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Tuesday 27 April 2010

Doing My Conkers.

Monday was pretty much a complete blow out for me. Bet Cat had just the one bet which unfortunately finished last I think.

Packed Pockets had a three point bet on Call Two Arms in the 3.00 which also came last, in fact I think it might have been pulled up which was no mean feat for a short flat race.

I have a bit of a complex about Ryan Moore as I think he is the best when he has a chance of a win but when beaten I dont think he rides for a place. I had one of my bigger bets on him last night and was really in two minds before the start because of this, and he came about sixth. Why I get involved in Windsor Monday nights racing is something I am still trying to work out. The last couple of years it has been a nightmare for me and I still havent learnt any better. This was the just one of the six bets I placed yesterday with two trading below 1.1 and both getting beaten !

SBP had another bet last night which won but again I didnt do it as if it had lost the B bet in the sequence would have been the next game which didnt start until 3am my time. This is the only problem with the SBP as some of the picks in the sequence kick in when I am safely tucked up in bed.

Monday 26 April 2010

Moving On Up.

RIP Guru, Cos Im like the Wizard and you look lost like Dorothy...


Sunday 25 April 2010

Weekend Witterings.

A great weekend if you are a Hammers fan as we very luckily managed to dig ourselves out of a massive hole and save our skins. Its been a terrible season with lots of poor performances and goings on behind the scenes so lets hope we can pull together pre season and do a damn sight better the next one. I had a few pre season bets and my only winner came in today. I backed Birmingham with a 48 point start and after Stoke and Tottenham both lost this weekend this bet is now officially a winner at 15/1. I also had Chelsea +1 and in the championship Reading and Middlesborough to get promoted. The Birmingham bet will pay me out £500 but have losses of £100 on the Championship bets but will also win on the each way part of the Chelsea bet I think!
On Saturday I only had a couple of bets as I was out most of the day. I lost about £200 in total with Bet Cat having a double bet and an each way . The second part of the bet was Redwood at 16/1 and it got beat in a photo finish which was a bit of a gutter. The SBP had two losing bets on the basketball but the final C bet in the sequence won but I missed backing that as well.

Today was a much better as I started off with a 16/1 winner and then followed it up with another couple of wins. No bets from Packed Pockets or Bet Cat today but I also managed to get another £50 from the Tennis Final. The only down side was a trade that I completely cocked up costing me £135. I was obviously staking too much as I was out of my comfort zone and if I had just let it run I actually would have made a decent profit but the tide turned quickly against me and the negative thoughts came and I closed it out . If I had waited thirty seconds I would have been in a nice green situation.

In other news Bet Fred have limited my week old account already, them and VC what a pair....


Thursday 22 April 2010

On A Roll.

Well its been an entertaining week with some big seeds getting turned over on the clay in Barcelona and the local football team going down to Inter. I thought it was a great game of football and made me wonder why Chelsea got rid of Robben but then I forgot they have Malouda.......... So back to my original question then.... Seems Moan-rinho hasnt lost his lucky touch.

Tonight we have Liverpool playing in the Europa Cup, how the mighty have fallen, well I say mighty but they havent won the league for maybe twenty years and the team that they have now must be the worst in a couple of decades. I remember growing up how much of a force they were. I was once behing the goal many moons ago at Upton Park when Souness hit a screamer from 30 yards ,what a player and what a squad of players they had back then ,now they have David Ngog leading the line ! Watching them tonight in Madrid I can only think the reason that Rafa is still the manager is because they dont have the money to pay his contract up if they sack him. God I bet all the Pool fans hope Juve take him off their hands in the summer.

So the last three days have been good for me now the flat season is underway. I have put on some bigger bets and am on the right path for April. Today was pleasing especially in the last race at Uttoxeter picking out Muldoons Picnic at 9/1 which went off as 5/2 fav and won very nicely. I have really been studying hard though starting at 9am and going through until around 10pm. I have been trying to get through the next days cards after the evening racing or until my eyes give in ! There hasnt been any bets from Bet Catalyst for the past three days and just a couple from Packed Pockets that have lost.

Below are some results :








I have managed to open a few more accounts which means I can be a lot more aggressive but am trying to spread stakes around still. I have only shown winners here but have had plenty of losers too !! But over the last three days am about £3k up so more than happy.

Monday 19 April 2010

Lazy Bones.

Been really lazy last few days, maybe the weather is effecting me ! Yesterday I took the day off and sat on the beach watching the world go by and drunk a few beers. I was intending to get back by about 4.30pm to bet on a few late races that I had marked down, but that went by the by as I switched into relaxed mode.

On Saturday I had a couple of nice winners and now that SBP is back with the basketball that winning sequence continues. My B bet came in but overnight I did miss another winner.


Bet Cat had a losers on Friday and Saturday with Stan and Faasel in the Scottish Grand national both unplaced. I am down about £500 so far this month with Bet Cat but one good priced winner will turn that around. I had two bets Friday which also lost but had a winner with Academy Blues at 5/1 which was emailed to me.

Saturday bought a really good day as in the 3.35 I backed two runners Rock County at 7/1 which won and Old School Theatre which placed at 20/1, I then followed that up with a second place with Confessional in the 4.10 which traded at 1.03 and then had a couple of bigger bets on horses I really fancied. So as you can see a bit of a bumper day.


With summer racing now getting in swing I am finding that I dont have enough time to commit to the blog and as such am finding it a bit of chore. I think I will post up when something interests me and once a week or so will give a round up of results.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Close.

Hitting the crossbar ,I think is the expression to show in laymans terms that your shit out of luck. I have also heard it called the latin word seconditis by various more respected individuals on other blogs.

Bet Cat picked a beauty out at 28/1 for me to go at each way which was heavily backed but after trading odds on in running just couldnt get past the winner. It was called Alasi in the 3.20.


The above three were all second one is from yesterday and to add to that I had Blasket Spirit in the 6.00 at 10/1 and Asiya at 14/1 in the 7.10 also finish second. In the 2.35 I had Favourite Girl get placed at 12/1, so it was a profitable day. From eight picked out I had four seconds, a fourth and three unplaced.
I have started receiving selections from somebody I know and am betting at £12.50 a point. Today was my first day of actually putting down cash and as you can see from the above I had a winner which I backed at 12/1 that went of as 9/4 fav I believe. There was a rule four but still paid me out at 9/1.

I made £130 with the tennis on betfair and still have my two selections in the tournament though I have traded out for a couple of free bets. Heres a nice colourful graph:


I fully expect one of them to make the final against Nadal but even if they do I wont be able to trade out for much money as Nadal is just another level on the clay.

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Uninspired.

Amazing how time flies and I havent posted for three whole days ! Summing it up as pretty uninspiring. Over the last three days I havent made squat in fact I am about £10 down.
For my own personal bets I have had quite a few second places but no winners. Today I had Tajneed at 22/1 which came second and Medicean Man in the same race. Bet Cat have only had the one bet which lost losing me £40, and the Packed Pockets picks havent won either. In fact the one selection for yesterday was 5/1 by the time I looked at it and considering the price given out was 10/1 I decided the value had gone.

So Britain has a new Davis Cup captain, a nobody just like me except he has Andy Murrays number on speed dial , which I alas do not. All the money that gets thrown away by the LTA what an absolute disgrace they are, and as for Murray when is it ever not an honour to represent your country? I reckon he could do with the practice if todays awful performance is anything to go by.

This is what the BBC had to say about Leon Smith (who?):

"Probably the least experienced British captain in history, having neither played Davis Cup nor coached full-time on the professional circuit, the Scotsman has been thrown into the spotlight from a position of relative anonymity.

A tennis coach since the age of 18 who worked with Andy Murray through the junior ranks, Smith has recently been LTA national coach for Scotland, head of under 16s and under 18s before moving to the role of head of player development last year.

He feels he is "confident on coaching, people skills and developing players" and offers "meticulous planning and attention to detail".

And, more than anything, his bosses at the LTA hope he brings the mobile number, and the ear, of a certain Andy Murray.

Would Smith be the Davis Cup captain without his link with the British number one? Almost certainly not.

Can he persuade Murray to play in future matches? Hopefully. That's the idea.

But have the LTA misread the situation completely? Possibly."




Today was another nail in the coffin for honest sport when a top ten womens player is involved in a rigged game. You would think that a multi millionairess doesnt need to throw matches against a no hoper but ho hey nothing will happen and it wont even get a mention in the papers.
A player that was 1.07 to win a match in the morning that drifts to 1.6 when the game starts and keeps drifting out to over 3.0 even when she is a set and a break up how is that not a fixed match? Then out of nowhere she suddenly retires ...

Sunday 11 April 2010

Weekend Roundup.

So I was in London Saturday but managed to get to a pub by London Bridge in time to catch the Grand National. Unfortunately I couldnt hear the commentary so just enjoyed the sights of but not the sounds of Aintree. Of course I knew that AP was there in the famous colours and it was fitting that after 15 odd years and 3000 odd winners that he should truimph. As I left the pub who was standing outside but the former Mayor Of London "Red" Ken Livingstone looking a little bit worse for wear I might add.

Where to start this weekend. Firstly the football bets direct that I have been paper trading for the last month do not seem to be profitable. It follows the same system as the SBP but over this weekend had two losing C bets which would have wiped out a lot of money. I make it that if you wanted to make£ 25 per game then at average odds of 1.7 it would cost you £525 for a three match losing run which means 22 games to get your money back. Unless I am doing something wrong this isnt goint to work. At least with SBF the record this year stands at 82 wins and only 2 lossses. So I am not going to even bother paper trading these anymore. I want to thank Neil though as he has been sending me the selections for free.

Next up SBP is sending out the baseball picks for this season and again I have decided to adopt a paper trading brief with this. I am slightly up so far with real money but only through luck rather than judgement. Last night we had three bets and all were losers but luckily for me I didnt get involved in any of them because of a couple of reasons. Firstly I cannot see any edge at the moment when looking at the odds and the selections given out and secondly SBP is trying to push version two for $247 when I have just bought version one. Now if version one is so good then why set up another? Also today I received by mistake the selections for version two which are nothing like version ones picks. This worries me so until I see some improvement I am not going to play.

So Saturday I had three bets from Bet Cat all losing which cost me £170. I was out so didnt get involved in anything else apart from another £80 loss on the National itself. I hope somebody made money on Dont Push It !

Sunday turned out to be really good day on the horses and a small win on the Golf. I layed Westwood in the Golf at 2.3 on Saturday evening and won £50 but lost £40 on Packed Pockets pick in the 5.10 at Southwell with his selection Mawsem coming second.

I had three horses in Ireland. In the Limerick 16 +handicap I had the winner Jack Absolute at 13/2 and another that didnt place. In the big listed race at the Curragh I had the winner at 16/1. Mr Murtagh I am sure could have done better on the 2/5 fav Fame Or Glory but gave the horse a very hands and heels ride and didnt go for the persuader in the final furlong allowing my horse to come from the back to win.

I also had a very large bet for me with £250 on the win for Aberdale which I got at 2.10. I thought this was a great price as I saw the horse at about 1.7 so with a 25% value cushion built in I got stuck in. I did lay it on betfair at 1.20 to cover my £250 so lost £50 but made a nice profit overall.



The tennis gets under away in Monte Carlo tomorrow and after missing most of it this past week I shall try to get involved as it is live on Sky Sports. Mr Nadal is 1.7 on Betfair to win yet another title as it is on his favourite surface but I have looked to the other half of the draw and had £25 on Verdasco at 28 and £25 on Nalbandian at 50. I hope that either one of these two can make it to the final. I would have had Nadal as well but 1.7 is too short considering no matches have been played. I was hoping for about 3 but maybe I was dreaming..

Friday 9 April 2010

Friday Again !

I only had two picks today, Camino Royal in the 1.50 and Noble Future and Departed in the 4.45. The only place was Noble Future which I got at 8/1 in the morning. It was backed into about 9/2 favourite and traded odds on in running as it seemed to have plenty of stamina but just faded from about two out and finished fourth. A loss of £75 in total.

Bet Cat gave me two selections in the same race but neither placed so a loss of £50.

Overnight the only baseball pick lost 5-4 and I also lost £100 on back Isner to win his match in Houston. Unfortunately he lost in a final set tie breaker. I hate waking up to bad news !
There are three more baseball games tonight and also a basketball bet.

So a poor day was made a profitable one by two bets which I got from Packed Pockets. I found the site via JPs blog a couple of days ago but hadnt followed any selections. JP is following at £20 a point so I thought I would start today and what a lucky start for me. Both bets won with the first runner at 40/1 bringing me £1000 and the second at 4/1 giving me another £240.
So a massive thank you and a donation will be forthcoming.
For the National tomorrow I have had a tenner on Arbor Supreme, King Johns Castle, Character Building and Ollie Magern.
Good luck to all these brave nags and I hope they all return safely.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Small Losses.

No luck today with the horses as Bet Cat gave me Stan in the 4.20 and South Of The Border in the 5.30 and as normal I put them in an e/w double. So £120 loss there.

I picked six horses with two coming second, Stormhoek in the 3.00 and Johns Gift in the 3.35. A pretty amazing couple of races with both having the leading horse run out at the final fence. Both traded at 1.01 and both ducked out. There was talk off somebody shining something in the horses eyes as they neared the final fence and the TV put out the theory that maybe the ground workers who were standing by the final fence were catching the horses eyes because they were wearing fluorescent jackets. Another unsolved mystery in the sporting world...

My other four horses were two each in the 4.20 Safari Journey and Pepsyrock which came fifth costing me as i got it at 16/1 and in the 5.55 Callerlilly and Captain Beckett.

The day was only a slight loser as the basketball bet came in and so did four baseball bets in a row. Great to see Fulham qualify tonight in the Europa Cup beating the current German Champions Wolfsburg, that after dealing with Juventus and last years champions Shakhtar Donetsk. An amazing run of form with who I believe to be the best manager in the league. So nice to have an understated, civilised and astute man in charge. Next time he gives an interview listen to the difference between him and the rantings of Ferguson, Wenger ,Benitez and Mourinho who will always complain about some decision or other costing them matches. Shame Mr Hodgson is not in charge of England , but then again I am sure even he cant perform miracles.....

Wednesday 7 April 2010

The Right Direction.

I have carried on with my positive start to April which now sees a profit of about £1100.

Yesterday there was one bet from Bet Cat which was £20 e/w on Skys The Limit in the 3.35. I didnt see the race but it didnt place so a small loss there. I picked out three myself with two Naughty Diesel in the 2.15, and Mirza in the 2.55 not placing. The winner of the 2.55 race went of at 814/1 on betfair and got matched for over £500 at 999/1 . Thats the first time I have seen so much money matched at that price in a horse race on betfair. Somebody had it away and somebody else was feeling suicidal I imagine. My third runner Scarlet Rocks in the 2.20 got second at 18/1 after trading at 10/1 on in running. Poor old Davie Probert had a couple like that yesterday. Mind you I really rate him as a jockey and will look to back some of his mounts at high prices in the future.

Overnight I had my b bet in the basketball which was a winner, though I was a bit fortunate as I backed the wrong handicap. The email said -6.5 but mid way through placing the bet Paddy Power changed it to -7.5 and I didnt notice until it was too late. Luckily the Spurs won by 9.
I am still to hit a losing sequence with this and even if I hit it now it would only wipe out 50% of my profits. I gather it is 80 winners now and only 2 losers. The same cannot be said about the baseball bets that got under way a couple of days ago with 6 losers and only 3 winners, so as it stand I have a loss of £34 so far. The games seem to be coming thick and fast with another two tonight and also another basketball bet.

Today there was no bet from Bet Cat and I picked three. I had two runners in the 16+ handicap in Ireland with Blackson Zulu which I got at 33/1 coming unlucky fifth and the other Benalma at 14/1 coming ninth. Now I didnt see the race but the only reason I picked Blackson Zulu was there seemed to be some funny prices being offered on betfair for this horse which were way out of line with the bookies prices. At one stage I layed it in the place market for 4.0 which was half of what I was getting from the bookie. This is quite rare in Irish races where there is not the liquidity of the English races and also normally fairly big gaps in the markets. Somebody wnated to get a price of 3/1 for this nag to place, it didnt make sense to me. I shall try to watch this race on the repeats to see how this horse ran nad will mark it down and wait for it to reappear.

My only other bet was a winner!! His Majesty Mr Moore won the 2.30 and I managed to get his ride at 12/1. I had to get on this after passing up the opportunity on Saturday when he rode a 20/1 winner in the big race, I am still kicking myself about that one.

Aintree starts tomorrow with some great racing over the next three days. I already have a couple of bets on for Thursday and also one for the national. I will have one more in the National on Saturday but that will be my lot as it is a lottery. Its best to watch and enjoy than get too heavily involved there.

Just a quick word about the football which has been great the last few nights. Man Utd scored within the first couple of minutes home and away and still got turned over and as for Barca what fantastic football they have continued to play. When Arsenal had the ball they hunted in packs, with always three players surrounding any Arsenal player who had possession but then seemed to break forward with extra men. I am sure they had about 15 players ! It also showed its not all just about "sexy" football but constantly working hard to get the ball back. I cant wait for Saturday night when the two giants meet in La Liga.

Monday 5 April 2010

Onwards.

Some days theres just to much action ! Today we had eight race meetings but from all of this I managed to pick just five bets. The first race for me was another 16+ handicap where I had Master Nimbus at 20/1 and Sendali at 8/1. The first horse led for a long way but drifted back to finish tenth. The opposite happened with Sendali as he looked under the pump with about three furlongs left but showed a lot of grit to keep staying on and then after passing the leading horse he held on for victory.
I had two more in the 2.50 at Fairyhouse but didnt get the luck after firstly backing Cayo Levantado at 8/1 he steamed in to be the 11/4 favourite at the off but ran like a 100/1 shot finishing well down the field. My other horse Ninety Two Team lost fourth by a neck!
My only other bet was E Major at 12/1 in the 3.15. I didnt see the race as I was cutting my lawn in the lovely spring sun but this one got second.Bet Cat had just the one bet called A New Story in the Irish Grand National. Again I didnt see the race but it got fourth so paid me out at 22/1, giving another £112 profit.

No football bets today and last nights basketball bet from SBP was a loser so will roll into bet b.
SBP has also started with his baseball service which consists of straight bets and no a,b,c style staking . Today has four selections and I will play these at £50 each.

Sunday 4 April 2010

Easters Efforts.

Back to the betting world after a nice few relaxing days. With no horse racing on Friday I just had the one bet on Roddick to beat Nadal, which he did eventually.

Yesterday had the first bet in the new Sports Betting Professor sequence which was a winner.

I layed the draw in the Man Utd/Chelsea match as from memory I found that not too many of these games are drawn. I didnt watch the match but saw the highlights, dont care about either team just enjoy the moaning that always goes on around these types of matches.

In the horse racing Bet Cat had a double bet and as normal I put them in an e/w double. The first horse Chernik didnt really get going but the second horse Kay Gee Be managed to get third so making a small loss of £50 in total. I didnt pick any horses myself which is surprising for a Saturday but I couldnt find any value.

Today was much busier with some nice cards for me to go at. I had five e/w bets with three not placing, a second in the shape of Stevie Mac in the 1.55 at Fairyhouse at 9/1 and a winner with Skyfire in the 3.20 at 11/1. With my newly opened account I am getting BOG with the lovely Stan James. Praise the lord....



To add to my tally I backed Highland Warrior in the place market of Betfair at 19.5 for the 2.50 at Musselburgh and it got second which was a great result. Below is my Betfair p/l since the 1st.

Tonight there has been another successful SBF pick but sadly I missed the email, though another has arrived with another pick for overnight.

The Football system with the same type of bets as SBP hasnt faired as well with C bets coming in Spain tonight and also three other leagues which are French, English Championship and Scottish Premier. I think this is going to struggle to be profitable but will obviously give it time. Mind you as I write the C bet in Spain is winning as Athletico Madrid are now 2-0 ahead.

Finally great to see Andy Roddick win the Miami 1000 tonight what a great couple of weeks hes had after reaching the final in Indian Wells last week as well. The level of performance he put in keeps all the other players in the shade and if unlike last year he can keep fit then I expect a big performance at Wimbledon. Maybe he can go one better this year ....

Thursday 1 April 2010

Money For Old Rope.

Nice to see Ladbrokes with a new man in charge! Tumbling profits mean a change of guard.
Lets hope he goes as well....I think most of their profit comes from Fruit Machines now days, though I havent been in a betting shop for a few years.

"New Ladbrokes chief Richard Glynn handed £12m wager on doubling shares"

The new chief executive of Ladbrokes has been handed a free bet potentially worth almost £12m if he doubles the bookmaker's share price over five years.

Richard Glynn, the current chairman of spread-betting company Sporting Index, will receive about 4m Ladbrokes shares under a one-off incentive scheme when he starts his new job on April 22.
The award will have no value unless Mr Glynn, 45, succeeds in pushing the shares up to £2 – effectively adding £400m to the company's market value. At that level 1m shares would vest.

Only if the shares hit 297p would all 4m shares vest, making Mr Glynn £11.9m, and adding £1.3bn to Ladbrokes' market worth. To pocket the full award, Mr Glynn also has to hold at least 1m Ladbrokes shares over the period. The shares closed 2.2 higher at 158.3p last night.
Mr Glynn, who will receive a basic salary of £580,000, emerged in recent weeks as the frontrunner to succeed Chris Bell, the current chief executive. Mr Bell, who has spent 20 years at the bookie, quit in January – though he is staying on until the early summer to oversee the handover.
His departure was partly influenced by some investor unrest – particularly following Ladbrokes' heavily-discounted £275m rights issue last October. Aggrieved shareholders are thought to have included Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond and JP Morgan Asset Management.
Peter Erskine, Ladbrokes chairman, said he sounded out some investors before announcing Mr Glynn's appointment.
Mr Erskine said his decision was influenced by the fact that Mr Glynn "hits the ground very quickly" on e-gaming – considered one of Ladbrokes' weaker areas – and by his "passion" for the role.
"He's always wanted this job. I think he will bring pride back into the business," Mr Erskine said, playing down concerns that Mr Glynn lacked public company experience.
Mr Erskine said he was "open-minded" over how Mr Glynn grows the business, adding: "If it's a deal so be it but I would prefer if we could get our own business right."
Ladbrokes is also compensating Mr Glynn for relinquishing some private interests with a further 1.177m shares, worth £1.75m, that he must hold for three years.
Mr Glynn said the company had "significant opportunities in a rapidly changing marketplace".
Some analysts expressed doubts. James Hollins at Daniel Stewart, said: "We regard the appointment as underwhelming. We do not believe that he has exemplary experience of either retail bookmaking or of diverse online betting and gaming."
He also questioned the "ongoing commitment" of e-gaming chief John O'Reilly, retail head Richard Ames and finance director Brian Wallace after being "overlooked for the top job".

Only one bet for me today a loser in the 5.30 on Goscar Rock e/w. Nothing from Bet Cat but overnight the b bet won in the basketball netting me £80, nice going guys!