Golf - Doral and Indonesia

No football tonight - friendlies are obviously a no-go area, and the lower league ties all look priced right.


Golf.

Indonesia: I haven't looked closely at this. I'm just following my previous belief that Asians have a huge advantage over there, and these two are by far the best contenders. I was cross with myself for not going each way last time out, but this is a much weaker heat, and win only looks the bolder approach.

Randhawa 2pts win at 18/1
Jaidee 2pts win at 8/1


Doral Open

It really is eye-popping that 14 out of the last 16 winners have been based in Florida. This is also a front-end of the market tournament, hardly surprising with all the top players here. On my tissue two stood out, and I snaffled up the extra points last evening. You may have to shop around to get the best prices.

Furyk 2pts ew at 25/1
Singh 2pt ew at 16/1



Running totals for blog:
Total points bet: 449
Total points returned: 498.55
% points returned: 111%
Points in play incl above: 54

Football - Saturday 25th Feb

I was going to back Barcelona last night. Cold feet, caused by losing run, and further proof as to how much better a robot would be at this than me! They were lucky mind.

Trusting to my ratings as usual, although I had 9 possible matches in mind for this weekend, but have been picky and got it down to four. I'll let you know how the 5 discarded games fared!


I'm happy to go after Arsenal again. Unlike in mid-week Blackburn are just the sort of team they hate playing.

Blackburn 5pts beat Arsenal at 9/4

Aston Villa (away) 5pts beat Charlton at 9/4

Rotherham 5pts beat Chesterfield at 6/4

Barnet 5pts beat Carlisle at 2/1




A couple of bets in the Rendlesham hurdle this afternoon at Hadock can be found on my page at:

www.escorialracing.co.uk







Running totals for blog:
Total points bet: 410
Total returned: 482.3
% returns: 118%
Points in play including above 79

Golf - Chrysler and WGC

Little interest in the Chrysler this week, but there are some upstarts I've been following and may as well keep them on-side in such a weak event.


1pt ew Bjornstadt at 50/1
1pt ew Villegas at 50/1
half point ew Bertsch at 100/1


For the WGC Matchplay I like the look of the lower half and the lower quarter in particular. I will be using my ratings for some match betting, but doubt I'll post those up here. I'll wait until closer to the quarter finals for any proper outright betting, but can't resist one small wager to get started.

1pt ew Paul McGinley at 80/1

Mid-week European Football

Not normally my cup of tea - match betting on the Champion's League, but I do like two tonight - despite my recent hopelessness!!


Bayern Munich 5pts beat Milan at 11/8

Real Madrid 5pts beat Arsenal at 8/13



A couple of horse-racing bets up on

www.escorialracing.co.uk

for this afternoon as well for anyone interested.

Ryan Moore - flat jockey championship

Prices are up for the flat jockey championship, and I think I'll take an early position.

The obvious front runners are plenty short enough, and if the last couple of years are a guide there's plenty of time in-running to take advantage of fluctuations.

So let's get a marker down.

Ryan Moore 5pts win at 9/1




Running totals for blog:
Total points out: 400
Total points returned: 482.3
% returns: 120%
Points in play including above: 52

Escorialracing.co.uk

Just another reminder that my racing tips can be found (for free) on:


www.escorialracing.co.uk


Yesterday was a great day. I started the day completely out of love with jumps racing, and with a heavy heart at the prospect of watching which plodding nag would stagger through the mud at Haydock, Lingfield and Uttoxeter.

A few hours later I was cracking open the champagne after my biggest winning bet ever - an each way double on Briareus at 16/1 and All in the Stars at 11/1. I even threw in an ew bet on Ossmoses at 18/1 for good measure. Days like that don't come round very often.

24pts recommended returned over 240 pts. Excuse me for blowing my own trumpet, and I hope the gambling gods aren't watching! Better than this blog has performed in the last fortnight! That's how it goes of course. I have 4 separate betting funds (racing, sports, golf and trading), and when one does exceptionally well you can bet another will be floundering! They are all profitable in the long-term, so it's important not to get too carried away by results like yesterday, or too despondent about a losing streak. Easier said than done!

Anyway, check out the site, especially Saturdays. There's plenty of top judges on there.
Escorial's ratings are remarkable; Maurice's ratings for the big races a must read, and Colin's eyecatchers your very own notebook. And plenty more.

Malaysian Golf in play after round 1

A quick post. Randhawa nicely placed. Jimenez looks pretty short at 7/4. I think I'll stick with policy of siding with the Asians.

2pts win Wiratchant at 8/1

Weekend Football - Feb 18th

Here's the weekend punts:


Leicester 5pts to beat Leeds at 2/1

Blackpool (away) 5pts to beat Bournemouth at 11/4

Port vale 5pts to beat Leeds at 11/8

Scunthorpe 5pts to beat Swansea at 7/4


and in the cup on Sunday I'll follow my high-flyer system:

Preston 5pts to beat Middlesboro at 15/8

Scottish Cup

I've been looking at this competition. With Rangers and Celtic both out there looks to be a great betting opportunity. Especially given that Hearts look woeful favourites. Let's take them on.


8pts win Hibernian at 5/2
4pts win Inverness at 11/1





Running totals for blog:
Total points out: 362
Total pts returned: 482.3
% Returns: 133%
Points in play including above: 58

Golf - Nissan and Malaysian Open

I really feel that the wrong golfers are favourites for the Malaysian Open. It's very tough for Europeans over there. I hope to take advantage.

In America there's scope to back a few given Tiger's desperate course record - but I'll probably wait until in play to get more involved.

I got some great prices Monday (Stenson 50/1 and Randhawa 20/1, but they've gone now sadly)


Malaysian Open
Jaidee 2pts win at 14/1
Randhawa 2pts ew at 16/1


Nissan
Stenson 1pt ew at 40/1
Chad Campbell 1pt ew at 33/1
Palmer half point ew at 150/1

Football - Tuesday 13th Feb

A full lower leaegue fixture list and plenty of bets - let's hope we're not firing blanks tonight!


Burnley 5pts beat Wolves at 7/4

Blackpool 5pts beat Huddersfield at 7/4

Scunthorpe 5pts beat Bristol City at 11/8

Bradford (away) 5pts beat Swansea at 7/2

Swindon 5pts beat Gillingham at 11/8

Stockport 5pts beat Rochdale at 11/8




Running totals for blog:
Total points out: 332
Points returned: 459.05
% Returns: 138%
Points in play including above: 65

Totesport Trophy - Newbury Saturday

Racing still provides the bulk of my turnover. However, this is changing quite quickly and I consciously decided to make this blog reflect my new direction. However, that's no reason not to include the big races on here.


For those interested I usually post my racing tissue and advice on the following website:


www.escorialracing.co.uk


It's a great (free) site. Wander over and have a look.


I'll put my prices up for this race over there Saturday morning (by which time I may have come up with some different tips!). However, here's the three I've taken against the field at good each way prices.


Briareus 2pts ew at 20/1
Arch Rebel 2pts ew at 25/1
Manorson 2pts ew at 33/1

A fancy bit of mid-week trading on Natal at 25/1 and 13/1 has left me with a free bet on him as well but that obviously doesn't count for anything here.

Weekend football - 11th Feb

Let's hope for no silly stoppage time set-backs this week.

No theme to the bets, just following the ratings, and hardly a surprise to see Newcastle included away from home yet again. The Forest bet more of a surprise.


Aston Villa 5pts beat Newcastle at 6/5

Brighton 5pts beat Leicester at 11/8

Gillingham 5pts beat Tranmere at 5/4

Nottm Forest 5pts beat Swansea at 11/8


I know someone followed last week's recommendations with a lucky 15. Entirely up to you how you bet of course, but I wouldn't recommend that as sound practice even for a fun bet. I've always said if you must do that sort of bet just do the doubles and the accumulator.

However, to show I'm not a complete killjoy and don't even follow my own advice, I'll be doing a fun treble on three Premiership teams that are up against it, but the prices all seem a touch too long. I can't bring myself to back any of them in singles so why I'm even considering doing them in a treble is anyone's guess - but we're all allowed some mug-punting as long as we keep the stake proportionate!

1pt treble at 189/1
Wigan bt Liverpool
Portsmouth bt Man Utd
Sunderland bt Spurs

Johnnie Walker golf and AT&T golf

I thought I had put up an in-running golf thread from last week, but it doesn't seem to have worked. That's a bit of a shame as I recommended Holmes at 14/1 and Els at 6s!! Still, it isn't here, can only assume I didn't press "publish" - so serves me right.

Holmes was about the only thing that went right for me this weekend, which I was due for sure.

This week looks speculative at best - a windy course in Australia and a US pro-am are events to play from the 3rd round onwards really.


Johnnie Walker

Hensby 1pt ew at 40/1

Green 1pt ew at 40/1

Webster 1pt ew at 100/1



AT&T

Furyk 1pt win at 11/1

Atwal half point ew at 100/1

Bjornstadt half point ew at 150/1

Villegas half point ew at 125/1




Running totals for blog:
Points out: 289
Points returned: 436.05
% returns: 151%
Points in play incl above: 45

Weekend football - 4th Feb

That was an amazing set of results mid-week - 4 out of 4 correct, all odds against, and 7/2 Blackburn very much the icing on the cake.

The returns for January were spectacular to say the least. Due a losing run, or correction of some sort that's for sure. Still, we'll kep trusting to the ratings and picking off those prices.


Tranmere (Friday) to beat Huddersfield 5pts at 6/4

Birmingham to beat Arsenal 5pts at 3/1

Preston (away) to beat Stoke 5pts at 8/5

Swindon to beat Doncaster 5pts at 7/5

Blackpool to beat Forest 5pts at 8/5




Running total for blog:
Total points out: 254
Points returned: 411.55
% Returns: 162%
Points in play (including above): 65