Odds and Yahoo Fantasy Are Up!!!

Header: I will be referring to the betting fixture categories as First, Second and Third Option Fixtures as we discussed in our initial analysis First being my favorite type and Third being my least favorite.

Finally the initial betting odds are up for the opening weekend of games along with the new YFF, and I can hardly wait for either.First, let's get fantasy out of the way.

If you were lucky enough to pop into the Yahoo site when they were uploading the game initially, you found yourself with some real bargains, but gladly they have fixed player prices and I will be dropping my entire squad based solely on the honour system so I don't have an unfair advantage. But this isn't a fantasy blog, it's a meat and potatoes betting one, so let's get our hands dirty with some analysis!

If you remember from our initial analysis for the weekend, I told you how good those Option 1&2 fixtures were and how right I was. Just look at some of these juicy odds!
Everton to win 1-0 @ 6/1
Everton to win 2-0 @ 11/1
Everton to win 2-1 @ 9/1
Everton to win 3-0 @ 28-1
Everton to win 3-1 @ 25/1
Everton to win 3-2 @ 40-1

How can I not bet on my blues to win against Blackburn with value like that? History is on my side as well when the last 2 meetings from most to least recent ended like this; 3-2 and 3-0 in favor of Everton but these are the first games of the season so anything can and will probably happen. If you want even more value here is the pick of the fixtures for the week.

Liverpool V Arsenal
Liverpool to win 1-0 @ 6/1
Liverpool to win 2-0 @ 10/1
Liverpool to win 2-1 @ 10/1
Liverpool to win 3-0 @ 28/1
Liverpool to win 3-1 @ 25/1
Liverpool to win 3-2 @ 50/1

Arsenal to win 1-0 @ 13/2
Arsenal to win 2-0 @ 12/1
Arsenal to win 2-1 @ 11/1
Arsenal to win 3-0 @ 33/1
Arsenal to win 3-1 @ 28/1
Arsenal to win 3-2 @ 50/1

From the looks of Arsenal maybe having Van Persie, Fabregas and Bendtner all out, Im leaning towards Liverpool taking this 2-1 but I will not be placing anything until I get the squad sheets for that match.
Tip Of The Week:Research
Before you place bets on matches, take as thorough an evaluation as you can of the matches your unsure about and then wait until you can at least get those oh-so-helpful pre-match reports of each squad. This will give you an indication of how the match might swing based on who's injured/missing etc.

Fixture Analysis #1

As I have another tip of the week to give, I figured I would post something which would somewhat coincide with the topic, so here's a quick analysis of week 1.

Easy Prediction/Bad Betting Fixtures:
Draw Odds: Usually 4/1 or greater
Chelsea 1/7 to win VS West Brom 14/1 to win
Man Utd 2/9 to win VS Newcastle 12/1 to win

These are two of those games which will usually give you terrible odds for the favorites to win even if you go into betting on correct score. The other thing I don't like about fixtures like these, is it's so hard to predict just what teams like these will do. They can win by anything from 1-0 to 7-0 a la Chelsea last season so many times. With so many possibilities, I like to bet on other matches especially so early in the season but feel free if you want to make some easy cash by betting on outcomes.

Even Odd/Home Favorite Fixtures
Draw Odds: Usually 9/4
Tottenham 5/4 to win VS Man City 15/8 to win
Sunderland 6/4 to win VS Birmingham 2/1 to win
Wolves 6/5 to win VS Stoke 2/1 to win
Bolton 6/5 to win VS Fulham 2/1 to win
Liverpool 11/8 to win VS Arsenal 17/10 to win

These are the type of fixtures I began to fall in love with last year because of the potential winnings to be made. Every single fixture in this category is usually given odds of EVEN for the home team (1/1 to win) and 2/1 to win for the away team because they are all tough matches to call. Also, since the odds are so good for simple outcomes, the correct score bets are where I made alot of my money when I thought the away team would snatch a 1-0 or 2-1 win. But here is my favorite fixture type.

Best Betting Fixtures
Draw Odds: 9/4 or Greater

Wigan 4/5 to win VS Blackpool 10/3 to win
Aston Villa 4/6 to win VS West Ham 4/1 to win
Blackburn 17/10 to win VS Everton 11/8 to win

These are my favorite type but others might see it a little different. The reason I like these is because it is still, in my opinion, a very similar type of match as the ones above these yet the odds are much greater for the underdogs. West Ham and Villa is a perfect example. Obviously, Villa are favorites to win and at home, but just last year on the opening day they lost 2-1 to Wigan which if you made the same correct score bet on west ham this year your odds would be 8/1 or even 10/1 if your right. Another reason is just by looking at Blackburn VS Everton and you will see that both outcomes are greater than EVEN (1/1 to win) meaning if I just lay a basic bet on who will win, I'm gonna be making more than double what I bet.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Bet Smart.
It is very unlikely that teams outside of the top 8 score more than 2 goals in a match, and therefore you should bet that they don't. In fact, only 9 matches in the month of August had a team that scored more than 3 goals and they were all top 8 teams (Arsenal, Chelsea Liverpool all did twice, then Man Utd, Aston Villa and Tottenham did it the other 3. So if your going to bet on mid-lower table teams to win, stick to the 1-0 2-0 2-1 outcomes and save yourself the risk.

Hope you enjoy my input, until next time.

Season Long Predictions/Bets

Alright everyone, I figured I'd have some fun and I would love to hear what you guys have as predictions to start the season. Yes, it is incredibly early to start guessing these things and I will have to wait and weigh the odds until I decide what I will bet on. Oh, and not to mention what transfers go down as well. So what do you guys have to say? Here are my predictions(which will probably change)

Champions: Manchester United
Top Goalscorer: Carlos Tevez
Top Four: Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City
Relegation: Blackpool, West Brom, Wigan

Oh, and I almost forgot the tip of the week! Well, here is how to bet on games to make much better odds than simply betting outright.

Tip Of The Week: Grow your odds. Simply betting on the winner of a match is not a healthy enough return for what you are investing. The system I use is still risky, but when I win, I win big. If I think Manchester United are going to win a game for example, I will bet on them but not simply to win, but by predicting the match outcome. Any exact outcome prediction above 2-1 for the winning team is a minimum of at least 5-1 odds and sometimes much greater. Here are 3 examples I remember perfectly.

1. Last season I thought Utd. had what it took to beat Arsenal by scoring 3 goals, so I bet $1 on 3-0, 3-1 and 3-2 outcomes. They won that game 3-1 in the end and with only $3 in total covering 3 differant scores, I won 33-1 odds giving me a total return of $31 as opposed to betting on them to win, and simply making 1-1 on my money.

2. Another was the Everton/Birmingham game in March. I bet on the halftime score to be 2-1 in Everton's favor along with Everton to score 2+ in the first half as a backup if it ended 2-0, and then both teams to score in case it was 1-1, again, as a backup. Lucky for me it ended 2-1 at half with me gaining returns of $89 off of $4 of bets, with odds of 33-1, 7-1, and 4-1 respectively.

3. Finally, I think everyone who reads this will remember last seasons fantasy dream Nicklas Bendtner at 3.00 or 5.00 units with no other strikers for Arsenal dont you? Well in the match they barely squeezed by Hull, I and many other fantasy players simply knew he would score and Arsenal would win as Hull had a woeful defence and Arsenal fed Bendtner like no one else knew where the net was. Well, I bet one that exact outcome, Arsenal to win and Bendtner to score, with odds of 7-1. I bet $2 and made returns of $16 with almost a guaranteed thing.

In closing, what I'm trying to say is when you are betting, try and grow your odds as much as you can while giving yourself as big of a safety net at the same time. Please let me know what predictions and questions/topics you want me to cover or discuss with you all. Cheers again.

For Beginners

Hello again, please visit my first post if you havent already to get a feel of what this blog is about. Maxer made a good point in the comments section and I decided I would write a post for beginners to try to explain as much as possible to help get you comfortable. So let's get started.

Firstly, do your research if you will be using another betting site other than SkyBet so you know your money is safe, but I will only be referring to Sky throughout the season so I would suggest sticking with them. To register, there is a link in the top left which says register and the process is as straight forward as can be, not to mention they have wonderful customer service if you ever get confused along the way.

Second, odds can be a little overwhelming at first but once you see what everything means it becomes much easier understand so here is a little "dictionary" of what each number/phrase means in terms of betting.

Stake: This is the amount of money you are putting down to place a bet.

Punter: That's us! This simply means the person placing the bets.

Fractional Odds i.e. 2/9: Odds described in this way are the simplest to understand and my favorite. The number on the right is the amount you need to bet in order to win the amount on the left. So in this instance, if I bet 9 dollars, I win 2 plus my original stake back so I would get 11 dollars back in total if I win my bet. Ideally, you always want a bigger number on the left than on the right so your winning bet will actually make you a decent return.

Decimal Odds i.e. 6.00: Odds described in this way are still simple but the choice of which to use comes down to personal preference. Odds of 6.00 is converted into 5/1 but both mean the same thing. Referring to the fraction odds, if I bet 1 dollar, I would win 5 and then my original stake back as well, meaning 6 dollars total, but with decimal it tells you exactly how much you receive for a 1 dollar bet being correct. For example, 6.00 odds means if I bet 1 dollar I win 6 in total if I am correct with my wager. Simple enough?

The are plenty more terms in betting than I could fit in a post on here, so I refer you guys to visit this website as a source for terms if you ever do not understand a term.

I hope this helps all of you to get started and more comfortable in the world of sports betting. Cheers for now.

Welcome!

Hello everyone, thank you for visiting and thanks for reading.

I have set this blog up to offer my advice and betting strategy strictly for the Barclay's Premier League through SkyBet. Also, I would like to thank A.M. and his YFF Blog and my friends for the inspiration to start this blog. I will be posting as often as I can during the Premier League season to keep offering tips and finding great odds to help make you some money. With this being said, PLEASE GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY and ONLY BET WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD. I started out with an account of 20 dollars to start and I only bet 1-2 dollars per bet which I am still doing even with my account now at over 220 dollars all within the second half of the Premier League season. I am not a proffesional gambler and this is only my opinion so please listen and take my advice at YOUR OWN RISK, but let's get to the good stuff.

I can't recall the countless times I would hear of someone betting on football and listen to them brag how they bet $5 and won $30 by picking a few correct match outcomes together. At first this sounded impressive, but when I decided to to try my luck I discovered subtle ways of almost guaranteeing I would win money when I placed my bets, and have grown $20 to $220+ by only betting 1-2 dollars per bet. I will be giving weekly tips leading up to the start of the Premier League Season for general betting and will post more in depth analysis when the season starts.

Tip #1:Manage your bankroll!
This is the most important rule of all and is number one for a reason, because no matter what you cannot win every bet you ever make so you must be robotic in the way you bet and stick to it. For example, if you bet 2 dollars on one bet but 15 on the next, yes you might win the first but you could lose the second too. Therefore a simple rule I use is I bet no more than 1-2% of my total bankroll. This means if
I have 200 in my account, I won't bet more than 2-4 dollars on any one bet, and sometimes even less if I am unsure. Remember, there is no shame starting small and even now I will still be betting 1-2 dollars per bet until I grow my balance to around $500.

Check back soon for my next weekly tip! May the winners be yours.