Das Punter

Wanko is NOT cutting the mustard Chennai, New Year's Eve 2012 , and Janko Tipsarevic is preparing for a hard court tour event. He beats Vasselin, Soeda, Bedene and Bautista Agut (3-6, 6-1, 6-3) to win the final and he was 9th in the world rankings.  Was this a great achievement to begin the New Year....well no...not really? The rankings of the aforementioned players were 102, 60, 86 and 80 . In those matches, the last two were 3 setters in which he lost the first set, so it was hardly a ringing endorsement against a weak field. Roll on 27th July 2013, and where the hell is Tipsarevic at at the moment? Not in a good place, that's for sure. Tipsarevic's failures in truth could be traced to before the New Year . Before this event in Chennai he went 3-11 in a run against players worthy of a game. He lost to Zemjla in Vienna, before retiring in Valencia against Simon. He then beat Sijsling and Monaco before a poor run against Janowicz, Federer, Del Potro, Ferrer, before be

Again looks high at 1.94 v Pujol Mixed fortune again across other sports, but a stonking day with the footy and particularly an old tactic I used to use to see me through this tough patch. The power of the AH underdog is not to be underestimated . In many cases, a team may have superior form and playing potential but will be (rightfully so in some cases) given the underdog status, especially if away from home. However, with the counter attack being a prevalent tactic in the modern game, and in a lot of occasions is more  potent than possession football, it leaves the door wide open for the win AND the draw. Straight wins/losses for teams have become hard to predict, with a lot of late goals scuppering a win either way. Yesterday, without looking at the stats, was probably a 8/10 tips won day, all on around the evens mark. Tennis is still doing my head in I'm afraid. Just when you think you have your entry points sussed out for maximum value something pathetic happens. Yesterd

BATE - A crock of shit Today was an eye opener and a lesson that Twitter, whilst it's great as a social networking tool, can be a GREAT hindrance to your betting. From the first European Champions League Qualifying Leg I believed that FC Shakhter were the better side. Today , I was going to bet in some form on them again, but had my mind changed by Twitter pressure an those we think are 'in the know'. It's another harsh lesson learned. BATE went down 1-0 away to lose the tie 2-0 on aggregate. So if there's ONE lesson to be taken from today is that it's ALWAYS best to trust your own judgment, bet before going on ANY social media, and back yourself.

D/L needs revamping for the modern game Punters around the world are rejoicing that the new season is upon us, and that regular trading and betting techniques can be implemented once again. The off season for many, myself included, has been one of frustration and a general feeling of hit and miss with teams and leagues being bet on without the full knowledge of how bad they are. Real were the toast of twitter yesterday landing an over 4.5 goals bet as well as a AH of 2.5 goals over Bournemouth; the latter bet seeming too good to be true. Yes it was a friendly, but Real had their stars playing and this was a glorious opportunity. Del Bonis who was picked yesterday at over 2/1 folded and crumpled like an amateur. He had three match points against the Fog, but converted none, then was broken and then became a shambles in the third set. Total choke-meister, so watch again in the future in any tense matches, particularly finals for a laying edge. These scars will be fresh. England

Delbonis - defeated Roger Federer in straight sets The bookies are once again offering nothing for Serena against Johanna Larsson, 1.04 this time for Williams to win and 22 for Larsson. Waste of time probably. In the men's tennis final Bogota Fabio Fognini will look to continue a dream run up against the surprise package in Federico Delbonis, who beat Roger Federer in the semi-finals. Delbonis is 3.25 and Fognini is the hot favourite at 1.43. Although Fognini is the fave, a win against Federer (albeit an indifferent Federer) is still a win. Delbonis has impressed me enough to suggest that the price is a touch on the high side.

Tennis is becoming harder and harder to bet on and more frustrating day by day. As well as my usual gripe of top 'professionals' not taking many tournaments seriously you have to add to the mix that a fair few matches will be fixed anyway. I have been watching some Challenger stuff lately, and to say the appetite for the game drains from a competitor from very early on in the piece would be an understatement. You can expect it from these I suppose, but when you cannot trust a fully fledged ATP Main Tour player to give 100% every match, then alarm bells start ringing. Yesterday Janowicz decided he'd had enough after losing the first set to Verdasco (after lumping on Verdasco). Simona Halep also had a grievance, a hip injury it was first thought, and fair play to her she has had a gruelling schedule and may need to take some further time off. But I do think her match with Penetta would have been interesting. The match was into a third set and it seemed like it was poised sl

 

At the moment the bookies cannot separate the two sides, Olimpia and Atletico MG, for the first leg of the Copa Libertadores. 2.92 Olimpia, 2.86 Atletico and 3.2 Draw is where the action stands at. Haven't got a clue as to how this one will go, but personally I would reckon the draw is probably the best bet to go for. First leg matches are usually quite cagey affairs, with both teams looking to lay the foundations for whatever needs to be done for leg two.

My girl Simona Halep continues to power on beating Peterson in straight sets 6-4 6-0, which wouldn't have even covered the pre-match -8.5 games handicap. Indeed the bookies are so pathetic with regards to Halep at the moment that anything other than a double bagel and she loses on the handicap. The punters had their knickers in a twist today as Roger 'He's Finished' Federer lost the first set against Daniel Brands 6-3 to come back and win the next two. People, seriously, the guy is allowed to lose a set now again, it seriously isn't the end of the world. Top, top, choker Now for the chokers list today, and boy were there some contenders. I really can't be arsed to call tennis anymore as the level of performance from some tilts on the 'match fixing' side in the worst case and on a 'can't be arsed to be here' in a slightly better light. Robredo lost. Seppi (who is a SUPER CHOKER) lost. Monfils managed to be 4-2 up in the first before losi

Most people who bet on last night's CONCACAF games seriously wished they hadn't. The trouble with these Mickey Mouse tournaments with these back of beyond sides and language differences is that you never totally know what the fuck is going on. Take last night's Haiti-El Salvador game. El Salvador were given a penalty late in the 2nd half when it was clear that no infringement had occurred. The referee gave a goal-kick but the linesman thought he had pointed to the spot and so took his position to the side of the goal. In true pathetic fashion, the ref then gave a penalty on the basis that the linesman had thought it was penalty (based on the ref pointing for a goal kick) are you following?!? This is classic ugger bugga tournament stuff and a main reason why you should stay away from these such tournaments with these such officials and with these temperamental sides. In the second match, hot favourites Honduras crashed and burned to mighty Trinidad; and yes there was r

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Australia need a further 137 with four wickets in hand to win the First Test, something they are not going to do. England were backed in-play at around 1.92 I believe so this should come in nicely. Derry Matthew caused an upset last night after being behind on the cards, to score a KO against Tommy Coyle. This is a huge setback for Coyle and a lot of money would have lost after it appeared that Coyle was coasting until the one damaging blow from Mathews. Mathews picks up the vacant Commonwealth title as result. Simona Halep will look to land a 1.85 tournament win today playing Meusburger. The handicap is around the 5.5 mark but I'll let this tourny bet run and collect I think. It is a final, and thee could be a couple of momentum swings even if Halep is 1.20 favourite. Mexico play Martinique later but there's not much value for the -1 AH, around 1.57 currently. Panama are just over evens to beat Canada which may be a better bet. There may be some value in the Japanese/

Controversy in the England match yesterday as Stuart Broad failed to 'walk' after a blatant edge to the slip. This has undoubtedly added much more needle to the Ashes Series, but there is split opinion as to whether Broad is an out and out cheater or whether he is just playing within the rules; that is that the umpire has the final say and that you take the umpires verdict at all times both good and bad. A certainty though, is that Broad can never again be anguished by umpire decisions as this would be the ultimate in hypocrisy. Annika Beck got dumped out the Budapest event by Meusburger which completely opens the door for Simona Halep to claim a third career title. Her rise in the last few months has been nothing short of meteoric and as form horses go, she certainly is up there. So much so that bookies are now offering Serena-like odds to defeat her opponents. It may be worth taking tournament bets with her perhaps after the third round stages . I got on her to win this a

England start the day on 1.73 to win the First Test after reducing the visitors to 75/4 at the end of day one. Anyone backing England pre match would already be in the green (SP around evens). Much depends on the first session of today; if England can eek out a few more in the first hour then you'd think it's match over. There's lots of qualifying matches for the Europa League, but I didn't particularly have a great set of results. Lots of teams won on the stats but ended up losing, so the quality on display may not be worth your money. One pick may be worth it is Levadia Tallinn v Bala Town. Levadia are around evens for the -1 handicap and dominated the last match but just didn't win . I think they'll win comfortably today. Simona Halep was around the 1.84 mark this morning to win the Bucharest tournament but that's been snapped up already. Saying that, I've JUST had 1.85 matched to win it . The only person to stand in her way will be Annika Beck wh

Ian Evans threw away a 3-0 lead,  4-3 lead and then choked when in the reds in the deciding frame yesterday in a bitter loss to Mark Selby. A couple of tennis bets later and things were going wonky, before a couple of later day trades almost even things out. Overall, a pretty bad day. One up already today though when 'No more goals' landed between USA and Belize after the USA went 6-1 up (at 2.25) So where are the openings today? I'm going to take a punt on England in the First Test against the Australians. They are currently priced at 1.92, and with no weather issues around, we should see a a result . I don't care what the Australians bring to the party, I don't rate them and I think they'll struggle. The toss could be quite crucial as England, if they win it, could really put the Aussies under the pump straight away and put a decent score on the board. Never under-estimate the first sessions of the series as a barometer for going forward. In the J League

WImbledon 2013 was nothing short of spectacular in my eyes. Seeds tumbling at every opportunity it was a perfect time to back the underdog. Lisicki was backed by myself through the final rounds right up until the final where I jumped ship to Bartoli and what a decision that was. And I also avoided a bullet in the Djokoivic-Murray game; I never would have foresaw that result. One of the disappointments of the tournament was the way in which John Inverdale (he of monkey magic status), belittled the Queen of Wimbledon this year Marion Bartoli, with his derogatory sexist comments. His 'looker' comments should have seen him have the sack; he'll probably get a pay rise. It is typical of broadcasters in this day and age who still obsess about perfect looks. Pundits were banging on incessantly about the beautiful seeds crashing. Wimbledon was made better because of it. My pre-tournament tip came unstuck at the hands of Na Li. There's no doubt Halep paced the entry to the to

Steve (@ShankTennis) tweeted at 7:04 AM on Sat, Jul 06, 2013: Bogomolov loses point, retires, tells ump to go fuck himself, leaves. Funny stuff http://t.co/OezTGtNazM (https://twitter.com/ShankTennis/status/353394009646960644) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

It's the semi-finals of Wimbledon today and the day of reckoning for Sabine Lisicki. After dumping out hot favourite Serena Williams she is no-doubt the darling of Wimledon. The bookies are calling both semi finals the same with Bartoli holding a 1.61 against Flipkens and Lisicki going in on around 1.66 v Radwanska. Radwanska is a very tough player to call on. She is very safe and has a great defensive game, but I feel Lisicki has more power and will hurt her more on the serve. I'm going to enjoy these matches unless there is a real in-play opportunity. A possible bet today may be Airbus v Ventspils in the Europa Qualification . Ventspils are from Latvia and are second in their league to Skonto Riga. They are 8-1-2, 23-12. The Welsh side are in the Championship Group of their domestic league and is harder to call, and although they are 2nd, have a splattering of wins losses and draws. I expect the price for Ventspils (currently 1.77) to fall quite a bit before KO.

Lisicki gave the performance of a lifetime yesterday and her post-match interview was one my highs of the sporting calendar so far. Lisicki therefore goes into this as red hot favourite, but all the value is with Kanepi. Kanepi ousted Robson yesterday and it was in fairly straight forward circumstances. Kanepi has the power and range of strokes I believe to mix the match up as she goes and this will be a big asset to her today . Kanepi seems very calm and assured and seems more solid. Lisicki's character seems one of bubbliness and with this carries great highs when winning and great lows when losing. Her swings in the match itself yesterday against Williams show this. The pressure is on Lisicki today, and she hasn't always coped that well going into matches as favourite. Kanepi just needs to stay in the points and remain calm, the crowd will no doubt be behind Lisicki. But when the favourite starts to miss easy points the crowds overwhelming 'oohs and aahs' adds hu