This column generally gets written shortly after sunrise on a Tuesday morning and after a great weekend of Super Rugby (during which I showed a profit in every match for the 1^st time in memory) it was all set to have a very positive feel about it.

That though was before I decided to get involved in Monday nights Varsity Cup game between the Maties and UJ.

It is hard to get quality information on things like team selection in the Varsity Cup and up until now I have kept my interest really small but after a cracking weekend I was itching to get at the bookies and given they had dominated previous competitions I justified a not exactly water tight case for Maties.

Rather than just a bet on the handicap I decided to get involved in the spreads and went high on their supremacy at 13 meaning for every point they won above 13 I made money. Of course the reverse applies and it did not take me long to realise I was in some serious trouble as the visitors dominated the match eventually running out 20 point winners leaving me at negative 33 points which when multiplied by my stake gives you my nett loss on the game.

It was not my biggest bet by any means but such was the margin of defeat that it was enough to see me give back over a quarter of the profits I had worked so hard for on the weekend.

My mood had clearly changed and my wife of 11 years Trish picked this up immediately and asked what had happened. I confessed that I had blown a fair percentage of the profits she had been so thrilled about on Saturday night and Trish who much prefers winners to losers let me have it.

“What on earth are you doing betting on the Varsity Cup; this sort of thing has happened before” she bellowed before adding that “if it happens again I will cut of your (insert simile for private parts) off!”

Needless to say the semifinals take place next Monday but after seeing the look in her eyes I think I will be taking a watching brief. I am not afraid to put money on the line but risking the body parts in question is a gamble not even I am prepared to take.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 24th of March 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”.

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za