I have been betting for many years and have gone through more highs and lows than I will ever be able to recall but a recent trot I have been on will not easily be forgotten. {readmorelink}Read more{/readmorelink}

Essentially my actual profit and loss columns are looking ok and I am nicely up for 2010 but those that watch the Betting World show or are on my Best Bet mailing list would be forgiven for questioning this.

In both cases I am forced to select what I consider one standout bet to which I nail my colours, well aware that the public will be judging me on it.

Herein lies the problem, in that if I get 6 of 7 handicaps correct in a weekend of Super 14 rugby you can be certain that the bet I highlight to anyone that will listen is the one that gets beat.

With confidence a bit low finding that Best Bet gets pretty tough and last week I decided to highlight another in form punters tip to my mailing list. Goodforthegame forum poster RuggaBugga (aka Sean Nicholas) had been in great nick and one of his specialist events is the Rugby 7’s where he bets on the individual matches.

He highlighted a number of bets ahead of the Adelaide renewal last week with Fiji -14 against Wales an absolute standout. I duly compiled my message being sure to give credit to the originator of the tip and then sat back to watch the opening matches.

Sean’s first tip arrived when Samoa beat France by more than 17 points and I was in relaxed mood as Fiji opened up a 12-0 lead over Wales early doors. It was at that point though that word must have reached the Fijians that they had been tipped as my best bet and they immediately went to sleep allowing Wales to come back and win 17-12 not only beating the handicap but also causing a major upset.

Needless to say that the rest of Sean’s calls including Samoa to win the tournament at over 6/1 arrived and the Fiji game aside he had a great weekend.

I am convinced that in light of my current shoddy tipping run my highlighting the Fiji bet served only to poison it as my poor form triumphed over his good form and the punting gods enjoyed yet another laugh at my (and his) expense.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 25^th of March 2010.

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.

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