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 Sometimes it pays to slow down and pay more attention to what bookmakers specials are out there.
It is amazing what creatures of habit we are. I have recently relocated offices and have gone from the first floor (where I sat for close to 13 years) to the second floor. The big move took place over 2 weeks ago however when I get into the lift each morning I still hit the number 1 button and sometimes get as far as my old office before I wake up to the fact that I am in the wrong place.
The same principle applies to my sports betting and this weekend I realised it has probably been costing me money. I have a host of regular online bookmaker accounts that I keep topped up and when I am looking for a specific bet I move from their home page to the required betting market in seconds, oblivious to any information the bookmaker might be sharing on their landing page.
Last week one of my US Open fancies was Lee Westwood who was the favourite to win the event at 12/1. While doing a price comparison I was interrupted from my usual routine by a telephone call. It forced me to stop what I was doing and when the call was completed I took a few seconds to remind myself what I was busy with. The web page in front of me happened to be the Betxchange home page and I saw a banner highlighting their US Open golf betting special.
I am so set in my ways I would not normally have seen this but on inspection I discovered that if you placed a win bet on your fancy before the tee off of round 1 you would get your stake refunded should your pick not win but finish second or third.
It clearly made sense for me to back Westwood under these conditions although after a dreadful start I was left wondering whether the Englishman was even going to make the cut?
He recovered although was never in touch with eventual runaway winner Rory McIlroy. I though still had a very real interest in him and I sat up to watch Westwood grab a share of 3rd place which did not win me money but did prevent an outflow of precious capital and who knows the money saved could be multiplied on the Super Rugby playoffs this weekend.
From now on I am going to pay a bit more attention when scouring the web for prices, it could just pay dividends.
This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 23rd of June 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
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