A smashing week in more ways than one!

Last week didnt start too well when soon after finishing the blog entry, I proceeded to sit on my glasses which ended up causing £320 worth of damage, i.e. they needed to be totally replaced so I needed to find a few winners and luckily thats how it transpired.
The World Championship snooker qualifiers at Sheffield were my main source of interest and they are played off to their completion on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday whereafter there will be a draw to see which qualifiers face which of the 16 seeded players who are already through to the Crucible.
I went along to the Institute of Sport last Saturday and in fact Sunday too as the last match between Jamie Jones and Atthasit Mahitti didnt finish until around 12.45am, but it was worth the wait in the end as my man Jones brought home the bacon in a 10-9 win. In fact, all the deciders went my way for once which makes a lot of difference obviously, remember earlier in the season in one tournament when 9 out of 10 went against me. This time all five went in my favour, as well as a couple more in the "to qualify" market I had dabbled in, making it seven out of seven in effect for the week! Having said that, every one will probably go against me now for the next three days!
My best wins in the match betting came from Lee Spick at 7/4 against Adrian Gunnell and a nice hat trick of successes for young Daniel Wells who I backed at 6/4, 13/8 and 2/1 to beat Li Hang, Ian Preece and Marcus Campbell respectively (all in final frame shootouts). Plus I had a nice 3/1 winner when Wayne Cooper edged out Scott Mackenzie, you've guessed it, 10-9!!
Not sure what the future holds for Scott as, in this months Snooker Scene magazine, he says if he didnt qualify for the Crucible he would pack it in, as it is not proving cost effective for him in the lower echelons of the rankings. Of course players winning the very first qualifying round receive absolutely nothing for their efforts so you have to win two rounds before any money starts coming your way, and even then its obviously fairly modest amounts.
I still have five out of eight left in my "to qualify for the last 32" portfolio - namely Trump, Walden, Holt, Higginson and Greene but do need at least three or four to progress to ensure a profit as my three at bigger odds all bit the dust.
Running concurrently with the World Championships this week was Matchroom's Championship League event with Groups 5 and 6 being held at Crondon Park. I got lucky in this too by selecting Mark King to win the first group at 9/1, my theory being that recent form has not been such a big factor in previous events and he had reached a final there in the past so perhaps quite liked the intimate type atmosphere.
My pair in the second group didnt fare so well though as Graeme Dott could only finish fifth and Matthew Stevens was beaten in the semi finals by eventual winner John Higgins so on this occasion the favourite actually did the business. The old Nuggett Steve Davis put up a sterling show to finish top of the group but failed to get a look in in the final itself as Higgins reeled off a series of impressive breaks to win 3-0.
Nevertheless, Davis showed enough there to have the layers slashing their odds for his match with Lee Spick in the pre-Crucible qualifier next week, as the early 8/13 quickly disappeared and 8/15 is now best price available which I still think looks a good deal on that kind of form.
I've got tickets for the three days up at Sheffield, will mostly be going up for the concluding evening sessions though might do the morning instead on Sunday as I usually hit the baize myself that night for a weekly practice session with one of my team-mates.
While touching on that subject, we had a great 5-0 win this week, our first whitewash of the season, against another of the teams in and around us in the league table and that puts us nip and tuck with our other team from the club now with two games left to see who can have bragging rights over the summer months! Not that I play any snooker over the summer so they will have to shout pretty loud from half a mile or so away!!
Had a great weekend on the greyhounds last Saturday when all three of my picks at the big Crayford meeting went in, Lorrys Options (4/1 ante post and topped up at 9/4 on the day), Nebuchadnezzar and Special Liberty (both 9/4 too) all doing the business.
Plus had a nice 3/1+ double at Harlow on Wednesday thanks to Ranch Pacific and Bubbly Rambo, and got all four of my ante post selections through in the first round of the Tote Gold Cup at Shelbourne. Also added another one to the portfolio there as Tyrur Kenny caught my eye having a troubled passage and running on well into third so hopefully with the quintet I have there it gives me a strong hand.
The Puppy Derby at Monmore also started on Thursday and the three selections made it through round one - Bandicoot Tipoki (4/1) finishing a close second, Droopys Quinta (20/1) third in the same race and Kinda Ready (8/1) winning his heat with something to spare.
One blemish was Mountjoy Gold losing out tonight in the Poole Golden Crest but that one had the worst of the draw really and the writing was on the wall anyway after a sluggish start from the traps.
Only had one bet on the GAA last week and that was in the hurling where I thought Wexford might overcome their -4 handicap at Antrim at evens but nothing was further from the truth and despite leading by 9pts at one stage, they capitulated to an eight point defeat against what is not normally recognised as the home side's strongest line up, with several of the better club players still not taking the field just yet.
Also my final aussie rules NAB Cup outright bit the dust when Essendon went the same way as one of my other picks Richmond by being beaten by Collingwood, so no luck in that market this year.
The gaelic football returns in Ireland this week with a vengeance after a quiet couple of weeks for the county teams, this time I'm tieing my colours to the mast of Tyrone, Down, Mayo and Cork plus cant resist a bit on good old London who have been given a +14 handicap against Sligo by one of the books and the signs are that they have an improved team this year so they ought to have a fair chance of staying within that margin if so.
In fact last year London defeated the same opposition in extra time in the Tommy Murphy Cup consolation event but the visitors will certainly have a stronger line up on the field on this particular occasion.
Anyhow, I shall say goodnight before what is left of my once proud glasses drops off the end of my nose!!
All the best for now
Rick