“Which strategy do you use most?”

This is one of the questions I get asked the most and its one that is hard to answer. Why do people ask this?  Looking around forums and the chatroom its clear that people are trying to find a simple way to trade. One that works in every game. I can understand why newer traders think that is possible but I get the query from guys who have traded for a while too.

The truth is that it is very rare that a single strategy would be used over and over in the same match. Even backing the server. There aren’t many players who I would use this strat and even then you need to check that they are on top form. As an example I’d normally include players like Roddick and Raonic but they seem to have a few issues at the moment.

There really are very few shortcuts. No one can teach you experience. They can give you the benefit of their own experiences but that is no replacement for getting it first hand.

As in a lot of areas in our microwave, fast food, flat-pack culture far too many people want maximum gain from minimum effort. In trading terms they want a simple strategy that gets them a great return every time. In persuit of this ridiculous goal they try to force “square pegs into round holes” and having learnt a strategy they proceed to use it on every match. Not surprisingly they soon fail.

So what happens next? Well that depends on the individual. Some will just give up. Some will start telling everyone that the strategies don’t work. Some even go on a mini crusade to prove that I am some sort of scam artist ( bless them ). A small proportion ( those more likely to succeed ) actually ask for help.

So if you see someone in a chatroom or forum or blog saying that established strategies don’t work what they are really saying is perhaps, ” I can’t make them work as I can’t be bothered to work out the best games to use it on”, or maybe, “I’m too stupid to trade tennis”, or, “I want to make money but I’d rather not put any effort in”.

The strategies are all very simple. Where experience is essential is in matching the strategy to the game situation. Any match will go through phases where momentum shifts between the players. Even in a one sided match there will be very short periods where there is a momentum shift. As you experience more and more games and markets you will learn to spot where the changes may happen. For example, a simple one that most know about is in a match where both players have a realistic chance of winning. Laying the first set winner will often bring about a chance of profit if you don’t get too greedy. So much effort goes into getting that first set that the winner will relax a little in the early couple of games of the second set.

So forget the holy grail strategy and put the effort into learning the markets and how they move in relation to the match. Joining a community such as ours can help you to spot the patterns. If you limit yourself to just one strategy then you are reducing the number of games you can trade.