I have never bet on credit and this week in a strange way I felt the benefits of that policy.

Just over 12 months ago I was convinced that Sergio Garcia would win the inaugural “Race to Dubai” which had replaced the European Order of Merit. He was in great form and no sooner had I placed large (by my standards) bets on him to win at 12/1 and to finish Top 5 at 3/1 than he came out and won the first big event prompting bookmakers to cut his outright odds to 6/1.

That was about the last bit of joy Sergio was to give me and he probably had his worst year since turning professional in 2009. When Lee Westwood won the Dubai World Championship on Sunday the race was over and my full investment in the Spaniard had been lost.

You are probably wondering how on earth I could feel any “benefits” to what at the end of the day was a crushing defeat? Here goes.

At the time I placed the bets I was on a very good run and had flush accounts with the 2 bookmakers I took the bets with. On taking a bet the money is immediately taken from your balance and placed in a pending account. This meant that I no longer had access to the amount and that the balance I saw daily was what was available to me assuming the bet lost.

Given I had taken the punt so long ago I got used to seeing the balances less my stake and in my mind the money had long been written off. When Monday morning came I simply carried on as normal and had no concerns as to how I was going to pay the bookmaker which may well have been the case if I was a credit punter.

The converse also applies and having backed Westwood to finish Top 4 a couple of months back I got a pleasant surprise to see that particular account credited with my winnings plus stake making it feel like something of a bonus despite taking an overall nett loss.

I am not for a minute suggesting that losing money can be good but if you only bet what you can afford and stay away from credit the losses can be easily absorbed and the wins will be all the sweeter.

This article first appeared in the Citizen CitiGaming section on Thursday 26 November 2009

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Saturday morning at 07h30 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