The Match Fixing Scandal

This is where I stand.

The allegations seem to have real power behind them, but of course until those involved are found guilty they are innocent.

The fix is simple enough, just 3 balls in an entire Test Match where a bowler will bowl a no-ball at specified time. There is no way of telling what the overall effects of these no-balls are on the match, those who enjoy chaos theory can explain this. But to the main the actual events within the match seem harmless to the result. A "victim-less crime" of sorts. But it goes deeper than that for many.

The best way to explain it is being cheated on in a relationship in a minor fashion. It doesn't matter if it was just one kiss that meant nothing, it doesn't matter that the involvement was never extreme, the betrayal was there and the trust is now gone.

Now some will say if it really was just one kiss, if it really didn't mean anything then maybe they could take it on the chin. If it was just a handful of no-balls and nothing else, and nothing else in any other match then I could probably take it on the chin. The problem is we don't know what else has been fixed. The allegations claim that entire matches have and can be fixed. In which case this is unforgivable.

The obvious case that causes the most heartbreak is the young superstar Amir. The best young cricketer for a long while could now be looking at a life time ban.

It is quite a simple situation though, and if the players were being paid more then this probably wouldn't happen. If there were caps on the bets being placed then this could also help. This would limit the cases to illegal bookies.

Money isn't always the solution though, with all of it flying around in the IPL I am suspicious of the entire league and its integrity.

Premiership Team of the Week 3

GK: Brad Friedel
DL: Ashley Cole
DC: John Terry
DC: Titus Bramble
DR: Luke Young
ML: Florent Malouda
MR: Nani
MC: Alex Song
MC: Andrei Arshavin
ST: Dimitar Berbatov
ST: Hugo Rodallega

Coach: Roberto Martinez

Just Tennis

Put your standard on the following today:
Baghdatis at 1/8
Gulbis at 10/21
Kohlschreiber at 2/9
Djokovic at 1/7
Sharapova at 1/8
Na Li at 1/4

The bet of the day is Wawrinka at 1/4, put 10 times your standard on it.

Cycle 3, Day 10 Summary

At the end of Day 10 of the 3rd Cycle, we have profit for the cycle of £332.14.

This brings total profit over all cycles to £1134.86.

Open for Business

The US Open begins today, and it's going to be huge. There are 3 genuinely strong contenders along with 4 others who could provide an upset in the men's side.

Put 5 times your standard on Sharapova to lift the title at 11/2
Put 5 times your standard on Clijsters to win her quarter at 4/5
Put 5 times your standard on V Williams to win her quarter at 9/4
Put 5 times your standard on Murray to lift the title at 7/2
Put 5 times your standard on Murray/Nadal/Federer all to make the Semis at 4/1
Put 5 times your standard on Fish to win his quarter at 8/1

Put your standard on the following:
Cilic at 1/5
de Bakker at 2/7
Dent at 9/10
Hewitt at 3/10
Ivanovic at 4/9

The bet of the day is Federer to win 3-0 at 2/9, put 10 times your standard on it.

The Dream Team

Put your standard on the following today:
Liverpool at 1/3
Sunderland at 5/1
Bolton-Birmingham draw at 12/5
Aston Villa-Everton draw at 23/10
Real Madrid at 2/5
Barcelona at 2/9
Webber to win the race at 23/10

Put 5 times your standard on Hamilton to finish in the top 3 at 4/7
Put 5 times your standard on Alonso to finish in the points at 2/9

The bet of the day is to put 20 times your standard on the USA to win the Men's Basketball World Championships at 8/13.

Tried and Tested

Put your standard on the following today:
Blackburn at 5/1
Chelsea at 1/8
Spurs at 1/4
Man Utd at 1/6
Blackpool-Fulham draw at 12/5
Wolves-Newcastle draw at 23/10
Over 3.5 goals in the Chelsea game at 39/40
Over 3.5 goals in the Spurs game at 17/13
Over 3.5 goals in the Man Utd game at 13/11
India at 6/5 (cricket)
Vettel for Pole Position at 7/4

The bet of the day is Roma at 1/3, put 10 times your standard on it.

Magic3

Put your standard on the following today:
Inter to win at evens (in 90 mins)
Bayern to win at 8/15

The bet of the day is Mahut at 2/5, put 10 times your standard on it.

Fighting Talk 21/08/10

Who looks like a canny bit of business?

There are plenty of good value transfers flying around this summer, Cole to Liverpool, Gallas to Spurs, Bellamy to Cardiff and Chamakh to Arsenal. But the signing that has edged it for me is Javier Hernandez to Manchester United. From what we’ve seen and that isn’t a whole lot. He is composed, quick, and very active during the whole game. He is built for the Premiership and he’ll thrive under Sir Alex.

Who is the greatest ever Herefordian?

I haven’t a clue. After a bit of google, Terry Jenkins.

Who are sport’s bad apples?

Andrew Symonds, Joey Barton, even Michael Schumacher. But for me the baddest of the bad has to be Mike Tyson. He was convicted of rape and he bit someone’s ear off. He’s not the baddest man on the planet, he’s the baddest apple on the planet.

Behind Andy Murray, who has the second most boring voice in sport?

Mark Lawrenson. My message to Andy Murray is don’t become a commentator.

What is your sporting legacy?

A winning try against our rival school, possibly. But the most memorable moment was during an U-11 cricket tournament. We had made it through the county qualifiers and had somehow got to the regional qualifiers. We were certainly going to be demolished but it rained the whole day, so it came to a mega bowl out. The three teams lined up in adjacent nets and each member of the team got 2 balls each. It was 6 a-side and after the first round it was 2 hits each, I had hit the stumps for our team. It came to the final round, and it was still 2 hits each, and I was going last for my team. I had a funny action, the ball would loop metres in the air and just drop down on a length. So I bowled, the ball hit the top of the net but was riding along it, and the ball dropped right at the base of the stumps. It counted, we qualified for the nationals where we promptly finished last.

What would be the hardest sport to play blind?

F1 would be the most dangerous, but I would say squash.

What are the other instances where sportsmen are punching below their weight?

Right now and for the last 3-4 years it has been Mark Ramprakash, he has been far too good for county bowling line ups and has been putting on some Bradman style performances.

Who currently holds the title of the biggest muppet in sport?

Sepp Blatter, no argument.

Keeping it Clean

We are going to back all the teams who managed to win at home with a clean sheet in the 1st leg of the Europa League ties.

Put your standard on the following today:
PSG to qualify at 1/12
Feyenoord to qualify at 4/9
Debrecen to qualify at 2/9
Aris to qualify at 11/17
Napoli to qualify at 1/5
Steaua Bucharest to qualify at 5/11
Celtic to qualify at 1/5
Getafe to qualify at 3/10
Sibir Novosibirsk at qualify at 23/10
PAOK to qualify at 11/10
Birmingham to qualify at 1/5

Put 5 times your standard on England to win the final Test Match at 18/19.

The bet of the day is Liverpool to qualify at 1/4, put 10 times your standard on it.

The Green Stuff

Put your standard on the following today:
Copenhagen to qualify at 11/10
An accumulator for Ajax, Zenit, Zilina, Everton, Newcastle and Fulham all to qualify at 2.484/1
Baghdatis at 2/9
Mahut at 2/5

The bet of the day is Spurs to qualify at 3/10, put 10 times your standard on it. They are back at home and on some proper grass this time.

Cycle 3, Day 4 Summary

At the end of Day 4 of the 3rd Cycle, we have profit for the cycle of £261.92.

This brings total profit over all cycles to £1064.64.

Premiership Team of the Week 2

GK: Jussi Jaaskelainen
DL: Ashley Cole
DC: Marek Cech
DC: Kolo Toure
DR: Bacary Sagna
ML: Gareth Bale
MR: Theo Walcott
MC: Abou Diaby
MC: Kevin Nolan
ST: Andy Carroll
ST: Didier Drogba

Coach: Roberto Mancini

KO Football

There's a lot of it today.

Put your standard on the following today:
Braga to qualify at 3/10
Basel to qualify at 7/5
Bremen to qualify at 5/18
Hapoel to qualify at 1/10
Anderlecht to qualify at 2/9
Over 1.5 goals in the Sevilla game at 2/7
Hartlepool to qualify at 6/4
Leyton Orient to qualify at 2/1
Mk Dons to qualify at 6/5
Southampton to qualify at 6/5

The bet of the day is Baghdatis at 4/11, put 10 times your standard on it.

You know the deal

First Round of a tennis tournament, let's back the outsider.

Put your standard on the following today:
Chiudinelli at 6/4
Kubot at evens
Hajek at 11/8
Luczak at 2/1
Clement at 11/8
Gonzalez at 11/5
Cuevas at 15/8
Nieminen at evens
Beck at 7/5
Gruel at 8/5
Serra at 6/4
Riba at 5/2
Schwank at 47/23
Liverpool to keep a clean sheet at 5/2

The bet of the day is Shamrock at 2/5, put 10 times your standard on it.

A Grand Century

Today I am posting my 100th post and it is quite fitting that we went over the £1000 profit mark yesterday too.

Put your standard on the following today:
Newcastle-Villa Draw at 12/5
Fulham to win at 11/2
Rangers to win at 4/5
Federer at 2/7
Azarenka at 8/15
India at evens(cricket)

The bet of the day is Celtic to win at 1/5, put 10 times your standard on it.

99 posts

Put your standard on the following today:
Arsenal at 2/11
Birmingham at 13/10
Wolves at 7/1
Stoke-Spurs Draw at 12/5
West Brom-Sunderland Draw at 23/10
West Ham-Bolton Draw at 12/5
Wigan at 14/1
Over 3.5 goals in the Arsenal game at 19/17
Over 1.5 goals in the Wigan game at 3/13

The bet of the day is Ajax at 1/5, put 10 times your standard on it.

End of Cycle 2 Summary

We have come to the end of cycle 2 and we have come back with £47.65 profit.

This gives total profit of £802.72

Cycle 1: +£765.07
Cycle 2: +£37.65

We are still waiting for results from the England-Pakistan Test as well as the Tri-Nations and the Robinho transfer but this will go under the next cycle.

Cycle End

This is the final day of cycle 2, so we want to finish strong.

Put your standard on the following:
Murray at 8/13
Djokovic at 1/2
Nadal at 5/18
Bartoli at 9/4

The bet of the day is Federer at 3/10, put 10 times your standard on it as always.

Fighting Talk 14/08/2010

I'm not sure this will be a weekly occurence but I thought I'd try it out for a few weeks.

It’s been 1847 hours and 8 minutes since we last sat around this FT table to debate the latest sporting talking points. So what’s been the best minute/minutes of sports we’ve missed the chance to fight over?

Plain and simple it is goal line technology, one the great football debates that divide football opinion between a few old men at FIFA and the rest of the world. It was over the line! I am not bitter.

If it was there to win over the summer, Spain won it. So I want to know the second greatest sporting nation right now.

Where were Spain during the Winter Olympics? Alonso needed a Brazilian to move aside in the F1, they hosted the European Athletics Championships and finished a poor 6th. Let’s talk about Australia, World Snooker Champion Neil Robertson. World Hockey Champions. One Day Cricket World Number 1’s. Mark Webber leading the F1 Championship. Simon Whitlock Darts World Championship runner-up, Australia runners-up of the T20 World Cup, Sam Stosur French Open runner-up and as Mark Webber himself said, “Not bad for a number 2...”

Who now takes Beckham’s place as England’s number 1 international treasure?

We’re looking at the MVP of English Sport, and that has to be the entire English cricket team. They are some way off the top of the rankings but they are heading that way. Forget the fact that half of them are South African.

Who will be in a better position in 5 years time, Martin O’Neill or Aston Villa? (One-Liner)

Martin O’Neill, he’s guaranteed to get another job and retire rich, Aston Villa are not guaranteed success.

Which event of your own sporting life have you wanted to boo yourself?

For about 2 years from the ages of 9-11, I had this urge just to handball everything in the playground. I don’t know why. I would have bullied myself.

The Premier League starts today, but what state is it in?

It is still the best league in the world. La Liga has pulled it back last year, and probably a touch more this year in terms of the best teams, but no real depth. You could argue there is a big two in England now but I won’t go that far yet, we can call it a big two if nobody else wins it in the next 2 seasons. The depth is what really impresses me, up to a point. Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Man City, Everton, Aston Villa and now Fulham have some sort of European pedigree. On the other side there are a lot of just rubbish sounding teams. Bolton, Stoke, West Brom, Blackpool, Wolves, Wigan, Birmingham. Not to say that all those teams are rubbish, they just don’t have that glamour. I think opinion is heading towards Chelsea, but I am not so sure. Arsenal for me.

Who’s the Naomi Campbell of sport?

Successful, mouthy, tall, likes a bit of a scrap, David Haye.

Who would we expect to turn into a cue ball (bald) in the next 6 months?

It has to be Glen Johnson, it is just a matter of time before he shaves that head.

A line to Sir Alex after his welcoming back of the BBC...

How’s Jason?

Those nights in Europe

Put your standard on the following today:
Leverkusen to keep a clean sheet at 8/11
Dortmund to keep a clean sheet at 4/7
Murray/Nadal/Federer/Djokovic to all win at 1.558/1
Azarenka at 8/15

The bet of the day is Liverpool to win at 2/7, put 10 times your standard on it.

Put 5 times your standard on Robinho to join Besiktas at 2/1.

2 Deals, 2 Winners, 2 Losers

Man City have been involved in two deals over the past 24 hours. Bellamy to Cardiff, and Milner to Man City.

Bellamy has gone to Cardiff on loan for 6-months, with Man City paying a very large part of his wage.

I have no idea why any of the other 19 premiership clubs weren't busting a gut to buy this player. OK, maybe Chelsea and Man Utd wouldn't need him, but the other 17 clubs certainly could use him. Possible reasons are money, Man City wouldn't have offered anywhere near the same deal to a Premiership club. But the right offer comes in and he could have moved anywhere. Bellamy and Torres? Bellamy and Defoe? Bellamy and C Cole? Bellamy and Agbonlahor? Bellamy and Saha? Bellamy and anyone? I think Wenger would have thought seriously about it if it wasn't for Bellamy's age and history of bad behaviour.

His bad behaviour is not that malicious, he's just a speaks his mind character. Cardiff are no doubt the big winners in this deal, and Man City are the losers. Bellamy is probably neither, he's out of the big time but seems genuinely happy with being back in Wales. Cardiff can push for promotion with the other players they have brought in. Man City have lost their second best player from last season (Tevez was number 1) and are still paying most of his wages.

On to the Milner deal. Milner is a loser in this deal, he is a great professional so if that counts for anything in Mancini's mind then he'll get plenty of games, but he could have reached a road block in his development. If he is truly world class then this move could just about work for him.

When Barry went to Man City, Dunne went the other way and there was only one winner in that competition last year. Dunne was magnificent. Now Ireland, Man City's player of the year 2009, has gone the other way and it is a very similar feel. Milner is about 6 months older than Ireland so no real difference there. The money isn't a confusing factor for me. Yes Man City have paid about 10 million too much for Milner but they don't care. As long as they aren't paying 200-300% the price they aren't bothered, the money they have is ridiculous.

Ireland will play a major role for Villa, who's first team looks as strong as any of other big teams. I understand the money Man City have paid, they can afford almost anything, but I don't understand the players they have brought in. I don't know which players they have genuinely approached and what the response was, but either they have very poor scouting or they just can't attract the major talent. For me, and this is personal, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Kolarov are average 6-7 out of 10 players. Balotelli has potential and that is fine, and Milner has Premiership experience so that is fine in isolation. I am undecided on Boateng, he seems to be as good as De Jong and Kompany in his talent and versatility.

Just to make it clear, Man City have lost Bellamy and Ireland, two of their best players in the last 2 years, they've paid out money for it too. Aston Villa have lost their most influential player and also lost their coach, but have brought in another influential player. Cardiff are in dream land. Milner is happy for now, Bellamy is too. I've not heard from Ireland, but he's got the payout he wanted and he'll be playing football on a weekly basis, so I assume he's not unhappy.

Go hard, or go home...

And if you go hard, also go home...Back the 5 home teams tonight with one standard each:
Basel at 2/5
Braga at 21/10
Partizan at 7/4
Salzburg at 13/15
Bremen at 4/5

Put 10 times your standard on the bet of the day a 4-fold accumulator on Djokovic, Nadal, Murray and Federer at 0.534/1.

Put your standard on the following:
Benneteau at 2/1
Berrer at 15/8
Ferrer at 11/10
Falla at 2/1
Melzer at 11/10
Verdasco at 5/4
Isner at 13/8
Ginepri at 9/4
de Bakker at 3/1
Hewitt at 2/1
Azarenka at 2/7
Bartoli at 1/7
Yousuf to be Pakistan's Top Batsman at 11/2
Cook to be England's Top Batsman at 25/1
Ireland to beat Holland in the cricket at 2/7

Also put 5 times your standard on England to win the third test at 8/13

Premiership Team of the Week

GK: Joe Hart
DL: Patrice Evra
DC: Martin Skrtel
DC: Phil Jones
DR: Alex Baptiste
ML: Gareth Bale
MR: Ashley Young
MC: Paul Scholes
MC: Darren Fletcher
ST: Didier Drogba
ST: Marlon Harewood

Coach: Ian Holloway

A Gift From Russia

We'll start with the bet of the day, Zenit are 5/6 for the win at EurosportBET, and Auxerre are 7/5 not to lose at extrabet. Put 43.2:33 on Zenit:Auxerre to win 3 standards.

As for the rest, put your standard on the following today:

Spurs not to lose at 1/6
Falla at 3/1
Istomin at 11/10
Zeballos at 97/29
Mayer at 30/29
Gasquet at 13/8
Benneteau at evens
Simon at 7/4
Bellucci at 13/8
Young at 4/1
Mathieu at 4/1
Yen Hsun Lu at 11/8
Kubot at 5/1
Ljubicic at 35/11

2/17 < 1/4

Put your standard on the following today:
Man Utd at 1/4
Hanescu at evens
Almagro at 6/4
Dent at 11/10
Juan Monaco at 2/1
Stepanek at 7/4
Berrer at 28/17
Dolgopolov at 21/10
Petzschner at 28/11
Giraldo at 15/8
Bellucci at evens
Stakhovsky at 7/2

There were only 2 games from 19 at OT in the league last year that had less than 2 goals so this relates to odds of 2/17. The bet of the day is over 1.5 goals in the Man Utd-Newcastle game at 1/4, put 10 times your standard on it. Great Value.

Sunday Shorts

Put your standard on the following today:
Liverpool at 6/4
Murray at 11/10

The bet of the day is Lyon not to lose at 1/5, put 10 times your standard on it.

What do the World Cup, Inception and Sunshine all have in common?

They all suck compared to the Premier League.

Put your standard on the following today:
Spurs at 11/8
Villa at 20/19
Blackburn at 17/8
Bolton-Fulham to draw at 12/5
Sunderland at 13/10
Wigan at 5/6
Wolves-Stoke to draw at 23/10
Chelsea at 2/11
Over 3.5 goals in the Chelsea game at 7/5
Over 2.5 goals in the Wigan game at 11/10
Essex to win the T20 Cup at 10/3

The bet of the day is Chad Dawson to win at 3/10, put 10 times your standard on it.

Premiership Eve

Get your pyjamas on and be in bed by 10, because tomorrow the premiership starts.

As for today:
Put your standard on Murray at 10/9
Put 2 times your standard on Federer at 9/20
Put 3 times your standard on Djokovic at 3/10
Put 4 times your standard on Nadal at 1/12
Put 5 times your standard on Tamgho to win the triple jump tonight at evens
Put 6 times your standard on Tyson Gay to win tonight at 1/6

The bet of the day is Clijsters at 4/11, put 10 times your standard on it.

Golf? Why Not?

I don't know a whole lot about golf but put your standard on the following:
Mickelson to finish in the top 10 at 7/4
Woods to finish in the top 10 at 15/8
Rory McIlroy to finish in the top 10 at 5/2
Casey to finish in the top 10 at 9/2
Rose to finish in the top 10 at 5/1

Back the "big 4" of tennis too with 2 times your standard:
Federer at 1/8
Nadal at 1/9
Murray at 1/4
Djokovic at 1/5

The bet of the day is Na Li at 8/13, put 10 times your standard on it.

Point to Prove

We have a massive collection of international friendlies today which I do no understand with the premier league season just days away. I am not a fan of betting on international friendlies, but with these set of friendlies coming so soon after the world cup I believe they have some weight of importance as new coaches, and continuing coaches will want to show intent.

Put your standard on the following today:
Wales at 2/7
Ireland not to lose at evens
England at 1/3
France not to lose at 4/7
Belgium not to lose at 8/13
Malisse at 41/10
Fognini at 97/29
Dolgopolov at 10/3
Polansky at 11/8
Llodra at 6/4
Robredo at 3/1
Benneteau at 6/1
Chardy at 9/4
De Bakker at 13/8
Anderson at 19/10

The bet of the day is Rafa Nadal to win at 1/9, put 10 times your standard on it.

Away we go

Today is actually an underrated day in the football calender. The first round of the Carling cup is often exciting with a guaranteed winner at the end.

Put your standard on all the away championship teams:
Watford to qualify at 8/15
Forest to qualify at 2/5
Derby to qualify at 4/7
Boro to qualify at 8/15
Ipswich to qualify at 7/10
Coventry to qualify at 8/13
Bristol Rovers to qualify at evens
Bristol City to qualify at 8/15
Preston to qualify at 8/15
Palace to qualify at 8/11
Millwall to qualify at 8/13

Put your standard on the following too:
Berdych at 1/5
Cilic at 1/4
Baghdatis at 4/7
Soderling at 2/5
India to beat New Zealand at 4/6

The bet of the day is Leeds to qualify at 1/7, put 10 times your standard on it.

Cycle 2, Day 17 Summary

The past week has been a mixed bag, with high percentage of wins but we've been hit on the bigger bets which have not come off.

We have £37.78 profit in Cycle 2, with £802.85 profit overall.

Back to the proper tennis

The big guns are back at ATP Toronto and we're backing the bull Rafa Nadal to win at 5/2, put 5 times your standard on it. Put another 5 on Clijsters to win at WTA Cincinnati at 4/1.

We'll back the outsiders in round 1 so, put your standard on the following today:
Chela at 13/8
Raonic at 5/4
Stakhovsky at 12/5
Youzhny at evens
Dolgopolov at 11/10
De Bakker at 25/19
Bellucci at 15/13
Polansky at 29/5

The bet of the day is Querrey at 2/9, put 10 times your standard on it.

Shields Are Decorative

I don't know who keeps making shields, but the two best teams in England are going to be playing for one today. The bet of the day is over 1.5 goals at a decent 3/7. Put 10 times your standard on it as always.

Go over 1.5 goals in the Cardiff game too at 17/49 with one standard.

Put your standard on Wozniacki at 2/9.

And finally put 5 times your standard on the England-Pakistan Test Match finishing today at 1/2.

The new Mayweather

We'll start with the bet of the day, which is the All Blacks to win at 1/6, put 10 times your standard on it.

Put your standard on the following:
Back the over 1.5 goals in all the championship games, the odds are:
Bristol at 3/8
Burnley at 7/18
Coventry at 4/9
Palace at 4/9
Hull at 2/5
Boro at 3/8
Preston at 4/11
QPR at 10/29
Reading at 11/40
Leeds at 3/8

Put 5 times your standard on Devon Alexander to win at 1/8. He is the man that Floyd himself picked out as his successor.
Put 5 times your standard on Cloud to win at 4/9.

Season Bets (Predictions)

Put your standard on the following:

Premiership Winners - Arsenal at 7/1
Serie A Winners - Roma at 49/10
La Liga Winners - Real Madrid at 6/5
Premiership Top scorer - Robin Van Persie at 12/1
La Liga Top scorer - Ronaldo at 13/2
Bundesliga Top scorer - Robben at 19/1
Bolton to finish in top 10 at 5/1
Samir Nasri to win Player of the year at 50/1
English club to win Champions League at 2/1


Put 5 times your standard on the following:
Newcastle to stay up at 1/4
Arsenal to finish in top 4 at 4/6
N'gog to score more goals than Heskey in the league at 8/15

Money in the bank:

Sheff Utd vs Leeds in the Championship (final position):

Sheff Utd at evens at Boylesports
Leeds at 5/4 at Victor Chandler

Put 40 times your standard on Leeds and 45 on Sheff Utd for a guaranteed 5 standards.

The ratio is 8:9 on Leeds:Sheff Utd per standard you want to win, pile on as much as you can.

Just call it a hunch

Put 5 times your standard on the draw in the 2nd test between England vs Pakistan at 7/2. We will lose time in this test match and if Pakistan can get their batting right in just one innings then this will head for a draw.

The bet of the day is Verdasco to beat Baghdatis at 4/6, put 10 times your standard on it.

That's all for today, I'll be back later for some season long bets.

Make it interesting

The Europa League is boring, let alone the qualifiers, so let's make it interesting.

Put your standard on the following today:

Over 3.5 goals in the Bangor-Maritmo game at 7/5
Over 3.5 goals in the Zrinski-OB game at 18/11
Over 3.5 goals in the Liverpool-Robotnicki game at 6/5
Over 3.5 goals in the Juventus-Shamrock game at 16/11
Karpaty to qualify at 1/5
Dnepr Mogilev to qualify at 6/4
Cercle Brugges to qualify at 20/21
Utrecht to qualify at 4/11
Maccaba Heifa to qualify at 10/29
Sibir Novosibirsk to qualify at 8/13
APOEL to qualify at 1/2
Galatasaray to qualify at 3/5

The bet of the day is Mahut to beat Marrero at 1/4, put 10 times your standard on it.

Ouch

Yesterday we suffered our biggest loss so far. These are sunk costs and we can't suffer from them too much.

Put your standard on the following today:
Querrey at 1/2
Hewitt at 2/5
Na Li at 2/7

Put your standard on an accumulator on over 1.5 goals in the Gent, Helsinki and Celtic games at 1.333/1

Put 5 times your standard on Ajax to qualify at 4/7.

The bet of the day is Sparta Prague to qualify at 3/10.

Premiership goals per game

The season is around the corner and I decided to take a look at the goals per game in the last 5 seasons.

0 Goals - 8.737%
1 Goal - 19.053%
2 Goals - 24.737%
3 Goals - 21.421%
4 Goals - 14.632%
5 Goals - 6.790%
6 Goals - 2.684%
7 Goals - 1.000%
8 Goals - 0.684%
9 Goals - 0.105%
10 Goals - 0.105%
11 Goals - 0.053%

What should we read into this?

Well it ought to help us with Over/Under bets, and for an example we will use over/under 2.5 goals:

Sum 0, 1, and 2 goals to 52.526%, let's call it x, and then do the formula (1/x) -1 to get the desired odds for the under 2.5. Do 1 over this figure for the over.

So we get:

Under 0.5 - 10.446/1
Over 0.5 - 0.096/1

Under 1.5 - 2.598/1
Over 1.5 - 0.385/1

Under 2.5 - 0.904/1
Over 2.5 - 1.106/1

Under 3.5 - 0.352/1
Over 3.5 - 2.838/1

Under 4.5 - 0.129/1
Over 4.5 - 7.756/1

Under 5.5 - 0.049/1
Over 5.5 - 20.591/1

Beyond this we start seeing sharp rises, but these are the minimum odds you should accept based on the last 1900 premier league games (5 seasons). Obviously each club is unique and the odds aren't uniform throughout the league, but if you can achieve average odds that better these then you should take them on value.

Surprise, Surprise

We made a solid profit on our tactic yesterday so we'll continue in the next round, back the outsiders with your standard:

Benneteau at evens
Chiudinelli at evens
Troicki at 12/5
Clement at 23/10
Vliegen at 9/4
Istomin at 11/4
Berrer at 18/5
Yen-Hsun Lu at 15/11
Sweeting at 13/10
Zemlja at 7/1
Thiemo De Bakker at 2/1
Kunitsyn at 28/17

Also put your standard on the following today:

Anderlecht at 1/10
Rapid Vienna at 1/4

The bet of the day is backing over 1.5 goals in the Benfica-Spurs game at 2/9, put 10 times your standard on it.

Surprise

We're going to back all the outsiders in the first round of ATP Washington, put your standard on the following:

Kunitsyn at 6/4
Mayer at 7/6
Beck at 13/9
Zemlja at 5/2
Marchenko at 32/21
Kevin Kim at 18/5
Sweeting at 9/4
Lacko at 15/11
Tursunov at 11/10
Ram at 9/2

The bet of the day today is Roddick to reach the Semis at 4/7, put 10 times your standard on it.

Cycle 2, Day 9 Summary

We have a slight improvement now but still can't break the grand.

We have £163.42 profit in cycle 2, which gives up £928.49 profit overall.

I'll be back later for today's tips.

Goals on Sunday

Put your standard on the following:
Almagro at 7/10
Ferrero at 4/9
Britain to win the 4x400m men's relay at 5/4
Chris Tomlinson to win a medal at 2/1
Lisa Dobrinskey to win a medal at 2/5
Vlasic to win the high jump at 8/15

Put 5 times your standard on Hamilton to finish in the top 6 at 4/11
Put 5 times your standard on Button to finish in the top 10 at 1/3

The bet of the day is over 1.5 goals in the Arsenal-Celtic game at 1/4, put 10 times your standard on it.