The Gambler

Another piece from David Wiseman.

Season Already Over For Liverpool? 

When it comes to soccer there is an old saying and that is while you can’t win the title in August you can definitely lose it. Only three games into the season and it looks like this applies to Liverpool. After two losses from its opening three matches, its odds have ballooned out to 10.5.

It is already six points from the lead of the soccer league and that is before any European matches or the FA Cup. Something is going to have to give at Anfield and one wonders what it will be. Will it be Rafa Benitez or the underperforming players? In horseracing terms, how much slower could they be out of the gate?

Things are better at White Hart Lane where Tottenham Hotspur is having its best start to a season since the double winning year of 1960/61. Things changes quickly in sport and 12 months ago, Spurs couldn’t win a game to save themselves. Now Harry Redknapp has got them firing. Most of the soccer betting has got Spurs at 32 to win the Premiership. They are also at 1.76 for a Top 6 finish which is pretty good odds.

One interesting bet is if there will be a different member of the Top 4. Yes is paying 1.74 while No is at 1.94. Given Liverpool’s woes this could be a great bet.

If one is looking for a different type of soccer bet, what about best top northwest club. Manchester United is the favourite at 2.24 with Liverpool next in line at 2.84. Big spending Manchester City is at 4.5 while Everton are at a remote 40. This looks like a pretty good bet for doubling one’s money. More than likely this is a safe bet and you are getting excellent odds for it.

Manchester United is also a favourite for the FA Cup. They are at 5.6 to Chelsea’s 5.6 but for all intents and purposes they are joint favourites for soccer’s oldest knockout competition.

Is it too early to be thinking about soccer’s 2010 World Cup. There is still a long way to go in the qualification campaign with over 20 of the 32 spots still up for grabs. European champions, Spain are favourites at 5.8. Next in line are Brazil on 6.2 and Argentina at 7.8. They haven’t yet qualified but England are at 9.6. Australia have qualified but are at a distant 100. The USA impressed at the Confederations Cup but are at 110.

David Wiseman is a freelance writer and journalist who writes for Betfair Australia. He is hoping to recoup some of his horseracing losses at the Caulfield Guineas.

Quick update.

Yesterday. Morning disappeared it does. Popped down stairs for half a lager. This is a tactic. Before I head off round London, I like to take 5 minutes checking I have phone wallet credit cards keys etc... that I need to do my business.

Normally end up chatting to one of locals who turns out to be nuts as me. Very rich estate where I have my flat. 9 times if not ten time out of ten you work out this bloke is worth millions. My new mate Steve was in this category. Self made millionaire south london mid forties. He did not tell me this. I just work it out. Previous night  he was on lash. End of night he was chatting to an unassuming man in the bar. Tums out they both live in same block. Mr unassuming says pop up and we weill have nightcap. Tums out Mr unassuming owns penthouse 7 million quid. decorated to the highest quality. Wallpaper 1000 pound a roll. !00 inch plasma screen in front room.. Lobby bigger than most peoples s house.  Deck outside similar size. Painting on wall. That looks good. Yes its Picasso. average price Picasso million quid, probably 10 million.. Mr unassuming genuine friendly guy. He has invited bar staff up for a drink before this, has 10 million pounds paintings hanging on wall. Nightcap. Brandy. My new mate Steve looked it up next day . It was 500 quid a bottle.

Wow. hope this does not sound like bragging or boasting, but returning to Fulham I am suddenly aware that there is a lot of money round these parts. Recession? What recession? The rich ride it it out no problem. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer. No problem. Not jealous or envious just reporting from the edge of a different planet. Good luck to Mister unassuming. Sounds like a nice bloke.

My new buddy steve knows nothing about gambling. I mention BF, and he says yup. He has two mates who made 18 million laying horses on BF last year. I go they must have had some good info, if you know what I mean. He though they were making it up, but found out it was true, He Is in a private members club. Jimmy and Freddy walk in. Order a drink. Say to barman, buy everyone a drink. Bar quite full and not cheap. Round 2 grand. They stay for a while. Buy more drinks. Bar bill roughly 10 grand. Pay bill. Leave bar., No sweat. Whats ten K when you have just won 18 mill. It's like me buying my mate half a lager shandy. Funny world. Funny old game. See how the other half live. Hope that was not too boring. Bye for now.

http://testpunt.ning.com/

Sunday 23rd August 2009.

Good Morning. Looks like being a beautiful day. Sun is rising over London Town and the forecast is 27 degrees and sunny.

I am off to Fulham v Chelsea at 4pm. Meet my cousin and his mates for a lime juice and soda about 2pm. I cannot wait. Have not been to a Premier League match for ages. Chelsea my team are a bit of a a fair weather team, and in these conditions I think we can nick all 3 points. I am a bit of a Fulham fan as well. and I love Craven Cottage. I played there once. Well on the pitch just outside the ground in the park. Cannot remember the score. All I remember is one of our players turning up straight from party out of his head. He got injured, and had to be carried off pitch concussed. He kept trying to come back on. I had to tell him in the end. Next minute ball gets stuck up tree. I turn round and Richard has climbed up tree and got ball down. Only problem he is now stuck up tree half naked looking like some madman from Planet of the Apes. We decide to leave him up tree and get on with game. No wonder I cannot remember score of game. I hope he's still not up there. I better check later.

Yesterday very good day. Got lots of jobs done, More to do, but we will leave that till tomorrow.

Bye for now and check out http://testpunt.ning.com/

Reading Town FC my new club won 1-0 away yesterday. Great result and now second in league.. Big Match Tuesday night. More details http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/readingtownfootballclub01/109901/

Seeya.

Two in the morning.

Yesterday. Funny Day.

 Mrs G was in a funny mood. I went shopping in the morning. Too much detail. Can't be bothered. Went to Battersea in evening. Sorted out a few things. Came home. Sorted out a few more. Busy morning ahead. Will probably have a quick nap before heading of to Battersea and then flying back to Fulham. By about 1pm I should be sorted. At which point cold beer, lunch and siesta.

Sunday going to Fulham v Chelsea followed by dinner with Mrs. G. it's all go.

Cricket very interesting but no sky in london.

Have a good weekend and a great life.

http://testpunt.ning.com/

The Final test contributed by David Wiseman. Any Comments?

All to play for as the Ashes heads to the Oval 

For a long time the Ashes was on the horizon but now four of the five Tests have been played and it all comes down to the Oval. It is the first time since 1965/66 that the Ashes is all square heading to the final Test match of the series.  
 
The form of both sides has fluctuated but now Australia are firmly in the box seat. You would think that the Ashes 2009 is going to be a good one for them unless England can make some sort of a remarkable turnaround. 

Injuries have been cruel to England with their two best players sitting on the sidelines. Andrew Flintoff will be back in the Oval but he was sorely missed at Headingley. The same applies to Kevin Pietersen who was a shadow of himself for the first three Tests.  

There is no doubt that neither Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell have the skills to handle the intensity of Ashes cricket. They lack the temperament to excel but the problem for England is that there really isn't anyone else they can call up. 

As for Australia, Michael Clarke is in great form and Mitchell Johnson looks to be doing great.  

Having a look at the odds at England doesn't have many friends with the bookmakers. It is at 5.6 to win the Test while Australia is at 2.44. Ben Hilfenhaus is at 1.97 to be the leading Australian wicket-taker for the series. He has a two wicket lead over Peter Siddle and Johnson. Those three are the three leading wicket takers for the series which is why the two teams are now gulfs apart. 

England are struggling with both the bat and ball and need someone to stand up and make runs. Unless it comes from Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, it doesn't look like coming from anywhere else. Who knows if England would have won at Lords if the openers hadn't combined for a 196 run opening stand? 

It all isn't doom and gloom for England and they still have a chance to make history. If that is to be the case, they need to play attacking positive cricket. They have a good record at the Oval against Australia but that has been with mostly dead rubbers. How will they be when the series is on the line? Can they deal with the pressure and the tension?

David Wiseman is a freelance writer and journalist who writes for Betfair Australia. He is hoping to recoup some of his cricket betting losses on this weeks final ashes test.

Visit iour sister site

All to play for as the Ashes heads to the Oval 

For a long time the Ashes was on the horizon but now four of the five Tests have been played and it all comes down to the Oval. It is the first time since 1965/66 that the Ashes is all square heading to the final Test match of the series.  
 
The form of both sides has fluctuated but now Australia are firmly in the box seat. You would think that the Ashes 2009 is going to be a good one for them unless England can make some sort of a remarkable turnaround. 

Injuries have been cruel to England with their two best players sitting on the sidelines. Andrew Flintoff will be back in the Oval but he was sorely missed at Headingley. The same applies to Kevin Pietersen who was a shadow of himself for the first three Tests.  

There is no doubt that neither Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell have the skills to handle the intensity of Ashes cricket. They lack the temperament to excel but the problem for England is that there really isn't anyone else they can call up. 

As for Australia, Michael Clarke is in great form and Mitchell Johnson looks to be doing great.  

Having a look at the odds at England doesn't have many friends with the bookmakers. It is at 5.6 to win the Test while Australia is at 2.44. Ben Hilfenhaus is at 1.97 to be the leading Australian wicket-taker for the series. He has a two wicket lead over Peter Siddle and Johnson. Those three are the three leading wicket takers for the series which is why the two teams are now gulfs apart. 

England are struggling with both the bat and ball and need someone to stand up and make runs. Unless it comes from Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, it doesn't look like coming from anywhere else. Who knows if England would have won at Lords if the openers hadn't combined for a 196 run opening stand? 

It all isn't doom and gloom for England and they still have a chance to make history. If that is to be the case, they need to play attacking positive cricket. They have a good record at the Oval against Australia but that has been with mostly dead rubbers. How will they be when the series is on the line? Can they deal with the pressure and the tension?

David Wiseman is a freelance writer and journalist who writes for Betfair Australia. He is hoping to recoup some of his cricket betting losses on this weeks final ashes test.

 to make history..

Visit or sister site http://testpunt.ning.com/ join, amd make more comments there.

Last weeks highlights.

1. Monday. Meeting up with old comrade  prylie :- the wolfie smith of the beer movement.

2. Tuesday Smarktex launch Party.

3. Wednesday. Being Fired by Comrade Roland Rat as Marketing Director for RFTC for promising the earth om Monday morning and delivering nothing more by Tuesday lunchtime than a hill of beans, which he then proceeded to eat. RTFC having great start to season. Well done to all, even Comrade Roland, and especially manage Colin Millard who if I may accidentally offended. in any way, I apologise. The same to applies to Roland. GO RTFC.

4. Thursday sleeping all day with some new 24 hour version of Cuckoos Flu. See the headlines tomorrow . Cookies Nest to fly over nation.

5. Friday. Woke about 5pm and flu had flown out window. Probably tidying up a bit for Mrs. G. pending arrival. 

6. Saturday. Staying awake for 24 hours. Mrs G. coming to visit  for the day birthday. One she will never forget.

7. Sunday. Another 24 hour day. Popping out for me dinner. As in one door I arrive, out the same door as Mark " he will never as good as his father Barry" Davies, one of the dogs at BF. always impeccably dressed but looking a bit scruffy on this occasion.  It was only when i went to the empty end  to eat my meal and lime and soda and heard the words "Andrew Black" that the penny dropped. It was indeed "Young Mark"

That of course is a short synopsis of the week.

Low light of week: one of my 24 hour day involved 6 hours at cand A nd E.

Waiting for doctor number two in my cubicle overhear following conversation. Cut to gist young girl probably 12 or younger in dress.   covered In blood. How did this happen man called Sam apparently. Wold not like to guess his age?. How much had Sam to drink? I had quite a lot of whiskey. Picture the scenario. Sam had two bottles. Obviously sam. had inflicted Thia damage on thiss young girl, not to mention the two year of the week that he kicked and punched across the floor.

Man of the Week. 

I was walking in the general direction of C and W about 3am as you do, and decided it might a good time of the week to check me leg.  Nice bloke. Got to hossy. i say call it a fiver. Thank you gov. Take wallet of pocket that I bought just in case. no cs in it that was im other trousers. Do you take cas cards or credit cards.

No mate. Don't worry about it. Drives off. Diamond geezer.

Best woman of the week.

Nurses at 6.30am in morning being so nursing to this little child.

Poor girl of the week. 12 year old baby.

Poor baby of the week of the week. The little two year old being used as football.

Firm of the week.

1. London Taxi Divers.

2. London Bus Driver. Got on bus at one point offered tenner. Smallest note I had. No change mate. Get on bus sit down there.

3.  Staff at C and W hospital .

All normal people working hard getting little recognition, but generally doing it even to er a few quid or make a general contribution to the general society.

Lets hear for mr and Mr normal work.

Saddest moment of week. No guesses on that one. Any journalists national who want more details and I my best to reply asap.

Funniest moment of week probably the doctor in the observation ward going for her reflex hammer. I was doing ok  Suddenly i go ouch . what is wrong. that was quite hard and you meant to hit muscle not ankle. Go home.  We refer to your local GP and tell him you are nuts. OK.

Apologies if spellimg and such are not up to usual high spelling, but I have been awake since sta am. Live fast. Die middle-aged is my motto.

Finally. Check ou the other blog. the way out. we gotta nuff immigrants in this country already. :-)

  

Apologies...

...for not posting more often.

Quite funny really as I was trying to wind up my fellow betting bloggers by accusing then of all all being part-time bloggers. And then it happens to me. How Andrew ""Bert" Black gets the time to blog at all is almost beyond me.

The reason I have not been blogging is that there has been too much going on. The other reason is what I shall call "The Crash".

I have a flat in fulham that I rent out. Our tenant has moved out so one of my jobs at the moment is to check out flat, work out what little jobs need doing. As part of this process I was cleaning the flat. Decided to mop the floor in the bathroom. Remove bath mat, etc...

Left bath mat outside my bedroom. For some reason did not put it back in bathroom. No problem. " I am in bed quite sober. Decide I need to use the loo. Open door put foot on bath mat. Bath mat goes forward and I go other way. Bath mats and wooden floors do not mix. I ended up doing a triple somersault and a loop. Landed on floor very heavily. Thought I took main hit to head, but looking at my bruises it was probably the left of chest. The left side of my body is bruised from head to foot. The right side has decided to join in as well. The bruises are the stage where thay become sore and stiff. Well that's enough of that.

Life and London is nuts at the moment.

One more example. i went out the other night for something to eat. Ended up chatting to a couple of blokes. Number one used to work at Tramps in the 60's. Famous London night club frequented by people like Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, George Best. Number One worked behind the bar. They never got tips, but on the way out  the rock stars would slip him a gram of coke. A lot more expensive in those days. The other man was a bit older. I have always been fascinated by a local restaurant that is always closed. Turns out he owns it and is actually a private gaming club. Pays his croupiers 2K a night, and only employs people that are members of the magic circle. I mention names like Lord Lucan. He says yes he was a quite a nice bloke. I mention other names. He knows them all. I cannot say anymore, or else I will end up swimming with the fishes. Omerta.

So just two little stories. Over the last few days there have been a dozen more, but I don't have time to go into details.

Better go now. Have a good day.

What a day?

Up at 5am. Emails/blogs etc...

Bit of tidying up planning etc...

Tea for Mrs G at 7am as she had a busy day ahead of her.

Slight problem with A/C needs to be sorted in Fulham Towers. Emails have been sent along with other issues smoke alarm/TV and H and S problem.

8am Half hour walk to Wandsworth.

8.30am Bemco electrical suppliers to buy transformers for light bulbs. Work out to fit one later today or whenever. Could be ring a buddy job.

10 Battersea to locate plumbing shop. Had to buy plugs for sink which Mrs. G. had informed me were broken. Turns out bloke running shop was old mate of mine. Sorted me plugs out which are the right size, but may need some manual adjustment. If Cliff can't do it, my buddy MG who runs H and V at Chelsea Harbour will sort it out. Sounds like another trip to Battersea in the morning. That's another two hours gone, one way or another.

Lunch in Sophies Steak House, Fulham Road. Excellent as usual. So many good deals in London at moment. It is cheaper to eat out than in.

Back to base in Fulham. Spoke to my sister first time in six months. Long emotional phone call for about an hour, but the great thing is we are now friends again. Fantastic.

Then it is time for shopping. Nearest supermarket 15 minutes. As only had a few items, potatoes, vegetables, breakfast items, mainly for Mrs. Gambler, I was advised by staff to use self service check out. This ended up taking half an hour, so shopping for a few spuds took over an hour.

Returned home. Mrs G. had put some washing in washing machine before departing for work. I thought I should take it out and hang it out to dry. Discovered washing machine was flooded. Took me another 15 minutes to find one of those things you use to dry washing that had been  cunningly hidden in wife's wardrobe. Another 15 minutes to deal with washing. 15 to mop up floors as water everywhere. Another hour gone. At this point you can either laugh or cry. I had been awake for 12 hours had not stopped since 5am, and I think maybe at this point I sat down for 5 minutes. No chance of blogging or emailing but I probably took a few minutes deleting and replying to one or two.

Prepared dinner. Mrs G turned up forty minutes later than she predicted, and less than I said. We put dinner on, and she fixed washing machine. We had to turn her around quite quickly as she had to drive back to Reading before 9pm. I updated her on my day and she said "you've had a busy day".

We had dinner on our balcony of our "flash" two bed apartment. Part of the reason I am in London quite a lot is to learn how to use the apartment again and find out what little jobs and decorating needs doing. This is going to take a few weeks, but will probably dovetail with other activities quite well. Painting lady coming round tomorrow, probably about 11am.

It will be all go again later today.

Dinner sort of merged with re-drying washing, putting table and chairs up, and whatever else we needed to do.

We manged to get Mrs. G. sorted, and she arrived back in Reading about 10pm. Not too bad. We spoke briefly and she had a couple of jobs to do like putting out rubbish, so I let her get on with them, after giving he her another seven tasks to think about. Meanwhile I was still working away in Fulham doing jobs. Bringing washing in, tidying up kitchen.

We spoke briefly again about 11pm. I was not tired so I just carried on working. Sending emails, tidying up, getting organised for today. Loads of tasks on list already. Bloody cooker is not working properly either. Think it needs reprogramming or something like that. Too much technology.

Eventually eyes started to shut so I went to bed for two hours, and then got up and started doing more jobs. It's now just gone 4.30am and at 7.30am I will be departing to start my morning errands. Back by 11.AM hopefully at latest. It's all go, and you can see I am slightly "manic", but I am really enjoying it. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon will be a bit quieter but I have a funny feeling it will not.

Apologies at this point for lack of gambling/sporting content but as you can see life takes over occasionally. It's all good fun, and I hope I have not bored you much. Bye for now. Time to move on.

Rubbish gambling blogs.

There really are some rubbish gambling blogs.

Some of them think they can accurately predict every winner at Goodwood, not realising it is a guessing game. No doubt at some point charging you for this "valuable" information. Others seem to think they can predict the day the world will end. Probably easier And the they post once a week or once a month, Who is going to read your blog, if you only post when you feel like it. Give up boys honestly.

Over on the other site things are looking a bit healthier, http://testpunt.ning.com/

I am sure you have already checked it out, but if not join today.

On a more positive note, one of my favourite blogs is http://www.juicestorm.com/

 I see MOM/juice storm/john  the founding father is being interviewed live on his blog/radio station sat 8th august 12 noon. This should be worth tuning into, The man is nearly as nuts as me. Takes some doing. Quite a witty intellectual when he gets going. Let us hope he has not had one two many "Pink Gins" before he makes his live debut?

Comments welcome as always.

For the latest betting/trading/ sports news and more click on http://testpunt.ning.com/

Morning Chaps.

Check out the new website, and if you have not joined already, do so now.

I have a feeling we are going to get some lively debate going there today.

http://testpunt.ning.com/