Dairy of Spread Bettor

Thursday 25th June </p>   <P>

I’ve got a mate who makes a living from <a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=" http://www.sportingindex.com"> betting </a> on tennis. When he tells me to play (as in bet on tennis, rather than squeeze into a pair of shorts), I play. Today he gave me three players to back and there was no way I was going to miss out. The first name on the ‘to back’ text message was B.Becker and I immediately thought he was taking the piss. However, I soon found out that there is a modern day B.Becker and backed him and his other two selections J.Del Potro and L.Mayer. </p>   <P>

I was so excited, I felt like I had picked up a copy of tomorrow’s Times today and flicked to the results pages. This was my chance to make a few quid from a sport I know nothing about! I bought £10 of Becker set supremacy (10 points for winning and 5 points per number of sets you win by) at 1 and sat back waiting for that +25 point make-up. It duly came, but sadly not to our man.   </p>   <P>

J.Melzer beat Becker in straight sets and I had done £260 in record time. The only thing the modern day B.Becker has in common with his namesake is that they’ll both be watching the next round from the stands. All was not lost though. I bought £10 of J.Del Potro at 10 against an ‘injured’ Leyton Hewitt as I was desperate to claw back some lost cash. The match only lasted 3 sets again.     </p>   <P>

Del Potro lost the match, I lost £350 and my friend was in serious danger of losing his life.   </p>   <P>

The final piece of professional advice went the same way as the first two. I sold £10 Gonzalez over Mayer at 8.5 and she destroyed the ‘banker’ in straight sets too losing me another £115. My early morning text message had cost me £725. I got a text at the end of the day saying… ‘Worst day ever. Bollox done’. I think I’ll have that written on my gravestone!   </p>   <P>

Friday 26th June  I got up early and to my horror had another text message. It read ‘Hantuchova Vesnina Sela’. I wasn’t sure if it was one person or three, but it meant that I had to play again. I couldn’t stand the thought of my mate getting it all back and me just watching from the sidelines. If he was going to drown, I was going to go down with him.   </p>   <P>

First up, Hantuchova and a £10 buy of her set supremacy at 8. No danger. She saw off Sugiyama in straight sets making £120 profit. Vesnina then rose to the occasion and dispatched her opponent by two sets to one and in the process got another £130 back in the satchel – this tennis game is easy!   </p>   <P>

Then came the best. I sold £10 of Robredo at 2 against a man who was just one ‘l’ away from being a former French Rugby Union star. Sela won the match by three sets to one and a make-up of -20 meant a profit of £220. Back from the dead. Three bets, three winners and £470 up on the day. Strawberries, cream and sugar (or should that be sucre!)!    </p>   <P>

Saturday 27th June  I wasn’t going to get sucked into getting with the Lions again. I got away with it last week and wasn’t going to take any chances seven days on. However, there didn’t seem that much upside in buying the Boks over at 9, as I still thought it would be a tight affair.     </p>   <P>

The bet, in my opinion, was a sell of Lions points in the game at 18 as there seemed little downside. I sold £20 at 18 and sat back to enjoy the contest. It would be a miracle if they scored more than 20 points and I really felt that they could be restricted to a score of just 3, 6 or 9.   </p>   <P>

I cannot remember whether that theory lasted for 3, 6 or 9 minutes as the Lions had a penalty and a try on the scoreboard in no time. I didn’t panic, I just stared at the clock and wished it away. The problem was that the Lions reached my ‘selling point’ with over twenty minutes left which made for pretty uncomfortable viewing. A final make-up of 25 proved that miracles do happen (in my world of punting) and I was left with a £140 loss.   </p>   <P>

Sunday 28th June  Spent the afternoon at a Children’s farm/zoo with my wife and three little kids. We saw a heavily pregnant pig called Lottie who was hairy, frothing at the mouth and blowing like there was no tomorrow – she looked a little bit like that Welsh Lion with all the hair (rugby player rather than zoo animal – not sure you can get Welsh Lions, they’d make a hell of noise though!)   </p>   <P>

Listened to the Irish Derby on my mobile crouched behind a herd of rare breed cows so my wife couldn’t see. She either didn’t notice or thinks there is a cow in that herd who can do a hell of an impression of Tony O’Hehir! Fame and Glory bolted up which was fantastic news as I’d backed him earlier in the week at 5/2 before Sea The Stars was withdrawn. Nothing beats cheering home the Irish Derby winner whilst crouching down and staring at a pair of udders!    </p>   <P>

Monday 29th June  England under 21’s are in action but I have no view and decide to leave it alone. Tune in and watch Murray struggling in his opening set against a man called Wawrinka (I’m sure that was the name of the funny creature in Star Wars who argued with Obi-one Kenobi in the bar). Anyway, Wawrinka has a hell of a back hand and I sold Murray’s set supremacy early on at 18 for £20 in-running.    </p>   <P>

Wawrinka walked the first set 6-2 and I decided to buy back at 12 and take an £120 profit. It was on the table and it had to be taken – I always say, there are two kinds of people in life… the quick and the disappointed!  </p>   <P>

Tuesday 30th June  When I last went to <a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=" http://www.sportingindex.com"> Wimbledon </a>  a few years ago, they had a net you could serve into by the station and a machine which measured the speed of your service. I remember smashing it into the net and seeing 78mph flashing up – slower than your average female’s second serve. It was a disappointing display from a big lad and I remember putting everything behind the next swipe and getting close to 90mph.  </p>   <P>

Serena Williams’ first couple of first serves in her quarter–final match this afternoon were around 125mph… she’s got bigger thighs than me anyway. She’s probably got bigger balls too… but we won’t go there.  </p>   <P>

Anyway, I bought both the Williams’ sisters set supremacies as I expected them both to win in straight sets. I bought £20 of Venus at 15 ½ and duly made my £90 pretty easily. Then, I bought Serena at 6 ½ for £20 and made another £270. They are awesome… I wonder how far they’d get in the men’s side of the draw!  </p>   <P>

Wednesday 1st July  It’s Men’s Quarter-Finals day and Murray, Federer, Hewitt and Roddick are all in action. I was keen to get with Roddick against Hewitt but decide to leave it alone as the latter has already cost me a packet this tournament. The bet of the day for me was a buy of total games in the Federer v Karlovic match as I expected plenty of tie-break action. However, the quote of around 42 was pretty spot on and I opted for a bet-free day.  </p>   <P>