I'm not very good at it (I just put the kiss of death on Levi Leipheimer to win the Tour de France recently - had him down as a major player but he put in the most unbelievable shocker during the time trial), but mostly because I don't have the time. Of course I run my own profitable soccer betting system through 1X2Betting.co.uk but again I don't back the selections myself because a) I haven't the time, and b), more importantly it would affect the prices available for the members which would not be fair (I believe that if a tipster backs his own selections he should do so AFTER sending out the advice, not before). I've done a little bit of experimentation with trading, but again it's a time issue. I think that this is the area most likely to allow a punter to make a living from betting, but even so it would still require hours of daily input to be successful.
What is your personal opinion on tipping services, would you advise people to go out there and look for them?
Yes, if they can't be bothered to do the research themselves, but No if they can't see an independent verification of their betting record, which is why I also run Sports-Tipsters.co.uk, which proofs a number of tipping services. And if a punter does follow one, they should fully understand what staking plan they will follow, and also what to do when the prices advices by the service are no longer available when they come to place the bet.
I expect you've used some very successful systems in the past. Assume I'm a beginner and want to avoid paying for a system online. How do you suggest I go about creating my own profitable system?
Get lots of data and brush up on your maths/statistics if it isn't very good. Even then there's no guarantee you will find a profitable betting system, and to be perfectly honest I think most good ones always have an element of subjective judgement built in for tips selection and do not just rely on number crunching, but that of course takes even more time.
What is the most costly lesson you have ever made when either betting or trading?
£200 on Paula Radcliffe in the Olympic Marathon final - lesson: nothing's is a done deal until it's a done deal.
Finally, do you have any further information, tips or help you could give someone who has been betting or trading for a while or is just starting out?
Treat sports betting/trading as a bit of fun with a view to earning a little extra pocket money. Most end up losing. Don't start thinking your can make a living from it until you've proved yourself to be a winner consistently over several years, and even then NEVER EVER EVER bet what you can't afford to lose. If you can't beat the bookie, then either don't try or if you still have to, make sure that you are in control of you gambling and still see it as a bit of fun, rather than the gambling controlling you. I like to use an ice cream analogy. Eating the stuff is not good for you, contributes to heart disease and costs you money in the process, but unless you get addicted to the stuff, having a cone once in a while on a hot day won't do you any harm and adds to the pleasures in life. Of course, you could always sell the stuff instead to make a living, as I do ;-)