Yesterday's football bets didn't quite go to plan. I relied heavily on Linfield v Glentoran in the Irish league top-of-the-table clash to return a decent profit. It was a very good match with Linfield being denied at least two good penalty claims and coming close to scoring on a number of times. Glentoran seemed to be happy to sit back and only hit on the break, which was a shame really, because had they won the match they would probably have been this years Irish champions. My Lay Under 2.5 went tits up, as Linfield only final managed to score in the dying moments leaving no time for anymore goals. This means yesterday's football bets are down £14 and it will take a lot of hard work and research to recover the losses in today's in-play list.

So, my first attempt will be in the Bulgarian Premier league:

Live In-Play Football Matches at Betfair
Tue 17th March
07:30 Shandong Luneng v Sriwijaya
09:00 Newcastle Jets v Ulsan Hyundai
10:00 Nagoya v Beijing Guoan
11:30 Saba Battery v Al Ahli
12:00 Pakhtakor v Al-Hilal

13:30 Belasitsa Petrich v Slavia Sofia
Slavia Sofia are in 6th place amassing 24 points in the Bulgarian Premier League with Belasitas bottom of the table with 11 points. They have both played 17 matches. Not surprisingly, Slavia took an early lead with a goal from Bala in the 7th minute. I'm tempted to Lay Sofia and hope Belasitsa pull one back during the first half.
Status Matched: Lay Slavia Sofia £10.00 @ 1.28 Profit £12.80 Liability £2.80

Anther one bites the dust! A chap called Ortega scored for Sofia making it 0-2 in the 31st minute. It was worth a small punt and who knows, Belasitsa might stage a remarkable comeback and go on to win. Stranger things have happened, but extremely unlikely in the case. Huh, Sofroniev pulls one back for Belasitsa in the 38th minute, so maybe, just maybe the Lay bet might work??

2-3 then 2-4 ending up at 2-5 must have been one hell of a match to watch. Bulgarian football gone crazy and my Lay bet is finally dead in the water... now I've really got some serious catch-up to figure out.

More In-Play Football Later Tonight:

What a fantastic day for sport. Yesterday's football turned up some awful results for my Lay-the-Favourite and hope bet. Thankfully, Roma and Espanyol scored late, late goals to draw their respective matches and I made successful green books. However, Barca scored just as my Back bet was being processed and the whole bet went breast-up rather quickly. Aston Villa just didn't get going; Spurs took advantage and I was unable to trade my position, so this one also went tits-up. Hamburg v Cottbus was another floater (who the fleck are Cottbus?). Basically, it was a fast moving set of markets that ended up slightly down by a few quid. Small stakes, limited liability and modest profits will never return a living income but it can be very exciting when you have a lot of games in-play and money riding on them.

The England Rugby team finally got going and walloped the French. I lay France £10 @ 2.4 and went green just before halftime for a guaranteed £7.60 profit. I then recycled the rugby stake money over to the West Indies 20-20 match and put a Lay on ENGLAND £20 @ 1.54, which paid out £13.44 after I closed the position in the green.

So, Sunday wasn't all that "bloody" after all and a very nice £17+pence was made in a day of frantic trading, laying and betting.

Today's in-play football list looks a bit sad and I think I'll give things a rest for a while.

Although I'm tempted by Minyor Pernik v Litex Lovech... 0-0 at halftime Minyor Pernik (whoever you are) get yer shooting boots on!

Lay Bet Matched: Litex Lovech 1.64 Stake £10.00 Payout £16.40 Liability £6.40

PFC Litex Lovech is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Lovech.

Litex takes part in the TBI A Football Group. The team plays its home games at the local Lovech Stadium with 7,000 seats, electric lighting and permission to stage international matches. Litex has twice been Bulgarian champion and three times Bulgarian Cup winner.

So, now you know!

This game ended 0-0 and I traded early in the second half for a £2.72 green book. With no commentary on the match, I judged it to risky to let things ride. Still, a couple of quid is better than a poke in the eye from a Tapas Bar.

Today's football bets were a little disappointing, with Villa failing to score and Hamburg rampant. Espanyol scored a late, late goal to get a 3-3 draw and once again saved my bacon.

I think it's time to give the football Lay bets a rest.

20/20 Cricket and an England Team Looking Slim

Don't get me wrong, I'm an England fan and only ever wish them the best. However, my heart might be with them, but my head says NO.

This is a Lay on England (batting first) and I hope for a low score/early wickets to put me in a strong trading position.

That's the plan and here's my screen:

Hopefully, this will turn out to be a classic. Who cares who wins?

25 for 1 cool dude in the Caribbean

England are on the ropes yet again, down but not yet out!

Yesterday's Tale of Misfortune, Lost Opportunities and Finally Walking on Sunshine

After suffering significant losses in the English Premier League yesterday afternoon, I took the AskJack Betfair Experiment offshore in the hope of recovering some of the money lost on Sunderland & Liverpool. It's still hard to believe that Liverpool took apart Man U with such ease. I felt sure that United would score early in the second half and my Lay on Liverpool would trade out in the green. However, things turned out in Liverpool's favour and my Jack-Joking Lay bet foundered. Sunderland (wonderland) were not even shooting blanks in the second half and this Lay also went tits-up. I'm not sure where the Bochum v B Munich bet came from as I have no memory of placing it... but that also went breast up.

Sunderland v Wigan : 14-Mar-09 16:55 -22.60
Bochum v B Munich : 14-Mar-09 16:21 -5.20
Man Utd v Liverpool : 14-Mar-09 14:43 -8.20
Man Utd v Liverpool : Over/Under 2.5 goals 14-Mar-09 13:34 5.70

Offshore Raiding

Ath Bilbao v Real Madrid : 14-Mar-09 22:51 7.41
Juventus v Bologna : 14-Mar-09 21:20 6.01
Benfica v Guimaraes : 14-Mar-09 20:42 9.50
Cagliari v Genoa : 14-Mar-09 18:53 23.75
Dinamo Moscow v FC Moscow : 14-Mar-09 13:08 9.50

All of the offshore bets were placed while the games were in-play and a goal had already been scored (except the Moscow Lay bet on a Draw). My luck finally turned good and further goals were scored to enable an immediate green book Cagliari v Genoa was a late, late goal and that's why the profit was much better.

Football Profit £61.87 and Loss for Yesterday £36.00 Giving an Overall Profit of £25.87

I've had worse days.

Lay the odds-on favourite and then trade when things go badly/slowly for them does produce a regular green book position. However, when things go wrong it can turn out to be very expensive.

Today I plan to watch the Rugby 6 Nations with (oh no not again) England v France first up on BBC. In memory of my late Uncle John, I'm going to Lay France and roar home a famous English victory.

That's the plan, it might not be a good one... but what the hell!!

Man Utd v Liverpool - Over/Under 2.5 goals

At first gance this Lay might look insane. Both teams are scoring freely in all competitions and some of the best and most expensive players are going head-to-head. This could be a case of football "algebra" in that two pluses make a minus. In other words; because thay are so good they cancel each other out and probably only a late-late goal will win the match. However, it's entirely possible that this match will be a goal feast. Pays your money - Takes your chance.

Lay Backer
Under 2.5 Goals 1.65 Stake £10.00 Payout £16.50 Liability £6.5

Betfair In-Play Football Matches

The in-play match list is even more restricted than yesterday with only coverage of UEFA Cup 1st Round and a couple of late-night offshore South American matches.

Thu 12th March
17:00 CSKA Moscow v Shakhtar

To MUCH temptation: I put a Lay bet on CSKA £10 @ 1.86 and then traded a Back bet on CSKA to get a modest green book. I then recycled the stake money to Lay Galatasaray who are currently 0-1 up at halftime. My guess is Hamburg will score at least one if not two in the second half, given the number of yellow cards Galatasaray have already picked up and the speed of Hamburg's forwards. That's the plan... subject to change!
Result: 1-0 the trade just before halftime avoided a crash-and-burn. Offset £2.52 against last night's losses.

17:00 Hamburg v Galatasaray

Hamburg produced the required goal and I went GREEN almost immediately, fearing a quick reply by Galatasaray. A nice little trade with minimum risk and modest profits. Re-building the stash... slowly! Oh, CSKA just scored a penalty, so it looks like taking an early modest profit in that game was the right decision.
Result: 1-1 and £6.18 can be offset against yesterday's loses; still a long way to go!

19:15 Paris St-G v Braga
19:30 Liverpool Res v Man Utd Res
19:30 W Bremen v St Etienne
19:45 Man City v AaB
19:45 Marseille v Ajax
19:45 Udinese v Zenit St Petersburg
22:00 Uni San Martin v Nacional (Par)
00:15 Colo Colo v LDU

The last two days have not been very successful for my football bets, so I'm going to give football a rest for a few days and try recovering some of the losses in other markets.

In reflection the decision to Lay Man United nearly came off, as Inter hit the post and bar on a number of occasions and if they had scored... ifs & buts. Who would have thought Atl. Madrid would come up blank?

I'm going to write the last two days off to an experience gain, stop crying in my beer and move on!

Two possible alternative markets for today:

Last night's 3 bets on Championship games ended in disaster due to Betfair disallowing In-play bets for this particular set of league matches.

I have since found out that Betfair publishes a list of football matches where In-play bets are allowed for the whole 90 minutes (subject to conditions).

This is the list for today:

Wed 11th March
09:00 Central Coast v Pohang Steelers
10:00 Kawasaki v Tianjin Teda
11:00 Samsung Bluewings v Kashima
12:00 Bunyodkor v Ettifaq
12:00 Sepahan v Al Shabab
13:30 Al Jazira v Umm-Salal
17:00 MTK Budapest v Upjest
17:30 Al Ittihad v Esteghlal
19:45 Barcelona v Lyon
19:45 Man Utd v Inter
19:45 Porto v Atl Madrid
19:45 Roma v Arsenal
20:00 Fulham v Blackburn
22:30 Everton De Vina v Lanus
00:50 Chico v Gremio
00:50 Deportivo Tachira v Deportivo Cuenca
03:10 Guadalajara v Caracas FC

Not exactly awe-inspiring is it?

I've £30 to make up from last night's losses, so it's back to the tried and tested Lay-the-Favourite and hope for a slow start or opposition to score first. Then trade for a green book when the favourites odds drift out.

That's the plan and Barcelona v Lyon & Man Utd v Inter are the targets.

Here's my Betfair screens so far:

Aussies Stroll to an Easy Victory

Australia 352 & 331/5d South Africa 138 & 370
Australia won by 175 runs

South Africa v Australia Lay the Draw £10 @ 1.88 Liability £8.80

I traded this one out for a £7.60 guaranteed profit. At one stage it did look like SA might bat-out the final day, but Australia's fast bowlers did the job and they got a fine match and series win.

West Indies v England Lay the Draw £10 @ 1.8 Liability £8

This one is still in-play (current score: 45 for 2 and 197 needed for a Windies win: Back odds for a Draw 1.4)

I have a feeling £8 is about to disappear down-the-pan. Windies are not going to try and win and England just cannot find the firepower to get 20 wickets. I might have a punt on the 20-20 game this Sunday, but I'm really sick and tired of throwing good money after bad support England on this tour.

Tonight's Champions League to Close to Call

Tonight's Champions League football is to close to call. Liverpool are not playing very well at the moment and key players are off form. Chelsea away from home, but with Drogba in form might hold on. Real Madrid and Juventus also have team selection problems. I think I'll pass on both matches and look to the Championship League for better value.

I've found three matches in the early betting that could be suitable for a Lay on the Draw - Back when the odds go out.

This is a bit risky... but worth a punt?

Who knows and who cares.

Stumps - Day 4
Australia 352 & 331/5d
South Africa 138 & 244/2
South Africa require another 302 runs with 8 wickets remaining.

Realistically, two results are possible - a draw or an Australian win, but maybe, just maybe SA will come out tomorrow with all guns blazing and snatch an unlikely victory.

To limit my liability I've closed out this Lay-the-Draw bet and got a green book favouring an Aussie win.

The England train-wreck continues... least said, sooner mended.

Here's my current Betfair screens for both matches:

THIRTY QUID DOWN... and the blood is on the floor.

Yesterday was a disaster for Lay bets against the favourite. One by one my bets came to grief.

Soccer Showing 1 - 9 of 9 markets

Market Start time Settled date Profit/loss (£)
Soccer / Torino v Juventus : 07-Mar-09 19:30 07-Mar-09 21:22 7.60
Soccer / Barcelona v Ath Bilbao : 07-Mar-09 19:00 07-Mar-09 20:54 -8.00
Soccer / Fulham v Man Utd : 07-Mar-09 17:15 07-Mar-09 19:08 -8.60
Soccer / Genoa v Inter : 07-Mar-09 17:00 07-Mar-09 18:55 -5.40
Soccer / Roma v Udinese : 07-Mar-09 15:00 07-Mar-09 16:58 -5.00
Soccer / Sunderland v Tottenham : 07-Mar-09 15:00 07-Mar-09 16:54 15.20
Soccer / Cottbus v H Berlin : 07-Mar-09 14:30 07-Mar-09 16:21 -4.50
Soccer / Coventry v Chelsea : 07-Mar-09 12:30 07-Mar-09 14:23 -6.45
Soccer / St Mirren v Celtic : 07-Mar-09 12:15 07-Mar-09 14:08 -8.40

Who would have guessed Celtic would come up with a blank? Spurs scoring late and Juventus finally finding the net definitely saved the day and reduced my losses. Thankfully, my cricket bets are holding up and should cover the feck-up from yesterday's football bets.

Two Bets Today

Lay Arsenal - Lay Everton

Daft as a brush...