Brent Graham reflects on one of his better years of sports betting but despite coming out well in front, 2011 will be remembered for a couple of heartbreaking losses.

I once read that punters spend more time talking about their losses or the ones that got away than their big wins. Having done my recon for the week and looked at my overall position for the year I am starting to believe this is true.

It has been a superb year with over 650 units profit (click here to see why I talk in units not rand) yet aside from a couple of great weekends I would struggle to tell you without looking back at my betting accounts where I made the money. On the other hand I can tell you in great detail about two of my biggest disappointments for the year which leads me into my punting lows of 2011.

2011 Punting Lows

RWC 2011 Final

Nearly 2 months after the RWC final I still find myself thinking back to what might of and dare I say should have been. Regulars to Goodforthegame will know that I had been backing France to win the tournament for around 2 years and to go down by a single point in the final was a devastating blow. To put it into perspective my biggest ever win on a single match was 100 units (Griquas v WP Currie Cup 2010) and had France lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy I would have banked a tidy 600 units on the tournament.

Super Rugby Final

It seems small now when compared to the RWC but I backed the Crusaders to win 165 units in Super Rugby 2011. The odds were much shorter than the French so I had more invested but when they reached the final after effectively not having a home game all year I thought they would take the title. Fortunately I covered my stake on the Reds who eventually won but the near miss signaled a downward turn in my punting fortunes that lasted a couple of months.

Spread Betting on Tilt

I love my spread betting (far more volatile than fixed odds) but there were a couple of weekends where I fell into the trap of chasing my losses. One in particular stands out and while other South Africans were cheering Charl Schwartzel home in the US Masters I was reflecting on a 200 unit write off for the weekend. The final blow was a buy of Lions points against the Sharks in Durban. They only mustered 3 of them and my nightmare was complete.

2011 Punting High’s

While it’s the losses that I can recall with ease I am very pleased with my overall performance because my final profit was built up largely due to consistent returns on the spreads front. I had my ups and downs in all competitions but ended up making money in Super Rugby, doing well in the Currie Cup and cleaning up in the RWC. Here are a few highlights:

Currie Cup Final

I had backed the Lions a month earlier and climbed into their points and shirts on the big day. I watched in a pub and ended up buying drinks and hugging shirtless Lions supporters as I netted an 80 unit profit on the game.

Brighton win Division 1 title

Chris Sturdy flagged Brighton as a good bet at 16/1 to win the 2010/2011 1^st division title and he was very confident they would be promoted at 5/1. Ten months later we were celebrating a great win with both bets arriving.

RWC 2011

It was a great tournament and while I may have suffered heartbreak at the end it was certainly an event the majority of punters (on this site at any rate) enjoyed. There were loads of opportunities to grab handicaps that would shift shortly after team selections came out and my spreads experiment which I sadly did not follow to the letter delivered massive results. I cleaned up on a couple of games including the Boks v Namibia and when you consider I had slipped to being only 40 units up at the start of August the balance of the year was huge for me and the RWC certainly sparked a memorable run.

BEST BET MAILING LIST

I sent out a regular (usually weekly) e-mail to over 300 punters in which I highlight my Best or Value Bet of the weekend and my reasoning behind it. I offer no guarantees but had you followed me blindly in 2011 you would have shown a 49 unit nett profit (this may change slightly as there are still a couple of weeks left in the year).

2011 Best Bet Stats
Invested: 226 units
Returned: 275.3 units
Nett: 49.3 units
ROI: 21.8%

The Mailing List is a free service to Goodforthegame readers and also links to the top previews for the week so can hopefully add some value to your punting experience.

To subscribe just drop an e-mail to brent@goodforthegame.co.za and title it “Best Bets”

To all of my fellow punters I wish you a great end to 2011 and a magic 2012 – stay close to Goodforthegame for the best sports betting advice in town and if you have some punting high’s and lows of your own why not share them on this forum thread?

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Alan Moscrop	Brent Graham	Chris Sturdy	Sean Nicholas