Trap for Young Players

First things first, August ended up better than planned with the $100 target doubled. Finding things are going well in the Aus horse racing markets, but it's very hit and miss with the UK greyhounds, which are really the only markets ripe for trading of a weekday evening in Australia.

Anyway, here's the final screenshot from my target tracker for August.

September has not started well, as I have not had chance to trade during the first week, due to a mixture of family commitments and also being sick. But I did get to trade one day when home sick and that is when something happened that the title of this pose refers to.

I was happily trading away, racking up modest if not outstanding profits, when something very strange occured on the sixth race of the day at Rockhampton. With more than 30 seconds till the off (on the Bet Angel clock), the event was suddenly called in-play. I had an open lay order at the time. The TV feed (which had been bang on the money all day) still showed less than half the field had loaded. From experience, this usually means the event will go in-play 30-60 seconds late. But in-play was the call and obviously all the open orders were cancelled.

I was trying to get my head around the confusion when, about 20 seconds later, the event was suspended. Still, the TV feed showed that a few horses were still not in the stalls. It remained suspended until the race eventually started, when the second in-play call came in, this time on cue.

The horse I was trading started badly and never came into the reckoning, meaning there was never an opportunity to trade out in-play. The green out figures on Bet Angel showed a big plus on the horse I was trading, but a hefty loss on the rest of the field. Of course, it ended with a loss.

On ringing Betfair, they admitted they sent the event in-play "earlier than expected" and were sympathetic about it, but stopped short of offering an apology or confirming that it was a mistake. They advised me the result stood and that their terms and conditions of membership covered such eventualities. They told me these things happen from time to time and that it is just one of the things traders need to consider. They also basically advised me to be a bit more philosophical about my trading.

I said even if I wasn't going to get my money back, at least an apology would be nice. The rep told me he could "understand that" but never gave it. I guess this is something else we need to prepare for. Power cuts, computer crashes, and now idiots at Betfair accidentally closing the markets a minute early.