THE BETDAQ PUNTER returns with his usual mix of looking back on the highs and lows of his betting week on BETDAQ and looking forward to this weekend.

He enjoyed a great Saturday when Solwhit won at Aintree and his two football bets were landed.

Now for this weekend with a bet on the horses and the football.

But first, how did last week fare?

He started by scrabbling around for a bet on Good Friday.


Friday

At the risk of sounding like some kind of sheep, I read somewhere that basketball was a great sport to back the favourites in, and as I need to spread my wings now and again, it seemed a sensible idea to give it a go. The NBA matches are well covered on BETDAQ so that seemed a good place to start and even I may have heard of some of the names – so if I can find some matches on the TV or on line to watch, I already have someone to cheer when I can’t get to sleep. With the games starting at different times I could use an amazingly sophisticated staking plan (backing the next match to get any losses back plus a small profit), and with two winners out of three, it sort of worked as in gave me some fun with a small profit too. A bad start saw the Brooklyn nets lose to the Chicago Bulls (they have such great names), but I made that back at BETDAQ odds of 1.36 when Denver Nuggets saw off the Dallas Mavericks all be it by a single point (phew!), and then a small but pure profit when Oklahoma City Thunder thrashed the San Antonio Spurs though I didn’t get rich even with the better BETDAQ price of 1.3.

Saturday

I don’t have as many good days as I would like (what punters does?), but this was as good as it has been in 2013, and possibly longer than that. I admit my Grand National bet was pulled up but I wasn’t the only one backing Imperial Commander having read every tipster page I could find, but my biggest bet on the horses was on Solwhit exactly as I wrote here last week. He could not have won any more easily if he tried, and I can only hope you managed to back him on the day, as I managed to get some 3.4 on BETDAQ and not the 3.0 I suggested in last week’s scribblings? Football also went according to plan for a pleasant change with both Southampton and Aston Villa winning away as I hoped, though others had the same idea so it was better to take the earlier BETDAQ prices! Sensibly (for once), I decided to quit there while I was well ahead, and I am now going racing in Singapore next month thanks to the ever-generous BETDAQ layers.

Sunday

Sunday has become football day in my house – the racing is invariably pretty poor (this week we had Ascot but I am glad I failed to get involved, did you see the long prices of most of the winners, a layers paradise?), so I had a small stake treble on Chelsea (BETDAQ odds 1.33), Newcastle (2.0) and Queens Park Rangers (2.40), but it was just like the old days as Wigan equalised in the 93rd minute and my thankfully miniscule bet was sunk like the Titanic.

Monday

Until Wednesday my trainers to follow list remains as last week so off I went to see if Jim Boyle Jim Bolger Alan Swinbank or Kevin Condon had any runners. They did, with nine runners between them (eight for Jim Bolger) and to my delight the system keeps working – winners at BETDAQ odds (ALL better than SP I might add), 6.4, 5.7, 20.0, and 3.9 left me in clover as well as in profit with 27 points in the betting bank and this is beginning to look pretty exciting. No Basketball overnight to give it back on and the only football was Manchester United v Manchester City – not a game I had any opinion on so I decided to leave it alone – and play some pool instead.

Tuesday

Just the four runners to think about today so no real chance of matching the profits of yesterday, but we still had winners at 5.3, 3.7, and 2.7 for an additional 7.7 points which is never to be sniffed at in my book – all profits are good profits. Better still I had a good bet on the football when the layers got it badly wrong on Galatasaray v Real Madrid. We all knew who the better team are after the first leg but that meant Real turned up with a weakened squad including three goalkeepers (well, that’s what I read on the internet), and at 5.2 for the home win on BETDAQ I had to have a little bet. Sure enough, it came off and in style (3-2 but Real scored in the last few minutes), and like all punters I only wish I had used a much larger stake.

Wednesday

My theory on hot trainers is anyone with a better than 60% strike rate in the past seven days, and Wednesday is my day of choice (no real reason) to update my stats. In come Aidan O’Brien and Roy Bowring, while Jim Boyle and Alan Swinbank remain in place. To be blunt, it wasn’t the best of starts with six runners and only two short priced winners (1.25 and 3.2 on BETDAQ) for a loss on the day of 1.55 points, but I am not too disheartened – no one I have heard of has ever thought up a system that wins every day or if they have, they aren’t telling us about it? The football was intriguing (Barcelona v Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus v Bayern Munich), but as I had already laid my big priced bet on PSG I had no real interest and looked to the basketball instead. Only five out of the ten matches went to the favourites so if I hadn’t increased stakes I would have ben well out of pocket so I doubt this is a get rich quick concept after all, maybe I will end up back with the tennis?

Thursday

Time for a sport of tennis (I saw Tim Henman on the news which must have influenced my thoughts), and this week it’s Morocco and the Grand Prix Hassan II. As I know next to nothing about the sport and have head of hardly any of the competitors its favourite time again, with a total of four matches for me to punt on. The BETDAQ markets were surprisingly fluid so I had no issues in getting my small bets on, and with winners at 1.33 (Zemlja), 1.5 (Anderson), 1.55 (Klizan), and 1.46 (Haase), it looks as if I chose the right day to get involved! Sadly, their profits didn’t cover my horse racing losses as six runners (five for Aidan O’Brien) ended up with just the two winners at odds of 1.3 and 3.0 for a nasty little loss on the day.

Conclusions:
Bet of the week – Solwhit at odds of 3.4 on the day – he couldn’t have won any more easily and the winnings were never in any doubt.
Disaster of the week – Scrabbling here as I had a great week – maybe the Basketball wasn’t as profitable as I hoped and Wigan equalising cost me a small treble?


Something for the weekend:
As is always the case weekends are silly busy and the trick is to decide what to bet on – and what to let ride, though I wish I got that right a bit more often. The football looks pretty obvious (famous last words), so perhaps a win treble could be the way forward, starting with the premiership. Everton should be too strong for Queens Park Rangers at BETDAQ odds of 1.46, Liverpool too strong by a long way for lowly Reading even at BETDAQ odds of 1.5, with Arsenal the last of the three to see off Norwich though 1.27 is pretty stingy?

The racing is as competitive as you would expect at a weekend though surely Lewisham should be good enough to take the Doncaster maiden due off at 4.40pm. Six runs without success only tell part of the story as the last four of those were in Group class at venues such as Newmarket York The Curragh and Chantilly and although he failed to score, they clearly think a lot of him! The stable are in good form of late and they have clearly decided he is a sprinter through and through, and if he can’t win this, it may well be an attitude problem.

Other than that, do keep an eye out for the top trainers and their runners – too many of them to mention here!

This week’s suggested bets (all prices with BETDAQ and correct at the time of writing):

Horse racing Saturday
2pts Win Lewisham 4.40pm Doncaster

Weekend Football
Saturday:
1pt Win treble: Everton to beat QPR (1.46), Liverpool to beat Reading (1.5), and Arsenal to beat Norwich (1.27).


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