The Weekend Wager

Welcome to this the latest Weekend Wager free betting column produced by Mike Bishop and the team at the Secret Betting Club.

Each and every Friday through this column we bring together some of the finest experts to give you betting tips, advice and guidance for the next 7 days..

1. Mike Says.. In this column, Secret Betting Club co-editor and professional gambler Mike Bishop discusses some of the weeks most topical betting issues.

As Bob Dylan once sang…The times they are a changing and this is definitely the case when it comes to the betting and tipster world.

Although its unlikely curmudgeonly old Bob was thinking about the 4.20 at Kempton when he penned this song, but in the few years that we have been running the Secret Betting Club (since May 06) there have been massive changes for good when it comes to betting using tipsters. The times have indeed changed…

Long-gone are the days of premium phone lines, shady claims of insider information, betting coups and of course – total skulduggery when it comes to sharing your official results.

But its not long gone at all. It still goes on, which is why we continue to provide an edge.

You know the score, tactics such as…

• Claiming winners at odds that never truly existed.
• Making lots of mentions of big priced horses so if one wins they can claim it was advised as a main bet!
• Tipping regular short priced faves that my granny could pick out.
• And the old chestnut…making up results!

Just like the Iraqi Information Minister who once claimed ‘”I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad”, so the days of the dodgy tipster claiming results that are not true are numbered. They are in the minority and are fast being replaced by the new breed of tipsters coming through who don’t stoop to such tactics…

The New Breed

The tipsters we feature here at the Secret Betting Club are those that provide a genuine service, total transparency and proof of results.

This new way of operating is 100% more professional and its why so many new people are investing their money in betting using tipsters. Email and text message supply of tips are the order of the day now and any tipster relying on premium phone lines to supply advice belong back in the 80’s with Gordon Gekko and Beta-Max.

If you’re only experience with tipsters is with the shady types I mentioned above, do check out this new breed that we monitor and report back on to all members. Find out more by taking up a Secret Betting Club membership today.

Power To The Punter!

In last week’s column I touched on the need to be careful when placing your bets with relatively unknown bookmakers so as to ensure your money is safe and can be accessed easily.
Well in a good news story, one such bookie – BetOnline247, whom we have heard plenty of complaints about being very slow to withdraw your money from will soon be removed from the Oddsportal.com website.

It seems on this occasion our emails to Oddsportal in conjunction with the poor rating (D-) and complaints found at the excellent Sports Book Review website have done the trick. Oddsportal confirmed to us they will be removed shortly, although its a timely reminder to us all to double-check before placing a bet with a bookmaker we have no experience of.

A quick look at Sports Book Review or another excellent site http://www.bookmakersreview.com/ can save you lots of trouble in the future.

Check out these other latest articles from our Blog this week

Pigeons Love A Flutter Too!
According to a new report by scientists with nothing better to do, pigeons enjoy nothing more than having the odd punt! Check out what Dan thinks of it all…

Mike’s Football Bets This Season
Linked in with my column below on making a profit in the English Premier League. A busy weekend ahead of bets from me.

Until next week…

Mike Bishop

2. Mike’s Football Bets

Mike analyses the forthcoming football betting opportunities over the next week and highlights a few bets he feels offer value. This is part of a season-long experiment to see the likely returns from such an approach and to build up a public record.

My phone has been buzzing this week with enough Liverpool FC jokes to give Ken Dodd a coronary and the bookies predict there will be little relief for the reds this weekend with Everton clear favourites at a best 2.52 to win the Merseyside derby. I never like betting in these derby games and it’s hard to see a confident edge with even the under 2.5 goals line a very short best priced 1.68 with Expekt. Perhaps a better bet is the 11/5 with Betfair on there to be a red card as some of the challenges regularly seen in this fixture are enough to make even Nigel De Jong wince.

It’s just a short drive down from Goodison to find my first main bet this weekend as Bolton host Stoke at the Reebok where I fancy Owen Coyle’s outfit to take all 3 points. The home team are a much changed outfit no longer hoofing the ball up field at every opportunity (unlike their opponents) with my eye caught by the -0.25 Asian Handicap on them at 1.92 with 188bet. I do expect the extra quality Bolton now have in their squad to have too much for Stoke although this bet ensures we only lose half a pt if it’s a draw.

Staying in the North West and as good as Blackpool were at Anfield recently, I think they will find Man City a totally different kettle of fish. Under Bobby Manc, Citeh are well drilled with a very tough midfield and oodles of skill out wide (no not you Shaun Wright-Phillips), which should prosper against Blackpool’s attacking line-up. I expect a professional away performance from City and back them to overcome a -1 Asian Handicap at 2.16 with 12bet.

Two shortlist bets this week where I am backing a couple of home sides to do the business with first of all Blackburn a tasty looking 2.15 with Expekt to beat Sunderland. Big Sam’s men have won 75% of all home games against bottom 12 opposition since last season and the 2.15 suggests only a 46% chance. I reckon Big Sam’s hoofball tactics will overcome the Black Cats at least 50% of the time at home so this strikes me as value.

The other shortlist is Fulham with a 0 Asian Handicap (2.11 with 188bet) at home to Spurs as very few teams in recent times have come away from Craven Cottage with all 3 points. Mark Hughes has changed very little for the home outfit as they remain very well organised with the only question mark as to who will score the goals with Zamora, Johnson and Dembele out. A low-risk bet for me and I feel Fulham are being under-rated by the bookies in this game.

Two More Ante-Posts

I have done some more stats digging this week and have a couple more ante-post bets I like the look of. The first is Blackpool to finish rock bottom at 7/4 with Paddy Power, which looks mighty generous and the second is on Wolves at 5/4 with Bluesquare, Coral & Ladbrokes to be relegated. Wolves were the lowest scorers in the league last season and their goalie Hahnemann made the most saves so I think they flattered to deceive last year. Blackpool are riding the crest of a wave at the moment and Paddys have pushed this price out from evens to 7/4 on the strength of the Liverpool game. A major over-reaction in my eyes.

Main Bets
1 pt Bolton (-0.25 AH) V Stoke. 1.92 188bet
1 pt Man City (-1 AH) V Blackpool. 2.16 12bet

Shortlist Bets
1 pt Fulham (0 AH) V Spurs. 2.11 188bet
1 pt Blackburn to beat Sunderland. 2.15 Expekt/William Hill

Latest Ante-Post Bets
Blackpool to finish rock bottom. 7/4 Paddy Power
Wolves to be relegated. 5/4 Bluesquare, Coral, Ladbrokes

Whatever you bet on, good luck!

Mike

Just to clarify, although we have members and some tipsters providing some free tips and systems, we are primarily a review service. Please dont expect miracles or read too much into this experiment!

The Latest News On Whats Making Money Betting

Issue 53 of the Secret Betting Club newsletter is out NOW and features the very latest news, reviews and info on what makes money betting including…

• The truth on the much hyped All By The Book system. Our ongoing analysis is 100% independent and a must-read if this system interests you as we reveal what no other review service will discuss.
• The updated rules for our hugely successful 4 Pronged Attack system supplied for free to all members. Its made 75 pts profit from just 100 bets since May. Find out how you can get all you need to run the system delivered to your inbox for free!
• The Hall of Fame racing tipster that at simple £100 stakes has made £9480 in the past 12 months alone – yet still they remain relatively unknown outside of SBC!

Sign up today to access it risk free with our 100% money back guarantee at Secret Betting Club

3. A Sporting Chance

Scott Armstrong is The Sportsman who provides his regular expert betting advice on a range of sports such as Darts, Racing & Football. Each week via this column you can find his latest betting insight and expect some advice in fairly untapped markets – his speciality!

When people talk about a professional punter invariably discipline comes near the top of the list and it’s not without good reason. Over the last five years or so I have never had a bet for the sake of it, a so called boredom bet and it has done wonders for my profit column. As the American author Jackson Brown once said “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.”

It also pays not too to be too much of a worrier in this business. If you find yourself worrying about your staking, your more than likely to be in the wrong game. If your £500 bet on a horse has failed owing to said horse falling at the last fence you can’t start thinking “I could have bought a new plasma television for that”. Conversely nor can you be too complacent and be removed completely from the holding and folding of money. It is not simply a numbers game you are playing. One way of keeping in touch with reality is to leave some money, say £100 beside your PC at home and think how you would feel before you place the bet if the money was taken away. That will help to you to focus your faith in a bet and your confidence in a tipster.

A big aid for me has been my family’s support. I started off betting part-time in 2001 and now the good lady doesn’t flinch if I lose a large bet as she knows long term I will make a good profit. If you hit a losing run and have family responsibilities you do need their support otherwise the pressure will be tenfold. The discipline, the calm attitude and the support of those around me adds up to give me the most vital aspect in a punter’s armoury – confidence.

Your One-Stop Guide For Betting Profitably

Check out the new look Secret Betting Club website, which now features a full A to Z list of many of the tipsters we have reviewed and analysed.

Our latest reviews include: Football Bets, System Selections, Punter Profits, Gorans Winners, Formbet, Sport Online Gambling Cricket, Football Investor, Pro Bandit, AW Winners, Daily Bargain, ProBets & Platinum Punter

There is also plenty written about Football Betting Index, Statman Racing, Pricewise Extra, Tom Segal, Northern Monkey, Sports Power Club, Hudson Horses, Betfan & Steve Lewis Hamilton.

f you cant find a review on the service you are interested in, simply enter their name into the search the site box – chances are we have featured them in the past.

Visit here for more info: http://www.secretbettingclub.com/info

4. The Winabobatoo Weekender

Winabobatoo provide English Premier League, Football League and Scottish Premier ratings and systems. Using their own in-house systems to often ‘Win a bob or two’ for their members, they are penning an exclusive Weekend Football Guide to help with your bets every Saturday and Sunday.

The dark winter nights are sneaking up on us. Thank goodness we’ve got packed Saturdays full of football and betting action to keep us going.

Last weekend’s bet on Brighton ended up being a tear-jerker as the officials gave Bournemouth a very debatable injury time penalty to deprive us of a winner, as you may have seen live on SkySports. Sadly bad luck is all part of the game and these things happen. 5 winners from 7 bets highlighted here this season have made +4.83 points to date.

Winabobatoo produces two magazines per week for members. A couple of weeks ago I started to produce a FREE weekly Mini-Magazine for non-members. It contains plenty of advice and there’s a tip for at least one game in there. This week’s tip is an odds against Premiership bet.

You can visit my website at www.winabobatoo.co.uk to get your free copy now.

We’ve got a full programme of matches to pick from today. There look to be a number of good opportunities around.

This weekend’s selection is:
Peterborough to beat Swindon at 1.91. This price is currently available with Hills, BetFred, and SkyBet.

Odds are always subject to change, so please see who is offering the best prices at the time you place your bets.

A statistical fact: Blindly backing Man Utd in every home league game since the start of the 2006-07 season has given: Bets 65, Home Wins 56, Losses 9, Returns 74.49, Profit +9.49, %Profit +14.60%. *

*Games included are games rated by Winabobatoo which exclude the first 6 matches of each season.

Have a great weekend.

Mike Lindley 

Visit The Winabobatoo Website

5. Putting For Profit

Ian Richards runs Sportsbettingindex.com, a betting portal which includes an odds comparison site, free tips and betting blog plus a subscription service concentrating on minor golf betting markets.

Next Weeks Golf Events
PGA Tour Justin Timberlake
European Tour Castello Masters
Nationwide Tour Jacksonville Open (new event)
Champions Tour Administaff Classic
LPGA Tour Sime Darby Malaysia
Euro Challenge Egyptian Open
Japan Bridgestone Open

Golf betting and the short priced favourite

With Martin Kaymer winning his third stroke play event in succession, we could see the return to short priced favourites in golf tournaments which we thought maybe had come to an end with the “demise” of Tiger Woods – but is this a good thing or a bad thing for golf punters?

I believe bookmakers dislike short price favourites for two main reasons – the first is very simple: the possibility of that player withdrawing. As there are no real rule 4 deductions in place for golf tournaments, bookmakers could be left in a very difficult position should this happen. Secondly we often found when Tiger was 2/1 or less for an event, an outsider would be 100/1 instead of 50/1 – however his place odds shouldn’t really double as the favourite can only fill one of the places available, hence many a time a book would actually be “overbroke” on the place part.

Next week in Europe we see week two of the autumn “Iberian swing”, but one top player will be missing as Rory McIlroy has chosen to play the Challenge Tour event in Egypt instead. Why there you might ask! I imagine it is something akin to the infamous question posed by Mrs Merton to Debbie McGee “so what first attracted you to millionaire Paul Daniels?” I am guessing he will receive an appearance fee somewhat larger than the $40,000 first prize. In theory he should be much less than 2/1 but we all know how he struggles to win events and with the possibility of more than the usual four bookmakers pricing up, look for the each way value down the field.

Good luck with your bets!

Ian.

That’s all for today! Have a great weekend…

The Weekend Wager is brought to you by

http://www.secretbettingclub.com

Best Regards,

Mike Bishop and Dan Jones
Co-editors, Secret Betting Club

P.S. All new members get our full back catalogue when joining and considering we have recently published our 53rd  edition, that’s a huge amount of info all thrown in for free!