moDtheGod's Midlands Meanderings

Managed to score a couple of consecutive days off for the first time in a while and as I’m not cripplingly skint for a change, I decided to go racing for the first time since Hamilton last month, when I went with fellow Troopers Kenny and Will. The nearest meeting today was Uttoxeter, which is a lot closer than I ever realised, being an exactly an hour away on the train from Chesterfield, including a 15 minute change at Derby. To darkest Staffordshire it would be, then.

Sadly, I had worked from 9.00 until 21.30 yesterday, and in a different shop to usual, so my head was a little bit fried and I did exactly zero form studying when I got home, opting to keep stakes to the minimum and simply enjoy the day out. Sadly, this was reflected in my betting performance, as I didn’t find a single winner. I only had two e/w bets place, at 9/1 and 11/2.

I did a little placepot as an interest bet; 24 ten pence lines and the dividend was £310-ish. Frustratingly, the only race I didn’t get any selections to place in was the fifth, where one of my picks came fourth by a length. Had that one snatched third (or had it remained first four for the place – quite a lot of horses pulled out) I’d have had four lines up and assuming a similar dividend I’d have been scooping about £130 for my £2.40 outlay. Gah!

The course itself is great. It is literally right next to the train station, which is perfect for me; no fannying about with shuttle buses and it’s about three minutes in all, from stepping off the train to the turnstiles. I paid for the Grandstand (£16) which was more than adequate for me, with access to the winners enclosure and good views of the final furlong, whilst still being able to walk up the grass to get up close to the fences. The bars were big and spacious and I was served quickly, same for the food, but that was grotesquely overpriced. The beer wasn’t cheap at £3.20 for John Smiths, but that’s no different than any other track and as the meeting was Beer Festival themed, there were quality real ales on sale in the beer tent at three quid a pop, which is actually not bad at all. I rather enjoyed Old Speckled Hen and Greene King IPA. The Premier Enclosure didn’t look as though it offered much else, but then it was only £4 dearer to get in. The cheap seats looked alright; a large area in the centre, which looked as though it offered similar views, but for just £8, though it didn’t seem from where I was to have much in the way of catering or betting facilities.

Unlike some courses, I did have access to a cash machine (take note, silly Beverley people) and the only negative I could find, was unfortunately quite a sizeable one – no big screen! What use is it at a National Hunt venue, when you can only see the last few furlongs? You can’t see how your horses are jumping for the vast majority of each race! I enjoyed the AW meeting at Southwell despite the absence of a screen, but you can get away with it in a five furlong sprint. That said, I’d still score Uttoxeter quite highly and I will try and get back in future, probably for the big meeting, the Midlands National in March.

Got to see some real heroes of mine in action today, in the shape of A P McCoy and Timmy Murphy, neither of whom enjoyed any success. The champion jockey actually had five rides today and failed to fire in a winner. What a top bloke though, after getting beat on the hot favourite in the last, rounding off a dismal meeting for him, he found time to banter with a couple of lasses and pose for a picture. Had any of you lot been with me, I'd have gone and pestered him for a picture too, he's a legend. Noone to take my pic :(

I’m absolutely shattered as I didn’t get a proper lie in today and I've worked the last seven days in a row. I’ve also been on my feet all day today and could really use some sleep. However, there’s racing at Leicester tomorrow and I can get there direct from Chesterfield, in just 45 minutes. Honestly I’m really tempted and if I don’t oversleep, I think I’ll probably go. Once again I’ve studied no form, as I haven’t had chance, but it’ll be another decent day out!

Here’s another of my little videos, this time of some random Uttoxeter stuffs.




Good luck to those competing in the weight loss prop. Take it easy folks.

The Three Fatties: Prop Bet

During the cash game at the weekend Gav discussed wanting to lose weight so I offered some sort of bet to encourage him cos I'm always fat. We couldn't really agree on the details because I wanted the bet to run to the end of August but he wanted something short term which I wasn't overly delighted with because this means it's more of a starvation thing imo, I could be wrong. I would have been happy to bet a larger amount over the longer period but in the end we decided on a small monetary bet to keep it friendly. Budge ( http://pokerbudge.blogspot.com/ ) is in on it too, making it a three way battle. See the current weights in the photo attached to the bottom of the post.

Details

Start Date: 15/07/09
Finish Date: 01/08/09
Rules: Person who loses the biggest percentage of their body weight wins. Winner receives £25 from each of the two losers.

Open Golf

David Toms is my main pick for this year's Open, starting at Turnberry tomorrow. He's been in very decent form this season and despite mixed form over the years in the Open I expect him to go well.
The rough at Turnberry looks horrendous and accuracy off the tee is going to be essential - Toms is known for his straight driving and infact leads the USPGA Driving Accuracy stats for 2009 by a decent bit. He's also in the top 5 for scoring average this year too and is definately in form with 7 top 10s. The world number 30 can go well at a very decent price and is available at 130 on Betfair atm, I've asked for a little bigger.

Steve Stricker is my 2nd biggest bet and is available at 55 on Betfair as I type. I've also had a nibble on the following:

Adam Scott @ 75
Camilo Villegas @ 90
Andres Romero @ 180
Miguel-Angel Jimenez @ 230
Luke Donald @ 120
Pablo Larranzabal @ 880

GL all,

Scott

Kenny's Cash Game

A highly enjoyable night with the game lasting til 7am. Good banter and was good to see guys like Will. Only downside was the lack of internet at Kenny's house which meant missing out on UFC bets and greyhound action where it turned out I picked 5 winners out of 8 bets. And Alan Belcher was absolutely robbed at UFC 100. Anyway, here is some shit photos from the night....

Mr Will Walsh dealing after bustoing himself early



New Scoop Trooper Gav displaying a fine skin head



Game started at 8pm, with Magicman sleeping by 9



Iain was delighted to see that Gav Lee was in attendance



The 4 Scoop Troop Scots



Mugs



I probably just won a pot v. Gav



Scoop Trooper Kenny



Someone gave Iain the remote

UFC 100

I've been looking forward to this ever since the matches were announced and it should be an amazing night of MMA. There was a ridiculous fiasco where UFC didn't announce where it would be shown until Thursday. Setanta went bust last month so they needed a new place to show it and they announced it would be on Channel 433 on Sky aswell as live on uk.ufc.com. I was initially worried about this because 433 is an old Setanta Racing channel but it seems it is free to all Sky subscibers. Will hopefully be watching this at Ken's house whilst crushing the home game.

Onto the fights, Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar (4/9 Various) of WWE fame faces off in a rematch against Frank Mir (21/10 Stan James). Brock's debut in the UFC, in only his second MMA fight, ended with him tapping out to a Mir leg lock. This was only after the ref, Mazzagatti, made a ridiculous error in standing them up when Brock was dominating on the ground claiming that Brock was hitting to the back of the head. No warning, no fuck all - he then deducted a point.

Anyway, I expect Brock Lesnar to make no mistakes this time and should stop Mir in the first couple of rounds - I dislike Mir, he is far too smug and holds onto his submissions for too long so I hope he gets his face filled in. Price is too short for me though, so doubt I'll have any action on this, apart from maybe a touch on Brock to win in the 2nd round @ 5/1 with Sky.

The co-main event sees George St-Pierre (4/11 BSQ) defend his Welterweight title against the Pit Bull, Thiago Alves (13/5 Stan James). This could be fight of the night, this could be a war, this could be anything! I've no real idea of how this is going to pan out but I do know Alves shouldn't be a 13/5 shot in this fight. Alves can pull off the shocker and the supreme value is @ SportingBet where Alves to win in R1 is 16/1, it's the same price for R2 and R3 whereas rounds 4 and 5 are 18/1. Take your pick for a gamble imo.



The other main fight sees the no.1 British fighter Michael "The Count" Bisping (9/5 Stan James) take on Hall of Famer Dan Henderson (8/15 Betfred). These two were the coaches on the most recent Ultimate Fighter where Bisping's UK fighters came out on top. Bisping can outlast Henderson in this fight and will most likely win on points. Henderson is still top quality but he's nearing his 40s and if Bisping can avoid the takedowns and right hand then he should win comfortably. The price is coming in, he was c.9/4 earlier in the week and will go off about 6/4. Bisping on points is 9/4 @ Skybet.

Also, on the main card is Akiyama v. Belcher. This is Akiyama's first UFC fight and although he is very talented I'm not sure how he'll cope here so I think Belcher has some value about him @ 9/4 with Skybet.

Selections

Brock Lesnar to win in the 2nd Round
5/1 SkyBet

Thiago Alves to win in the 1st Round
16/1 SportingBet

Thiago Alves to win in the 3rd Round
16/1 SkyBet

Michael Bisping to win on points
9/4 SkyBet

Alan Belcher to win
9/4 SkyBet

GL all,

Scott

1st win in on the board, and casino action

So everything still seems to be going well, well onwards and upwards that is. Just about 2 hours ago I have eventually broke my duck and won a tournament. Also had a few more cashes on ipoker 2^nd for $360 was nice but my KK vs 10J heads up was no good.

Deposited to Ladbrokes after a nice run in cash last night at the casino which ill have a chat about in a minute. Played the 1750 euro gar 299 runners. Um not much to say about the tourney other than it turned into a crapshoot near the end but . I think this one was the clincher to be honest. Just before this hand tho I had just doubled through the big stack with AQ vs his 88 to put me on 700k in chips.

cant find one of those hand history things so this description will need to do, 4 left and I have 66 utg. Short stack is on the sb with around 29k left, blinds 15k 30k.

im utg and the button also calls, se we go into the hand 4 way with short stack all in, I’m holding 66 and the flop comes down 10 6 3, I just bet out 55,555 into around 130k the button then raises me to 120k which I then shove my stack into him he calls an has 33 so it’s a sick flop, short stack has 79 for a gut shot which doesn’t hit so I go into heads up 1.1million chips vs. 600k after about 10 hands or so I ve grinded him down to around 300k in chips with the huge blinds and get my chips in with Q9suited vs his A7, 9 on turn and its all over, got lucky but hey you have to J

1^st 636.76 Euros, not bad for a 2.5 euro investment

So as I was saying, yeah cash went well in the casino. Went down with budge after a few pints in the local. Didn’t really have that much money to be honest so I sat down with £45 on a 7 handed table.

Didn’t look up to much as the new schedule had just kicked in and this was the first time poker has ever been on in the casino on a Tuesday night. So after about 5 hands I’ve already eyed up the table and I have an absolute donkey sitting 2 to my right, he was definitely going to be throwing away money in this game. Not long after this I look down at 1010 in mid position and there has just been a raise to £3 and then the donkey has min re raised to 6,I just flat call so do another 2 players. The flop comes down 10K4 with 2 spades, original raiser checks and the donk bets £10, I just shove for my £40 and its folded to him. He thinks for a bit and calls, 2 blanks come out and he throws over AQ off. Nice call sir thanks for that £100 potJ

I didn’t really play much for a bit being quite dead but there has been 77 on the flop about 5 or 6 times, so utg I have 6c7c and just call, think we had a family pot here anyway the board is 7710. Its checked to me and I just bet £3 with 2 callers, budge and the donkey. The turn brings a very nice looking 6 to fill me up, Budge checks Donk bets out £5 and I raise to £19.Budge starts to shrug and huff n puff and now im thinking he has the 7 or 89, he calls and so does the donk. The river blanks and budge checks. The donkey now decides to put a bet out of £25 to which I wait for a bit and then shove for 54. Budge then announces do u really have 67 ffs, now I’m sure he has 89 which is kinda sick for him as he’s wanting the donkeys money too. Budge folds donk waits for a bit and folds too. Was a very nice pot but I was obviously kinda pissed off at budge for calling my hand out during play but still nice to take it down, btw donk said he wouldn’t have been calling what ever budge said.

Well that last hand was obviously the main hand of the night but top set scooped me another £50+ pot to the short stacks all in with a flush draw that never came. Stopped and went for something to eat and a few pints with budge where we put £5 each on roulette whilst eating and got it up to £80 which was a nice little bonus too. Went back to the cash game where everyone was starting to drop out due to various excuses but picked up another few nice pots here and there and was up around £245 for night at the cash table so all in all it was a good night.

Whilst my lucks in at the moment think ill play quite a bit now till the weekend and look forward to the cash game at Kenny’s

Doggy

I'll be having a fairly large bet on T4 Loyal Rebel in the 7:42 at Sheffield tonight.

That is all.

Scott

1st Month, didnt start as i wanted :(

So its been a telling time and things just were not going to plan, so after a long month I was looking at a deficit of around $900 upwards. Although most of this would be covered by the whopping amount of rake its still not the best situation to be in. So 2 days before end of month I decide to start playing a lot more MTTs instead of just playing away on heads up to try and get a nice cash on the board. So first night I played 5 fairly smallish $20 or so buy in tourneys and cash in 3 bubble one and donk out early in one of them with AK vs the wonderful 910 which was re re raised pre lol. Flop came 768 gg gav. Not exactly the best but $100 profit for the day isn’t really that bad.

So its last day of the month and same again I decide to crack on with the tourneys, cash in a few again but seem to be getting stuck making that ft and 13^th and 14^th respectively just isn’t going to do the trick. last tourney of the night was the $10 short handed 3.5k gar. Played well and got 3 handed and found my A8 on a A84 flop busted by Ak with a K on the river. Guy slow played and I got my chips in miles ahead $337 cash not so bad but 2^nd was $633 and 1^st $1050 so was fairly gutted.

So it would seem things were starting to pickup, so start of the month I decide to just crack on with STTs and over 2 days I’m up around $300 which isn’t bad at all. My graph on sharkscope is quite hilarious to be honest (JuanKoff,Ipoker) if anyone’s interested. Starting to get the money back which Is always good. I’m starting to feel a lot more confident playing and its definitely showing as I’m going far in everything I’m playing, just need to get over that last hurdle and pick up a nice win.

So today/yesterday now whilst I’m typing this, I decide to play a sat to the $100k $100 rebuy on ipoker. Things go well and me and budge (3betmybluff) get a ticket. Decide to have a chilled day and watch the tennis. Until Johnny Spiers decides to ask me to finish a tournament on Ladbrokes for him as he was going to the golf. Since there was only 6 from 130or so left he nicely offers me 75/25.I gladly accept and go on to boss the final table and win him a nice 213 Euros, netting myself and easy £50.So nice little confidence boost for the 100k at 8pm which was a fair while away.

So it was 8pm and the $100 rebuy just started, planned to play it like a freeze out and only played AK in first hour and cos that was the only thing I got. So it gets to the break and I go down stairs for a drink. I come back up and find myself with 1500 chips more than I left with so I check my balance and its $100 short. Im obviously raging at this as it seems ive now just taken a rebuy on the last hand for 1500 chips where as if I actually wanted one I would have just got an add on for 2000 chips. Being highly annoyed I get straight onto live chat and a go crazy to be told sorry we cant do anything please contact your affiliate manager so ^*%$ them. I nurse my relatively low 2740 stack to a nice 1k stack just before the 2^nd hour mark loooooooooooool. I then find AQ and shove for my 1010 and I’m snapped 2 behind me from Q9 and no one else calls, I’m now up to 2.5k and I’m still in the game, after the break I find myself on the bb with Kd5d and astonished to find 6 callers and I’m getting to see a free flop. It comes down Ad2d9h and the muppet who had Q9 decides to bet out pot, I’m now prepared to take my gamble to be honest and after the others fold I stick my stack in, he snaps me again with Jd10d and K hi ends up winning lol. So after a while its now getting close to bubble time and we have a few guys on Mikogo (Scott,Budge,Adam,Johnny) having a nice bit of banter. To be honest I don’t know how I even got this far without having any hands throughout the whole thing. A few nice bets around the bubble gets me up to a nice stack of 24k to then be pegged back with 88 vs 1010 to go back to 16k. I fold for abit and ive now made the top 50 for a gar $450 return. To cut long story short I end up shipping my 13k stack in with 44 utg to be re raised by JQ and then re shoved from JJ no miracle for me and its out the tournament in 37^th place for $600 bit gutted but from having 600 chips at one point before my AQ all in I really cant complain. Things looking up for this month and I’m now in a nice bit of profit and have a bit to work on now.

Big one coming J

Gav

Saturday's Gambling

Just been looking through the morning/afternoon dogs cards for tomorrow so think I'll head down to the bookies in the morning before hitting the casino for the £20f at 3pm.

I'll post my selections on here so if anyone is bored sitting at home they can lose/win a few pennies backing these. Check the video I've attached at the bottom for some vintage greyhound action.

Crayford

10:38 - T5 Tourna Abbey
11:07 - T5 Brick
11:23 - T3 Lisnafulla Angie
12:24 - T3 Trumpers Dubh
12:39 - T4 Black Sensation
12:57 - T4 Margan Lassy
1:58 - T6 Lordsbury Tenor

Romford

11:58 - T3 Pantone Hepburn
12:17 - T3 Archers Satin
1:04 - T3 Ivy Knows

Here is a an amazing video of Scurlogue Champ(T6) doing what he does best. Unbelievable performance.....



GL all

Scott

Dogs Die In Hot Cars

Heard sad news on the radio earlier that two German Shepherds were left in a police car in Nottingham and were both found dead some time later. Nottingham had temperatures of 28 degrees and the temperature in the car could have reached something ridic like 50 degrees. Pretty terrible and I'm glad they have launched an investigation. The officers must be pretty brain dead to think it would be fine to leave the animals in the car in those conditions.

Anyway, the story reminded me of one of my favourite bands. 'Dogs Die In Hot Cars' come from St Andrews and never made it big, they had a couple of songs in the top 40. They only released one album I believe and split in 2007. I'll attach one of their songs and if you like it I highly recommend their album 'Please Describe Yourself' - you can probably pick it up for a couple of quid. Or download Spotify and listen to them on there.

Hmmmmmm, just searched for them on youtube and not much there tbh - here is a video of some twat mining over one of their songs, listen and ignore the video.....



Scott

Bi-Sick-le!!!!

This has to be the best thing I've seen on youtube for a good while, simply awesome imo. Filmed in Edinburgh it seems.

Dom Update / Couple Of Bets

Not blogged for a while as I’ve been really busy, so here’s a quick update from me.

Thoroughly enjoyed my week or so up in Dundee, did most of what I wanted to do, though Laura being ill for the last three or four days wasn’t ideal. I did get to spank Iain 6-2 at Klubiosh and go to Hamilton with Kenny and Will though, which was great fun. I particularly enjoyed the random old guy (Donald?) who was absolutely bizarre. I have totally stolen his “stand easy” catchphrase. He thought we were lawyers, kept asking us if we were “highly educated people” and called Kenny a “ruffian” as he wasn’t wearing a tie, absolutely ridiculous banter.


We didn’t have the best of days racing wise. Will had a minimum stakes winner in the opener, but after that, not a single scorer between us. Wee Charlie Castle in the last was disappointing, I even called it with half a furlong to go as it seemed untouchable, but the winner came out of nowhere and got up by a head. It clearly wasn’t going to be our night when Will missed the turn off and we got there later than planned, scuppering his chances to stalk Pixie Lott who was apparently playing before racing started. Not to worry, she’ll be in Sheffield when you all come down for the dogs.

Here's a little montage I put together, of Hamilton races. I wish I had quality video editing software. "I don't like cheese. Actually, I like cheese".

Welcome aboard Gav, I look forward to poker stories as well as acts of random, drunken tomfoolery. Scott, please don’t randomly invite any more people, as the bulk of this blog’s readers are DUPS types, there will soon be more contributors than viewers! I will see what I can do about trying to get an extra ticket for the dogs, to accommodate Gav. I’m delighted to see you’re all keen, I honestly didn’t think any of you would be. I promise it’ll be a great couple of days.

I never got chance to preview the Derby, which was a shame, but I backed Fame and Glory e/w at 4/1. Was delighted to see the money come for it, but Sea The Stars never looked troubled. At least I got my stakes returned. With me being on holiday then straight back to work, I’ve basically missed the whole of Royal Ascot too, which is a shame. Things have been quite busy at work lately, we’re getting a new starter tomorrow and I’m going to be his job instructor; that’ll be interesting!

Anyway, I’ve had a quick look at the racing today and I’ve got a bet that I like the look of. The 15:15 at Lingfield looks set up for Chjimes, in my opinion. The horse is unbeaten in three runs over course and distance and although the handicapper might well have hold of him now, it’s definitely worth an each way nibble at the current price (6/1 widely available, slightly bigger on the exchanges). The horse will be held up whilst the vast majority of the field will run prominently, which will ensure a strong pace. Hopefully the likes of Lochstar and Peak District will force the pace too much and burn out, allowing Chjimes in.

The other race I’m taking an interest in is the last at Wolverhampton. There’s a bloke comes in our shop who tipped up Exceed Elegance the other day after speaking to someone, I forget who (owner or trainer or something). I’m always wary of this type of chat, but we opened betting at 8/1 and it was heavily, heavily backed down to 3/1 before withdrawing as the ground was considered too firm. That is just weird for me. The word was that it would either run then or today and sure enough, Exceed Elegance has popped up in the 5.30 at Wolverhampton, priced around 9/2 at present. Most opened around 6/1, so money is already coming for it (I just managed to sneak a little bit on at 5/1). I can’t see much in the form to suggest it’ll win, but a move like that can’t be ignored, so I took a little e/w nibble.

15:15 Lingfield
Cjimes
1 pt e/w

17:30 Wolverhampton
Exceed Elegance
0.5 pts e/w

Frankie Jester

Just watching the TUF Finale at the moment and Wilks has just submitted Johnson in the 1st round - I managed to get 11/4 about this guy, crazy. This coupled with Pearson's earlier points victory over Winner @ 9/5 (!!!!) had me dancing.

However I could have had the absolute lot. The Lester v. Osipczak fight wasn't televised and I'd made a point of not checking the result but as soon as Wilks won I was straight onto sherdog.com to check the result only to discover that Osipczak won by submission - seems Lester couldn't keep it standing. Very disappointed. Still, a profit on the night and so close to scooping.

Scott

Intro: Gav Brown

Hey all, right Scott gave me a shout about an hour ago if I fancied contributing to the blog and I happily agreed. Just finished playing for the night and shattered so will try and make this short one. Most of you all know me from poker at the union.

So just started playing poker full time last month and thought about writing a blog myself but just never really got round to it. So yeah as Scott mentioned staked/sponsored by pokerisk going well playing on Mansion. Ipoker is a bit of a nightmare but plenty of fish kicking about on there. Now be able to write about the ups and dows of playing so much poker.

As Scott said I’m always full of stories to tell usual bad beat/ cooler ones to be honest but there’s always the good ones too. Will try and post as often as I can with how im doing and any nice wins here and there. Hopefully going to start playing a lot more nicer live events too. Played the £200 event 1 of the GKUPT in Aberdeen on Thursday, was cruising till my KK ran into AA. I did hit my miracle K on the turn but my joy was short lived when the Ace of hearts about gave me a heart attack on the river to cripple me about half hour before end of play. Loved the experience tho and going to start playing a lot more events like this.

Getting late so going to get an early night for once as I never played any tourneys tonight just hammered the heads up sit n goes.

Gav

New Scoop Trooper: Gav Brown

I hope the rest of the Scoop Troop don't mind but I've taken it upon myself to invite Gav Brown to contribute to the blog. He plays a ton of poker and is now being staked I believe. He always has stories to tell so I thought this would be a great place for him to vent them.

So hopefully the next post on this blog will be Gav introducing himself - letting everyone know a bit about himself and what he plays etc. This will hopefully draw a few more poker readers to the blog.

That will bring us to 6 members which may seem a bit excessive but Will, Ken and Tim don't post too frequently so I still think it is a good number.

Dom, I'm mad for the Sheffield dogs - I'm going to calculate funds etc this week and confirm.

Scott

The Ultimate Fighter Finale & Big Bro

Got back from my two-week holiday in sunny Spain on Thursday. Was great just chilling drinking beer. Mahou is probably my favourite beer in the world - you need to try it if you stumble across it somewhere.

Having no internet or opportunity to bet for two weeks was absolute brutal and playing poker at night with a few people who had no idea what they were doing wasn't the greatest either. I'm mad for some live poker so I'll have to make do with the shitty £20f at the casino tomorrow. Will probably win.

First post back and I think I've found us some cracking value in the TUF Finale tomorrow night/Sunday morning. Frankie Lester put up a decent showing on the program despite losing twice to finalist James Wilks and he fights the Brit Nick Osipczak in the finale. I would like to see the British guy win but can't see it as I think it'll be a stand up fight and imo it looked like Nick might have a slightly suspect chin from what I've seen and Lester's heavy hands could lay him out. The bookies have this all wrong with Paddy Power going 13/8!!! Get on.

There is some other ridic value on the card with Ross Pearson 6/4 with SkyBet and James Wilks a huuuuuuuuuge 47/17 (wtf price) with expect.com - never heard of them and aint opening a new account so I'll just take 11/4 with Sky. Bookies are constantly getting these MMA fights wrong so lets make the most of the ridic value they are offering on even money shots.

As for Big Brother there is probably only a few who can win it from what I've seen - I've had a bit of success in the past with BB when I got on Brian Belo at a fairly big price last year. I've backed Charlie @ 12s, Angel @ 12s and Sree @ 33s.

GL all,

Scott

Almost forgot this comedy picture of Frankie Lester after losing 4 teeth in the first Wilks fight. This was after his teammates offered his money for every tooth of Wilks' he knocked out....

Steel City Cup - Dogs

This is a long shot, but it's worth asking. Mon Mome won the Grand National at 100/1 after all.

The William Hill sponsored Steel City Cup is run at Sheffield's Owlerton stadium and I've got five tickets from work, for entry to the heats (24th July), the semis (28th July) and the final (4th August). The passes include a free racecard and a pint.

Anyone fancy a night out in Sheffield? There's a cheap Travelodge in the centre, can easy get a room there. If people are feeling flush enough, could maybe have a couple of nights and do something else (casino, Dusk Till Dawn, I dunno). I can easy enough get a few people out down here, but I'd much rather go with a bunch of dedicated gamblers who live and breathe the thrill of punting. It could be a good Scoop Troop night out.

Just an idea. Feedback welcome.

Is Scott still in Britain or has he fucked off? I bet he won't see this until he gets back, will he?

Dom

Teach Me!!!!

Was gutted that I couldn't stay in tonight to watch Derby and BGT final but it was football team's POTY night out - didn't win anything (farce)!!!

So Kinda Ready won!!! WTF?

Obviously upset Farloe Reason didn't win but was delighted with the run I got. I really feel I can crush the shorter comps over 3 or 4 rounds. Will text me to tell me Love Lynx came 2nd - a decent 25/1 shot?

Excuse any errors in this post - I'm drunk and have bee going back over any errors I spot!

Anyway, the title of this thread is a plea for knowledge. I backed at Julian Smith for BGT at about an average of 40/1 for a measly £10 and after he gets through his semi-final he was like 12/1 at the very most. Can I make guaranteed good money here? Should I back for more initially in cases where it is obvious the price is going to drop like this. This was a super clear case imo. I really can't understand trading on Betfair atm and really need to learn - especially for the greyhound comps.

Thanks guys,

Scott

Blue Square Greyhound Derby 2009 Final

The final of this month long competition takes place at 10:12 Saturday night at Wimbledon. I'm delighted to have picked something which has made it's way to the final in Farloe Reason. This is one of my favourite dogs and after backing it for the Scottish Derby where it got unlucky stuck in T5 - I said after that I'd be looking to back it for this. I advised at 33/1 antepost and it has traded as short as 4/1. It has a real tough task in the final but I'd be delighted to see it win.

It's an incredible final, with the line up being:

1. Fear Zafonic 3/1
2. Ballymac Ruso 11/4
3. Farloe Reason 7/1
4. Glenard Sunrise 10/1
5. Kinda Ready 25/1
6. Wise Thought 11/4

Fear Zafonic has got it's coveted one box and despite never really setting the world alight so far it obviously has a great chance if getting on the bunny from trap one. FZ has a real chance but Ballymac Ruso has shown phenomenal early pace in the quarters and semis and a repeat of that signals nothing but a win imo.
A dream scenario sees FZ and BR clashing at the rails and Farloe Reason showing good pace through the middle. I'm not optimistic, especially as Glenard Sunrise shows pace up and led Farloe in semis. Kinda Ready has no chance of winning but if there is trouble can run on. Wise Thought is a danger and should get a sweet run out wide and can certainly win.

If I was forced to bet on this race I'd back Ballymac Ruso simply because a repeat of the performances of the last two rounds would mean he wins, but of course this isn't guaranteed. However, I won't be backing anything and will simply be watching with hope that Farloe Reason can pull it out the bag.

I'm delighted with the 25/1 bet on Love Lynx to win the BSQ Hurdle and it's got a great chance in the final which is also on Saturday.

In other news, I've backed Julian Smith (he plays some instrument) to win Britain's Got Talent at about 35/1 and after winning his semi-final yesterday can be backed as low as 10/1. Would be an awesome Saturday if I pulled off the double.

GL all

Scott

A day off!

As I've got today off, I thought I'd have a look at going racing. Frustratingly, both meetings in the North are evening meetings, which means I've no way of getting back should I go, as I'm reliant on public transport. Why do they do that ffs, surely it's common sense to have an afternoon and an evening meeting? Sigh. Looks like I won't be going racing for a while then.

Anyway, I've had a productive day so far, getting a much needed haircut and winning the 2,000 Guineas on G1 Jockey (love this game so much, into my 7th season now and am scooping more than AP McCoy and Ryan Moore put together). I've also had a few little bets to amuse me during the day:

Value nibbles:

Alarazi - 16:00 Lingfield- 1/4pt e/w
Lord Theo - 17:00 Lingfield - 1/2pt e/w
Suailce - 20:00 Leopardstown - 1/4pt e/w
Clopf - 21:00 Leopardstown - 1/4pt e/w

Stronger fancies:

Royal Executioner - 16:30 Lingfield - 2pts win
Desperate Dan - 16:40 Yarmouth - 1.5pts win
Mizen Raven - 19:25 Wetherby - 2pts win
Cadre - 20:50 Sandown - 1pt win

I think Scott's been busy of late, but I hope he gets chance to properly preview the Blue Square Greyhound Derby final, which is to be held at 22:12 on Saturday, as I've thoroughly enjoyed reading his stuff on this particular event and I've had great fun following it. We've got one of Charlie Lister's two in the final, Farloe Reason (T3), available at 7/1 from Ladbrokes. It should be an interesting final, as ours has already beaten the favourite (Ballymac Ruso) in one of the heats and although that form has since been reversed, I think I'm right in saying that ours found a bit of trouble in that race. As I know diddly about the dogs, I'll leave the previews to Campbell.

The least said about the Play-Off final, the better. Our fans were there in number and we had great fun in the lead up. You can tell Burnley aren't used to big matches are their fans didn't have a clue about how things worked. They were all rocking up late and trying to get in the pubs we'd laid claim to. Retards. Anyway, once in the ground, we couldn't get any atmosphere going as all the usual Kop nutters were split up and there seemed to be a lot of folk just happy to sit in silence. Very frustrating, as the one song wonders in claret and blue constantly outsang us.

As for the side, standard Sheffield United freezing on the big occassion. Craig Beattie is appalling, I just can't believe how bad he is. We definitely missed Henderson and we still need a genuine left winger and a creative midfielder. With the parachute payments now finished, I can see a big sale (possibly Naughton) and general tightening of belts and barring some sort of miracle, we'll probably be flirting with the play-offs and finish around 8th.

Will and Kenny - I've only just realised, Hamilton is a bloody evening meeting. I'd still be up for going, but I dunno how it would affect your plans. Last race is at 21.10 and there are no trains from back Hamilton West to Dundee. We could however get a train to Glasgow (20 minutes) then the Megabus at 23.00, but we'd not be getting to Dundee until 00:45. I'm totally okay with that (casino!) but I dunno what plans you'd have with work and stuff. Let me know.

Take it easy folks.