Ok, my first day of "real" practice (no cavalier trades) resulted in a net profit of 5.14%. This was following Monk's rules to a T, both long and short. Got lucky once where I gained about 30 pips or so on one trade, then made a mistake on another one that cost about 10 pips. All in all, I'm happy with the first day.
Bet on the jockey, not the horse.