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