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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Gus Hansen winning millions in online poker

One of the world's best poker players, 34-year-old Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen, has been winning big money online at Full Tilt.com, earning a million dollars in a single day during October.

On Monday night, Hansen won more than $589,000 at Hold 'em, $145,000 in PLO, $152,000 in Omaha Hi/Lo, and $97,000 in a HORSEgame, demonstrating a his skills over a wide range of poker styles. Playing against some of the best players around on Full Tilt, his October 2008 earnings thus far have reached $3.2 million.

Hansen is famous for his loose and aggressive style of play, and started playing poker as a professional in 1997. Before that he was a world-class backgammon player who tried to make a living at the game in New York and abroad but found the pickings too slim.

In his outstanding poker career "The Great Dane" can boast a long record of wins in significant tournaments.

He has won a three World Poker Tour open titles, the 2007 Aussie Millions main event, and was the season one winner of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. His official career winnings recently topped $5.8 million dollar, and he describes his approach to the game as: "I play the players, not the cards."

RELATED LINKS :
Check out PokerLabrat for more poker news on Gus Hansen
See our review of Full Tilt Poker or visit FullTilt Poker now.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Tony Adams to manage Portsmouth?

Legendary Gooner Tony Adams is the man almost every punter wants to back to be next permanent manager of Portsmouth with bookie Paddy Power cutting his odds in the first 36 hours of betting from 9/4 to 1/2.

Sam Allardyce remains second favourite, although his odds have eased from 4/1 to 9/2 whilst almost all other contenders have seen a significant drift in their odds.

The most noticeable exceptions to this that are seeing some levels of interest are Avram Grant, whose Portsmouth connections have seen his odds slashed from 14/1 to 9/2, and Kevin Keegan who came into the betting today after some small interest at 20/1.

Joe Jordan, who many believe may join Harry Redknapp at Spurs, is the biggest faller at 14/1 from an early 5/1 on Sunday morning.

Darren Haines, spokesman for Paddy Power, said: "The speculation may have been about Allardyce so far but the betting is almost exclusively Tony Adams and Avram Grant. It remains to be seen if punters will be enjoying another betting coup regarding the Portsmouth manager."

Friday, October 24, 2008

Aston Villa shorten to lift the UEFA Cup.

Aston Villa have been cut for UEFA Cup glory after winning in midweek while Spurs and Portsmouth are on the drift.

Aston Villa kicked off their Group F campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Ajax at Villa Park and Ladbrokes have cut them to 11/1 to lift the trophy after goals from Martin Laursen and Gareth Barry secured victory over the Dutch visitors.

However, with the knockout stages still to come, there are plenty of challenges left and Villa can still be backed at 13.00 with PaddyPower.

Tottenham's miserable start to the season continued with a 2-0 defeat away to Udinese.

Spurs mixed passages of promising play with a defensive howler from goalkeeper Gomes and then an unnecessary red card to leave manager Juande Ramos even more uncertain about his future.

Spurs are 25/1 shots at BetFred for UEFA Cup glory - if you fancy their chances of getting sorted out.

Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth crashed to a 3-0 away defeat to Braga of Portugal and now Pompey are down at 40/1 in the betting ahead of their next fixture - a home clash with tournament favourites AC Milan.

AC Milan left some big names on the bench for their Group E opener away to Heerenveen but still cruised to a 3-1 win and have been cut to 7/2 by Ladbrokes.

Manchester City, who didn't have a fixture this week, are 14/1 to lift the cup.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Newcastle draw 2-2 with Man City

Newcastle United might have only picked up a point in their entertaining 2-2 draw with Man City on Monday night, but the betting public saw enough to think that the Geordies will not be going down.

The Magpies got off to the worst possible start at St James' Park, going a goal and a man down after just 14 minutes with Habib Beye adjudged to have brought down Robinho when clean through on goal.

Beye was shown a straight red card before Robinho got back to his feet and dispatched the spot kick past Shay Given in the home goal.

But Newcastle fought back and a Shola Ameobi strike and a Richard Dunne own goal gave the home side a 2-1 lead - but they could not hold it and Stephen Ireland to leveled matters for City with just four minutes remaining.

Still, Newcastle were 7/2 but have been moved out to a best-price of 4/1 for the drop with VC Bet.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Why bother with the US election? Bookie declares Obama the winner!

The American taxpayers can save money and don't even have to bother holding their presidential election after Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has declared Barack Obama the winner.

After the final presidential debate in New York, bookmaker Paddy Power has decided to pay out on Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.

An initial CNN poll showed 58% thought Mr Obama won the third and final debate of the election, which saw the two candidates sit side-by-side at Hofstra University in Hempstead. Most US political pundits also thought he won the first two.

The move from Paddy Power comes almost three weeks ahead of Election Day on November 4 and sees the bookie paying out in excess of £800,000 to Obama backers after he was backed all the way into 1/9 (1.11).

To date Paddy Power has taken over 10,000 bets on the 2008 US Presidential Election, the majority of which were placed in support on the Illinois Senator over the past 12 months.

Betting support was so strong for Obama that they paid out over £40,000 on his successful nomination as the Democratic Party candidate back in January of this year, seven months before the convention.

Paddy Power said: "We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama, your winnings await you.

"Although the Senator seemed a little out of sorts in last night's final debate we believe he has done more than enough to get him across the line on November 4. The overall betting trend has shown one way traffic for Obama since the start of the summer."


If you'd had the foresight to bet on Barrack Obama earlier then you could have cleaned up. Obama started the year 11/2 to make it to the White House and was a massive 50/1 with Paddy Power to be next President back in May of 2005.

It just proves that there is big money in politics.

Injury problems for Premier League clubs?

Manchester City will be anxious to check on Robinho's fitness after the star forward was substituted with an injury during Brazil's World Cup qualifier against Colombia.

Robinho was replaced by AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato in the 63rd minute as his country were held to a goalless draw at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

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Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has suffered a suspected broken nose while playing for Spain.

The 21-year-old managed to finish his country's 2-1 victory in Belgium, but medical staff confirmed the injury after the game. Fabregas will now report back to Arsenal for further treatment, though it will be hoped he can play on regardless.

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Liverpool have injury worries up front ahead of Saturday's match at home to Wigan after both Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel limped off while on international duty.

Torres, the Barclays Premier League joint-top scorer with five goals, lasted less than 16 minutes of Spain's World Cup qualifier against Belgium on Wednesday before being replaced by Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

The former Atletico striker reportedly felt a tweak in the muscle in the back of his left leg and was taken off as a precaution.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Betfair signs 2,000,000th customer

Online betting group Betfair has just signed up customer number 2,000,000 this week just 18 months after signing their 1,000,000th.

The player was Bo Ohrman who is a 59-year-old Swedish civil servant resident in the town of Linkoping. Ohrman won his first bet, a wager on Wall Street finishing down on the day's trading.

"It's certainly more fun betting on Betfair than it is betting on the stock market at the moment!" said Bo.

Betfair is flying the betting Swede over to London for a VIP weekend in the capital, where he hopes to take in some Premier League football and a West End show.

Ohrman became 'Mr Two Million' just 20 months after Betfair broke through seven figures, a feat that took more than six years to achieve. Spokesmen say that the firm's customer base is becoming increasingly international as punters around the world take to the exchange model of betting.

David Yu, CEO of Betfair, said: "In a year when we won a Queen's Award for International Trade, it is fitting that Betfair's two millionth account comes from outside the U.K.

"Our international customers are already an essential part of our business and they are growing larger in number every day, so congratulations to Mr Ohrman -- he's joined the world's biggest online betting community."

Monday, October 13, 2008

England beat Kazakhstan - now the world?

Patriotic punters are always a little strange but the rush to back England to win the 2010 World Cup after the 5-1 thrashing of "mighty" Kazakhstan seems hard to believe.

England are now as short as 8/1 to win the World Cup after they moved a step closer to qualification with the 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan at Wembley on Saturday, after being held to 0-0 at halftime.

A Rio Ferdinand header and an Alexandr Kuchma own goal put England in control. Zhambyl Kukeyev reduced the arrears, before Rooney's double blast and a late effort from Jermain Defoe gave a flattering look to the scoreline.

England range from 8/1 to a best price 10/1 (at bet365) to triumph in South Africa in 2010, with only three sides ahead of them in the betting.

South American giants Brazil and Argentina are the 5/1 joint favourites with Boylesports, with Euro 2008 winners Spain next best at 8/1 with Bet365.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Punter to collect a million if UFOs appear on Oct 14th

British bookmakers William Hill say that a Wiltshire man will collect £1million from them this week if an internet prediction that massive UFOs will appear next week comes to pass.

Lawrence Tout has staked £1000 at odds of 1000/1 with Hills that George Bush or Gordon Brown will officially confirm the appearance of UFOs, after websites carried details of predicted alien activity on October 14.

"Mr Tout's stake is the biggest UFO wager we have ever taken but he is not alone in believing the prediction that we'll be visited by aliens next week, and we face a massive, million-pound plus payout if it happens," said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe.

The prediction has been made by a wacko called Blossom Goodchild (I kid you not) who claims to be in telepathic communication with beings from the "Federaton of Light". (see UFO report)

Portuguese bank asks investors to bet on interest rate

A Portuguese bank has this week asked savers to bet on the interest rate they'll get for their investment.

In one of the more novel ways of riding out the current banking crisis, a Portuguese bank is trying to entice customers to deposit funds with it, with the level of interest they can earn being determined by the outcome of a bet.

Savers are being encouraged to deposit up to Eur 50,000 each into Banco Best's 60-day deposit account, and to place a bet on the outcome of the US presidential election.

Back the right candidate and the bank will pay out 8% interest on your deposit. If your candidate loses however, so do you, receiving a mere 2% interest instead.

The Obama/McCain deposit account is being offered until November 3rd. The initiative comes at a time when European governments are scrambling to guarantee bank deposits in order to calm investor fears during the deepening global banking crisis, and the Portuguese bank hopes to secure an additional Eur 10 million in deposits through the promotion.

GOONER ADDS :
If you want to bet on the US Presidential election, (but not invest in a Portugese bank), check out top Irish bookie PaddyPower.com for some fun and potentially profitable novelty bet wagers and at reasonable odds.

For more on Paddy Power bookmaker read the online review of Paddy Power at BookieLabRat.com.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Spurs defeat shortens relegation odds

Spurs hoping for betting things from JuandeSpurs are now as short as 5/1 for relegation after their latest defeat - a 1-0 home loss to Hull - left them rooted to the foot of the Premier League.

Spurs have made their worst start to a season in 96 years and have just two points from the opening seven games.

And although the bookies still rate Stoke (1/5), Hull (13/8), West Brom (7/4), Bolton (9/4), Fulham (3/1) and Newcastle (7/2) as more likely candidates for the drop, it's still an surprising price crash for the White Hart Lane side, who were quoted at 1000/1 to go down by totesport before the season started.

VC Bet, and BoyleSports are the firms going 5/1 about Spurs dropping to the Championship.