Well after a decidedly dodgy spell on the snooker betting it all seems to have come together in recent tournaments with decent profits on both the Welsh Open and the recent World qualifiers now taking me to record profits for the year so far, which has taken much longer than anticipated after backing Ricky Walden at both 100s and 125s (but not for nearly enough money lol) earlier in the season.
Since then seemed to hit a spell where I just couldnt get any consistent profits out of the match betting but had to keep the faith and perhaps getting a bit more of a grasp on some of the inconsistencies of certain players now the season is nearing its conclusion.
I went up to Sheffield to see the final pre-Crucible round of the World Championships and was rewarded by a speeding ticket on the Sunday morning - suppose it was a fair cop - but a bit galling to be hauled in by an unmarked police car on a near deserted motorway where there was no serious danger at all in my humble opinion. Also an average speed in the eighties seems hardly excessive on the motorway nowadays in comparison with others so feel a bit unlucky with that one, however had a narrow escape with a speed camera flashing me and never hearing anything else about it a few months ago so suppose I deserved my come uppance!!
Once there I saw my old sparring partner Nigel Bond who used to play in our local league making hard work of his match with Mike Dunn - he actually lost the session I watched 5-4 after being 5-2 down - but he eventually pulled out all the stops in the afternoon to make it through
10-7.
I shall refrain to mention that I once beat him myself due to my prevailing modesty (nor shall I mention that I actually scored over a hundred points in one of the frames, that would just be too much like blowing my own trumpet!!).
The other games I saw on the Sunday saw Jamie Cope taking advantage of quite a few errors from Paul Davies without really looking totally convincing and also Andrew Higginson defeating Michael Judge in a very scrappy affair.
I went up for the afternoon session on the Monday and Tuesday. On the first of those days Ricky Walden got the better of Anthony Hamilton with some decent scoring in the balls in the concluding frames and also saw the conclusion of Mark Williams' comfortable win over Tom Ford with a fluent display, he was certainly flying around the table, sometimes playing as many as four shots as opposed to just one in the next cubicle.
The crowd was mainly gathered around the Judd Trump - Stephen Lee match which meant I couldnt get a good view of that one - Lee progressed 10-8 from 5-1 down to once again deny the youngster a place in the final stages of the big one.
On the final day to my surprise there seemed to be an even bigger crowd with plenty of Lee Spick fans from the Mansfield area there to see their man up against the Nugget Steve Davis who himself had an army of supporting grannies and after an intriguing battle it was the old stager who came through 10-8. I had actually supported him at 8/15 in the betting here on the back of his previous impressive run in the Championship League but he found it much more of a struggle this time. One thing he has admitted to himself is finding difficulty in adapting to the speed of the modern ultra-fast cloths - and it was certainly evident here as he ran out of position with alarming regularity. Crondon Park is pretty much renowned for having rather sluggish tables in comparison so that perhaps half explains his better performance there.
There was also a very decent match between Ian McCulloch and Rory McLeod. Despite some heavy scoring from the Preston potter, McLeod maybe made fewer unforced errors overall and this was probably one of his best ever performances to win 10-7.
My best bets odds-wise in the final round were Martin Gould to beat Matthew Stevens at 5/2 and Gerard Greene to beat Ken Doherty at 6/4.
I also finally cracked the "to qualify" market with the first profits of the season from that sphere - Walden (11/8), Holt (13/8), Higginson (2/1) and Greene (7/4) all obliging which was exactly half of my portfolio of bets.
The draw for the final stages was made the following day and the odds were out in a matter of minutes with a few of the firms. Still havent gotten round to pricing them up yet as there are a couple of other tournaments until Sheffield but did have a bit of an accumulator on some of the more obvious favourites as the prices on these tend to shorten in the run up if it stays consistent with previous years.
In the outright market had already backed Ryan Day (before he lost form!), Stephen Maguire and Mark Selby and while I was fairly happy with the draw for the first two (though Lee is no pushover), not sure I would have picked Walden out of the hat for the Jester in that one.
To make up my usual policy of one from each quarter, have backed Mark Williams at 33s since the draw. Although he fails to meet the criteria that all recent winners have been under 33 years of age, he has a winnable starter against Hendry and then ought to get chances against either Ding or Liang, given their open styles of play. The alternative would probably have been Ding but wouldnt be surprised if his compatriot gives him a real fight there with the local rivalry, the match should certainly play to each others strengths.
On to the dogs and I lost outsider Priceless Johnno and new addition Tyrur Kenny from my Tote Gold Cup ante post roster but Slip The Lark, Ballymac Bondi and Swords Prince all made it through by winning their respective heats at Shelbourne last Saturday. Lark was either lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it, as he looked booked for second when the leader Ja Mann, with the race seemingly in the bag, inexplicably jinked across the course, almost carrying my selection out with him, but luckily he just managed to maintain enough momentum to cross the line at the head of affairs.
In the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby, Bandicoot Tipoki and Kinda Ready made it through to the final by finishing first and second in their heat on Thursday though my other pick Droopys Quinta narrowly missed out on qualifying in third place in her heat.
And in the William Hill Pall Mall which started on the same day, I lost Royal Warrior but the impressive Bandit Blue and rather-less-so Soviet Maldini still made it through. Have since added the four year old veteran Brickfield Class to the roster too as he showed excellent pace to win his heat, though will now contest the same heat as Bandit Blue himself.
The gaelic football bets last week started off woefully with both Tyrone and Down losing narrowly on Saturday night - maybe the abysmal weather had a bit to do with those results - but Mayo and Cork obliged the following day as did London on the handicap so finished up pretty much all square on those.
Also had a dabble on the Aussie Rules pre season showcase final the NAB Cup by backing outsiders Collingwood but they had no answer to the fire power of favourites Geelong who cranked it up a gear here after some narrow wins in the previous rounds.
Nevertheless a very good week overall on the betting.
On the local snooker front, we have a two week break from the league for competitions before completing our final two matches of the season. I lost one of my semi finals last night 2-0 against one of the most promising players on the local circuit, he knocked in breaks of 45 and 30 so leaves me with something to think about as I play him in another semi on Monday!!
Oh for some of that form from the day I beat .... no sorry I wont mention it again!!
All the best for now
Rick
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3 comments:
You beat Nigel Bond eh? I don't know why you don't mention this more as it's definitely something to shout about. However, I've heard a rumour that snooker backer has had a couple of 147's, do you know if it's true? I believe he's also beaten a string of lower pros, but never Nigel Bond. I'd appreciate it if you'd ask him next time you two chat.... ;)
I agree. I think its been hidden under a bushel for long enough. Maybe I could get SB to mention it on the BF forums too as I'm banned on there for mentioning the word purple, its a strange world they live in lol. Perhaps so SB doesnt feel left out we could also pretend he once took him to the final black (but lost obviously so as it doesnt sound too far fetched). I'm still limbering up for that first maximum, the trouble was in my heydey we had a very attractive mini skirted barmaid who used to bend over and collect glasses around the snooker table, hence more than the average number of miscues tended to ensue and many a promising break was cut short in its prime...
I think SB's glasses collector was a short bald portly chap from memory (any resemblence to any low ranking pro SB once beat is purely coincidental) so clearly he had an unfair advantage.
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