A great week of cup football ahead with the FA Cup and Champions’ League final to look forward to.
We start with Saturday’s FA Cup final and we have an out-of-form Portsmouth side taking on Championship side Cardiff at Wembley.
Bookmakers make Harry Redknapp their 4/6 favourites and make Cardiff the 7/2 underdogs, while it’s 12/5 the draw.
Portsmouth finished their Premiership season badly, losing their last FOUR games and scoring only ONE goal – I wouldn’t be lumping on the 4/6 on that form.
Pompey lack goals and remember they have Jermaine Defoe cup-tied; that leaves Kanu, Milan Baros and big money flop David Nugent fighting for the striking positions.
To be honest with you, Quasimodo scores more than Baros and Nugent, so if you are looking for goals then Kanu has to be the threat. Pompey are, however, very strong in defence with Sol Campbell leading a high-class rear-guard which could well be the telling factor on Saturday.
Cardiff may be a Championship side, but they did take Midddlesboro apart in the quarter-finals and don’t lack experience. They have veteran striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink leading the line and could yet have Robbie Fowler on the bench. Portsmouth will need to watch out for midfielders Paul Parry and Joe Ledley who like to get forward and they do score a lot of goals. I think the Welsh club will have a lot of supporters at that 7/2 price.
Punters Guide Cup Final Selections
First Goalscorer: Kanu (5/1). Correct Score: Portsmouth to win 2-1 (8/1).
Anytime Goalscorer: Joe Ledley (4/1).
First Player Booked: Darren Purse (8/1).
Friday, 16 May 2008
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Punters just miss out on massive bets
Our old mate and draw specialist Raffo was yet again left gutted this week when he went even closer to securing that dreamy bet.
Remember, McEnaneys regular Raffowas the punter who nearly hit eight draws two weeks back only for injury-time goals to thwart him.
This time he took just the seven draws and threw in Waterford at 1/2 in a £3 Friday night accumulator.
Waterford did the business and so too did six of his seven draws.
It was the Bray-Drogheda game that eneded up beating him out of nearly 16 grand – another sickener for poor Raffo who should try his hand at the pools.
Another punter crying into his beer was a Lisburn bloke who was waiting on Juventus on Sunday after grabbing SEVEN winners on Saturday in his Euro bet.
He backed Bayern Munich (1/1), Hertha Berlin (6/4), Werder Bremen (1/2), Wolfsburg (7/5), Lille (11/10), Lorient (8/5) and Monaco (11/8) who all won to give the £5 bet a massive double on Sunday. Reggina (10/11) did their bit for the bet, winning 2-0, but Juventus didn’t, drawing 1-1 at lowly Catania to beat Michael out of close to £3,800 with bonuses. Heartbreak for both punters.
Remember, McEnaneys regular Raffowas the punter who nearly hit eight draws two weeks back only for injury-time goals to thwart him.
This time he took just the seven draws and threw in Waterford at 1/2 in a £3 Friday night accumulator.
Waterford did the business and so too did six of his seven draws.
It was the Bray-Drogheda game that eneded up beating him out of nearly 16 grand – another sickener for poor Raffo who should try his hand at the pools.
Another punter crying into his beer was a Lisburn bloke who was waiting on Juventus on Sunday after grabbing SEVEN winners on Saturday in his Euro bet.
He backed Bayern Munich (1/1), Hertha Berlin (6/4), Werder Bremen (1/2), Wolfsburg (7/5), Lille (11/10), Lorient (8/5) and Monaco (11/8) who all won to give the £5 bet a massive double on Sunday. Reggina (10/11) did their bit for the bet, winning 2-0, but Juventus didn’t, drawing 1-1 at lowly Catania to beat Michael out of close to £3,800 with bonuses. Heartbreak for both punters.
Local punters clean up with some tasty bets
My fax machine was absolutely red-hot this week with some great bets from local bookmakers who took a bit of a caning at the weekend.
We start with the biggest windfall from the smallest stake. Our favourite kind of bet.
An Andersonstown punter cleaned up at Ladbrokes with a weekend golf bet.
He placed 2 x £2 wins and a £2 double on the Players’ Championship and the Italian Open.
Our wily punter took Hennie Otto at 66/1 and he obliged by a stroke in the Italian Open. Already £132 in the bank and £132 going on Sergio Garcia (40/1) on Sunday night in the Players’ Championship and what a sweat the Andersonstown punter had.
Garcia forced a play-off when he sank a birdie at the last and our punter was now on the sweat of his life. The little Spaniard went on to grab victory and our punter was in punting heaven. He had just won £5,710 for a £6 stake – an amazing bet.
A Springfield Road punter hit the same firm with a £15 treble at the Irish Lotto – his magic numbers came in when 6, 10 and 14 came out to give the punter £9,015.
Another big-money gambler scooped close to 11 grand last Wednesday night with selections at Punchestown. He placed £200 on two horses and £400 on another and rolled them up with a £15 trixie – a layout of £860.
His first horse CEASEN DESERT (12/1) more than paid for the bet when winning the 7.30 and 35 minutes later MODEL ATHLETE (4/1) gave him another windfall and doubles up on his trixie.
His remaining selection NEW PHASE (3/1) hacked up in the last to give our big-time punter a windfall of £10,781 – wow!
We end with what’s another bad luck story in a way, because our punter, although he picked up few quid, could have won a small fortune. The North Belfast man placed a 5p Lucky 57 – a bet that cost him a mere £2.85.
He took all the six races at Chester last Thursday and came so close to going through the card.
He had the first the first FOUR winners with Mull Of Dubai (13/2), Championship Point (12/1), Doctor Fremantle (11/8) and Huzzah (15/2) all winning to give the punter an almighty sweat.
The fifth leg of the bet was to be the downfall when Musical Bridge (9/2) was badly hampered and finished a well beaten fourth.
His last horse, Not My Choice, absolutely sluiced home at (6/1). He picked up £1,676.63 off his docket, but he would have outdone the rest of the winners this week if Musical Bridge had won, but still, a great piece of punting.
We start with the biggest windfall from the smallest stake. Our favourite kind of bet.
An Andersonstown punter cleaned up at Ladbrokes with a weekend golf bet.
He placed 2 x £2 wins and a £2 double on the Players’ Championship and the Italian Open.
Our wily punter took Hennie Otto at 66/1 and he obliged by a stroke in the Italian Open. Already £132 in the bank and £132 going on Sergio Garcia (40/1) on Sunday night in the Players’ Championship and what a sweat the Andersonstown punter had.
Garcia forced a play-off when he sank a birdie at the last and our punter was now on the sweat of his life. The little Spaniard went on to grab victory and our punter was in punting heaven. He had just won £5,710 for a £6 stake – an amazing bet.
A Springfield Road punter hit the same firm with a £15 treble at the Irish Lotto – his magic numbers came in when 6, 10 and 14 came out to give the punter £9,015.
Another big-money gambler scooped close to 11 grand last Wednesday night with selections at Punchestown. He placed £200 on two horses and £400 on another and rolled them up with a £15 trixie – a layout of £860.
His first horse CEASEN DESERT (12/1) more than paid for the bet when winning the 7.30 and 35 minutes later MODEL ATHLETE (4/1) gave him another windfall and doubles up on his trixie.
His remaining selection NEW PHASE (3/1) hacked up in the last to give our big-time punter a windfall of £10,781 – wow!
We end with what’s another bad luck story in a way, because our punter, although he picked up few quid, could have won a small fortune. The North Belfast man placed a 5p Lucky 57 – a bet that cost him a mere £2.85.
He took all the six races at Chester last Thursday and came so close to going through the card.
He had the first the first FOUR winners with Mull Of Dubai (13/2), Championship Point (12/1), Doctor Fremantle (11/8) and Huzzah (15/2) all winning to give the punter an almighty sweat.
The fifth leg of the bet was to be the downfall when Musical Bridge (9/2) was badly hampered and finished a well beaten fourth.
His last horse, Not My Choice, absolutely sluiced home at (6/1). He picked up £1,676.63 off his docket, but he would have outdone the rest of the winners this week if Musical Bridge had won, but still, a great piece of punting.
Punter warns of those ‘draw no bet’ specials
A concerned punter was on the telephone warning punters about backing these ‘draw no bet’ specials.
He had a few quid on the Liverpool v Chelsea game and was expecting his £30 stake back after the game finished 1-1, but rules on these bets state that extra-time is to be counted.
With cup finals and play-offs coming up he has warned punters that they are on a loser if the match is settled in extra-time and wants bookmakers to make these rules clearer – ie to display sheets and put info on screens.
He had a few quid on the Liverpool v Chelsea game and was expecting his £30 stake back after the game finished 1-1, but rules on these bets state that extra-time is to be counted.
With cup finals and play-offs coming up he has warned punters that they are on a loser if the match is settled in extra-time and wants bookmakers to make these rules clearer – ie to display sheets and put info on screens.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Punter hits bookmakers with £60 SCORECAST
A DVLNI punter had cause to celebrate after last nights Champions League game.
Our wily punter took Drogba to open the scoring and the match to end 1-1.
The odds of 30/1 were to good to turn dow the punter told the PG and I had just won £60 in a five pound virtual horse double - I let it ride and ended up winning over £1800 .
Rumour has it he's away to steepldowns for the weekend!
6 out of 6 for New Approach?
The Punters Guide at last returned to the winner’s enclosure at the weekend after we tipped up 25/1 shot Monkerhostin to win the win the Bet 365 Gold Cup at Sandown.
We have had a lean spell in the last few months and let’s hope this is the start of a good run.
It must be summer already, we have the Guineas this weekend. Indeed, we start with the 2,000 Guineas on Saturday (3.25) and we have a hot favourite in the shape of Jim Bolger’s unbeaten New Approach (below, 2/1). He ran out a brave winner of the Dewhurst over the Newmarket course in October and had Ravens Pass behind that day. If the colt has trained on to a three-year-old, then it’s simple, he will make it six from six on Saturday. Not all of them progress, though.
Of the dangers, we are putting up Moynahan from the Paul Cole yard who looks to me overpriced at 50/1 – that’s just under 16/1 the place. He has had two runs: a fourth on his debut at Goodwood and then he looked classy when winning at Doncaster. The best-backed horse this week has been the Aidan O’Brien-trained Henrythenavigator who is now a 12/1 shot from 20s. But this one has ground to make up on New Approach since their two-year-old days.
They Bet: New Approach 2/1, Ravens Pass 9/2, Ibn Khaldun 6/1, Jupiter Pluvius 12/1, Henrythenavigator 14/1, Stimulation 16/1, Fireside 20/1, Perfect Stride 22/1, Rio De La Plata 25/1 and it’s 33/1 bar these.
On to the mares with the 1,000 Guineas on Sunday (3.20) and this is a closer betting field with unbeaten fillies Infallible and Natagora battling it for favouritism with the latter being backed in to fours from 20s, same price she was prior to winning the Dubai Duty Free at Newbury.
Jockeys sometimes – sorry, most of the time – put me off a horse and let’s just say I’m not a big fan of Richard Hills (he’ll probably get a Guineas double now!)
We like the look of the John Gosden-trained INFALLIBLE, who looked a cut above when hacking up here in the Nell Gwyn Stakes to make it two course wins out of two – she looks a solid bet on Sunday. The big danger could be the French trained Natagora (9/2) who comes to Newmarket with a tall reputation
They Bet: Infallible 4/1, Muthabara 4/1, Natagora 9/2, Spacious 6/1, Kitty Matcham 14/1, Savethisdanceforme 14/1, Laureldean Gale 20/1, Psalm 20/1, Halfway To Heaven 33/1, Lush Lashes 33/1, Nahoodh 33/1, Saoirse Abu 33/1, Max One Two Three 40/1, Francesca DGiorgio 50/1, Nijoom Dubai 50/1, Royal Confidence 50/1, Lady Deauville 66/1, Spinning Lucy 100/1.
Next week sees the big May Chester meeting and you’re advised to keep a look out for the progressive Highland Legacy in the Cup on Wednesday – he currently trades at around 7/1 and looks like very good value.
A wee bit of thought on those weekend selections could pay off
We have reached the pivotal point of the season when you simply need to get those league tables out and do a bit of studying.
Last week we yet again were out of luck with Man City surrendering a two-goal lead to beat our quad, but for the 19th time this season we delivered two out of three draws – a 10/1 winner – and if you have backed our XXX selections all season, well then you have a hefty profit.
On to this weekennd and our quad consists of teams who must win for different reasons - it’s as simple as that. We start off with the conclusion of what has been a memorable season in the Championship and hopefully can come up with a winning quad.
SOUTHAMPTON (5/4) let us down a few weeks back but we have taken them get to the three points they need to try and escape relegation – they take on a Sheffield Utd side who need four other games to go their way to sneak into the play-offs.
WATFORD (11/10) have lost their way big time in recent weeks but are still hanging in there for a play-off place; we expect them to get the three points they need at Blackpool.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (8/11) gave themselves a lifeline with a win at Leicester last week and should make it to safety with a win over ‘safe’ Norwich.
Making the quad up are WOLVES (1/2) who could yet sneak into the play-offs and to do that, a win over Plymouth is needed.
On to the Premiership race and the big question remains, are champions Man Utd cracking?
They booked their Champions League final place on Tuesday night, but again failed to convince – a wonder-goal was required to see them through and you don’t get those every game.
The Reds are 1/8 to beat bogey team West Ham (14/1) at Old Trafford and Chelsea are 4/9 to win at in-form Newcastle (4/1) .
On to our FIVEHIT and we kick-off with BOLTON (4/6) who need a win at home to the now safe Sunderland and should get it. In-form ASTON VILLA (4/7) should collect all points at home to Wigan while SPL leaders Celtic (4/9) could go EIGHT points clear with a win over Motherwell at Fir Park.
CHESTER (6/5) know a win at home to Macclesfield will save them from demotion to the Blue Square Conference.
Making the fivehit up are STOKE (4/5) who know a win against a doomed-looking Leicester could see them strut their stuff in the Premiership next season.
PG XXX: Fulham v Birmingham (23/10), Reading v Spurs (11/5) Middlesboro v Portsmouth (23/10)
(remember those doubles and treble)
OUTSIDE Double: Hibs (10/3), Bradford (9/4)
Last week we yet again were out of luck with Man City surrendering a two-goal lead to beat our quad, but for the 19th time this season we delivered two out of three draws – a 10/1 winner – and if you have backed our XXX selections all season, well then you have a hefty profit.
On to this weekennd and our quad consists of teams who must win for different reasons - it’s as simple as that. We start off with the conclusion of what has been a memorable season in the Championship and hopefully can come up with a winning quad.
SOUTHAMPTON (5/4) let us down a few weeks back but we have taken them get to the three points they need to try and escape relegation – they take on a Sheffield Utd side who need four other games to go their way to sneak into the play-offs.
WATFORD (11/10) have lost their way big time in recent weeks but are still hanging in there for a play-off place; we expect them to get the three points they need at Blackpool.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (8/11) gave themselves a lifeline with a win at Leicester last week and should make it to safety with a win over ‘safe’ Norwich.
Making the quad up are WOLVES (1/2) who could yet sneak into the play-offs and to do that, a win over Plymouth is needed.
On to the Premiership race and the big question remains, are champions Man Utd cracking?
They booked their Champions League final place on Tuesday night, but again failed to convince – a wonder-goal was required to see them through and you don’t get those every game.
The Reds are 1/8 to beat bogey team West Ham (14/1) at Old Trafford and Chelsea are 4/9 to win at in-form Newcastle (4/1) .
On to our FIVEHIT and we kick-off with BOLTON (4/6) who need a win at home to the now safe Sunderland and should get it. In-form ASTON VILLA (4/7) should collect all points at home to Wigan while SPL leaders Celtic (4/9) could go EIGHT points clear with a win over Motherwell at Fir Park.
CHESTER (6/5) know a win at home to Macclesfield will save them from demotion to the Blue Square Conference.
Making the fivehit up are STOKE (4/5) who know a win against a doomed-looking Leicester could see them strut their stuff in the Premiership next season.
PG XXX: Fulham v Birmingham (23/10), Reading v Spurs (11/5) Middlesboro v Portsmouth (23/10)
(remember those doubles and treble)
OUTSIDE Double: Hibs (10/3), Bradford (9/4)
IFA to look into weekend betting scam
The IFA are investigating reports of a possible betting scam at an Irish League game on Saturday – at last, I hear you cry.
The match under investigation is Glenavon v Armagh, a game which was won by the Mourneview men 5-0. Local layers suspended the betting in this game as they apparently got wind of substantial bets going on Glenavon.
Not only were local punters piling on, it is also reported that a high number of new internet and telebetting accounts were opened to place bets only on the Glenavon-Armagh game.
Hooky betting patterns in the Irish League have long been a topic of conversation. It’s why some companies just steer clear of the whole league.
The match under investigation is Glenavon v Armagh, a game which was won by the Mourneview men 5-0. Local layers suspended the betting in this game as they apparently got wind of substantial bets going on Glenavon.
Not only were local punters piling on, it is also reported that a high number of new internet and telebetting accounts were opened to place bets only on the Glenavon-Armagh game.
Hooky betting patterns in the Irish League have long been a topic of conversation. It’s why some companies just steer clear of the whole league.
Absolute sickener
A McEnaneys punter who wishes only to be known as Raffo was left in pieces on Saturday after just missing out on... wait for it... 73 grand!
The madcap punter took EIGHT draws in a £5 accumulator – and how close did poor Raffo come?
We take up the bet with five minutes to go and, amazingly, our punter had SEVEN out his eight drawing. That all changed when Cardiff equalised in the 89th minute – our punter was on the verge of the bet of the decade.
The time was pushing towards 4.55 and five of the draws were through as full times on the videprinter, then came the news that there was a goal at the Stadium of Light.
Shock horror for our punter as Sunderland had just scored a 93rd minute winner against Middlesboro, and before he could curse them another goal went in at Eastlands with Fulham grabbing a 94th minute winner at City to leave our poor punter crying into his beer. We’ll send poor Raffo a few Sean Graham betting vouchers to ease the pain – and the nerves.
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