Free bet fans will keenly follow John Daly to determine whether or not he’ll turn out to be flavour of the month as the so-called ‘Wild Thing’ of golf returns to the professional golfing fray in the Spanish Open after serving his six month ban from the game brought about by his off course debauchery. A firm favourite with free bet subscribers throughout his often chequered golf career to date, he fell foul of the game’s custodians last year when they concluded that his dubious actions could have finally dragged the good name of golf into the sewers had he not gone unpunished.
Whilst the golfing hierarchy probably won’t lead the applause that will ring out on the first tee in Girona as the 2009 Spanish Open got underway, the prospect of the biggest swinger in town making yet another comeback will undoubtedly pique the free bet fan’s interest. As always Daly’s un-swaying legion of fans steadfastly believe that the former two-time major winner still has the game - and of equal importance, the mindset - to mount a sustained challenge again soon.
It’s not as though - as the great man points out himself - he hasn’t overcome the insurmountable before in his colourful golfing career, which it’s fair to say has had a history of being interspersed with alcohol-fuelled misdemeanours and all manner of off-course shenanigans. Yet to the less holy than thou golf fan, Daly always represented something different and unashamedly honest since he first burst onto the largely conservative golfing scene back in.
The hard working, arguably harder playing Daly has never been a character to shy away from the media spotlight, and whilst the golfing hierarchy would rather it have been for the legacy he would perhaps leave to the game, he was more often than not hitting the headlines for less salubrious reasons. Nevertheless, there’s no denying that Daly doesn’t bring a certain ‘X Factor’ to the modern game, and anyone who dares knock his confidence is roundly set upon to take their views back.
We’d like to say he looks leaner and more fighting fit than ever in his bid to reclaim some of the golfing spotlight, but we’d be lying. Never one to comprehensively subscribe to the athletic lifestyle, Daly appears to be every inch the larger than life individual we know and love, yet commentators tell us he’s shed three stone since February’s operation to reduce his notoriously ample food intake.
Gastric band equipped or not, and although his critics may be plenty, Daly still manages to capture more than the hearts and imagination of solely the long suffering American golfing public who like their heroes to be of the tub-thumping variety. Rick Smith - former coach of Phil Mickelson - doesn’t think that it’s too big an ask to witness who US golf fans affectionately refer to as ‘The Lion’ return to the ranks of the game’s elite in the not too distant future.
Stella Stevens discusses Online Betting at Free Betting Online
Now the UEFA Champions League is getting down to the nitty gritty stage where effectively the four best football teams from across Europe battle it out in a glory or nothing scenario, which will get the free bets fans scrambling for the remote control both Tuesday and Wednesday nights having scratched their heads, rubbed their chins and eventually placed their bets in the run up to the games.
Now at the business end of proceedings, some nine months since the preliminary rounds first got under way, the Champions League semi finals see the usual suspects (minus Liverpool FC - much to the chagrin of free bets fans who probably re-mortgaged their houses in the belief that the Reds would go the distance) squaring up to one another in the penultimate knock out episode of the annual televised soccer saga. One thing is for sure though, and that’s the guarantee of keeping free bets fans on the edge of their seats as the football-based drama unfolds at the Camp Nou, Old Trafford and living rooms, pubs and clubs across the UK this week.
And true to form - like a soccer soap opera if you like - there’ll be entertainment at every step of the way for those free bets fans tuning in and kicking back. Along with tantrums (observe a certain W. Rooney in action), tears (Tissues at the ready Cristiano), over-acting (cue Didier Drogba to stand up and be counted - only to immediately fall down after minimal contact), laughter (an old school defender standing in for an attacking midfielder firing high and wide at a set piece) and excitement (usually when the warring factions can’t be split, so penalty shoot-outs divide the men from the boys).
In the pre-match build-up we saw nerves get the better of some of the big names preparing to duke it out on the biggest footballing stage, bar the World Cup. Or in the case of Frank Lampard Jnr, a local radio DJ upsetting the applecart with unfounded accusations of a personal nature that so riled the Chelsea midfielder he rang up the radio station and gave the ‘idiot’ broadcaster his side of the story. Go Frank! Do your talking on the pitch mate.
So, just in case you weren’t aware, who’s in the mix still, and what should free bets fans be looking out for if they still haven’t sorted their online wager out? Well, here’s a clue in the form of a bite-size pre-match preview.
Stella Stevens writes and comments on the UEFA Champions League Betting. For more information see Free Betting Online
It’s a story that’s never far away from the headlines, but recently the question of football match-fixing in terms of irregular betting activities has been hauled back into the spotlight and the public’s conscience again.
As revelations on a series of organised game-rigging scams involving English league professional footballers allegedly put into practice last year has surfaced, the good name of a game that’s more often than not struggled with its perceived image faces being dragged down a familiar road once more, despite the best efforts of ongoing clean-up campaigns instigated by the football’s governing bodies and individual clubs.
At the heart of the most recent claims revealed last week by a leading broadsheet - who apparently were tipped off by game insiders - is the seemingly innocuous looking 3rd May fixture on the last day of the 2007/08 season, played out between Accrington Stanley and Bury. According to sources, in the days leading up to the League Two encounter, CCTV evidence for the prosecution is said to depict six players wagering substantial sums of money in local betting shops on this specific game; with the accused Accrington Stanley players in the dock ‘predicting’ that their own team would be defeated by Bury. Accrington Stanley ran out eventual 2 - 0 losers on the day.
As is the existing law governing the modern game, no player is permitted to bet on a match in which they or their team are involved or can influence in any way.
In the belief that the traditional means of placing a bet via an exchange of cash in a high street betting establishment is more anonymous than using either alternative of the telephone betting service or arranging of online betting accounts, the defendants thought their unscrupulous methods of effectively throwing a game would pay dividends in the long run, whilst unbeknownst to them their actions were being closely monitored by security equipment in the premises as routine procedure.
The Football Association have since successfully brought charges against those suspected - although the charges have not hitherto stuck on grounds of difficulties actually proving the offence - who in five of the six cases placed bets totalling 4,000 pounds prior to the game; however the betting industry have reason to believe that bets of around 800,000 GBP were taken on that particular, otherwise unremarkable league match, essentially around 10 times the usual amount wagered on such an habitual event.
Stella Stevens is journalist in the Betting industry. Visit Free Betting Online for more.
Arguably classed as the world’s greatest steeplechase - not to mention the single largest betting event in the UK - this coming weekend sees the 163rd Grand National played out over the famous four mile, four furlong jump course situated in Aintree, Liverpool. An incredibly successful hunting ground for the Irish contingent over the years, a raft of the emerald isle’s foremost equine ambassadors are set to make the short pilgrimage across the Irish Sea to pit their wits against the rest of a traditionally strong field lining up for the most important 30 fence handicap chase of the racing calendar; the highlight of the four day Aintree Festival.
What’s more, with the John Smith’s Grand National week now upon us, this is when the serious online betting picks up the pace as the excitement around the big race edges toward fever pitch, ahead of Saturday’s showdown. This is precisely the juncture where more structured betting patterns begin to emerge as rumours and gossip-mongering transpiring from sources as diverse as seasoned punters, stable hands, well-versed pundits and the bloke down-the-pub-who-knows-a-bloke-who-knows-a-trainer weigh in with their predictions, that spark a chain reaction of tittle-tattle.
And hardly an exception to the Aintree rule, the main talking point appears to be centering around an Irish entry once again; specifically the dramatic odds-shortening in recent days on the former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner - and blast from the past - War of Attrition. Owned by budget airline Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, War of Attrition starting the previous week at the 33-1 mark, yet a heavy surge of online betting has latterly resulted in the ‘Mouse Morris trained horses’ new price settling around the 14-1 mark.
Quite whether the speculation as to War of Attritions’ potential is founded or not remains to be seen, as critics would suggest that the 10 year olds best form is behind him, and since the Gold Cup win back in 2006, he’s been hampered by injuries. And that’s before you figure in the fact that War of Attritions’ last outing literally saw him left for dust by Exotic Dancer, with cynics additionally claiming that he’s perhaps carrying a little too much extra poundage.
Irrespective of War of Attrition’s best efforts, Irish eyes (as well as all you online betting folk) will as usual have a cornucopia of home grown and/or trained equine subjects to feast on, with horses from the emerald isle often seen as a safe each way bet to punters on either side of the water. Such is the traditional prevalence of Irish horses; online bookmakers offer an uninspiring 2-1 price (on average) in exchange for wagering whether or not the ‘winner to be trained in Ireland’. Which, bearing in mind six of the last 10 Grand National champs have cut their teeth over there in terms of training regimes, is considered a risk not worth taking to the minds of the gambling establishment, with this year 25 Irish contenders making the grade.
Bobbyjo in 1999, Papillon in 2000, Monty’s Pass in 2003, Hedgehunter in 2005, Numbersixvalverde in 2006 and Silverbirch in 2007 are all testament to the dearth of talent that travels so well across the Irish Sea come this time of year. Whilst they were all trained in Ireland, there are however a large number of Irish horses making the journey to Aintree from elsewhere across mainland Britain, albeit of Irish lineage.
Black Apalachi, Snowy Morning, Hear The Echo, Southern Vic, State Of Play, Cloudy Lane and Chelsea Harbour are amongst many Irish challengers who’ll be looking to get their noses ahead of the field on Saturday afternoon, although the candidate with the best chance of coming out on top remains Rambling Minster who posted an impressive display in front of the cameras during the Blue Square Gold Cup at Haydock Park as recently as February 14th.
Stella Stevens previews the 2009 Grand National for Free Online Betting. For more please visit http://www.freebettingonline.co.uk/grand-national-betting-2009/
The theory behind the science of betting on the Grand National will be as it always is; mentally and physically impossible to work out. It’s the one event in the horse racing calendar that due to such an open field (sometimes of 40+ horses) can throw up the most unlikely - and unpredictable - winner come 4.30pm on Saturday.
Of course, pundits, bookies, hardened gamblers et al will try to convince the rest of us mere mortals looking to place that all important Grand National free bet otherwise, citing the choosing of the eventual winner to be something of an exacting art. However to the majority of once-a-year punters (who never normally darken the door of a high street bookmakers from one years end to another) digging into their slacks and rooting around for a handful of change, it’s all to do with sheer luck and good fortune more than anything remotely bordering on - or labouring under the pretence of - science or mathematics.
Largely referred to as the ‘Housewife’s race’; the headline glitz and glamour flagged up across most of the mass media with regards the annual Grand National affords those who would seldom feign interest whatsoever in the form guide of over 30 hopeful jump-primed horses the opportunity to inject a bit of excitement into their Saturday afternoon should they be at work, rest or play. Whilst a painfully elaborate selection process is crucial to those with a daily 9 - 5 penchant for all things sportingly equine, the remainder of society drawn to the event deploy far less measured applicative nous to whittling our choices down to the single one or two hopefuls on which to place our Grand National free bet.
And lest we forget the poor saps who have the perceived hard work done for them by way of the office sweep; which effectively doles out a random name on a piece of paper from the confines of a hat. Or tombola. Or whatever other cylindrical object that’s brought out of mothballs for the late March/early April occasion in office/factory spaces countrywide.
Online bookmakers do suggest alternative ways to make your selection leading up to the big day, and offer all manner of 2009 Grand National free bet ’specials’ in which to tempt the uneducated. Leading online bookmaker, Paddy Power have a number of betting variations on a Grand National theme to harmlessly rope the uninitiated ‘high day and holiday’ punter in with. Based on such almost contrived outcomes as ‘the winning horse to have been trained in Ireland’ or ’such and such a jockey to ride the winner’ - which is pure fantasy guess-timation if it’s deliberated over prior to the jockey actually having been allocated a saddle. All in all though, these more random Grand National free bets considerations make an interesting proposition to those like myself, without a clue.
Elsewhere you could just as easily wager on the probability of all the runners to clear the first jump safely, whilst some may want to put their money - and their faith - on the owner/trainer. That’s to say the odds of a J P McManus-owned winner coming through on Saturday, which at 8-1 with Paddy Power makes for a decent flutter according to insiders.
My very own personal betting odyssey - misguided and ill-fated for the most part - was spawned from a Grand National of yore; whereby thanks to the fickle laws of fate I somehow managed to pick the victorious winner based on a complex methodology harnessing the twin powers of colours and words like so many before and after. Having not the foggiest of idea what I was embarking on - despite benefiting from a gambling-hardened grandfather figure when of youth - I opted for the tried and tested route of determining the potential Grand National winner.
So after choosing a rather eloquent horses name (yet with underlying humorous connotations and effective use of wordplay) and fusing said runner with jockey’s delightful colours I placed my bet with the local bookmaker and settled in front of the box like millions of fellow dreamers nationwide on a random weekend back in the day. A couple of hours later I was 35 quid the richer for my endeavours, and in a blink came to the conclusion that I was indeed a ‘natural’ at this betting lark and therefore I didn’t have to rely on my budding Graphic Design career for future fame and fortune.
Quickly believing that I would soon be able to fund a lavish lifestyle - well, for an impoverished student surviving on a diet of corned beef hash - I set about identifying the coming week’s winners at all manner of exciting sounding locations steeped in glamour. Far away places that conjured up a sense of style and sophistication like Wincanton garnered my attentions like never before as my folly gained momentum.
Sincerely feeling I had hit on a ‘knack’ of picking winners based solely on the cut of a jockey’s jib and/or the more prosaic of a horses name I continued to amount what seemed like a small fortune; planning expensive weekend breaks away, a new(er) car and wardrobe revision. Life was good. Trainers tips, yard/stable statistics and widespread recorded form guides held no relevance to my bid for glory put it that way.
Three weeks, and two-thirds of that term’s student grant later, I realised the error of my ways. Sadly my bank manager wasn’t as understanding as I thought he should be in light of the situation and therein my dalliance with hardcore betting came to a rather abrupt and unceremonious end, complete with tears and tantrums.
For most of us on Saturday though, a fiver down the swanney won’t spell the catalyst for a spiral of ridicule, debt, parental ostracising and social exclusion, and instead amount to little more than standing the price of a round at your local drinking establishment as a means to celebrate/drown your sorrows. And so you’ll pick yourself up and move on; awaiting another 364 days to pass before you relent to the dark side once more. Or the pink top with the royal blue vertically-imprinted sash side as the case may be.
Stella Stevens looks at the pros and cons of Free Bets ahead of the Grand National. For more information please visit http://www.freebettingonline.co.uk