Weekend Results and a Lesson Learned

Results - Weekend of the 24th October

What a crazy weekend for backers in the EPL, and an indication that what I wrote in my introduction was true, with most nailed-on selections going the way of English owners of Premier League clubs – out of the door. Even when matches looked won teams managed to throw them away, and even I had one of those moments that affect all gamblers – was I pleased to make that decision. I will explain, because it's a valuable lesson.

Having dropped a few quid on Tottenham on the Saturday, I decided that the best response would be to take Manchester City to kick Fulham into touch. I'd watched Fulham play Hull City on the previous Monday and to be honest I wouldn't give them a chance of scoring against a half-way decent side. So armed with the certainty that only comes from years of losing bets (gamblers are peculiar animals) I plunged on the light blues.

I got distracted doing jobs around the house (building a plastic Argos shed – from pieces that were never designed to fit together), and flicked onto the scores to find that Man City were leading 1-0. As I don't like losing money I went onto Betfair to see about trading out and saw the lay price had gone to 1.03 (what I didn't know was that between me checking the score and getting to my computer Man City had scored a second – although I thought they must have done; given the price).

This then was my position. I had £300 on Man City to return me a profit of around £148; they were leading 2-0 so the money was safe. That's when I had my blinding moment of inspiration. Instead of letting the bet ride I took the trade at 1.03 (cost me a tenner I thought, but at least my money's safe).

So, back to building the shed (it's nearly done now – honest, just a few more screws). Later that night went to check my Betfair account to find that they hadn't paid me my winnings. Usual cursing about inefficiency until I decided to actually check the scores. Fulham had equalised!!! My bet had lost (although I had saved my dosh). Moral of this story. Take a profit. For the sake of £10 (as I thought) I'd saved myself £300.
Really, that was the story of the weekend! Teams not doing as expected. With, I have to say, the exception of Wigan who did exactly as I expected (one of the few that did).

Talk again soon, with some tips coming for football around the world.