Looking back on 2008

First of all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone, will have a look back over the last 12 months betting at the end of this but until then lets concentrate on the last week.
Firstly the news I heard today that the bloke who once nabbed my £350 winnings at Wolverhampton racecourse in 1999 is now starting a seven year stretch for fraud having done a runner with £16m worth of college funding. Don't want to go into great detail but you can find the bones of it on the Betdaq forum, he apparently had an account with the oncourse bookie in question and must have somehow persuaded them it was his bet rather than mine. When the tape recording was replayed in front of the ring inspector the bogus punter wouldnt admit that it was my voice rather than his so a very unsavoury character, as indeed was the bookies ledger man who destroyed my ticket in a fit of panic probably.
Anyway on to the current betting and I forgot to mention last week that Europe landed my Mosconi Cup bet with a very comfortable 11-5 success over the USA in Malta the week before last, the result was never really in serious doubt and there does seem to be a changing of the guard in international pool just lately with the Americans looking like they need to oust a few of the old guard. Certainly bad boy Earl Strickland was very muted both on and unusually for him off the table too.
In the UK snooker I had a good run from two of my outright bets who reached the semi finals but despite being favoured by the bookies in their respective matches, both Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire bit the dust and Shaun Murphy eventually lifted the trophy after winning a deciding frame shootout with Marco Fu in a scrappy final.
Made a decent profit over the whole event though with a more selective approach and the next event on the baize will be Matchroom's Championship League in the first week of January which acts as a qualifying tournament for the Premier League proper next season.
On the greyhound front my ante post picks fared less well than the on the day race bets. Hello Hippy could only finish third in the Ted Hegarty Marathon final at Harolds Cross in Ireland where the brilliant Flying Winner gained all the plaudits with a record breaking romp. Hippy's chance was totally ruined by a terrible bump early in the race though that knocked him from third back to last place and he did well to at one stage regain second before tiring on the run in. Would have been a much better spectacle had he avoided any crowding but its all part of the sport.
In Britain Boherduff Monti was also baulked in the final of the Nottingham Sprint Cup, finishing fourth behind old stager Horseshoe Ping in a bunched finish so no luck there either.
However did pick up some winners over the week at varied prices of 1/5, 4/6, 8/11, 8/5 and 4/7 so mainly shortish ones but kept me in front overall (obviously some of them were SP so were unknown at the time of the bet, one problem with the dogs when compared with the horses).
Had a winner and a loser on the ice hockey but will probably concentrate mainly on the more successful teams I have backed in the outrights as and when I fancy them in a bid to erode my current deficit in the NHL betting markets though will again be pretty selective.
Since the central defenders got injured at Derby County Football Club, I have aborted my laying of the opposition on our travels after just one reversal which is just as well looking at the results since then. Have got tickets for our trip to non league Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup third round tie which should be interesting closely followed as it is by the two-legged League Cup semi final with Manchester United for which I shall also be attending for both matches.
Will also maybe have a dabble on Japan's high profile Arima Kinen Grade 1 horse race at the weekend at Nakayama with course specialist Matsuridah Gogh trying to win it for the second year in succession up against last years runner up Daiwa Scarlet and Japan Cup winner Screen Hero, whose sire won this weekends event twice in the past too not to mention the consistent Meisho Samson also in opposition. None of these have fared fantastically well in the draw for stall positions though.
Looking back over the year, a satisfactory one from a betting standpoint. Highlight from a monetary aspect were the 125/1 and 100/1 bets landed on Ricky Walden for snooker's Shanghai Trophy event but for pure adrenalin rush Shelbourne Aston's 40/1+ success in the Irish Greyhound Derby has to come tops with a spectacular last to first rush. Also enjoyed Viewed's Melbourne Cup success at 33/1 though that was a smaller stake and didnt get top price either as the horse surprisingly drifted on the day in his home country.
Had a good year on the gaelic football betting including Tyrone's final win as underdogs against Kerry as well as backing Tipperary for their Hurling League success at decent odds.
The aussie rules, rugby league, cricket and ice hockey didnt go quite so well but have kept records which might highlight where I've gone wrong on those if and when I want to continue with them, am operating a watered down service currently on the NHL lol!
Hoping to recapture my glory on the horse racing markets in 2009 after a bit of a hiatus, the loss of Superform is a bit of a blow to me as it was a great publication in my eyes so have been looking around at some of the online alternatives, though will still keep the formbook annuals on hand too.
Which brings me on to the saddest aspect of the betting year, Betfair succumbing to greed and introducing the premium charge in September which was surely never designed to threaten the winnings of ordinary formbook punters. Can understand them wanting some kind of cut from traders who arent taking an opinion or hooverers after an event has finished but imo there should be no realistic chance of an ordinary bettor falling foul of these charges which doesnt seem to be the case at present.
However the firm dress it up this is tantamount to stealing in the latter case, I was winning money from bookies long before betfair and as I've said before all I want is a basic exchange without too much gimmickry (the latter of which often causes costs to be passed on the poor old punter himself).
I still reckon myself that with the holy grail now seeming to lie in-running for many punters, it is to an extent this type of betting that has caused the company to react in this way, and as I have only ever had a handful of these kind of bets in my life dont see why I should be subject to the new charges. Anyhow, we all have our own slant on how we are affected but at the end of the day betfair arent prepared to make any changes in the short term which left no realistic alternative for punters like myself than to move to a rival and have been mostly happy so far on the Daq, long may it continue!!
Anyway back to those mince pies
All the best for now
Rick

Back on form for the time being

Feeling a lot happier this week after a better run of results on the betting so its always a bit more pleasureable compiling the blog matter in those circumstances. Have been a bit more selective on the snooker betting which has meant fewer bets but higher stakes and it seems to have come off this time around so far anyway.
Thats not without a few of the early handicap bets going astray though which was probably a knee jerk reaction after having a bad run on the UK qualifying matches, i.e. some of the bets were probably struck without a proper thinking through in a fit of pique in a typically half-hearted attempt to try and claw back some of the recent losses instead of looking at the overall picture.
My main bet was on Ali Carter to beat Peter Ebdon at 8/11 which were unbelieveable odds for me, Peter's form has been pretty woeful this year and he has won very few matches and here he was up against one of the bright new stars of the game, surely "The Captain" had to be shorter than that over a best of seventeen, more like a 4/9 shot for me.
Carter is also flying the flag in the outright market as I speak, leading Marco Fu 5-3 in the first semi final, as I said at the start of the event I somehow had an inkling this might be his tournament and the way he got past Mark Williams in the quarters (the Welshman suffering a decisive kick in the final frame) seemed to back that up. Nevertheless, you can never write Fu off and he stole the last frame of the first session from well behind on the final black, saving him from going four frames adrift which would have been a long haul to get back from.
Slightly kicking myself now that I didnt choose the higher stakes option when backing him each way at 33s, almost doubled the amount I was having on but dont usually like to increase stakes due to hunches so stuck with the normal amount, would still be a decent draw though.
Stephen Maguire was another I backed at 9s although didnt check the exchanges rather sillily where much bigger prices were available apparently but I had already had enough on by the time I found this out, especially in view of his sketchy recent form.
There are a few players not quite taking the bull by the horns though, neither Mags nor Higgins had been at their best in recent outings and was surprised to see the younger Scot touching 2.16 pre commission on Betdaq so had to have a bit of that. Was still making him 4/5 favourite myself as for me Higgins had been mainly winning due to iffy performances from his opponents (OK Ding made a maximum but has been found wanting tactically in the last year or so, and thats one area where Higgins tends to excel).
Not saying Maguire was any better in beating Burnett (in controversial circumstances) and Robertson (in a scrappy encounter) but you had the feeling the odds would have been the other way around just a few months ago.
My other outright pick Judd Trump exited quietly in the first round to Mark King on the final frame but did seem to have a couple of decent chances to take it and he admitted afterwards he was quite disappointed with his performance, he has had a good run of late though and you can't win them all I suppose.
On the local snooker front, our team were put in our place by the current league champions on their own patch, as I suspected they gained their revenge for the shock beating we gave them in the cup, fielding a much stronger team and winning 4-1 though I did manage to salvage personal pride by winning my frame on the black in a Higgins-esque tactical battle (i.e. not a great one for the spectators to watch, which were of Prestatyn-like proportions anyway!!)
On the greyhound front, my faith in the Tote system was restored when Coventry St Leger winner Swift Ninja was returned 4/11 as opposed to 1/6 with the books at Sheffield on Saturday night and registered a runaway success and later in the week the Leger form was franked again when I was on Barnfield Brooke to win at 9/4 on the live Sky meeting at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Unfortunately my Oaks ante post bet Droopys Quinta could only manage third from a poor draw (seemed to track wide from an inside pitch) with success going to longshot Meenala Amy who made all from the unlucky runner up Ravello Drive.
Saddest sight was at Galway on the Golden Jacket final night though when the usually strong finishing Oakleaf Tom went badly lame in one of the consolation races when carrying my money, not heard the prognosis but didnt look good at all as his leg gave way underneath him on the final bend.
Also returned victoriously to the ice hockey betting in the NHL with a successful double in the week plus the unfashionable Boston Bruins are looking real Stanley Cup contenders this year as they continue to hold sway in the Eastern Conference with matches in hand to boot so the 33/1 each way voucher about a month into the season looks money well spent.
My other picks Philadelphia Flyers have gradually improved into fourth spot after a poor start and Calgary Flames likewise in the Western Conference, now up to third. Perhaps its best not to mention Dallas Stars, but they finally hauled themselves off the bottom with two victories in a row this week and aren't totally out with the washing yet (the top eight from each section go through to contest the end of season play offs).
Away from the punting, just been down to London for a couple of days, the main reason to see the extravaganza that was "the Here and Now Christmas Party" though have to say was a bit disappointed with how things transpired. The day before I set off I got an email through saying the first band would go on stage at 11pm and the show would end at 2am, so that was my main reason for booking a hotel firstly. Also I'm a bit old for hanging around in a disco environment nowadays so decided to time my arrival just before the bands took centre stage at around 10.30pm, there were supposed to be DJs spinning 80s music the rest of the night.
However firstly the Docklands Light Railway was encountering a delay which meant I didnt get there until 10.45pm to see that Belinda Carlisle was already into her set and Curiosity Killed The Cat had already finished their slot (which I'm not sure was a good or bad thing in retrospect, only joking if anyone is a big fan!).
Would have been very angry if I had missed either Belinda or The Kid, but even though I was lucky in that respect, surely the performers should have been given more stage time as opposed to the DJs. With doors opening at 8pm and closing at 2am, no reason at all why they couldnt all have done full sets of an hour or an hour and a half as per the norm.
As it was Belinda did around five or six songs and Kid Creole a measly three, which is understandable at the multi-artist events that are the norm for this type of show, but surely not when it was such a truncated line up as this.
In fact all three acts had come and gone within an hour and a half and the info was totally incorrect about what time they were going to appear to boot. Fair enough, the changeover time between acts was very swift with a house band playing for all three, but that also meant one of the most charismatic performers Bongo Eddie was missing for what must be the first time I can ever remember from a live Kid Creole show.
Hope he is well anyhow, perhaps he thought it wasnt worth his while for just three numbers. Suppose the scantily clad Coconuts were some compensation though and both the Kid and Belinda were on fine form, what little we saw of them (the show was actually done and dusted by 11.45pm and the DJs moved in for the rest of the night, at least it saved me a surplus taxi fare as the trains were still running).
The 02 looks very spectacular too in the night sky, glad it has been put to good use since the Millennium Dome became extinct, perhaps would make a good snooker venue someday if the crowds ever come back!!
Made myself look a complete numpty at the hotel however as I forgot all my PIN numbers when paying for the stay with my credit card, this after forgetting which room I was in on my return from the show, had narrowed it down to three (which is better than I can usually manage on the betting front) but didnt really want to end up in the wrong bed or else funny things might have happened!!
Was pretty impressed with the hotel I must say, had hundreds and hundreds of rooms, its own in house television channel which even had the option for adult films if you should wish.
I found out these were optional extras on your bill though when my finger accidentally slipped down on to the select button on the remote control, must have been my hands perspiring from all that dancing, would much rather see the highlights of Maguire v Higgins anyway!!
Footnote: Glad I didnt increase my Carter stake now lol!!

Big priced fancy loses out in photo in Japan

Currently feeling rather unenthusiastic about the blog, not sure if its the time of year but am posting alot on the Betdaq forum anyhow so you tend to be repeating alot of the stuff.
Looking back over the week, Ballymac Ruso won the Cotswold 480 greyhound final at Monmore though with a non runner the 11/4 morning price I took was depleted somewhat.
Elsewhere Midway Skipper could only manage third in the Coventry St Leger having checked up at the final bend, as I half expected on the day Swift Ninja came out and made all although there was a valiant effort from the previous years winner Barnfield Brooke who only lost out in a photo after a strong late surge.
In the Nottingham National Sprint, Boherbradda Mac finished lame and out of the money unfortunately after meeting trouble again though Boherduff Monti did qualify for the semi final in second place to give my 11/2 voucher an extended run at least for the time being!
Droopys Quinta who I backed at around 12/1 for the Wimbledon Oaks ante post has made the final with an inside berth but with challengers for the early lead the new favourite is wide runner Dangerous Lady who might have an uncontested journey around the outside hence the change in prices.
The Golden Jacket event drew a blank at Galway however as all my charges went west in the semi finals though as only the final is televised (on Sunday) cant tell you any more than that.
And in tonight's Ted Hegarty Marathon at Harolds Cross I lost Navan Blue who finished a disappointing fourth in her semi final (though cant comment on the run as lost the pictures unfortunately) but Hello Hippy, taken at 10/1 ante post, was a convincing winner of her semi final.
Flying Winner is the one they all have to beat and recorded the fastest time for the second week running, though if Hippy can get out of the blocks and away from the other runners a bit quicker than he has been doing, still feel there is some improvement in him and doesn't have that much to make up on the clock from tonights times.
In last week's Japan Cup Dirt, after studying all the form I was frantically searching for somewhere to place a bet and eventually did so, and was oh so close to landing a big priced winner with Meisho Tokon who lost out by a head after coming with a strong late run only to be pipped by the rejuvenated Kane Hekili who was a previous winner of this very race coming back from injury after a single prep run. At least the each way part of the bet was landed at a tasty 13/2 even at a fifth of the odds!!
Need to be catching up with the domestic form pronto now, I know I keep saying it but really want to be in the swing of things for the New Year so will give the big Sha Tin meeting a miss as there is likely to be alot of diverse international form on show for that one, though usually like to side with the locals in many of these type of events.
My Mosconi Cup bet on Europe was a fair sized one for me at 6/5 and they currently lead 5-3 after the first two days. Tony Drago in his home country has made a few errors to hand the visitors a couple of their points, and although his potting was excellent in his singles match with Earl Strickland, he kept going in off from the break off which is usually costly at this level.
The USA do look to be cueing better than they were last year, so alot depends if Drago can conjure up some of last years brilliance again and also how rookie Mark Gray comes through the remainder of the match.
In the UK Championship snooker which starts tomorrow, I'm backing Ali Carter 33/1, Judd Trump 40/1 and Stephen Maguire 9/1 in the outrights, the first couple each way, but it seems no one is really showing day in day out consistency at the current moment in time. Suppose you could say Trump is on a great run but most of it has been at a slightly lower qualifying level.
Ronnie looks to have a good draw so should go close but the odds of 5/2 look rather tight overall so would rather look elsewhere even though it may well be folly to do so.
Have chanced my arm on a couple of accumulators and a few of the shorter priced favourites to beat the handicap so trying to put some fun back into the betting after a bit of a shaky patch where I havent really been deriving much enjoyment from it. Alot of those bets were on the qualifying matches and not sure I will persist with those after this year, for one I need more time for studying other sporting markets and with only a couple of books pricing up the percentage is often against you. The other way of looking at it is that there may be more chance of a rick or two, though I think that diminishes as the season goes on.
Suppose it might be a case of keeping my eye out for the odd bet but perhaps not going in on some of the more marginal plays which I could easily have gotten wrong.
Hopefully have pinpointed a couple of things that will get my match betting back on track anyhow as have probably had my worst year yet on that front, though landing the big Walden outright has compensated for that of course.
Before I go dont forget its 1% commission on all in running UK and Irish horse racing on the Daq!! (until the end of March at least)
Anyway onwards and upwards, looking forward to seeing my favourite band Kid Creole and The Coconuts not to mention another rare treat Belinda Carlisle in concert this week in London, but until then will have to get studying!!
Oh and we managed to win again at snooker 3-2 this time against another decent side so we continue to surprise at least for the time being, though we are up against last years champions on their own table this next week.
See you soon
Rick

Skipper through to another St Leger final

Had a bit of the dreaded lurgy this week so wasnt up to posting on Monday but thinking about it probably best to go weekly anyhow as you can get too much of one mans ramblings as an ongoing diet I tend to feel, hence will probably just do the Fridays from now on, next step to go monthly perhaps lol.
Starting off from where I can remember I got Oakleaf Tom into the semi finals of the Galway Golden Jacket greyhound event but lost the other two selections who both finished in fourth place with only the top three qualifying. Have since added Imaal Master to the portfolio at 16s and topped up a bit on Tom at the same price.
Midway Skipper also got through to the final of the Coventry St Leger with a last gasp success in her semi final last week but once again the time of Swift Ninja in another heat was slightly better so that one may take some stopping in this weekends conclusion, a fact not lost on the layers with Skipper still available at the original price prior to the first heat. Both got flying starts last week although Skipper ultimately came from off the pace but alot will depend on how they get away, at least my selection has her preferred rails draw.
In the Cotswold 480 at Monmore, my initial selection Dotlands Hit Man finished a disappointing fourth in his heat, fading tamely on perhaps the worst part of the track but Irish Derby finalist Ballymac Ruso can still be backed at 11/4 for the final and was quite impressed with the way this one came from off the pace to land one of the semi final heats so had to have a dabble there.
My punting assault on horse racing's Japan Cup was foiled by the 50/1 shot Screen Hero - I had narrowed the field down to five and they filled the next five spots in unison, though the ones I backed were actually fourth, fifth and sixth so close but no cigar as they say.
The UK Championship snooker betting has been rather up and down, once again starting off with most of the results going against me before pulling it back and then slipping slightly behind again, certainly some of the results have seemed a bit hard to fathom and on this occasion with the longer matches the best bets have seemed to be the pretty obvious ones at shortish odds which isnt always the case on the baize.
Might have a wander up for tonights session though still have a few sniffles so will see how I feel in an hour or so's time, looking for Mike Dunn (4/7) to come back against Joe Delaney from 5-3 down and also Marcus Campbell (5/6) to overcome Rob Milkins.
This afternoon have backed Jimmy White at 6/5 against Rory McLeod (currently 3-2 down) and Ricky Walden to beat Mark Davis at 2/5 (currently 3-2 up).
Managed to turn out for our own snooker team this week and it was worthwhile in the end with a 4-1 win against a team pretty much in the same boat as us in the league (around about the halfway mark) so that should nudge us up a bit, think my score was about 41-32 so you can tell from that it wasnt a classic and need to be scoring a bit heavier than I have been doing in the opening stages of this season.
Anyway might top up with another LemSip before I decide whether to venture out, all the best until next week
Rick

Trump to make Masters debut

Almost forgot about the blog lol, went to a works reunion to see the inhabitants of the old typesetting department of about 18 months ago, only about a quarter of them were there this time - they seem to have a do every couple of months - so its best to pick and choose rather than go to every one of them unless you want to become an alcoholic!!
It was good to see some old mates anyhow though didnt feel so great today as a consequence of having one too many, hence the late blog entry at an unearthly hour!
After the disastrous start to the Masters wildcard snooker qualifiers, I managed to recoup the majority of the losses by latching on to Judd Trump from the last 16 stage onwards and backed him in every round since, culminating in a 5-2 win over Ken Doherty in the semi final at 5/6 and a 6-1 thrashing of surprise finalist Mark Joyce to justify odds of 2/5.
Still finished a bit down and of course the outright market was a loss maker too but it looked much more manageable at the end than it did after a couple of days of the tournament when I hadn't backed a single winner!
The second wildcard is to be nominated soon and Ricky Walden would appear to be the favourite at the moment after lifting the title in Shanghai, he's also won minor events in Belgium and Thailand this season too so would be a worthy recipient.
In last night's Premier League backed Stephen Hendry in the draw no bet market against Ding but no damage was done as in fact all three matches finished 3-3, this means Mark Selby plays Hendry and Ronnie O Sullivan takes on Joe Perry in the semi finals. Still have the Jester in the outright market at 13/2 though lost Ding last night.
The Irish greyhounds I mentioned in the last blog are in action at Galway again over the weekend in the Golden Jacket event though I'm relying on some outsiders this time so fingers crossed that one or two of them can get through to the next stage. Also Midway Skipper goes in the semi final heat of the Coventry St Leger which features four winners from the first round.
Also in horse racing the Japan Cup is run in Tokyo on Sunday morning so will be scouring the videos on Youtube probably tomorrow to try and assess the international form, managed to get the Melbourne Cup winner at big odds via that route and also was on Admire Moon last year in the Japanese event.
In the NHL Boston Bruins have gone top of the Eastern Conference and enjoyed a thumping 7-2 home success over the New York Islanders earlier this evening so looks like I may get a decent run for my money with my 33/1 each way bet struck a couple of weeks ago. Philadelphia Flyers are up to sixth place after a slow start so hopefully they can consolidate in the top eight who qualify for the end of season play offs.
In the Western Conference the Calgary Flames are currently in fifth place carrying my money but Dallas Stars have been very disappointing so far, their defence continuing to creak and are currently bringing up the rear, though it is far from irretrievable at present.
All the best for now,
Rick

Trump to blow away Jin

The dodgy spell of form leading up to the previous blog has continued into the last few days unfortunately, had just been thinking at the end of last week that things had been going pretty well and then along comes the dreaded run that rocks you back on your heels again.
Despite being warned about betting on the Masters snooker qualifiers due to the lack of prize money on offer, I ploughed on regardless and to be honest endured a nightmare run of early results which left me little hope of coming out of the event on the right side of things.
As you can see from the last blog's bets they all went belly up including Matthew Selt's capitulation from 3-0 up against David Gray, eventually losing on a re-spotted black.
Eventually bagged some winners on the third day but not before eight successive losing bets which is about as poorly as I have started in a single snooker event I think (four of them on the deciding frame), though still not losing as much as I did in last year's World Championship qualifiers at the Institute of Sport, bring back Prestatyn I say (actually they do still hold the minor qualifiers there).
Overall though am still a fair bit down on the event and made a slight loss again today despite backing Judd Trump at 11/10 to beat Jamie Cope in the clash of the young hotshots which he did 5-2. The Shotgun hasnt quite kicked on since reaching those two ranking finals the season before last and is still hovering provisionally just outside the top 16 when most would have been banking on him getting there by now, there is still time of course.
Will stick with Trump at 4/11 against Jin Long tomorrow, he seems to be getting his teeth into this one, having earlier beaten the other Stoke potter Dave Harold and it looks a tough ask for the Chinese cueist who has earned some creditable results this year on his return the tour. Having said that he has been taken to final frame deciders by Lawler, Bond and Gould so has not had things all his own way and this looks by far his most difficult encounter.
The other matches look pretty much priced up on the ball so not playing on those but Matthew Stevens is enjoying another decent run here and comes up against Fergal O Brien, Andrew Higginson takes on Mark Joyce and Stuart Bingham is going for his third win in this event and plays Ken Doherty.
The outrights all bit the dust by the end of the second round, Liang Wenbo lost surprisingly 5-4 to rookie Daniel Wells who has enjoyed a good set of results this week, Barry Hawkins was hammered 5-0 by Joyce, while Li Hang and Michael Holt were edged out 4-3 by Martin Gould and Atthasit Mahitti respectively.
John Higgins won the latest leg of the World Series in Moscow, beating Ding Junhui 5-0 in the final but this time the event was not televised on Eurosport so there were no betting markets, not sure I could have predicted such an emphatic win for the Scot there though.
Our own snooker team had a good win in the cup against the current league champions, though we did play them at a good time when three of their better players were unavailable for one reason or another, still not performing with any consistency personally though, making hard work of some frames I would have eaten a few years back, its certainly true that as you get older it seems to become especially difficult to knock in the long balls.
Its slightly easier to knock them in at pool and noticed the Mosconi Cup is almost on the horizon again featuring everyones favourite villain Earl Strickland who is now into the veteran bracket but shows no signs of becoming more phlegmatic. The Americans were pretty disappointing on home territory last year making a number of unenforced errors and in Tony Drago's backyard (its played in Malta this time) I'd fancy Europe to come out on top again at the odds of 6/5.
Jeremy Jones comes into the USA team to join Strickland, Johnny Archer (who struggled last year), Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris so only one change there as Corey Deuel is left out. Europe comprise Drago, Ralf Souquet and Niels Fiejen with Finn Mika Immonen and ex snooker pro Mark Gray replacing Konstantin Stepanov and Darryl Peach.
On to the dogs and noticed Midway Skipper was running again in the Coventry St Leger heats at the weekend so backed her in the outright market at around 3.37 after commission, had to use Betfair as no one else was offering the market so at least it was a decent bit of initiative by them on this occasion.
She won comfortably enough but the time was not one of the quicker ones of the night so will be interesting to see what transpires in the future heats. Also backed her for the heat, the Post forecast of 4/5 looked generous but as expected she was returned much shorter at 2/5.
That price looked pretty good though compared with a bet I had on the online tote, the idea is that you pay £5 to see the race meeting's webcast and get your fee returned after you have staked the same amount. I didnt realise if you did it in the opposite order though this doesnt apparently apply, so after the dividend was declared at 1.05, despite backing a winner I got £21 back having handed over £25 to start with!! Suppose these things even out as I once backed a loser at Leicester races on the tote and found that not a single player had picked the winner so all stakes were returned much to my surprise at the time.
Have also gotten involved in the Golden Jacket event at Galway in which ante post favourite Shelbourne Aston bowed out after being baulked at the weekend. Broadacres Turbo is the new jolly and has twice gone close to the track record but having seen some of the dogs previous runs think it might be worth taking him on at the prices available.
Had a couple of each way bets on The Other Sonic at 33s and Oakleaf Tom at 25s, a quarter the odds for the first four in the final, both should be staying on strongly over this 575m trip and if the pacier dogs meet any trouble the likes of their type could capitalise.
Also added an even bigger outsider with The Other Achill at 100s, this one tends to start a bit slowly which is a bit offputting but is fairly unexposed over the trip, having run mostly over a bit shorter until this event but was a creditable close up third to Tyrur Laurel last time, and has shown a good turn of pace in some of its races.
All the best,
Rick

Skipper wins but its downhill from thereon!

Well lets start with the good news, Midway Skipper won the Kent greyhound St Leger on Monday night to land the 13/8 ante post voucher though not without a few scares, having been buffeted, bumped and hampered at least four or five times during the race but in the end her stamina came into play and she eroded a five length deficit in the last quarter of the race and squeezed through on the final bend to pull clear up the straight. A fine effort indeed.
Thats where the good news ends though as regards the betting. The other ante post in the sprint had alarm signals warning in my brain after the draw had been published, with my picks drawn next to each other in far from ideal boxes. As it happens, they didnt mess with each other but the 4 dog impeded Boherduff Monti in 3 and Bohebradda Mac totally missed the break in 2 and was brought to his knees at the first bend, race over. Should really have had a bit on the early morning 9/2 about outside dog Frosty Lee for whom the race looked set up for as the only wide seed and likely to lead with it too.
In fact it was a case of not having the courage of my convictions again when after fancying Ronnie was a bit too short in Thursday's Premier League snooker action, I was halfway towards placing a small bet on the draw before deciding to keep my powder dry and of course it ends up 3-3. The one bet I did go ahead with was John Higgins at 1.75 against Joe Perry on the draw no bet market (he had a 3-0 h2h record going into the match and Perry was showing signs of going off the boil of late). However, nothing of the sort materialised in the match and Perry was soon home and hosed winning the first four frames with the minimum of fuss as Higgins safety play was strangely awry, maybe rushing things slightly with the shot clock in operation.
He did eventually find some form to add some respectability at 4-2 but not much use to yours truly or himself as he is now out of the competition.
My outright picks are still in with a shout though. Mark Selby heads the group and needs a draw in his last match with Joe Perry to stay there, and thus avoid Ronnie in the semis.
Ding Junhui needs to beat Stephen Hendry to qualify with the Scot needing just the draw, a year on from Ding's barnstorming 6-0 win over the Scot I'm not so sure he can dish up another performance of that ilk this time around but fingers crossed.
Went up to Sheffield to see a couple of the Masters qualifiers snooker matches today in fact, and as ever whenever I attend the venue all my bets lose. Admittedly three of them were minimum stakes outsiders anyhow, the closest to an upset was Paul Davison at 6/4 who lost 4-3 to Rory McLeod in an unsurprisingly marathon battle that lasted over four hours.
I was the sole spectator in the booth occupying the Anthony Hamilton v Andrew Pagett match and this was another game that rather ambled along though as Hamilton won it 4-0 it finished a good bit earlier. The small bet I had on the Welshman never really looked likely after he had broken down in the forties in the first frame and lost it on the black, after that the Sheriff always looked to have too much class and scored much too heavily for his opponent overall.
It was interesting to note the clashes of styles in cue action, Hamilton really giving it plenty on the backswing, cueing up two or three times before addressing the cue ball while Pagett was very much in the Dave Harold mould, with little or no backswing before he plays the ball, which is certainly not to his advantage on the power shots as it can look a bit jerky.
My perceived treble in the afternoon became a double when Chris McBreen withdrew from his match with Andrew Higginson but my slight doubts about Gerard Greene were unfounded when he romped home 4-0 against Michael Georgiou to land the first part of the bet.
I was watching the Barry Pinches v Lewis Roberts match needing a win for Norwich's finest to give me the money but unfortunately he was always making hard work of it against a previously winless opponent in the pro ranks, missing a number of straightforward pots.
Roberts for his part looked fairly confident in amongst the balls given his less than impressive record so far but perhaps sometimes came out second best on the safety exchanges. However with Barry misfiring somewhat, Roberts led 3-1 and things looked bleak but as the youngsters cue arm maybe tightened a bit looking for that first win and Pinches drew on his vast experience it soon become 3-3 and all to play for.
Pinches held a good lead for a while in the final frame and things looked rosey as he was 35 up with two reds on. However this lead was slowly being picked off until surely the game was over with Barry only needing a straight green from a slight angle into the middle pocket.
But no, he somehow contrived to miss it and Roberts stepped in with an impressive 25 clearance (though the black wobbled for a good few seconds before dropping) which gave him his first professional win, and probably deserved too overall, even though it did not do my coffers much good.
After that setback following a three hour battle, my stamina reserves were giving out and with no bets in the evening matches decided to come home with my tail between my legs, still may get up bright and early tomorrow though for the £5-million Scoop 6, must be worth a few quid of anyone's money!
Oh yes and four outsiders for me tomorrow in the snooker to try and claw back some of the losses - Li Hang 11/10, have backed him as a longshot in the outrights given a reasonable draw and must have a fair chance against out of form Martin Gould; Jamie Jones 13/8 admittedly not a lot to recommend him this season but had shown some promise last time on the tour and Andrew Norman seems to be a bit jittery at present; Matthew Selt 11/8, actually had him vying for favouritism here as David Gray seems way out of touch in his recent matches and finally Stephen Craigie at 7/4, beat Stuart Bingham in a recent pro am when reaching the quarter finals and probably underestimated a bit against Dave Gilbert.
All the best for now, will speak to you after I have collected my £5m on Monday lol
Rick

Hawk eyeing Masters wildcard double

Not the busiest of punting weekends with the Bahrain snooker tourney rather petering out from a betting viewpoint, just didnt see many value bets towards the end, part of the reason admittedly being that the players involved seemed to have rather unreliable profiles, certainly wouldn't have fancied Stevens or Robertson to be contesting the final on recent form, but with the withdrawals of a fair few of the top players, someone had to win it of course, though not convinced either of these would have been there had everyone turned up.
The Masters wildcard qualifiers get underway on Friday when I will probably be in attendance though with it being held in the World Snooker Academy itself you are I believe limited to watching one table at a time.
There is an outright market already up at Skybet but since the Walden win my confidence has evaporated somewhat with a host of first round exits, this betting game's a great leveller!
As usual I shall stick to the tried and tested formula for me anyway of one pick from each quarter. Walden himself doesnt have the most straightforward of runs at this level though if it was a ranking tournament you'd probably think he had a decent draw, however will ignore him as he could play Stevens fairly early on, assuming Matthew turns up this time (was in the draw last year and ended up not travelling). Will take Wenbo at 16/1 from that section anyhow, he ought to beat Chuang and then should get chances against the similarly open Michie and also has a good record against O Brien if he plays him in the next round, plus Fergal has seemed out of form so far this year, otherwise might have considered him.
My main pick is Hawkins also at 16/1 in the second quarter, he won this last year and might be able to repeat Bingham's feat of winning it twice in succession, could play Cooper, Joyce and Swail in the early rounds which should be winnable before things might get a bit tougher.
The third quarter was nearly a no bet with the likes of Cope, Trump and Harold all due to clash in the top half of this section, however the bottom half conversely looks quite weak with the out of form Bond and Norman in there so will have a small speculative e/w punt on the Chinese youngster Li Hang at 175/1. He could easily reach the QF without having beaten too much and at least things would be getting exciting then, remember Kurt Maflin reached the final of this last year but was still relegated off the tour at the end of the season.
In the fourth quarter, not convinced by the form of one or two of these, the possible match up of Bingham-Hicks could go either way I feel on this years form so looking down the bottom Michael Holt at 20/1 seems to be playing reasonably OK not withstanding his 5-4 loss to Milkins from 4-0 up in his last match! He plays Atthasit Mahitti first up and then Dubliner Ken Doherty who has continued to struggle to find any semblence of form this year, next up would probably be Dave Gilbert so certainly the chance is there for the Hitman to progress.
Will probably end up going to see the first and last day (if I can get a ticket for the final), have a few matches in mind but usually end up following the ones where I've had a bet, we'll have to see if anyone prices up the individual matches later on.
On to the dogs and Midway Skipper goes for me in the Kent St Leger final tonight at Crayford, she's now into 4/7 after starting at 13/8 in the ante post market but wont bother laying off, hoping she will find the gaps as she tries to come trough the field with her usual late run, it isn't the best of draws for a railer out in trap 5, but as she usually comes from behind anyway, it might not be as problematic as it would be for a front runner. Indeed she managed second in the St Leger itself from this very box.
Got a double up paying 11/10 on the Nottingham dogs on Saturday night, featuring a short priced pair - Boherbradda Mac who I'd actually inadvertently missed backing for once in midweek, but he obliged comfortably in one of the sprint heats at 2/5 while Wise Thought shook off sickness scares by obliging at the early price of 1/2.
Also took Mac in the outrights for that sprint with Betfred (the final is on Thursday) with 2pts @ 5/2 plus 1pt on Boherduff Monti @ 4/1 who qualified in second place from the other heat, that race will be televised on Sky as part of the Eclipse meeting.
Unfortunately they are drawn next to each other in the final and as they are without doubt the fastest dogs in the race, just hope they dont impede one another and hand the race to something else, would certainly have preferred something else in between them.
Had one more bet in the outright football markets by adding Reading at 9/4 for the Championship following their 2-0 win at Sheffield United, they do seem to be getting up a head of steam and although Wolves have a seven point cushion on them at present, there is a long way to go yet. Leeds who I had backed for League One after putting on a great show at Derby, then slumped to a home loss to Huddersfield, proving once again its a funny old game!!
Can't go without mentioning that I actually managed a 51 and 30 in last night's final frame of snooker practice against my usual opponent which while nothing earth shattering is quite good by my standards nowadays, the trouble was the rest of the evening I was struggling to pot a ball, its another funny old game!!
All the best
Rick

Boherna proves he is the best

The punting highlight of the week came in Wednesday night's All England Cup greyhound final held at Newcastle and televised live on Sky where my original outright pick Boherna Best landed the odds of 9/2 by bravely holding the sustained challenge of main danger Dotlands Hit Man in a great duel which lasted almost from the first bend.
Really enjoying the dog betting as its usually been very much secondary to the horses in my previous years but its certainly proving worthwhile getting involved in some of these ante post markets while I've been catching up with the nags.
The Bahrain snooker betting has been very up and down but never really threatened to go one way or the other and as I speak one bet in the final could either mean an overall profit or otherwise.
The outrights were a flop again with most of them going out at the first hurdle, admittedly Maguire did reach the quarter finals, though he was tournament favourite anyway so better was expected following Ronnie's withdrawal.
Looking at some of the results in the match betting, very happy to come out of this one intact as any kind of form seems to have been temporary and a number of past h2hs have also been rather misleading along with recent form, which could hardly have pointed anyone in the direction of the likes of Stevens, Robertson or Allen. Even Hendry was being totally written off just a couple of weeks ago given some of his displays early season.
Having played the game at local level for around 30 years now, I know how quickly things can change at this game, myself having a great win at the weekend over one of the top county players and then performing like a complete novice when losing 2-0 to a veteran journeyman in one of the other events!! Sometimes the ball fall nicely and your cue arm gets flowing and at other times they all seem to go awkward and you just cant find any rhythm for love nor money.
Saw a great performance in the Football League Cup on Tuesday by Leeds United against my team Derby, admittedly the Rams won the game 2-1 but were totally outplayed for 70 minutes having taken an early 2-0 lead, surely on this performance the visitors will go very close indeed to securing the Division One title if they could just iron out a few defensive wobbles.
So invested a bit at 9/4 which were bigger odds than I would care to lay after that and also stuck Reading and Leeds in a promotion double for their respective divisions which pays around 17/10.
Boston Bruins have been proving a stubborn team to overcome in the NHL in the early season exchanges so had an each way bet at 33s to complete my roster for the Stanley Cup, have two picks in each division now and though my original fancies have hardly had the best of starts, still a long way to go yet.
Have rejoined the Racegoers Club for the forthcoming year, hoping that I'll be able to get out to the horsetracks again at least once a week, and at least the outlay on membership there will reduce the admission costs for the year which on first glance look a bit steep compared with what I used to pay two or three years ago when I was a regular.
Suppose I'll still be taking advantage of the exchange prices (on betdaq, where else!!) but getting out and about and seeing the horses in the flesh seems a worthwhile exercise once a week if only to avoid becoming a couch potato, plus having done all of the previous 59 existing tracks in person, still need to catch up on Great Leighs and indeed Ffos Llas when that materialises.
Will probably attend some of the Masters wildcard snooker qualifiers next week too which are held at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, failing that the UK Championship qualifying rounds are in the same building a couple of weeks later which I've already booked for on a few days.
All the best for now,
Rick

My very own giant killing act!

Feeling pretty good this morning but nothing to do with the punting, came up against one of the best local players last night in one of the league knockouts and despite an indifferent start to the season, pulled off a big shock by winning 2-0 against a guy who has already knocked in a couple of 120+ breaks for his team. Admittedly I did receive 28pts start, but still thought I did OK given that he knocked in breaks of 35 and 56 in each frame. In fact the last time I saw him play a couple of years ago he hammered Nigel Bond 2-0 in an exhibition match so even though I did the same about 25 years ago, still well pleased with the result.
The league campaign took a turn for the worse last week when he lost 4-1, we were handicapped a bit by the fact that our one unbeaten player was on holiday but that said the reserve won in his place so no excuses. I let slip a thirty point lead in my frame but almost rescued it by potting a decent blue before missing a fairly easy pink with the black sitting over the pocket, not sure if it was a twitch but must be one of the easiest match balls I've missed a league game so felt a bit sick for a while after that.
Haven't had a great start individually to the season overall with only two wins out of five league games plus losing as a stand-in for our other team too so have alot to do at this stage to keep up my lifetime record of always winning more than I've lost in a single season.
Back to the punting and just missed out in the Waterford Masters greyhound final with my ante post pick Ballymac Under finishing second to Slip The Lark who I had supported in the previous two big Irish events. All looked set fair when my charge came out of the traps in front but around the second bend he seemed to check, not sure if he was caught slightly from behind, but the Lark went two clear and from then on just held on by half a length on the run in as my charge struggled to find an angle to challenge off the last bend. Lemon Zamora finished best of all to be a neck away in third.
Cabra Cool who I had added to my roster before the final given his plum draw, injured a hip the day before so was pulled out but at least the money was returned this time.
Also had a treble on Saturday which was thwarted when I picked the wrong one in a two dog run off for the final place in the All England Cup final at Newcastle, the other two obliged though both were at shortish odds.
Midway Skipper goes in the semi finals of the Kent St Leger tonight at Crayford in direct competition to his nearest outright market rival Black on Air so theres not much room for leeway with only the top two qualifying, he was impressive in the last round though and hopefully can come with his usual wet sail up the run in.
Currently keeping ahead in the Bahrain snooker tournament, had a four timer on the pros against the wildcards which obliged without any duress and also took on the local's "top" man Habib Subah with Mark Davis at what looked decent odds of 4/11 in a single and he won 5-0 too.
Since then its been up and down, Barry Pinches obliged at very generous odds of 6/4 to beat Graeme Dott, lacking practice and not long out of plaster on his broken wrist, 5-3 but two other odds against shots were beaten with Ken Doherty losing 5-3 to Barry Hawkins (losing the first frame on a respotted black) and rather more convincingly Stuart Bingham crashing 5-0 to Matthew Stevens. Not sure about Stuart's temperament when he gets a few frames behind, have seen him implode similarly on occasions in the past, will be interesting to see if Matthew can build on this success but not the easiest match next up against Ryan Day who has usually had the better of him in the past.
Have also backed Ricky Walden tonight at 10/11 to confirm his recent good form against the still inconsistent Stephen Hendry and also a small dabble on Marcus Campbell, fresh from his 147, at 12/5 to try and upset struggling Aussie Neil Robertson.
Plus a double (pays 4/5) on Joe Perry who takes on Rod Lawler tonight and Stephen Maguire who plays Mark Davis tomorrow, although Mark won 5-0 against Habib, he did make a few errors in that match and would probably have to step up a gear on that showing against the Scot .
The outright bets were off to a woeful start however, with Cope, Fu and Murphy all biting the dust at the first attempt which leaves Walden and Maguire only, both of these yet to play.
Anyway back to the horse racing tapes for me now, the all weather season is here and I still havent quite caught up with all the form, I can see money slipping away so better get back to the office lol.
All the best
Rick

Wheres that other horse, oh its won!!

The end of another hectic week and thankfully the ship has been rerouted back on course after the largely unsuccessful foray into North American Sports for the past few weeks on the NHL, apart from one solitary weekend that is!!
Didnt have lots of time on Monday what with the committee meeting at the snooker club and all that goes with it but did spend an hour or so on Youtube looking at some of the significant Aussie races like the Caulfield Cup in the build up to their big one, the Melbourne Cup run early on Tuesday morning UK time.
In the end settled for the main bet on Nom De Ju with smaller each way bets on Ice Chariot and Viewed and it was the latter who did the business, though my return was somewhat smaller than the Aussie tote returns of 40-odd as I had it with the traditional bookies over here.
Had been thinking it might be backed over there as one of their own with legendary trainer Bart Cummings' great cup record also to boot. As it happens there was no money pre race and could even have got around 50s on the exchanges but was seeing it more from a place perspective rather than the win angle so only ended up with 33/1, must have more confidence in myself in the future!!
That said, it was a bit of an anti climax as I watched the replay on arising on Tuesday (no I didnt watch it live!) as I thought the Aussie commentator was calling home "Bude" rather than "Viewed" and was wondering what happened to my third selection when it suddenly clicked!!
Even then wasnt sure what had won the race, the Cumani horse Bauer was closing with every stride in the final furlong and strength in the saddle from Blake Shinn certainly looked a factor to me in the driving finish, even though in retrospect he admitted he may probably have gone for home a fraction too early.
I also backed the greyhound I have been following Boherbradda Mac in the sprint at Nottingham on Monday night and he did the business again, scoring comfortably but at rather shorter odds than expected, being returned at 2/5 as opposed to the morning forecast of 4/6, though as usual with the bread and butter dog markets, no early prices were available.
On that theme, the semi finals of the All England Cup were run at Newcastle last night and Boherna Best qualified impressively though I lost my other two ante post picks who both finished fourth, with only the top two dogs qualifying. Am kicking myself a bit for not backing Dotlands Hit Man when he was 10/1 a few days ago, he won in fine style too in the quickest time of the night so does look a real danger though his price is now as short as 6/4.
Elsewhere have added Cabra Cool to my Waterford Masters roster at 9/4, he has the plum draw in Saturday's final with the no 2 dog a possible non starter due to injury so that would be even more in his favour if it transpires that way. My other pick Ballymac Under at 9/2 has a middle draw but has all on to lead both Cabra and Lark to the first bend the way they are trapping currently.
Had a quick look at Sky's "The Dogs" programme last night and was impressed by Midway Skipper in the Kent St Leger first round heats, scooting away from them around the sharp Crayford track so, having backed her as a saver when she was runner up to main pick Bubbly Totti in the official Leger itself, had to give him a chance for compensation in this at 13/8.
Had a good night on the Premier League snooker yesterday, backed Ding to continue his good record against Joe Perry in the opening match and he obliged 4-2 at the very decent odds of 13/8, his breakbuilding was stuttering a bit but he did at least knuckle down in the tactical exchanges and did enough to see off a largely out of sorts opponent.
In the other match, backed Hendry for the highest break at 4/7 and though its a type of bet that usually has me squirming in my seat right until the very end, on this occasion the Nugget never really looked like piecing together a meaningful contribution and the Scot had the three best contributions of the encounter with an 83 and a couple of 70 odds.
Did have a throwaway few quid on Davis to win the match at 11/2 just in case the lacklustre side of the inconsistent Hendry came to the fore and he did actually have chances in a couple of close frames so the 5-1 was probably slightly flattering in the end, all in all a good night though.
The Bahrain Tournament starts tomorrow with the local wildcards taking stage against the lower ranked qualifiers, though having seen some of their highest breaks being publicised, they dont seem much better than me at my peak so wouldnt expect too many of them to be winning if any.
In fact Habib Subah is supposedly the best of them and the last time he played on the main tour he lost all seven of his ranking matches, six of them by hefty scores, and didnt fare much better in this summer's Sangsom six red international where he won only one of his five group games against someone I've never heard of from Singapore. That apart he lost 5-1 to Joe Swail, 5-3 to Dene O Kane, 5-2 to James Wattana and 5-1 to Tom Ford so hardly seems in the best of nick, the 4/11 for Mark Davis at Paddies looks rather overpriced to me.
Working on the supposition that Habib is the best local, had to have an acca too so have gone against the two with the lowest breaks and the other supposedly inferior Bahranian which means a four timer on Davis, Pinches, Lawler and Campbell paying nearly 2/1.
Have left out Milkins as he seems to be a bit unreliable in the last year and decided to leave out Dunn as he is up against Saudi's No 1 who has a top break of 143 which is decidely better than I could ever manage and couldnt find a great deal of info about him either!
Two other first round proper bets so far, took Bingham to beat Stevens at 11/10, not sure why he is odds against there as Matthew has shown nothing like his best form for a good few seasons.
Also Lee to beat King at evens, Mark has a had a poor start to this year with defeats to McManus, Bond, and Parrott already and only a final frame win over Jimmy White to shout about. Lee hasnt been in great shape either but did beat Andy Hicks 5-1 last time out and he had been showing some reasonable form in the lower echelons this year.
On the outrights, backed Fu at 20s when the first rumours appeared that Ronnie may not bother with the event, he now has a much smoother route if he can get past Dominic Dale in round one, who did beat him 5-3 in their last meeting however.
In the second quarter, taken Cope at 20s and Walden 25s, two up and coming young uns and would rather be with them than the old stagers in the section like Ebdon and Hendry who may find motivation and consistency a problem nowadays.
In the third quarter, gone with Murphy at 9s, though his form this year looks poor, he was incredibly unlucky against Gunnell in his last match when all sorts of things conspired against him and he did win a decent minor event in Germany beating Mark Selby 4-0 in the final so does have some silverware on the table already.
Had to include the new pre tournament jolly Maguire too in the fourth quarter at 6s, had 2pts on him and 1pt on the others, on form he only looks to have Perry to worry about in this section and Joe looked rather out of sorts last night against Ding at Newport.

Woeful weekend on the ice

Glad to see the back of this weekend as must have been the worst set of punting results since starting this blog!! Unfortunately ploughed on the NHL and continued to be on the wrong side of the results, often by the odd goal, so will have to call it quits as you can only go so far before your head starts bleeding when banging it against a brick wall, there do seem to be some underlying trends to the matches but every time I seem to back one of them the opposite seems to happen!! Anyway as much as I enjoy the sport of ice hockey the matches tend to finish far too late in the early hours and if I'm going to concentrate on the horse racing as is the plan this winter theres no way I can be affording any lie ins with plenty of form study to fit in before the off which is often around noon in the all weather/jumping season.
Have just had time to add Calgary Flames to the outright lists e/w for the Stanley Cup (30/1) however as they seem to be gradually improving as the term goes on and were unlucky to lose to San Jose in last years first round of play offs.
Will maybe give the IIHF World Cup a look when that starts early next year as I often take out a subscription to watch all the games and over a short timespan cant do too much damage with the punting which is a bonus, though seem to recall that this year most of the NHL players will be unavailable to their countries due to a clash of dates.
I also had the misfortune to back England in cricket's Stanford 20 20 for 20 or whatever it is called and then witnessed a totally abject performance as the top line batsmen somehow contrived to get themselves out to a succession of bizarre shot selections, surely a case of too much too soon instead of building a decent platform. At least there was a bit of humour watching the man himself Mr Stanford prancing about in front of his own personal cameraman acting like some overgrown schoolkid on speed for the most part.
The tin hat on the weekend was put firmly in place by a certain Mr S Atwell who refereed the local derby between my team Derby and rivals Nottingham Forest on Sunday. He managed to produce possibly the worst performance I've ever witnessed from any official in forty years of watching top flight football with a host of inept calls from start to finish culminating in bizarrely disallowing two tremendous Miles Addison headers in the final minute of injury time.
The first one was scrubbed out when he blew his whistle for handball against a Forest defender seconds earlier but after Camp had saved the penalty, he was soon picking the ball out of the net again only for a shrill whistle to deny the Rams a second time.
I've watched the replay twenty times over and there is absolutely nothing that could be remotely considered as as a foul by any Derby player whatsoever, the only thing I could see was a Forest man with both hands around our unpronouncable Polish international so maybe he was going to give another penalty, then realised how ridiculous it would have been and invented a free kick to the defending team instead!!
To be honest he had already gotten on my wick by being persistently conned by the Reds No 16 who continued to throw himself to the ground every time someone came within ten yards of him with the ref falling for it hook line and sinker time and again, even booking his closest marker for supposed persistent fouling!
Even the Forest sending off looked highly suspect with a yellow card looking the most suitable punishment so if this official is supposed to be the great white hope for the Premier League as he is billed I suggest some of the top brass at the FA should reconsider rather hastily as I think he would be out of his depth in the Bognor Regis and District beach five a side league on that showing.
About the only chink of light I could find was that Ballymac Under qualified for the Gain Waterford Masters greyhound final on Saturday, finishing second to the impressive Cabra Cool in his heat, but with that arch rival getting the plum draw again for the final, he will have his work cut out to overturn the form and might have to get involved on the Buckley dog too dependent on prices.
Slip The Lark is the other high profile qualifier but might just be getting a bit jaded now after a succession of tough races though can never be ruled out if he can get to the front.
Anyway got a busy day today as we have our quarterly committee meeting at the snooker club and as secretary still have to write up the notes from the last meeting from three months ago, hope my shorthand stands up to inspection from that date, otherwise I'm in trouble!!
All the best
Rick

Hendry overturns Higgins Grand Prix form

It's that time of the week again to update the blog and been a very busy one too, plus the money has been rolling in so long may it continue.
Have been playing mainly on the Bahrain snooker qualifiers and managed to get 12 out of 18 bets up in my favour, plus many of them at attractive prices too, though the main disappointment on the final day was Joe Swail's heavy defeat at odds on against the previously out of form Rob Milkins.
Though as Rob had also defeated Joe 9-1 a few years ago perhaps it wasnt so much of a shock after all; anyhow overall its probably one of the most financially successful forays into the booths of Prestatyn that I've managed, and all that even with only one bookie pricing up too due to Paddies giving it a miss for some reason.
In yesterday's Premier League, the good run continued with Stephen Hendry landing the 11/4 draw no bet odds in his match with John Higgins, running out a 4-2 winner to overturn his defeat to the same player in the recent Grand Prix.
There wasn't alot going for Hendry on recent form but his price looked too big for me to resist here, especially with John having been primarily concentrating on organising his own World Series event in Warsaw last weekend where he was Master of Ceremonies.
That said, Hendry looked much more at home in this match than at any other time this season and remained focussed even when referee Paul Collier wrongly called a push shot against him at a vital stage of the fifth frame, eventually getting a second bite at the cherry and pulling out a tremendous clearance to the black to go beyond recall.
The other match saw Ronnie O Sullivan leading Mark Selby 3-1 before the Jester scrapped his way through the final two frames to earn a draw which puts them both in prime positions in the league table along with Joe Perry, the others looks to be fighting for one place now.
The ice hockey betting has again taken a turn for the worse after the weekend rally so getting close to the stage where I have to seriously consider whether to continue with it, but will keep going for a bit as its early days yet, have been on the wrong side of a few narrow losses this week though.
Another thing is the NHL games are often streamed online and it keeps me up half the night which would be no good if I want to up bright and early working out the form for the days horse racing come the all weather season, for instance was 3am when I went to bed last night after watching Florida v Ottowa and St Louis v Carolina!!
The greyhounds have been pretty kind to me over the past few months so have had a couple of dabbles in the All England Cup at Newcastle, backing Boherna Best at 9/2 (yes I missed the best price) and Motto Star at 20/1, both qualified in the first round heats last night.
Also had a small dabble on Ballymac Under at 9/2 in the Waterford Masters which holds its semi finals at the weekend, he's in by far the toughest of them though.
On the local snooker front our team kept the good start going with a 3-2 win on Wednesday away from home. I myself was beaten but it was probably the best I've played so far this year as I managed a 29 break but unfortunately my opponent was on the top of his game too, knocking in 30, 18, 27 and 16 in four visits to the table (91 points in all) which is a bit too much for me nowadays!!
The Rams have their big match of the season on Sunday against local rivals Nottingham Forest so that should be the highlight of the weekend ahead, not sure I will be betting but the 3-1 win over Norwich in midweek was probably the best performance so far this season, for once we showed some real attacking flair to match our grittiness.
May be meeting an ex workmate from my time on the keyboards at a local beer festival on Saturday night so hopefully I wont overdue it with the early kick off the next day!
Anyway see you soon
Rick

NHL comes to the rescue!!

Well in the end it wasnt such a bad weekend though the profits came from the most unexpected source. When I last left you I said I was considering whether to puruse the NHL ice hockey match betting as it hadnt exactly gone to plan so far, in fact Friday's loss for San Jose at Flordia meant I'd only picked four out of sixteen winning bets.
However decided to throw the dice once more on Saturday and managed to pick six out of eight matches correctly which puts me close to being level again so no panic for now.
Hopefully Edmonton will improve the record at home to Boston tonight, they've won both of their games in their own rink so far this year while the visitors struggled to overcome lowly Atlanta in their last game.
Noticed that none of the books have priced up the local derby between the two New York teams Rangers and Islanders so far so presume there is some kind of injury news that they are waiting for there though cant find any reference to it myself at the moment!
My two outright picks Dallas and Philadelphia both had rickety starts, leaking far too many goals but while Philly show signs of picking up with a couple of straight wins, the Stars are still letting in far too many at present, hopefully they can work on it and they're only eight games in to an eighty-two game season.
On the snooker front, outright pick Mark Selby proved a big flop in Warsaw's World Series leg with a couple of very poor performances in beating the local wildcard unconvincingly and then losing 5-3 to Ken Doherty. In fact the local players were about on a par with my standard, so maybe I should change my name to something more exotic and I would have a chance of appearing live on TV!
As I pointed out beforehand it looked a straight battle between Selby and Ding for the trophy but unfortunately I picked the wrong one on this occasion, the Chinese player defeated Steve Davis 5-1 before disposing of Doherty 6-4 in the final thanks largely to a 64 clearance in the decisive frame when he had trailed 0-63. At least did take some of the 4/9 on offer there to ease my losses but from a punting point of view this World Series competition has been hard to work out with the likes of Dott winning the last leg in Berlin despite coming into the event totally out of form.
Ken will be buoyed by a return to the limelight here after strutting his stuff unsuccessfully in Prestatyn mostly this year, though he still missed alot of easy balls which he cannot afford to do if he is ever to start climbing the ladder again.
Elsewhere Ryan Day continued his good recent form by beating Jamie Cope 6-4 in the final of the Austrian Open and Mike Hallett is in line for a return to the pro circuit at the age of 49, having reached the final of the latest PIOS event (the secondary tour) which puts him into the qualifying places, though there is still a way to go yet.
In today's Bahrain Championship qualifiers, had a couple of dabbles this morning on Rodney Goggins at 8/11 and Robert Stephen 15/8. Goggins currently leads Michael Georgiou 3-1 while Stephen is 2-2 with David Grace.
This evening have gone with Stephen Craigie 6/4 against Simon Bedford and Wayne Cooper 15/8 against Li Hang. Noticed Craigie had a good run in a recent pro am, reaching the quarter final and beating Stuart Bingham en route before losing narrowly to Leo Fernandez. Bedford has done well since his return to the pro ranks this year but put in a poor showing in the Grand Prix after qualifying to meet Peter Ebdon, losing 5-1.
Cooper has been a regular captain of the England amateur team and is not that young for a new pro but he has battling qualities and chanced him at the odds against the probably more talented Chinese youngster.
Our own team hit the baize again tonight hoping to improve our record of two wins in the first three matches, had a few frames last night against the new signing I brought in pre season and he beat me for the first time 4-3 so at least he is improving or maybe its me deteriorating, heaven forbid!! Time will tell no doubt...
Had a few flutters on the nags at the weekend with the Breeders Cup taking prominence, though had limited time to study on Saturday due to going to watch the Rams play at Coventry in the footie.
Backed a couple of winners on Friday including my nap Stardom Bound at 15/8 who won well from my other each way pick Dream Empress, just wish I'd done the exacta!! Also picked Ventura at 7/2 so finished off a fair bit in front. The Saturday undid the good work somewhat though when in Australia's big race the Cox Plate I only managed one each way success out of three bets with Zipping finishing in second place at 9/1, just finding the pace of the race against him and getting going all too late. Also Street Boss got a bit of a troubled run in the big sprint at Santa Anita later on though would have been hard pushed to live with the powerful finish of Midnight Lute anyway who defied a layoff to win here for the second year running.
Looking forward to the Greyhound St Leger final now tomorrow night anyhow, will report back on Friday.
See you soon,
Rick

Easy wins for O Sullivan and Perry

Its been mainly a case of sitting on my hands since last Monday with no snooker to go at apart from last nights Premier League which looked priced pretty accurately so have been once again catching up with the horse racing form ready for an assault in the new all weather season.
The prices about the favs in last nights action soon looked very generous however with Ronnie O Sullivan making short work of an out of form Steve Davis 6-0 at 1/3 and Joe Perry doing a similar job on Stephen Hendry, dropping just a single frame after being backed in from 8/5.
There are two events starting on the baize this weekend, the non ranking Austrian Open will act as match practice for a few of the pros no doubt though planned coverage on the internet site Cue Sport TV has fallen through due to technical problems but at least we can see John Higgins' brainchild event the World Series on Eurosport as it moves on to Warsaw in Poland.
This is the final qualifying round before the Grand Final which is held in Moscow in about a months time where 16 competitors will be involved as opposed to the normal field of eight.
Although originally I think the idea was to have an extra leg and only those who reached at least one semi final qualified, due to a clash of dates with the main tour I believe all the pros have been guaranteed a final place, assuming Dott is fit again after his broken arm mishap.
On the face of it this weekend's event looks to offer a great chance for Mark Selby to take some silverware, with Doherty and the Nugget struggling somewhat of late (admittedly the Nugget has reached a couple of ranking quarter finals but didnt greatly impress in doing so) his only realistic opponent would appear to be Ding, who himself has been struggling to find his best form and continuing to show weaknesses in his tactical play to boot.
Ding beat Selby 6-5 in the final of the Jiangsu Classic in the summer but was helped by an outrageous fluke in the decider when he would otherwise have almost certainly lost but the Jester took his revenge in this years Premier League with a barrage of hefty breaks to win 4-2 from 0-2 down.
Selby has flattered to deceive so far in the ranking events, looking quite good in some of the early skirmishes before often being edged out 5-4, he would be especially disappointed to lose in this manner to Ryan Day in the Grand Prix when he missed match ball red rather carelessly and his opponent cleared up.
So perhaps with these slight failings in the back of his mind, he will want to cement a tournament success more than most here and think I will have to side with him though only a couple of books have currently priced up, his odds ranging from 13/10 to 10/11 as I speak.
I did have a slight interest in the aforementioned Premier League matches last night as doubled up the Ronnie highest break with one of my ante post picks in the Greyhound St Leger Bubbly Totti to try and top up my winnings on Tuesday night should he justify favouritistm.
Totti was again impressive in the semi final last week, this time missing the break and being slightly impeded but still powering past the rest of the field to be a good few lengths clear at the line with my other pick Midway Skipper staying on into second place. The original ante post favourite Lenson Joker was eliminated from the other semi final after finding trouble in running and also picked up a muscle strain it later transpired.
The draw for the final has Skipper who is really a railer out in trap five so that is hardly advantageous to her but should give Totti in six plenty of room to work with, especially as my other pick is usually a slow starter so all looks set fair for the favourite next week.
Have had a few dabbles on the NHL ice hockey but not really particularly successfully so far, am analysing the results and not sure yet if I will be in it for the long term but have taken the so far impressive San Jose Sharks at around 4/6 tonight to emerge victorious from their long trip across to Florida tonight, hopefully it will turn around and if not will concentrate on other avenues!!
On the personal front, we managed another win in the local snooker league, defeating a team of newcomers 3-2 so we have started much better than I had originally expected though wouldnt imagine our opponents from the other night will be winning too many matches come the end of the season.
I've still heard nothing about what I thought was a speed camera flashing me on the way home from Nottingham the other night so maybe it was a firework after all, but not counting my chickens on that one just yet, even though its now over two weeks since, still think it would be very harsh though if I was nicked as I said its not a populated area at all and did used to be a dual carriageway all the way along at one time.
Anyway fingers crossed
See you on Monday when the Bahrain snooker qualifiers also start
All the best
Rick

Respectable position in the end

Have had a think about the blog and will probably update it twice a week from now on, probably Mondays and Fridays so as to be consistent, gives me a chance to look back on the weekend and also from a midweek perspective looking forward by using these days.
The last time I left you I was enduring a hard time of it in the Grand Prix but at least managed to claw back to a respectable position at the end although still came out with a slight loss, if Day had beaten Higgins in the final would have finished a bit infront though, he certainly had chances to do so but didnt quite fire on all cylinders for the duration of the match.
Still managed to get seven winners out of my last nine wagers in the competition and it was badly needed after the hole I got myself into, didnt help with a couple of chasing bets which I should have learned to have cut out by now, this was the difference between winning and losing on the event in the end.
Judd Trump at least gave me a bit of excitement in the outright market too, losing 6-4 to Higgins in the semi final after at one stage pulling back to 4 apiece. With the FA Cup-style draw though it was always going to be difficult to pinpoint the winner, though overall the format was pretty well received and expect it to continue next year.
During the event made a couple of outright wagers for the World Championships too, backing Selby and Day both each way at 8/1 and 40/1 respectively.
Its not something I particularly like doing so far away from the event but in Day's case anyway it was a wise move as he is already down to a best of 33/1 in just the odd place only, the first seed he would meet is Ebdon who looks to be on the wane.
Selby's first seeded opponent is Dott who is currently out of action with a broken arm so it remains to be seen how long it takes for him to recover, but he hasn't been in the greatest of form anyway prior to that.
Having taken the price though might have been a bit premature with that one as an early exit in one or two of the upcoming events could mean he may go a point or two bigger, it remains to be seen. He wont be featuring in Bahrain anyway due to Premier League commitments along with Ding, Higgins and probably the Nugget too.
The Irish Laurels greyhound final ended in despair for me with my biggest ante post bet on Slip The Lark being thwarted up the home straight, my selection finishing runner-up to the rank outsider on the day 14/1 shot Cashen Legend by a neck.
Lark was maybe a little unlucky in that he was carried wide by nearest challenger Tyrur Laurel who got up his inside and then swung towards the outside to leave a massive gap for the winner to storm through and pass them both in the straight. Laurel was a head away in third place.
My other two finalists were both caught up in the bumping at the start between the inside three boxes which always looked an accident waiting to happen with their respective draws and they trailed in fifth and sixth.
Had a couple of dabbles in the English St Leger too before the second round heats, backing Bubbly Totti at 3/1 and Midway Skipper at 16/1. They both qualified for the semi finals, Totti impressively beating the long unbeaten Lenson Joker who now surrenders favouritsm to my pick who is now best at 5/4.
Skipper had a troubled passage in his heat but still flew up the home straight and was well clear after the line, but on the line itself he was just pipped in the runners spot. Couldnt really understand why he has been lengthened to 20/1 on the back of that as it looked a good run to me.
My two picks both go in the first heat of the semi final tomorrow night at Wimbledon in a five dog contest due to a disqualification so ought to get plenty of room to work with.
Away from the betting, our snooker team suffered our first defeat last week 3-2 against one of the title contenders so it was still a decent effort on paper though the standard was very poor to be honest with myself as culpable as any, some of the shots missed were beyond belief I have to say and maybe putting too much pressure on myself as captain to get the team off to a good start.
So will try to relax for this Wednesday's match which is against a new team to the league so therefore totally unknown opposition and not sure what to expect there.
Anyway will be back on Friday
See you on the Betdaq forum
Rick

Tale of woe at the Grand Prix so far

Well its turned out to be a pretty good time to have a break for a few days with the blog as the results have taken a decided turn for the worse, just when you think its all hunky dory something jumps up to bite you on the backside in the betting jungle, when has it ever been any different!!

All my Grand Prix snooker outright picks that played in the first round exited at the first attempt, Mark Allen was absolutely awful in his match with Michael Holt and was trounced 5-1, Neil Robertson somehow contrived to lose to the Nugget 5-4 despite the latter's highest break being only forty-odd, Shaun Murphy had a nightmare run of the balls and lost 5-3 to Adrian Gunnell who had probably the highest number of flukes ever witnessed in a pro game and of course had already lost Barry Hawkins last weekend 5-3 to Joe Perry.

At least Judd Trump got a bye, but I already knew that and he got past an out of touch Perry last night 5-2 to reach his first ever quarter final, dont seriously see that he will be winning it though as he wasnt overly impressive himself.

The match betting hasnt gone too much better as I drew a blank with my first six (mostly outsiders) including three 5-4 reverses. Made the cardinal sin of jumping in on a couple of short ones though, backed Robbo at 1/2 after seeing Davis' 6-0 defeat to Selby in the Premier League despite the fact that the price was probably only around the right mark - and then even worse took 4/11 for Murphy to beat Gunnell after having a few pints at the snooker match, in a desperate bid to get a winner under my belt!

Of course both these latter instances came back to haunt me and put me further into deficit for the tournament, if only I'd let my own prices do the talking and kept strictly to the overlays I wouldnt be so far in arrears for this event!

Have since had winners with Parrott 13/8, Ding 1/2 and Davis 10/11 so hopefully on the comeback trail.

For todays bets have taken Cope 5/6, Fu 12/5 and Day 13/8.

Cope has a rematch of his World Championship meeting with Ebdon when he had it in the palm of his hand in the final frame and let it slip due to an unnecessary attempt to split a couple of reds when there were enough points on anyway, he finally went under 10-9 but must have a good chance of revenge against Ebdon who hasnt impressed too much this season.

Fu has a good record against Ronnie and has actually won more frames than the Rocket in all their meetings combined (6-6 with one draw in the last 13 meetings) so odds of 12/5 certainly looked attractive, plus O Sullivan looked rather below par in the early frames of his match with Liang Wenbo.

Going with Day mainly on the price, had him a bit shorter at 6/4 myself but will clearly need one of his best performances to prevail against the in form Jester. They have met twice in non ranking events and its 1-1 with each recording a 3-1 success.

The World Cup of Pool didnt produce any further bets but the USA defeated England in the final fairly comfortably to lift the trophy for the first time.

In tonight's live greyhound racing on Sky I see the cameras are venturing to the ultra sharp Sunderland trap which usually means alot of trouble at the first bend. Nevertheless, couldnt resist a bet on my old friend Bohebradda Mac at 10/11 in the sprint, he is drawn towards the outside which might help him get a clear run as he occasionally just missed a tick at the break before powering through at half way.

The Post are making an issue of him not having won in four visits here, but he has been runner up on every occasion, being beaten very narrowly in some of those runs despite not always getting the run of the race so no reason why he can't notch a success on the track for me.

Anyway, will be back in a few days

All the best,

Rick

Ante post greyhound picks qualify for final

The remaining quarter finals of the World Cup of Pool in Rotterdam were sorted out last night with USA holding off a spirited fight from minnows Austria to win 9-7 and book their place against pre tournament favourites the Philippines who easily defeated the Japanese duo 9-2 which meant my money went west in that one (or should I say east!!), overall though I'll have made a fair bit of profit and its been interesting pricing up a pool event for the first time, though dont think I will be playing at the prices in the semis.
On paper you'd think the winner of the Philippines-USA clash ought to defeat whoever comes through between China and England but it is a tournament that has thrown up quite a few surprises, the final is played tonight so will keep an eye out to see how its priced up just in case theres another opportunity.
In the Grand Prix snooker at Glasgow, my first outright bet Barry Hawkins bowed out at the first hurdle, losing 5-3 to Joe Perry, he had every chance and in fact lost the last two frames on the final black from positions where he really ought to have taken more advantage, but seemed to be in a rather negative frame of mind instead of kicking on from a position of ascendancy, thats probably why he's never won any ranking events in the past tbh.
Perry himself will have to play much better in the rounds to come while in the other match John Higgins had no problems with a 5-0 win over Anthony Hamilton.
As I said yesterday I'm backing Robbo and Gilbert today and my other first round bets will be on Burnett 11/4 (against low in confidence Ding), Bedford 2/1 (against out of form Ebdon), Harold 6/4 (in the form of his life) against Carter and Parrott 13/8 (beat Ken 5-0 last time out) against Mark King (who lost 5-0 to Selby last time out).
Obviously some of the players I'm backing are not likely to take the stage by storm themselves but am relying more on the more renowned players' current lack of form or confidence to hopefully get some decent prices landed, not that I'm particularly confident about any of them!
The Irish Greyhound Laurels semi finals were held at Curaheen Park in Cork last night and I'm pleased to say all my three ante post bets made it through to the final next Saturday.
Cabra Cool showed good pace to the first bend despite slightly anticipating the start and overtook Tyrur Laurel who had led early. Laurel showed a good turn of foot to rally on the final bend however to sweep past my fancy and take the spoils, he is a dangerous dog when he traps well but he only seems to do this intermittently. Cabra qualified safely enough in second place.
In heat two Chicken Supper got a flyer from the traps but Slip The Lark's electric early pace soon saw him in the lead at the first bend and it was great to see my two picks lead the pack for the duration of the rest of the race. Lark as he usually does tied up a bit near the finish but was always holding sway.
In the final, Cabra Cool has drawn box 2, with the early paced Solinus inside him thats not ideal plus there may be the prospect of bumping as my pick usually tends to edge left from the gate.
There is in fact great pace all the way along from 1-4 plus Laurel if he decides to trap well on the night. Its a pretty good draw for Slip The Lark in 4, he certainly wanted to be on the inside of Laurel and ought to be able to lead that one to the first bend and once again has Chicken Supper on his inside who he soon headed last night despite getting coming out of the traps initally slightly behind that one.
The outside dog is Cashen Legend and he will be hoping there is a bit of trouble at the bend so he can come around the outside, though is unlikely to have the pace to stay with a few of them early doors, especially as it seems to be more of a front runners track.
However it didnt all go to plan as decided to have a couple of NHL bets on Boston and Colombus, who had both won their opening away games of the season so took them to follow up on their travels, though they were both beaten which isnt a good start to that sphere.
In fact unless I can find time to price up the matches, its probably not a great idea to get involved as I have proved time and again the profits seem to lie where you can work out your own odds and make your bets accordingly where there are overlays.
Admittedly where horse racing is involved I only tend to do this very roughly but its usually been enough to keep me ahead of the game in the past.
Anyway as I said yesterday, I may just post a couple of times a week on the blog from now on and with the Betdaq forum now available, I'll hopefully be able to chat on there as well if I find time amongst all the betting imponderables!!
Will probably catch up with you in midweek
All the best
Rick

China and England through to pool semi final

Now the Daq forum is up and running I might update this blog a little less frequently, perhaps a couple of times a week would be ample but not going to say for definite as tend to do things as and when I feel, certainly need more time available to bring in the betting on the horses though.
Currently watching the Perry v Hawkins match which has been a pretty moderate standard, whoever wins will have to up their game massively to stand a chance of lifting the trophy, its currently 4-3 to Joe and as I had the Hawk as one of the outright bets thats not the score I was looking for.
Tomorrow in the match betting I've backed Neil Robertson to beat Steve Davis at 1/2, was originally not overly tempted by that price but having seen the Nugget struggling awfully in a 6-0 Premier League loss to Mark Selby on Thursday, I've decided to have a dabble on the Aussie, though he isnt usually one who fills me with confidence at odds on.
Have also had a few quid on outsider Dave Gilbert at 15/8 against Stephen Hendry, the Scot has yet to win a match this season so while this should be where he opens his account on paper, his confidence might not be that high at present so thought it worth a go.
Had a couple of winning bets in the World Cup of Pool earlier today, backed holders China at 4/6 to beat Italy which they did 9-2 and also took 11/10 on England to beat my outright picks Germany (who had been less than impressive in the last round) and they also obliged 9-7. This of course means I have drawn a blank with my three outright bets but the match betting profits have more than compensated luckily.
Those two now meet in the semi final tomorrow, while tonight the other two quarter finals take place with big outsiders Austria taking on the USA and favourites the Philippines up against Japan. The latter team have played pretty well for the most part in this format so have put a bit on at 9/4 in the hope of an upset this evening.
The Irish Greyhound Laurels semi finals are run tonight and my three hopes Slip The Lark, Cabra Cool and Chicken Supper will hopefully be in the thick of the action, if I can get a couple through to the final itself will be more than happy.
Will certainly report on those tomorrow anyhow.
All the best
Rick

Siding with the outsiders in Grand Prix

The Grand Prix snooker gets underway at Glasgow tomorrow lunchtime with just the two matches before it gets into full swing a day later with half a dozen games taking place, the first day cut short as I explained yesterday due to an adjoining building's Queen tribute concert which has created an unfortunate clash.
The draw hasnt worked out particularly kindly for those looking for a outside dabble with many of the more likely outsiders coming against some of the better seeds and also some rather unfancied pairings meeting at the same time.
Would still prefer to be on the side of the better priced players in this event which has a unique FA Cup style draw once this round (which has been seeded) is out of the way, this means someone like Ronnie could meet Maguire or Selby with immediate effect so perhaps wise to steer clear of those at the head of the betting. With this format, anyone could end up with either a very difficult or very cushy passage.
Indeed, the last time this format was used I believe Canadian Bob Chaperon won the event for his only ranking title which encourages the idea of picking some long priced contenders.
Don't think I can manage anything as extravagant as a 125/1 pick this time around however.
Going through them, Shaun Murphy did win the Paul Hunter German Open a few weeks ago but has done little else, however he does have the class to find his feet at some stage this term and took the early 16/1 for starters, he starts with Adrian Gunnell in round one.
Mark Allen and Neil Robertson are both priced 33/1 and up against Michael Holt and Steve Davis respectively they ought to have a good chance of progressing to the open draw, both have the raw talent to take advantage of any weaker opposition they might encounter along the way even though Robbo has been disappointing for the last year and a bit since he won those two ranking titles. The Aussie did lead Ricky Walden 4-1 last week though before succumbing in a decider so at least went close to putting out the eventual winner.
Barry Hawkins has been pretty solid this year and at 66/1 I'll give him a chance here, he has a more difficult starter with Joe Perry, who is another sort I wouldnt argue against backing, but can see this being a tight match and with the Hawk a fair bit bigger in the outright betting I'll side with him.
Those are the main four but have also thrown a few quid at Judd Trump at 50/1, mainly because he is likely to get a bye due to Graeme Dott's broken arm; Dott is apparently looking at the possibility of playing but doubtful he would be able to do himself justice in any case even if he does turn up. Trump is almost certainly not ready to win a tourney like this yet, but with a draw of this nature its probably worth taking a chance he could have it all his own way if the balls come out favourably.
Will be keeping the powder dry on the opening day with John Higgins a short favourite to beat Anthony Hamilton and Perry taking on Hawkins in the above mentioned match which looks priced fairly accurately.
Last night's Premier League produced two 6-0 whitewashes with Rocket Ronnie trouncing Ding and Mark Selby having all too much for the Nugget; Ding's defeat continues a worrying decline in form for him and he could be in real danger of dropping out of the top 16 come the end of the season, which no one would have predicted a couple of years ago when he was just breaking in.
Some of these heavy defeats to Ronnie over the last couple of years seem to have really destroyed his confidence and his tactical game shows little sign of improvement in this time either.
In the World Cup of Pool, I backed Italy today at 5/4 and they did the business with an 8-0 win over Thailand, my outright picks Germany also made it through 8-6 against Poland, though I did have a saver on the opposition in the match betting at decent odds just in case.
Just one more bet today in that event, have taken Russia at 5/2 to pull off what would be a massive shock against Philippines though again going more on the price than any great expectations.
Had a mixed day yesterday with Russia and Japan winning but Spain losing a 7-2 lead to succumb 8-7 to Croatia, outsiders Switzerland losing by the same score to China and Belgium losing the last three frames to lose 8-6 to Austria, who are performing very well with the only female in the competition Jasmine Ouschan amongst their ranks.
Still as I said at the start its the first time I've priced up an event like this so any money won will be a bonus and in a pretty decent position at the moment overall.
Thats all for now anyway,
See you soon on the Betdaq forum perhaps,
All the best Rick