In betting you often look back at events which you would consider to be turning points in one way or another.

A few years back I was struggling to build a bankroll and took what amounted to a reckless punt on the Stormers away to the Reds. I pretty much put it all on the line and thankfully the Stormers delivered and I was able to regroup and play with more freedom and with the discipline required to make profits over the long term. Had the Stormers lost that day it is questionable as to whether I would be writing this column and I consider it a defining moment in my punting “career”. 

At the start of this season I took a very firm view on the Crusaders and backed them to win the tournament at an average price of 7/2 putting way more on them than on any of my other tournament bets. Things were looking good until a defeat to the Highlanders in week 10 and with a trip to South Africa on the horizon the trip to Perth this past weekend was crucial.

They started brightly enough but somehow let the Force back into the game and with 12 minutes to play they were down by 2 points and things seemed to be going against them. Of course they would not have been out of the tournament if they had lost but their chances of topping their conference would have reduced and lets just say the journey would have become much harder.

I also had a fair amount on the Crusaders winning the match by 7 or more and as the game entered the home stretch I typed a BBM to punting mate Sean Nicholas stating “my entire season hinges on these final 12 minutes”.

The Crusaders to their credit started to hold onto the pill and with the bounce of the ball and a few refereeing decisions going their way they took the lead and then scored again to win by 12 points.

My match bet had arrived and more importantly they remained very firm favourites to take the title meaning my long term prospects look good.

There is no guarantee they will win the tournament but if they do I will certainly look back to a warm night in Perth and a gallant fight back as one of the turning points of my punting season.

  This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 5th of May 2011.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”.

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