Fairwell to Knowsley

During my short time writing this blog I have given little clues as to which teams I support in any of the various sports I have written about. This is about to change. Not through blind loyalty, but smug confidence. If the title of this blog hasn't given it away yet, I am a St Helens RLFC supporter, a very happy one. Tonight's game against the Giants is gonna get emotional, last competitative game at Knowsley Road which has been our home for 120 years added to the fact that immortal legend which is Kieron Cunningham is playing his last ever game for a club he has represented for 16 years. Saints cannot lose this I feel. Huddersfield are in good form , beating Warrington last week in a shock play-off game. However it was a slog and that extra game may have just taken it out of them, and Saints will not give them a 22 point head start. I fancy a tough 60 minutes but fatigue will tell, the cream will rise, and Huddersfield will cave like a New Delhi weightlifting arena!  For me Saints will win in excess of 10 points to send Kieron out in style at the Grand Final. My first bet is a 6 point single on Saints -10 @ 1.91.

1st Bet: Handicap Bet
St Helens -10
6 points @ 1.91

Horse Racing this evening at Wolverhampton. Granted its not Ascot Gold cup  and there will be no summer dresses or crazy hats but there is a good looking thing in the 5.45. Bouncy Bouncy came from last to first at Brighton last time and their is nothing in this race which is anything better than he faced that day. He is currently at 4.00 and should go well as he has been supported. 4 points the win on this one.

2nd Bet: 5.45 @ Wolverhampton
Bouncy Bouncy to win
4 points @ 4.00

Like this blog NFL is in its third week and while the bookmakers are getting to grips with whose going to be good and bad this year, punters have a chance to take advantage. The Jets after a bad start against the ravens bounced back to beat the highly rated patriots. They play the dolphins this week and to my surprise are 11/10 to win. Miami struggled last year and I'm not convinced about their prospects this season. Meanwhile the Packers look the real deal with two strong looking victories already, Double these two up and theres a decent 3.41 double.

3rd Bet: NFL double
Jets to win
Green Bay to win
5 points on double @ 3.41

Finally lets have a look at this weekend football action. The fixture of the weekend undoubtedly is at Eastlands and I like price on Chelsea at Man City. They have looked irresistable this season, and I believe with Essien, Mikel and Ramires they will win the midfield battle allowing the deadly trio of Drogba, Malouda and Anelka to show their undoubted class. They are 6/5 to win at Eastland. I'm proposing putting them in a four fold with Arsenal, Man Utd and Cardiff which gives decent odds of 7.13.

4th Bet: English football Four fold
Chelsea
Arsenal
Man Utd
Cardiff
4 Points win @ 7.13

Goodbye from me, and goodbye to Knowsley Road....



Profit/Loss Update:
 -33.12

Nobody said it was easy......

After last weekends disaster I am back with my tail firmly between my legs. The Crusaders played their Welsh hearts out but alas Hull FC showed little bottle in the biggest Hull derby for some time, getting stuffed by their city rivals costing me £17.50. Nevertheless nobody likes a quitter, if at first you don't succeed and any other moral boosting cliches are the order of the day.

So the first bet will again be on the Super League Play-offs. Its week two and Wigan, the League winners were beaten last week by Leeds. Thanks to Pat Richards kicking display they face Hull KR who travel to the DW Stadium. Similar to last week I am leaning towards the rather large looking Handicap given to the underdogs. Hull KR are +12, and after last weeks performance this looks generous to say the least. They may not beat Wigan, but they will give them a run for YOUR  money. 5 points on Hull KR +12 @ 10/11 is advised.

1st bet:   Hull KR +12 Handicap
7 points @ 1.91

Home advantage in the Premier League seems to be hugely, well, advantageous! Blackburn have a great record at Ewood Park and Fulham seem to struggle on their travels, so the Even money about Rovers is a good looking price. I am going to double it up with the nailed on result at Stamford Bridge for my second bet.

2nd Bet: Football Double
Blackburn to win
Chelsea to win
6 points on the double @ 2.2

Horse Racing makes its debut to the blog now, as we travel to bonny Scotland for the Ayr Gold Cup. Looking at the past winners of the race it becomes clear that anything above 9st 3 will find it difficult to win as only two horses above this weight have won the race in the past 24 years. Also only one favourite has won in the same period of time. David Nicholls has won this race 5 times and brings a very strong group which includes the consistent Victoire De Lyphar who is priced 7/1 and should go well. I am going to go E/W purely because of the numbers in the race, 2.5 points E/W and 5 places are getting paid.

3rd Bet: Ayr Gold Cup
Victoire De Lyphar E/W @ 8.00
2.5 points E/W

With the remaining 2 points out of the 20 I will stake each week I am going to place a 5 fold on this weeks Aviva Premiership action using the Handicap market to give me a good return. This will consist of Leicester Tigers -1, Bath +5, London Irish -8, Saracens -8 and Newcastle Scr. This will give me odds of 50.00 and I will place 2 points on to give me a tasty return of 100.0

4th Bet: Accumulator- Aviva Premiership Handicap
Leicester Tigers -1
Bath +5
London Irish -8
Saracens -8
Newcastle Scr

2 points @ 50.0 accumulator

Hopefully a better week than the last with a bit of luck. Enjoy your weekends sport and happy punting.

Blog Profit loss update: -20.0 points

Opening weekend, in more ways than one

After various evenings down the pub, numerous pints and even more rants, I have decided to place my head with it's considerably noisy mouth on the chopping block and write my pearls of sports betting wisdom down for all to see...well, all three people who will probably read this! This blog will concern sports from  football to horse racing, NFL to rugby league and everything in between...... well, not badminton or handball but you get the idea.

|C

This is the big opening weekend, not just for the blog but also for the new NFL season and the Super League play-offs two of many sports which this blog will feature. My aim is to look for the best tips for your weekend's punting pleasure, both in terms of its chance and also the price. I will give myself 20 units to bet with, 1 unit could be as much or as little as your occupation or Government handout allows, just a way of keeping track of my profit (fingers crossed!).

So, that's enough of the nitty gritty.  Let's have a gander at the weekends action.

It's play-off time in the Super League, and there's one team which has crept in at the 11th hour.  You better believe it, the boy-o's from North Wales have done it, quite incredible. After finishing stone cold last in 2009 Brian Noble and his men did enough at Wrexham last week, with some help from the Saints to pip Castleford to 8th spot.  Now they travel to the Galphram to face the Huddersfield Giants, who faired poorly in last years play-offs. I am not particularly confident that the Crusaders will be advancing any further, however it will be a lot closer than Mr P Power or Mr W Hill think and I will happily take a +14 handicap on Crusaders @10/11 and double it up with Hull FC -4 @ 5/6 to give me a decent looking 2.5 double

1st Bet: 

Hull FC -4

Crusaders +14

5 points on Double @ 2.5

Now I go across the pond in search of Yank inspired betting diamonds. Yes it's over the top, yes it stops every 15 seconds for a Dominoes Pizza add and yes there are a lot of men in tights but all that aside it can be profitable on occasion. The outstanding value on the opening weekend of the NFL has to be America's Team the Dallas Cowboys @ Washington on Sunday, they are 10/11 to win by more than 4(-3.5 handicap), when you consider the cowboys are 3rd or 4th favourites for the Superbowl and Washington are 33/1 it has to be worth a few pretty pennies.

2nd Bet:

Dallas -3.5

5 points on single @ 1.91

After the dull shadow which is the International break is over, we return to bask in the sunshine of the Barclay's Premier League. The bookmakers, it seems have a tendancy to forget that Tottenham are a top 4 side when they are away from home, they were priced 6/4 in week 2 to beat Stoke which I was more than happy to take. They travel to the Hawthorns on Saturday and are priced at an incredible 11/10 against a West Brom side who look susceptible to any team with top 8 expectations,  7 points the win  I say.

3rd Bet:

Tottenham to win 

8 points on Single @ 1.91

I will place all my selections in a 2 point accumulator to make it 20 points altogether

4th bet

Hull FC -4

Crusaders +14

Dallas -3.5

Tottenham (WIN)

2 points on accumulator @ 14.1

And that's that, first blog done, 20 points stake and hopefully some returns!

Adios for now.