Regular readers of this column may have picked up that recent additions have carried more bad news than good and it is fair to say I have been battling my way through a lean patch on the betting front. {readmorelink}Read more{/readmorelink}

This weekend I stormed back though with some resounding successes in the spread betting markets in week 9 of the Super 14.

The profits were most welcome but having had a couple of days to reflect on things there are two points that I am going to force myself to keep fresh in my mind.

The first is that the difference between success and failure in this game can be very small. The markets I got involved in had me shouting for tries and in particular tries by players wearing high numbers on their jerseys. In all of the Highlanders, Brumbies and Lions games there were 5 pointers in the final movement of the game by numbers 11, 22 and 15 respectively and the Highlanders try in particular was only given after some serious scrutiny by the TMO. My point here is that while pleased to have come out on top I should not get ahead of myself as without some last minute good fortune the weekend would have looked decidedly average.

The second point I would do well to keep repeating to myself is that the last time I enjoyed similar success in the Super 14 spreads was in week 2 this season and by week 5 I had given large percentages of the spoils back to the bookmakers.

Winning money is always exciting and something to really enjoy but fluttering away those profits can be seriously nauseating and I need to make sure that I don’t fall into the trap of thinking I am one step ahead of the bookies and betting recklessly as I did in weeks 3 and 4.

I guess you could compare me to the batsman who makes a century, acknowledges the applause and then gets a message from his captain to say that the job is not yet down.

If I spend too much time enjoying the glory of a previous win I am in danger of “throwing my wicket away” once again and to continue the cricket analogy I have a captain at home who would be none too pleased.

It is time to put my head down and build my innings.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 15th of April 2010.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet.

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za