BETDAQ TRADER INTERVIEW: In the latest of our series of interviews with BETDAQ traders Stephen Maher catches up with full time cricket trader MARK IVERSON to find out how he approaches trading on BETDAQ.
Stephen Maher: So, for anyone that doesn’t know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Mark Iverson: I’m fast approaching 39, I’m a Dad to 2 young boys (with a 3rd child on the way) and for the last 5 years have been a full time cricket trader.
My background? School wasn’t really my thing. I was fairly capable but just didn’t enjoy the structured school system, so it was no great surprise that I ended up flunking my A-Levels (despite being taught by my Dad), dropping out of College and instead tried to work my way up the career ladder via a handful of companies. Fortunately that route was quite successful and I ended up gaining some valuable experience along the way.
Stephen Maher: And how did you get into trading?
Mark Iverson: I’ve been using betting exchanges pretty much since they hit the mainstream in the early 2000’s, but it took me until 2006, after several years of being a break even punter, for the penny to drop that the real opportunity in using exchanges was having the ability to buy and sell bets whilst events were in-play. It was a ‘eureka’ moment for me and I suddenly saw things very clearly. From that point I invested £250 into a trading bank, signed up for trading software and went about trying to trade as many sports as I could. To help speed-up the learning process I thought it’d also be a good idea to start a blog and jot down my experiences along the way.
Stephen Maher: You’re similar to me in the sense that we both blogged our trading/gambling “journey” (hate using that word but couldn’t think of anything else to call it ffs haha!). What, in your opinion, is the best thing about writing a trading blog? What was the best thing that you gained? For me it was probably discipline.
Mark Iverson: There’s something about knowing you’re going to tell the world how you performed that helps focus the mind – you don’t want people to think you’re a mug! This internal pressure certainly helped me think more about what I was doing and helped drive me on. Even though in the beginning the amounts I was winning and losing were small it didn’t matter, it was the process, and I sometimes go back and re-read the earlier posts to put things into perspective.
Having a diary of how it all started has helped me to appreciate where I am now.
Stephen Maher: This is a question I haven’t asked anyone yet and I think you’re the ideal person to ask. I know you have young children, does that have any impact on your trading and what is your office/set up like when they’re not in school?
Mark Iverson: I’m fortunate to have a very understanding partner. She gets bored easily so if I’m working she’s more than happy to take the kids out. If that didn’t happen things would probably get tense, although I do tend to trade and look after my eldest son at the same time during school holidays. Not ideal as he often wants me to help him out with something, but he’s 8 now so as long as he has his Xbox it normally works out okay.
Stephen Maher: It’s something which isn’t talked about often really. The hours that traders do, I suppose you could argue its a young care-free persons game. How many hours per week would you spend trading?
Mark Iverson: I’ll sound a right geek for saying this, but after a mate kept going on about how much time I spent working I started to track my hours to prove to him it was worthwhile. That was about 4 years ago and I’ve continued to do it since. From 2012 to 2014 it was around 43 hours per week, whilst last year it dropped to just 35 due to the loss of the Champions League T20. These hours aren’t just trading either; they include all research and admin.
Stephen Maher: I can only judge from Twitter, because I’m in Dublin and you’re in Wales, but you seem one of the best discipline wise, where does that come from? What things to you tell yourself to stop you going on tilt?
Mark Iverson: As a former Project Manager two of the fundamentals are being able to manage risk and to plan effectively, if you don’t do those then projects can miss targets and that costs money, so having that experience has certainly helped. I like structure in whatever I set out to do and tend to lose my way if I don’t give myself that framework.
Stephen Maher: Does it ever get boring? Like do you ever feel like throwing a grand on something for the buzz? I’m pretty solid discipline wise but I do love risk!
Mark Iverson: I’d be lying if I said I never get bored, but the attraction for me has always been in making money. If I’m not very confident the odds are in my favour then I wouldn’t get any buzz in risking a grand, stressing about the outcome and losing. It could be seen as a weakness, but I’m quite an emotional guy so I have to keep that part of my personality under tight control.
Slow and steady is fine by me, but for this to ‘feel’ like progress I keep detailed records and regularly review them to remind myself that I am being rewarded – even though it can be in very small steps at times.
Stephen Maher: What was your biggest loss?
Mark Iverson: Yuck. I lost £6,441 on an England v Australia ODI last September. I’d misread the market and over-estimated England’s chances of recovering from a wicket. I ploughed in to oppose the Aussies and vastly over-staked. England lost 2 more wickets in the next 3 balls and I was dead in the water. I spent the rest of the month trying to recoup that one loss.
Stephen Maher: If there was anything you’d like to change or introduce on Betdaq what would it be and why?
Mark Iverson: I find Betdaq a very good platform.. Their API is solid and it’s great that they’ve invited the likes of Bet Angel and Geeks Toy to develop software. The only thing missing is liquidity in their cricket markets. Every time I’ve tried to play on Betdaq it’s been very difficult to get out of positions. Some will say if I play these markets it will encourage others to play too, but I only trade 250ish cricket markets a year so each one is precious.
Stephen Maher: Thanks for doing this Mark and best of luck for the rest of 2016!
£25 IN FREE BETS
