(Royal) Baby On Board!

The odds for Kate and Williams, seventh.. sorry third baby (or 'Another Porker!' as Kay Burley calls it!) are still available online. The gist seems to be hat there's not a dead cert as such, so clearly the couple have been keeping tight lipped about it.








 These are the current betting odds:

Alexander -  3-1
Louis - 5-1
Arhur - 3-1
James - 6-1
Albert - 6-1
Philip - 12-1
Henry - 16-1
Edward - 20-1

Premier League - Watford vs Crystal Palace - 21st April

This weekend, the relegation battle takes another interesting turn as Watford play host to Crystal Palace. Can the Hornets take out the Eagles? With the away side’ woes, we wouldn’t bet on a performance that Watford fans have waited a little too long to receive. 

 

Home News

With one win in six, including four loses out of five, Watford need a good result – fast. The drop-off in performance of the likes of Richarlison, Will Hughes, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Adrian Mariappa has been alarming. Coincided with the poor form of the likes of Roberto Pereyra and Troy Deeney, and its’ easy to see why Hornets fans have valid concerns.

They come into this one with a banged-up squad, too. The likes of Gerard Deulofeu will miss out, as will Nathaniel Chalobah and Tom Cleverley. For Watford, any kind of positive result would be accepted given their middling form. 

 

Away News

Meanwhile, Palace are flying after their 3-2 win in the derby with Brighton and Hove Albion. With Christian Benteke finally fit again, it’s the loss of the likes of Bakary Sako and Scott Dann that has hurt them the most.

At the moment, it would be hard to call the Palace team bar one thing: when Wilfried Zaha is fit, they play much better. They’ve lost all ten games this season that the Ivorian has not started, which has major complications for them if he misses any of the run-in.

If Zaha starts, don’t expect anything other than another impressive performance. 

 

Verdict

We expect Watford to get something here. They look like a side that needs the season to end, but Palace are poor away from home. We would expect more from the home side, and a performance against a Palace side with a phobia of away days would be a good place to start.

Champions League - Manchester City vs Liverpool

This Tuesday, Liverpool travel to the Etihad Stadium in a bid to reach the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League. They arrive in Manchester set to play a City side that simply looks to have come off the rails a touch.

Following the 3-0 reverse at Anfield, City endured a damaging 3-2 loss at home to rivals Manchester United. Being 2-0 up at half time, the Citizens watched the dream of sealing the title at home to United blow up in their face. Conceding 6 in 2 games is very unlike City; can they recover here in style?

Home News

For the home side, the return of star striker Sergio Aguero can only be a good thing. He came on (and should have had a penalty) in the Manchester Derby, and loves a goal against the Reds.

Meanwhile, Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker will return to the line-up. Vincent Kompany may miss out, though, meaning that John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi will likely line-up in the defence for City. 

 

Away News

For the Reds, the midfield is looking bare. Emre Can is almost certainly out and Jordan Henderson misses out with suspension. This means that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner will likely play a third game in six days.

Mohamed Salah should make the game, giving Liverpool attacking impetus alongside Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold should return to the full-back slots. The Reds got out of Goodison Park with a 0-0 playing a shadow side in Saturday’ Merseyside Derby, which should bode well for their fitness going into a crucial away tie. 

 

Verdict

We reckon City will win this one – but not enough to get through to the Semi-finals. Liverpool have looked more resolute in recent times, and if Mohamed Salah can make the game then we can see the Reds getting a crucial away goal. Just one away goal means City need 5, after all. City to win, Liverpool to progress.

Champions League - Liverpool vs Manchester City

This midweek, arguably the biggest English-based Champions League clash in a decade will take place. Far bigger than most, the two most exciting sides in England – Liverpool and Manchester City – will go to war. With a promise of goals and bombastic football, who will come out on top at Anfield?

Liverpool News

The Reds host City knowing they have great form in this kind of experience. They are in good form, with the loss of Joe Gomez a minor blow. Young full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has been a target in recent matches, but a resurgent second half at Selhust Park from the full-back helped him to come out the other side unscathed.

The Reds have the firepower to beat anyone, and have history on their side: the 4-3 epic at Anfield being a true sign of where Liverpool can reach. This midweek will go some way to show if that was a fluke or a victory that was a sign of things to come. 

 

Manchester City News

The Citizens stroll into Anfield knowing they have a league to win in-between both matches. With Manchester United set to visit, it’s going to be very exciting to see how City react to a season-defining week.

With few injury or form worries, though, they couldn’t turn up in better condition. With the form of David Silva and Leroy Sane making up for a minor Kevin de Bruyne lilt, they should arrive at Anfield feeling confident of a big result. 

 

Verdict

We’re going to be ambitious – 3-3. This has the makings of an all-time classic, but we just cannot see Liverpool staying tight enough at the back to win this one. City are lethal, as are the Reds, but they are slightly less outrageous at the back. This tie will likely be decided by slim margins, and that defensive prowess (and lack of for the Reds) could play a major role.

100 kids vs 3 professional soccer players

An entertaining interlude to get your month off to a god start!

Everton vs Manchester City - 31/3

As the Premier League finally returns this weekend, we’ve got a fantastic game in store as Everton play host to Manchester City. With City in such a commanding lead of the title, and Everton in desperate need of some extra points to secure survival, this match should be one to watch for sure.

Everton News

Everton are presently without Idrissa Gueye in the midfield, while fellow midfield engine Tom Davies will likely miss out also. Ashley Williams is out with suspension, though some may argue that, on present form, that’s a help rather than a hindrance.

The loss of Gylfi Sigurdsson pre-international break will be a major blow for the home side, too, joining Eliaquim Mangala and Mason Holgate as absentees.

City News

Meanwhile, City turn up here with a bit of an injury problem themselves. Sergio Aguero is likely to miss out, though will likely be fit for midweek. Fabian Delph has been out for a while, and may return at one stage though not likely as a starter.

With Benjamin Mendy finally in training, too, the full-back should offer an opportunity for Pep Guardiola to get him some much-needed gametime. City come into this one in good form, though, and should have more than enough to see off a brittle Everton side who look like they want the season to end. 

Verdict

We reckon this will be an easy one for the away side. Everton aren’t great, and often struggle against sides that play with tempo and quick passing. While they have improved slightly under Sam Allardyce, their improvement does not suggest they’ve got enough in their locker to take anything here.

City’ main problem will be their awkward record against Everton historically, and the fact the game falls just before a massive match-up with Liverpool in the Champions League.

Are things looking (im)peachy for Trump?

 

We live in wild times politically and so it's always interesting to keep one eye on the betting odds, to get a measure of what those who like a flutter make of such strange times. The more quirky bookmakers out there offer both serious and novel political bets, especially around the US elections, since it's 'mad season' over there right now.

But novel bets aside (since I'm not sure that PP's 'Donald Trump to buy Sports Direct in 2018'' represents good value!) the one bet I've had my eye on is 'Will Trump complete his 1st term in office? ' Right now the odds are YES 3/10 and NO 2/1 . Interestingly for a good time the odds were basically even money for both outcomes and in some ways with the midterms still to come and the investigation into Trump and co yet to be concluded there's still a fair amount of scope for Trump leaving office. That said his own party and the 'alternative fact' portion of the public may well decide to prop him up come what may. As always, time proves everything.

Cheltenham Festival 2018: 4 Contenders for the Stayers’ Hurdle

 

"Cheltenham racecourse" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Carine06

A wide-open looking renewal of the 3m Stayers’ Hurdle is one of the feature races on day three of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, taking place on Thursday, 15 March.

The ill-fated 2017 winner Nichols Canyon suffered a fatal fall over the Christmas period in Ireland, so we are guaranteed a new staying hurdle champion at Cheltenham this time around.

Those horses who chased him home at last year’s Festival, Lil Rockerfeller and Unowhatimeanharry haven’t been any sort of form over the trip since. It makes for a lively betting market, so we take a look at four of the main contenders.

Supasundae (100/30)

The first of two winners at last year’s Festival at a prominent price is Coral Cup victor Supasundae. Trained in Ireland by Jessica Harrington, has won just one of his four starts since. That came last time out 2m in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown’s inaugural Dublin Racing Festival in February.

It was a superb bit of race placing by connections of Supasundae, who is yet to win a 3m contest in two previous attempts but is made favourite for the Stayers with Williamhill. Will it be third time lucky or could a re-opposing rival confirm the form of last season’s Liverpool Hurdle from the 2017 Aintree Grand National meeting?

Sam Spinner (9/2)

Northern trained winners at the Cheltenham Festival are a rare enough thing these days, but their best chance of one this year comes here through rapid Jedd O’Keefe improver Sam Spinner. The six-year-old absolutely bolted up in a hot Grade 3 handicap at Haydock on Betfair Chase day back in November.

Sam Spinner then continued his rapid progress with success at the highest level in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot just before Christmas. That is a key trial for the Stayers, but it’s the fact that conditions at Cheltenham could be soft ground that are the biggest plus for this young horse.

Yanworth (5/1)

 

 

Connections sent last season’s Champion Hurdle favourite Yanworth, who flopped at the Festival, over fences at first for this campaign, but he is now back to tackling the smaller obstacles. Owner JP McManus faced a similar decision with Buveur D’Air last season and the return to hurdling was a masterstroke.

It could also prove the same with the Alan King-trained Yanworth, who defeated Supasundae over the Stayers’ trip at Aintree as mentioned above. That form gives the eight-year-old claims of a successful winning return to this sphere and like Sam Spinner he is unbeaten over 3m. McManus’ retained rider Barry Geraghty, meanwhile, has chosen Yanworth over Unowhatimeanharry.

Penhill (8/1)

Top Irish trainer Willie Mullins may have lost Nichols Canyon, but has 2017 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle hero Penhill in his ranks. This seven-year-old is completely unexposed in open company over 3m because he hasn’t raced since last year’s Festival.

Just how race fit Mullins can have got Penhill for this stern test remains to be seen. Punters may recall the superb feat of training the master of Closutton pulled off with Arctic Fire 12 months ago, however, who returned after more than 400 days off the track to win the County Hurdle. Penhill, meanwhile, has received support in the Stayers’ betting after his odds were cut from 10/1.

Grand National 2018 Betting Guide

With another fantastic Grand Opening Day, Ladies Day and Grand National Day in store, Grand National Festival 2018 is going to take place from April 12-14, 2018. Apart from the guest competing for the coveted “Best Dressed” competition on Ladies Day, it will also include a big race that will feature 40 horses to follow in the hoof prints of Red Rum, thus competing for the grand prize. 

 

Indeed, one can go through the history of the legendary runners and riders who have triumphed in the Grand National. Undeniably, each of them demonstrated the blend of endeavour and fortitude. Once again, it’s time that the whole world will stop in its track as 40 horses and jockeys will line up to race. 

 

Adding more to the information, Grand National is a premium event on the National Hunt Horse racing calendar that is held every April at Aintree Racecourse in England. Online betting in Grand National is quite popular among people who do not normally watch or bet on horse racing at other times of the year. Thus, it has always remained the most popular horse racing betting event worldwide. Owing to its length and strain that is placed on both the horses and the jockey throughout, it is also referred to as “the ultimate test of horse and the rider”. Due to its relevance throughout the year, Grand National has always been popular. 

 

When you are opting for online betting in Grand National Festival, it is quite important that you understand all the odds. It is considered that the optimal time to place a bet is early on the day of the race.

Have a look at some popular ways to place bet on Grand National

You can opt for most standard horse racing options that are available for betting –

• Each WayBeing an extremely popular horse race betting, each-way bet involves placing money on a horse that you expect to finish within the places.
• Bet withoutIt allows the bettors to back a horse to win if in case their favorite is not involved in the race. It gives them an opportunity to bet on a different horse at different odds.

If you are planning to bet online for Grand National, especially for Grand Opening Day on 12th of April - you need an account. The first question is, where to bet n Grand National Opening Day? You can go through some excellent online betting sites out there like reputable UK bookmaker William Hill.

• It is of a great significance that you bet with the licensed betting sites. Avoid the unlicensed operators, as you will have no guarantee if anything will happen to your money.
• Although the bookies usually accept bank cards, yet if you wish to use a different method to pay, you need to confirm if they accept them in advance.

Of course, there is no limit to the number of options available at Aintree if you are planning to impress your friends or colleagues by splashing the cash.

The Biggest Political Betting Shocks

In recent years the global political landscape has been more exhilarating than a box set of Game of Thrones, replete with far more intrigue, drama and backstabbing. We have seen shock result after shock result, as cataclysmic events take place with alarming regularity and embarrassed pollsters routinely look for somewhere to hide. Some punters have made a killing by going against the grain, and here are the biggest political betting shocks since political betting became a thing:

Trump wins the US election

We had to start with this, the greatest political upset of all-time, which saw a TV personality who once suffered a Stone Cold Stunner on WWE become the most powerful man in the world. Donald Trump, who fires people on The Apprentice, who made cameos in Home Alone 2 and The Simpsons, a man with no political experience whatsoever, won the presidential election. Not only did he win, he beat Hillary Clinton, the most archetypal political establishment figure imaginable. She is married to the former president and had just served as Secretary of State in Barack Obama’s reign, and she represented a party that appeared to be in the total ascendancy. Meanwhile Trump massively offended women, black people, Hispanic people, all manner of minority groups, and he still won.

In doing so, he completely upended US political thinking and the bookmakers took an absolute pasting. Trump started off as 100/1 to win the election, and was backed all the way in to 13/8, but remained the underdog throughout. One bookmaker even paid out on Clinton in the previous October, when she had a healthy lead in the polls, and they suffered badly again when Trump triumphed. Trump has widely been pilloried during his time as president, but it is not hard to imagine him winning the next election too as he has a devout legion of followers, so that could be worth bearing in mind when analysing the political betting markets.

Britain votes for Brexit

Before Trump turned the world on its head, Britain had already sent shockwaves across the globe by voting in favour of exiting the EU. The Remain camp was well ahead in the polls during campaigning, and it was expected to secure a comfortable victory. However, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and co masterminded a victory that paved the way for Trump’s, one based on powerful slogans, effective social media campaigning and bold claims that were not necessarily factual. Remain was the huge favourite and Leave was a heavy outsider, and the bookmakers were accused of getting it wrong when Brexit was voted through. But bookies are not pollsters and their job is not to predict the outcome of an election. They are businesses trying to make money, and the Brexit vote was an extremely profitable one for them as many punters were lumping on Remain. Those that went against the crowd also made a killing.

Conservatives defy the odds in 2015

A few years ago all the UK polls had Labour as the overwhelming favourites to beat the Tories in the general election. David Cameron’s government was reeling and the bookmakers responded by offering huge odds of 7/1 on a Conservative majority. It was therefore a surprise when a pensioner walked into a branch of Ladbrokes in Glasgow and put £30,000 on a Tory majority, all in crisp £50 notes. Reporters were incredulous, but that punter must have been laughing all the way to the bank when the Conservatives absolutely trounced Ed Miliband’s party and won 330 seats.

Corbyn wins the Labour leadership contest

Miliband’s crushing election defeat sparked his immediate resignation and an ensuing leadership contest. Andy Burnham was the early favourite, followed by Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, and the marginal, left-leaning backbencher Jeremy Corbyn was a 100/1 outsider. He is arguably Trump’s polar opposite, but Corbyn is another man that represents an utter rejection of the political establishment. He had made the fewest expenses claims of any MP, had voted against his party more than 500 times and was a long-time peace activist. Corbynmania swept the nation, and he ended up cruising to victory in the leadership contest. He has since defied several attempts from within the party to overthrow his leadership and nearly won the last general election, performing far better than was expected, ending the Conservatives’ majority and destroying Theresa May’s credibility.

Ventura fights his way to success

The US has seen some interesting political candidates achieve shock success, from Trump and Ronald Reagan to Arnold “The Governator” Schwarzenegger, but it is pretty hard to top Jesse Ventura’s 1998 victory in the race to be named Minnesota’s governor. Ventura, a former wrestler nicknamed The Body, was the ultimate novelty candidate and never expected to win. He was an independent with no manifesto, doing it for a joke, up against Norm Coleman, a Republican, and Skip Humphrey, a Democrat. Ventura was so sure he would lose that he had booked a flight to Argentina the day after the election, but he had to cancel it and hastily put together a victory speech after a shock win.

Author bio

Martin Green is an experienced tipster and betting correspondent and has been fascinated by political developments over the last few years.

Celebrity Big Brother Winner

I have a love-hate relationship with Big Brother. When it started 'back in the day' it really was something new and different. Sure there was a novelty value, but a fascinaation too with the likes of 'Nasty Nick' becoming a villian to the whole nation over the period of a few days. On top of that, nobody taking part knew the first thing about how to approach the show, so there was an innocence to it. Now of course it's very much for the fame hungry, and as such it just bores me. The one version of the show that is perhaps worth watching though, is one where those taking part have already previously achieved a certain degree of fame, namely Celebrity Big Brother.

The year of the woman theme has certainly had an impact on how it's panned out and this years show has seen a really interesting bunch of people come and go. It's been rather harmonious in its own way, which has made it subtle at times, not something you'd usually say about Big Brother. But now we're down to the final five, with what appears to be two main challengers for the win, though with the exception of the entertaining Wayne Sleep I'm not sure we can truly rule anyone out 100%. Perhaps the 20-1 on offer for Shane Lynch and Jess Impiazzi is about right.

Big Brother did us a favour of sorts the other day by revealing that the two housemates with the most votes to save were Courtney Act (4/7) and Anne Widdcombe (7/4). This echoed what the odds were telling us and what many already assumed to be the case. Courtney has been up for the public vote on more than one occasion, though both have now demonstratable public support. Anne is now without her seemingly immortal gal pal Amanda Barrie, but is a one woman army so thaat won't bother her. one bit.

It's very much a toss up in my view, and Courtneey and Anne both represent the opposite ends of the issues, politically speaking, quite well in their own way. They're certainly splitting the audience and when we take previous winners into account, such as Jim Davidson, it's not really possible to go with the assumption that a young audience will be the ones making the decision. Rather than have a bet I'm going to enjoy the show, but if you were to twist my arm I'd say that second favourite Anne is really the more likely winner.

PDC World Darts - Rob Cross vs Phil Taylor

This year's PDC World Championship has without a doubt been full of surprises, but perhaps Phil Taylor making the final in his farewell year is something that shouldn't really be all that shocking to darts fans. He's won the competition a staggering 14 times from 24 appearances including 8 times in a row between 1995 and 2002. Certainly he's not always at the top of his game nowadays (hence why retirement beckons) but when he needs to he tends to put in a performance. We saw this in his game against the new kid on the block Jaime Lewis which Taylor won 6-1 by hitting what he needed to, when he needed to. It's all about the margins in darts, and keeping your cool in the handful of moments that truly define a match.

His opponent in the final would certainly not have been listed as the most likely of contenders beforehand, but has had something of a meteoric rise over the last year plus. Cross has moved from darting obscurity to a major final in no time at all. This certainly makes him a formidable opponent, as we got to see when he ground out a dramatic 6-5 against tournament favourite Michael Van Gerwin the other day. The match had gone to 5-5 in sets and 5-5 in legs but Cross managed to keep his cool and bring home the win despite Van Gerwin's obvious ability.

Current odds for today's final tell the tale of how hard it may be to call this one with Taylor at 4/5 and Cross 21/20 with most bookmakers. It will definitely be one to watch, and not a result I really fancy calling to be honest. If forced to though, I think by default I would tend to go with experience, and Taylor of course has that in spades. Good luck to both players!