October was by far and away my best month of the year and the only month so far that I have hit the sort of targets I set myself. I realised towards the end of September that my staking was way too risk averse to really win the amounts I wanted/needed to win to make a serious go of this game so I set about making the necessary changes and it seems that they really paid off during October.

That's not to say I had everything my own way this month though, not in the slightest. The month opened with one of my worst ever losing days, 4th in my top ten in fact. Yes, the increase is stakes is partly to 'blame' here since I am talking absolute losses rather than points lost so as the stakes go up one must expect to have bigger wins and bigger losses. The 11th October comes in at number 9 in my list of worst days and there were also another 3 days that while they didn't make the top ten were still stinkers. Fortunately this was all balanced, and then some, by some really good days to see me end the month with a nice profit.

It seems rather unusual for me to have a good October as it's normally a terrible month for me according to my records. In fact five of my top ten losing days have come in October (plus two in September and one each in August, December and June so all in the second half of the year). But hey, I'm not complaining this year. If I can suffer a month with two top ten losing days and still come out with my best ever month and a smile on my face then something is surely going right.

Watch List
I have nothing on the Watch List currently and that remains the case as we enter November. However, that's only because one system that had been a Watch List entry a short while back has turned bad again and will be dropped with immediate effect. Bye bye CD Lays. I put it on the Watch List a few months back and it started to recover nicely but another 50+pt loss this month means I have lost my patience with it. I have analysed the figures and the vast majority of the profits came a few years back so I think the edge on this one has been blunted and I am no longer interested in keeping it in my portfolio.

Breakdown
The portfolio breakdown for October looks like this:

Good (profitable)
W2W (7 systems, +56.20pts)
LTO3 +1.62pts
Lay'em +36.17pts
Claiming Jockey +0.39pts
Double Top +1.98pts
Info Rated +6.36pts
Ladies Lays +2.73pts
NHPM +6.95pts

Non-W2W (16 systems, +182.37pts)
A List +3.71pts
HSR +13.42pts
Northern Monkey +9.61pts
Easy Money Lays +14.61pts
Classic Lays +25.44pts
Premier Lays +19.20pts
NailedOn Lays +25.51pts
FBD +1.51pts
Football Elite +2.15pts
Prem Simplex +42.18pts
Over Form Portfolio +7.68pts
HDA Streaks Portfolio +0.81pts
Rateform Portfolio +13.72pts
Game Form Portfolio +0.25pts
The Insider +1.00pts
Linebacker +1.57pts

Bad (unprofitable)
W2W (3 systems, -65.71pts)
Johnston Track -7.12pts
CD Lays -55.47pts
NH Media -3.12pts

Non-W2W (13 systems, -312.44pts)
NailedOn AW -36.70pts
Progeny -2.89pts
FE Shortlist -5.62pts
SPL Simplex -9.28pts
Serie A Simplex -64.20pts
Home Form Portfolio -1.62pts
Draw Form Portfolio -2.36pts
Away Form Portfolio -7.52pts
Under Form Portfolio -3.12pts
UO Streaks Portfolio -6.29pts
Bet Bank Alerts -0.49pts
Limit Poker (cash) -168.65pts

NB. Systems and services are listed here simply to provide a full monthly record of my betting activities and their mention should not be construed as a recommendation of said system/service. The results given are mine and mine alone and do not form part of the official results for any service.

It's pretty much all about the lays this month with many of the lay services putting in stunning performances and contributing heavily to the bottom line. The backs have been chipping in too, especially the A List (my largest backing bank) and a new service I took on this month, Northern Monkey, which has proved a very worthy addition to the portfolio.

The biggest losses have come on systems that are very volatile so I am not particularly worried about them. The Simplex systems undergo large losses on and off but the staking is designed to counter those later in the season so I just need to let them run as they are. NailedOn AW suffered a pretty big setback this month but it's bubbling along pretty nicely for the year and has long losing runs as it tends to pick relative outsiders so that's all part and parcel of things really.

My return to the fixed limit cash poker tables wasn't exactly staggering but the heavy loss in points terms represents little in terms of real cash as I am playing micro-stakes while I find my feet again. Good job really! There is plenty of reading and analysis to be done on that front to identify my leaks and weaknesses so I can start to steadily build a bankroll again and start taking down a reasonable profit from these games. I am determined to stick to limit poker and make it play. I have done it before so I am sure I can do it again.

All in all though, having dropped CD Lays I think everything is looking pretty settled in my portfolio. I will watch how the various NH systems go at the start of the jumps season but I'm not looking to trim any of those just yet. Overall I'm pretty happy with things as they stand and would take a few more months like October if offered.