Betting Blog: On a weekend in which he won money on the Lions and sat up all night only to get his heart broken in the PGA Champs, Brent Graham wonders if his finest hour did not come in the Western Province v Bulls game?

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I was lining this piece up for the Citizen (I write a weekly betting related article) but after the drama of Sunday night I simply had to put my golf experience to print. I sat up till a ridiculous hour only to see my 50/1 pick Dustin Johnson get handed a 2 shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker at the last, a move that potentially cost me a bucketful of cash.

The good news though is that it was a pretty decent weekend with my Best Bet* The Sharks arriving in some style on Friday night to get the ball rolling. The big swing for me came in the Lions game though where I went high on Lions Try Scorers Shirt Numbers at 24 and Lions Match Points at 23.

As the match entered its last 10 minutes I appeared to be in serious trouble with the Lions only on 16 points with a single try by the no 14.

To their credit they were piling on the pressure though and I was relieved when the flyhalf Jantjies went over in the corner. The conversion ensured I was now even for the game with shirts on 24 and points on 23 and from where I had been I was more than happy to accept this and move on.

The Lions though were not done and I was out of my chair as they broke from their own half before kicking ahead. I groaned as the bouncing ball evaded the Lions winger but was screaming at the TV again seconds later as the home teams no 22 collected the pill and charged over the tryline for my best possible result.

Rather than break square I had made an unlikely (but pretty substantial) profit and I immediately started scanning the betting on the WP v Bulls game.

The problem was that aside from what I had tipped in my preview (sell Bulls shirts if in the mid to high 20’s) I did not really fancy anything strongly. The shirts quote for the Bulls was 24-27, lower than I had hoped (although in retrospect I wish I had sold at 24) and rather than give my Lions winnings back just to have a bet I decided to watch until half time.

I recall once making it through 40 minutes of rugby without having a bet (I think it happened about 5 years back) and at the break I scrambled to my laptop for a spreads update. Still nothing grabbed me though and I did something which I hope reflects my growing maturity as a sports punter. I switched the computer off and went back to watch the game without a cent on it.

The fact that I might and would probably have made money on the game had I punted is not that important to me but rather by not having a bet I proved to myself that I can watch a game without getting involved (although I don’t see this becoming a regular occurrence) and in so doing I showed that I was in control over my punting something which I must confess has not always been the case.

So then in a weekend where I got out of jail in the Lions game and suffered a cruel loss in the golf, perhaps by not having a bet at all I had enjoyed my finest hour in the WP v Bulls game?

Betting previews for the weekends Currie Cup and Tri Nation’s games will be in our RUGBY SECTION from Thursday and you can also see what other punters and fans have to say in our forum.  

*BEST BET MAILING LIST
I send out a free weekly mail with my best bets and links to the major weekend previews – drop me a note headed Best Bets to get on it – brent@goodforthegame.co.za

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Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham and http://www.twitter.com/goodforthegame