This past week saw two of my long term bets go up in smoke and while I was able to cover my stake in the one I missed a trick in the other and took a needless loss. 

At the start of the Boks v Lions series I had a sizeable bet on the home team winning 3-0 at odds of 16/10. Going into the last match I was looking good but decided to cover my stake when I saw the Bok team was far from a first choice selection.

My original bet was 16 units to 10 and I managed to put myself in a position where I would win 11 units with a Bok win and pull square should the Lions win the dead rubber. They duly spoilt the party and averted the whitewash but at least I could take consolation from the fact that I had not lost anything. 

The same cannot be said of the tennis where I had taken 4.23/1 Murray at the start of Wimbledon. I had put 10 units down as my aim was to trade around it if he went deep, hopefully securing a tidy profit should he go onto win. He was pretty scrappy in reaching the last 4 where he started 1/3 to beat Andy Roddick who could be backed at 3/1. 

In retrospect the move to make was to take 10 units of Roddick thus covering my stake should he beat Murray and still leaving me with over 38 units to play with heading into a Murray v Federer final should the Brit advance.  Instead I sat tight and a 10 unit loss accrued when Murray was bundled out and I was left kicking myself for not taking the opportunity to offload some of my risk. 

Elsewhere this past week I lost 10 units on the golf (gee my form has been patchy) and narrowly missed a huge pay day in the opening stage of the Tour de France when Menchov failed to beat Sastre bringing a host of my multiples to a sorry end (that one result was the difference between a 6 unit and a 60 unit profit). 5 stages in I am still 1.5 units up in this years Tour and details of all my bets are available here (E-mail brent@goodforthegame.co.za to join my Tour mailing list).

I have also stuck a 10 unit long term bet on England winning the Ashes at 5/2. 

Two of my Top SA player poker picks are also out of the main event in Vegas leaving me with 2 units riding on Ryan Brauer at 12/1. 

Join me in the Goodforthegame Forum for some banter around sport and sports betting!

BETTING SUMMARY (Year to Date)

Balance after week 25: +43.61 units

Week 26 result: -20.5 units

Running balance: +23.11 units 

Pending Bets

Golf: Race to Dubai: 30 units (10 wins Garcia and 20 places Garcia)

F1: 2 units Button for the title at an average of 53/1

Poker: 2 units Top SA Player (Brauer 12/1)

Cricket: 10 units England to win the Ashes at 5/2

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