Betting Matters....

[bigbadwolf]

Mick Mac and ????.

Whats the most amount of money you've lost on a flutter and what attracted you to gambling apart from the obvious.

[????]

Not as much as you might think.....I play pretty small stakes (I think MM is a bit bigger than me)

Culturally, my whole family do it. I love sport and it gives an added edge to any sporting event.

Workwise - I worked for a big internet gambling company so know a bit

Mathematically I enjoy simple probability and am quite analytical so like looking for patterns, data and finding 'value' as we'd say

More recently, technology has meant that you can get much more fun for your buck, get reward points and bonuses and play around on something like Betfair with systems etc without risking much. I have taken out my initial amount I put in Betfair in 2006 and never put anything back in so I'm playing for free. It's a sort of geeks paradise as some geeks know!

I love poker too and play a lot online.

For me it's a true hobby that last year neted out at costing me about ?100 for hours of fun. One big night out.

I never play roulette, the lottery or fruits - the probability soesn't work that's just giving money away

[Mick Mac]

Funny how you come at that question from a negative perspective BBW.

?200 is the most I have lost on a single bet (Celtic).

I agree with all thats Quids said, so no point in me writing my own summary.

I keep a complete record and for the last year (from August 2008) I am up ?1,300 but that was ?2,200 at one point as I'm ?900 down over the last few months. Most bets would be ?10,?20 or ?50. I'm currently betting smallish until I get a win as I am beginning to feel the recent negative cashflow.

It definately adds a lot of interest to sporting occaisions that I might not normally care much about, so provided you bet within your means its good fun.

[bigbadwolf]

Forgive me for approaching the subject from a touchy angle Mick Mac. I sometimes gamble but mainly on football matches to add some 'juice' to the proceedings. I don't trust online gambling as it seems like it would be very easy to manipulate in the bookies favour. My grandfather was a big gambler and had two very substantial wins from horse racing syndicates.

[????]

bbw Betfairs an exchange not a bookies

Ditto poker sites, they make a fortune out of rake not by beating YOU, you play other punters..people just don't understand that ot poker

How can a bookie online manipulate against you? You get a price you like you take it or not?

I'm not trying to encourage gambling in anyway as I think we all have enough vices but the sort of things the general public (and you in this case) say about online gambling is about as sensible and based in fact as what they say about illegal drugs for instance! It's prejudiced horsehit!

You'll probably lose like most people if you take it up though so stick to something else!

[Mick Mac]

I have editted my post above,

Also, I don't ever do any games of chance eg poker, roulette, either online or anywhere else - just do real sports, where in theoery your knowledge might help you win.

[bigbadwolf]

Oh don't get me wrong Quids as I'm sure that the big players in online gambling are quite fiercely regulated but some slip through the net. I was mainly talking about the roulette websites as for all I know some bloke in Indonesia could simply be choosing the outcome for his own gain.

I confess that I know very little about gambling online or face to face, I don't even know how to play Poker!

[????]

Sorry, to add to MM's point about keeping in your means, if I lose everything I've got in all my accounts this afternoon It won't affect my finances, family or me in any material way whatsoever - and on paper I've for sure beaten my 'professional' advisers who invest my pension over the last year!

Impressed with your returns MM!

And to show the ridiculousness of it all. One of my biggest ever win was Matt from Busted(?) who was up for eviction from I'm a celebrity and my 11 year old nephew said "He'll never go everyone round all the ;local schools is texting eachother to vote for him" I put a lump on him at 62/1..that's called having an edge on the markets in punters terms :)

I put a ?10 on Betfair

[????]

MM Tut Tut, Poker's a game of skill....

[????]

BBw, well yes, I mean you wouldn't open a bank account online with a company you'd never heard of, that's just plain sensible

[????]

I'm almost (almost) ashamed to admit I had a little bit of Roddick at 2.98 at 1 set each, which was a stupid price. Tennis betting is my new favourite thing :)

[Mick Mac]

I knew you would annoy me by the end of the day Quids.

What I meant to say was - well done.

[HAL9000]

???? Wrote:

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> I love poker too and play a lot online.

Have you come across any Poker Bots? If so, what are your thoughts?

[????]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> I knew you would annoy me by the end of the day

> Quids.

>

> What I meant to say was - well done.

Could be worse MM, Green could be creeping up the leaderboard in the French open......oh, hang on a minute!

[????]

HAL no problem for me - they are normally programmed to play premium hands only so can be beaten by a player with a midicum of skill. More of a problem for the sites as they get their bonuses and rakeback

[tommy]

I wonder what the odds of Michael Owen signing for Manure were at the start of the week...

[Mick Mac]

I'm going to oppose Sea the Stars in the Eclipse today and back Rip van Winkle @ 7.6 on Betfair - its a long shot and this horse has not produced at Group 1 level as yet but OBrien camp rate it very highly so today may be its day. Sea the Stars is probably the horse we should back but at 1.63 the odds are just far too short to be worth a bet. Its very rare for any horse to keep winning Group 1s, no matter how good it is.

Quids - I usually think its best to back on golf after 2 rounds to see who's in the mix. McDowell is out of it so have backed Westwood at 10/1 this morning. But Green looks in very good position. Whats odds did you get?

I've also had ?2 on Darren Clarke at 500/1 as he has just moved to -3. Those are good odds.

[????]

I got 35, he's 13 this morning so I've laid it and now have a free bet (albeit with reduced profit).

It's Sea the Stars best distance and he's a fantastic horse but I agree about the odds...you could Lay him if you really think that, it'll be a low exposure at those odds. I'm just going to observe this one.

[matthew123]

tommy Wrote:

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> I wonder what the odds of Michael Owen signing for

> Manure were at the start of the week...

They were 20/1 on Thursday morning - and 4/9 by the evening

After yesterday anything is possible so might be worth a punt on Tevez to join Liverpool - 33/1 on SkyBet

[????]

I think that's a reasonable bet indeed Matthew

[????]

But no bets for me today I think - if Green and Federer come up trumps tomorrow it'll have been a very good week!

[Mick Mac]

Clarke has a bit of a round going - 4 under for the front nine.

[red devil]

Save your money boys, Tevez going to Citeh is a done deal...

I only bet on sports that I'm interested in and like to think I have a bit of knowledge on, never really got into the BetFair culture of in-play betting, so I'm keeping it Old Skool with a big wedge going on Sea the Stars today, had Roddick to beat Murray and will re-invest on Fed to win in straight sets tomorrow, the guy is on another level...

[red devil]

Some Michael Owen related odds...

Hills, who make Owen a 10-1 chance to be Premier League top scorer, reckon he will be only a bit-part player for United, presumably because his parts are in bits. He's 20-1 to start more than 25 Premier League games for United and maybe that's not a bad bet because he'll have Dimitar Berbatov to do all his running for him.

It's just 11-2 that he starts fewer than six.

He's 6-4 with Paddy Power to be handed the illustrious No.7 shirt and a very tasty 10-1 to be out injured for United's curtain-raiser against Birmingham next month.

[Mick Mac]

Darren Clarke double bogeys the 16th and Westwood double bogeys the 2nd hole. Great. I think the betting gods are trying to tell me not to bother. Rip van Winkle should stay in his stables.