The ATR Interviews (8) ~ Spooner

[BillyHills]

A bit late with this, apologies, been a bit mad on the western front. Anyway our next victim is young guy who for me epitomizes what this forum is all about, puts lots of time in on the site and contributes to many sections, enters all the competitions and has had a lot of success. This pleases me for another reason, when new posters join the PL you usually get an instant impression and I have to be totally honest from the outset and say I didnt think Spooner would last five minutes. To me he was a young kid full of big ideas, weve seen it all before, they come on tip a few winners think they know it all, tip a few losers, lose their rag and disappear. Thats how it usually goes anyway. Since he joined up in June 2007 he has amassed over 6,000 posts, visits almost everyday and reading through some of his posts is like going on a journey and watching someone mature to what he his today, a very enthusiatic, knowledgeable, helpful member of the PL. In his relatively short time here he has managed to win all 5 trophies available in the DHRC, (Div's 1,2,3,4 and the Cup) he has also won the BBOTD comp which is not easy and often features high up on the leaderboard on our sister site 'Sports Punter'. To cap off a brilliant year for him last year he was nominated for three PL Oscars and carried off the awards for, Best Soccer Newcomer, Most Improved Punter and a special award for the whole of the PL. Goes without saying he has well and truly proved me wrong, talking to him I was surprised to find out Dan is a very shy person so all the more credit to him for making his time on the forum a successful one. Hope you enjoy the questions he answered BH ____________________________________ Previous Issues in case you missed them;

• Bowles10
• Ralphie7
• Fintron
• RussP
• Billy The Punter
• Chris34
• Mowgli77

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[BillyHills]

Re: The ATR Interviews (8) ~ Spooner The Punters Lounge You joined the PL in June 2007, how did you come across the site in the first place? I've answered this question before somewhere on the forum, Mowgli posted the 1-2-3 at odds of something like 25/1 33/1 28/1 and someone came onto the forum I was on (wasn't a betting forum) to tell us about it, hope he doesn't mind but ive found the thread in question http://www.punterslounge.com/forum/f...30-05-a-49461/, anyway I had been searching for a fourm like this but somehow did not come across this one, had a glance around and signed up, this is now the only forum I use as it takes up all my time! How did you choose your username? Strange isn't it? It came around from when I used to play Pro Evo on the Playstation with friends and if you missed an easy shot we'd get the 'spoon' out because you spooned the ball wide etc, and then with that came 'Spooner' so there's my name. :$ Do you think the PL differs or offers anything more than the many other betting forums out there? This is the best betting forum around, I know it says that near the banner but it is, one thing I liked is you soon fit in and new members are always welcome, other forums ive been on they have there 'group' and that's kind of it, no one else allowed in. Do you think posting your bets on the ATR and reading other members posts has helped the way you look at betting? Definitely, ive learnt so much from ATR as im sure others have, posting your selections with reasoning also helps you go through the horses chances, making a claim for a horse is a good thing. Reading others thoughts on the race you looked at I also enjoy, seeing if they came up with the same conclusion as you. Reading to many opinions on something can question your judgement though, I would say always stick with your own thoughts. You have a thread in the systems section, do you enjoy working with systems and are you working on anything at the moment? I've posted a few 'systems' and the best one is the C&D winners to be placed, its just the time factor for this, I salute anyone who updates there thread daily. Someone like Ralphie with his quick system, everyday he'll turn up even if its to post no selections. I'm always looking for new things but I don't have anything great going on at the moment. I believe the ATR systems section is largely ignored by the members, do you think its under valued at all? Probably, yes. There are some great threads in that section, as I mentioned Ralphie's thread but the likes of Longshot Kicked de Bucket & your thread, NH Novice watch are threads I enjoy reading and see how they are doing. Slapdash's Suicide Mission is also a good read, very clever idea. You always seem to support the competitions on the PL, do you think these are an important part of a forum? I've always enjoyed competition and this is a very important part of PL I feel, competitions get people coming back and back to the forum which can only be a good thing, there is plenty of competition with the likes of BBOTD & DHRC for ATR., Tipsters Challenge & Euro/worldwide comp for the football fans, I think the poker lot run a good few too. If your in a comp like DHRC where selections are posted daily, you're more than likely to have a look round the forum and contribute in other areas to, so yes this is something that should always remian on PL. The big thank you has to go to the people who run them like yourself, the time you put in I'm sure is appreciated by alot of people. I've tried to give a little something back by doing some scores for the Euro/worldwide comp and would be happy to help out in other areas. Is there anything that annoys you on the PL or improvements that you would make? There is not alot that annoys me, your always going to get the odd muppet come on the forum but they don't last long on here, I get quite annoyed with the 'spammers' in threads, fixed football match etc but again there quickly removed. PL is run very well. You won three Oscars in 2008, how did you feel being nominated by fellow PL'ers? I was very surprised to have won three and its nice to be appreciated for the work I put in but this what I mean about how the forum welcomes new members, they didn't stick with the same 'group' who have previously won in years gone by, I'm sure this year will see some more new faces win Oscars. Any chance we might see you at one of the famous PL meet ups in the near future? I would love to get to a PL meet-up in the future, they sound like a good laugh but I am very shy and the thought of going to meet-up with a bunch of strangers kind of scares me! I hope one day I get some courage and turn up at one of the meets but I could never say for definite. I'm sure your all easy to get along with, its just getting there. You have done well on the sister site 'Sports Punter, whats the secret of your success? As I mentioned I like competition so will always battle to be at the top, not really much of a secret just finding those winners. I try to set myself targets of profit each month which seems to help alot. Struggling lately though I have to admit! You managed to win the BBOTD competition back in March, what are your thoughts on this competition, could it be improved? Great competition, not sure if it could be improved in anyway. Again though it takes dedication and gets people coming back to the forum, I was delighted to win it that month even if it was a bit of a streaky win, if I can win it once a year that'll do for me as its very tough to win. Main goal in the comp is to show profit at the end of the year, think I am slightly in the red at the moment but for anyone posting 100+ bets and even showing a 1p profit they'd of done well. How many hours a week do you think you spend on the PL? Alot, perhaps to much! I spend most of my mornings on here before setting off to work and then will have a glance through of an evening, at weekends I can spend alot of time on here due to all the sporting action, I would say roughly 1 day out of the 7 days a week is spent on here. Do you think there are enough 'discussion' threads on the ATR or is it all about tips? There are some good topics in ATR at times, alot of the threads are tips based but when you've spent alot of time going through the days racing you kind of run out of time to then add comments to the discussion threads. If you ever have a question about Racing though, the members are quick to help you out, another good thing about ATR, you won't see many threads with no replies. Horse Racing & Betting What got you interested in Horse Racing? Not sure really, my grandad was a Horse Racing fan and I used to go around there some Saturday's, he'd always have the racing on with L15 slips beside him and a pen, I never remember being into it at the time but maybe some of it stuck with me. What type of racing do you enjoy the most and why, flat, NH, Big races, sprints, classics, AW? I was a big flat fan at the first but I am looking forward to the NH season alot, I think its because the horses stay around longer in jumps, I think Mileni touched on the subject in the STS thread where he said we won't see the horse next year but the likes of Kauto Star, Denman will still be around. You can follow a great horse longer in the NH game and they also produce some cracking races, Royal Ascot or Cheltenham, Chelstenham for me every time! If you could change one thing in Racing or Betting overnight, what would that be? Stakes refunded when a horse doesn't leave the stalls, there's nothing more annoying than that and its happened to me a few times. The horse did not get a run so how can they take your money? Can you remember your first bet, how old were you and where did you put it on? I think like many my first bet would of been in the Grand National, no idea which horse though! Can you reveal your biggest win to date, you dont have to be specific about the amount but what was it on? My biggest win to date on Horse Racing was on a horse called Mewstone in a bumper at Uttoxeter, I'd had a good day and perhaps staked higher than usual @ 9/1, he was allover the shop in the run but kepted on well and won by a couple of lengths, great times. What was the last horse race meeting you attended? I don't get to the races much, the last meeting I attended was along time ago must be 4+ years, it was a Morning meeting at Kempton (what happened to those morning meetings?) I picked 5 winners that day and I did enjoy it, live fairly close to Epsom so next year I'd hope to go there for a day out. I see you bet on other sports aswell as Racing, which do you think brings you the most profit? I'm a bit of sports fanatic and do like a bet on others sports, I would say Football is up there but when I think about it, its much much easier to find a 6/4 in Racing then a 6/4 shot in football. Also in football betting you rarely get the thrill of finding a 50/1, I would say football betting is more serious to me then Horse Racing, others sports I enjoy are Cricket, Snooker & Golf, I'd love to find a 200/1+ winner on the golf, one day maybe. Do you bet online or still visit the high street? Which do you prefer? This is something I feel quite strongly about, the pluses for online are best offer guaranteed with a number of bookmakers where you take 8/1 and if the SP is 10/1 you get paid out as the price, free bets, etc. However its also very tempting to bet on the horse 'you fancy' and at the last minute you decide to put the bet on where as if you were punting in shops only, you might not of been in there at that time and just put your bets on in the morning. Its so easy to bet on more things online, I guarantee alot of punters lost their way when the internet came around. Answering your question, I use both. In the past, at times you have become disillusioned with betting, Do you think being more disciplined has helped? At times I think the whole world is against me, If I go on a losing run I seem to suffer and don't take it very well, at times on PL ive made some rash comments and made it known that at times gambling becomes a problem for me, I'm still far from happy with my discipline but I hope as I grow older this will change. When things go wrong I also think that everything is 'fixed' when really I should just ignore and move on, as I said far from happy with punting still. In your opinion whats the most important factor when reading form, Going, Trip, Track, Trainer, Jockey, Price, Recent Form? I take in alot of things when studying a race, all the above will go into my assessment, as for handicaps I like a horse who is on a winning mark or below, I tend to stay away from horses who are on a high mark. As you will see from my systems thread I quite enjoy C&D winners and these are key at certain tracks, so that's a big factor for me. Do you think Horse Racing is 'clean' at the moment and does this effect the way you bet? I don't think it ever will be clean, I think if you dwell on this situation to much though then it can effect the way you bet on Horse Racing, I like to think the top races are clean, Betfair have always been around since I got into Horse Racing but I don't think this has helped, the option to make your horse lose to win £100k by laying as opposed to winning 3k for winning the race, tempting. Have you ever had a bet on a speciality market like BB or XFactor? Yes, will have a couple of quid on Miss Frank to win this year's XFactor, I think they're around 16-1.. I'd like Stacey Soloman to win the show, common girl and then comes out with that voice, surely she'll go along way, 4/1 on a market like this though doesn't interest me. Not long after you joined the PL you had a dream of making betting a full time job, what are your thoughts two years on? I have to say currently now I would never want to do this, I think gambling should be enjoyed in the best way that suits you. I never doubt myself and the ability to find winners but you have to be very skilled to do this and the right things around you, my opinion may change again but as things currently stand, no. Add to the fact you need ££££'s behind you! Quick Questions What is your homepage at the moment? Very boring, Google! Favourite Music, song, band? Music is not really a big part of me but I enjoy all sorts, nothing specific I really enjoy. Favourite TV show, not sport related? Peep Show would be my favourite but I also enjoy crimewatch on BBC1! Strange choice. What do you do for a living? I am currently studying for a NVQ in Playwork (working with Children aged 4-11), I must admit when 16 years old I didn't think that would be my job now but after not doing nothing for a couple of years I had to do something, my girlfriend was working there and she got me the job, I acutally quite enjoy the job, having a kick around with the kids and playing others sports, I only work from 2 till 6:30pm so the hours aren't great which is a setback with this job, of course through the half-term/summer breaks you get a full days work but there are more weeks with less work. It'll do for now but I can't see it lasting for ever, I don't have an idea what I would really love to do and in the current state you can't just throw the job you've got away, it took me long enough to find one. Do You follow a Football team? I follow Manchester United, yes a southern based United fan. :loon Something about the club I just love, I had Giggs on my first shirt, the black away kit in what must of been '92/'93, can't believe he is still playing at the top of his game now, if I ever had to tell kids who to look upto in sport, My answer would be him all the time. A true professional. Do you prefer Racing UK, ATR or Channel 4? I don't have ATR or Racing UK but I do like it when the Racing is on C4, as I work during the week when Racing is on I don't get to watch a great deal but I look forward to 2pm on a Saturday. You can alwasy catch up with the racing online anyway. Thanks to Spooner, i'm sure he would welcome any questions or comments. BH