POKER: Gambling (or should that be losing) Update

The poker professional blew into town and my stack went shooting down during four hours of filming last Saturday. It's just a shame for him most of it went to my friends. Yes, the boys from 7-2 Offsuit held their own against Barny Boatman. True, he was jetlagged and tired after playing in a week of tournaments in Vegas, but that's no excuse for going out first in the £20 freezeout tournament.
If that wasn't comic enough, we changed the rules to allow a single rebuy for each player (rather than letting Barny twiddle his thumbs for an hour). Did that slow him down? No, he was out again about 15 minutes later - making my 4th placing out of 6 look like a positive result! That additional rebuy did knock me back £40 rather than the £20 I was hoping, though. Luckily the pot limit Omaha cash game only swallowed £6, although I stayed on after the pro had left to play another tourney and waved goodbye to another £20. £66 down! At least I didn't burn through the entire £100 I'd been willing to stake - practically a result with a pro at the table.
This has dealt my gambling stake a sharp blow (as I predicted it would), but I have had some good fortune. My football betting came through for a small win - see more info below - and I've found $19.50 in PartyPoker that was a freebie. Given the kicking I've taken I'm counting that as a win. The only other poker activity to report is a $6 + $1 loss on Truepoker.com (my Aces were cracked by AJ suited and I didn't even slow play the hand!) and an $0.18 win for third place on a Victor Chandler 25c tourney table. Ooooh, I'm such a high roller.

Footie Philosophy

Since I've brought it up I should explain about my football betting strategy. There are certain games that seem like obvious wins and because of that they pay out really small winnings. Second place Arsenal should beat relegation strugglers West Brom; and in the Championship high-flying Ipswitch should trounce lowly Crewe, but neither will give back enough to pay the mortgage this month. Unless you add them together. The combined odds of these two games meant a £10 bet got a return of £23.33 - so £13.33 profit. I like to think I'm using the odds to my advantage because I'm getting a good overall price but I'm only backing 'sure things', as sure as anything can be in this world.
This is usually the point where people think you should bet the house. I mean, if it's a sure thing then why not make some real money off it? If £10 gets you £23.33, then £100 gets you £233.30 winnings! Following my poker losses on Saturday it would have been nice to win that all back with a £50 football bet. But it's important to think about what you might lose instead of focussing on what you might win. A £100 loss will take time to win back, unless you start chasing it... and that's where you start getting into all sorts of financial bother. Better to start small, build a profit, then decide whether you want to cash it in or risk larger amounts.
Anyway, we'll see if this pays off long term - although obviously the football season's about to end. In the meantime here's my current gambling totals.
Offline:
-£66 (this week -£66)
-£66 Offline Total
Online:
£54.67 Sportingbet (+£13.33)
£10.00 Blue Square (-)
£15.20 Victor Chandler Poker (+£0.08)
£40.01 TruePoker (-£4.64)
£10.25 PartyPoker (+£10.25)
£130.13 Online Total (+£19.02)

And now I really must go to bed! At least I didn't finish this with just enough time to sneak in a game of poker :)