West Bromwich Albion have made me smile.........for once

I never thought I would hear myself say this but I am glad that West Bromwich Albion won today, even if it means they will be more confident in next week's crucial Black Country derby with my team Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Today West Brom faced Aston Villa in a West Midlands showdown and emerged 2-1 victors, putting a smile on my face in the process. The Baggies are the team I most despise in the world but I decided to have a cheeky little punt on them.

Prior to kick off one of my contacts, who is a bit of a statistic freak, told me that Aston Villa had lost a staggering 23 points from winning positions, to add to this West Brom had conveniently won 23 points from losing scenarios.

With that in mind I decided to have a look at the odds being offered for Aston Villa to win the first half and West Brom to manage to overturn this and win the game. Another stat my contact informed me of was that Villa had won their five of the last ten meetings between the two teams 2-1 and West Brom had only won once.

I failed to let this stat deter me and continued to scour the internet for the best priced odds offered on this result. I looked at Coral, Ladbrokes, William Hill, Bet365 and Sportingbet before finding that Betfair offered the best odds on Aston Villa/ West Brom HT/FT  at 33/1.

It may not be clear but it shows what I put on

These were absolutely quality odds in my opinion and I couldn't resist a cheeky bet on this so placed £2 on this outcome. Much to my delight when I checked my Betfair balance at 5pm this afternoon it read £65, happy days.

Although 33 multiplied by two gives you 66 plus the original £2 bet, Betfair have a commission fee on any winnings and they decided to deduct £3 from my winnings, as you can see in the picture.

Even with the deductions the win sees my betting reach a milestone, it sees me reach £100 profit. To see how my bets have fared over the last few weeks please see the Profit and Loss section of this website.

The bet I put on had come in and I am now happy West Brom won, for the first and last time. Hopefully there will be no more derby victories for the guys in Blue and White.

The Royal Wedding betting

Tomorrow sees one of the most important days in terms of royal history this country has seen in recent times. The marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton is expected to be one of the most viewed events of the year and of course when there are going to be millions of people watching an event there has to be odds placed on certain things happening.

The future King and Queen?

Ladbrokes have taken the liberty of compiling a list of numerous things to happen throughout the course of tomorrow and some are more realistic than others. The best bet in my opinion is that Kate's father will cry whilst walking down the isle, this is offered at 3/1 with Coral. Most parents usually cry when their child gets married but when they're marrying into royalty then waterworks are highly probable.

William Hill however are offering the same bet at odds of 10/1, quality bet in my opinion. At odds of 10/1 I am finding it hard to steer clear of this so I may put some money on this bet, I haven't decided how much yet so it will be included in my profit and loss section if i do.

Nerves usually get the better of people when they get married so if you fancy Kate to get Prince William's name in the wrong order then 14/1 is good odds, surely worth a couple of quid.

The princess to be

Moving onto the best man, Prince Harry. The younger of brother of William has been known to cause a stir one in a while, whether it's dressing as a Nazi or getting drunk but the groom has chosen to stick by his brother and name him his best man. As this is the biggest wedding of the 21st century so far it is highly unlikely that he will but Ladbrokes are offering odds of 100/1 for him to forget the rings.

Kate and William have been happy together for a number of years and it has been a question of when they will get married but after a very long time tomorrow sees that very day. Again it is highly unlikely but if you fancy Kate to jilt William at the altar then 100/1 is your price.

Prince William

It is guaranteed to be the most watched event of the year so if you fancy whacking a few quid on to make it interesting then why not go for a few of the above bets. If they don't take your fancy then other bets on offer are:

- Prince Philip to be seen asleep during the wedding service  10/1
- Prince William to drop the wedding ring during the service  20/1
- An objection to be raised during the vows 33/1
- Archbishop of Canterbury to refer to K Middleton as Prince Willams AWFUL wedded wife during the service 100/1
- Dean of Westminster to refer to K Middleton as Prince Willams AWFUL wedded wife during the service  100/1
- The Archbishop of Canterbury to say 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy GOAT' during the service 100/1
- The Dean of Westminster to say In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy GOAT during the service  100/1
- The Archbishop of Canterbury to drop the Bible during the wedding service  33/1
- The Dean of Westminster to drop the Bible during the wedding service  33/1
- The Archbishop of Canterbury to request a toilet break during the wedding service  100/1
- The Dean of Westminster to request a toilet break during the wedding service  100/1

It's time to back big on QPR

Usually when I offer you a tip I advise you to put small money on the outcome but this is the big one, this is the game where I think you should be backing big and looking to earn a nice tidy sum of money.

Today is the day where Queen's Park Rangers are looking to return to the Premier League after a 15 year exile and I believe that playing at Loftus Road will spur them on to comfortably beat Hull City and end this long awaited wait for top flight football.

Neil Warnock's side have topped the Championship table all season and they thoroughly deserve to end their quest for top flight football, which is why I am telling you to bet on them to win today.

QPR fans hoping for elation today

Had Rangers beaten Dave Jones' Cardiff City side on Saturday then they would have earned promotion then but the resilience of the Welsh side showed just why they are also pressing for the other automatic promotion slot, with Norwich City.

The London side have lost just one in their last seven games, which in my opinion makes them a dead certainty to beat a Hull City side, who are also chasing a play-off place. To add to this they have won seven of their last 11 games and are unbeaten in ten games at home. What makes these statistics more impressive is that Warnock's side have lost just one game at home all season.

Bookmakers Betfred and Coral are offering odds of as low as 4/6 for QPR to beat Hull City today, which will promote the London side and hand them the trophy.

I will not be placing any money on this game, as I don't have any on me, but if I had I would be betting around £100 on QPR to win. This result would give you £66 profit, a total of £166, not bad for an afternoon's work.

QPR have been aided all season by the much coveted Adel Taarabt and his brace at the weekend took his tally up to 18 goals for the season.

Bet365 are offering odds of just 4/1 for Taarabt to get the first goal of this game and after his impressive performance against Cardiff City it's hard to bet against that really.

After a really good season from Warnock's side I hope that they can clinch promotion today, as they have been the most consistent side in the Championship this season and I want to know how far their busty bank balance could take them in the Premier League.

Good luck Queen's Park Rangers, hopefully it will be an opening day fixture of QPR v Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League next season.

Bolton v Arsenal

Following a mediocre success on the Wolves v Fulham game yesterday I have decided to once again offer tips on a specific game, this time it is Bolton Wanderers v Arsenal.

With around four hours to go until kick off I apologise for the short notice on the tips but I have found some decent odds that should appeal to any keen gambler.

Arsenal head into today's game on a 15 game unbeaten run and will be keen to set the record straight following their defensive collapse during midweek against arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Bolton will also have a point to prove after being crushed in their FA Cup semi- final clash with Stoke City last week 5-0.

Both sets of fans will be hoping that their team can bounce back from such shock results but it is Arsenal who have more riding on the game.

Owen Coyle has managed to guide Bolton to 8th position in the Premier League table with only five points needed to guarantee survival, so there isn't really much riding on the game for his side.

Arsenal, on the other hand, will be looking for all three points to keep the pressure on title favourites Manchester United and second placed Chelsea. Three points for Arsenal today would take them level on points with Chelsea and put them seven points behind leaders United with just four games to go.

Onto the game. Arsene Wenger's men need all three points and I can see the result going in no other way. It  will be a fiesty affair but the side from North London will come out on top.

I can't see Bolton managing to penetrate the Arsenal defence, as they will be keen to rectify the mistakes made midweek when they shipped three goals. Arsenal are a very attacking force and will be firing on all cylinders to score as many goals as they can. But Bolton have £20 million rated Gary Cahill patrolling the defence and should be able to keep the goals to a minimum. With these factors taken into consideration I have opted to go for a 2-0 win to Arsenal. Betfair are currently offering odds of 10/1 at the moment, which I think are great odds for a team challenging for the title.

I said in yesterday's blog that I would keep changing betting companies but one of my bets yesterday made a return of £6.75 so I thought I'd just put it all back into this game. At odds of 10/1 I couldn't resist putting £2.75 on 2-0 to Arsenal.

I then looked at the half time prices and saw a similar price for the score to be 2-0, so I couldn't resist put money on this outcome as well. I have therefore put another £2 on Arsenal to be winning at half time 2-0 at odds of 11/1 with Betfair.

With £2 left in my Betfair account I thought I may as well whack it on this game as well and seeing as though I have put a bet on the score to be 2-0 to Arsenal at half and full time then I thought I may as well put it on Arsenal to be winning at half and full time. At odds of 3/1 as well I thought why not. I have put £2 on Arsenal to be winning at half and full time at odds of 3/1 with Betfair.

Wolves v Fulham

I don't usually bet on my own team but I've got a really strong feeling today that it will end in a Wolves win, I hope so anyway.

I thought I would try a different company for betting on this game and have chosen to use Betfair. I thought it would be good to try use a different company and bet online for a change due to the loyalty rewards each company e-mail you from time to time.

I have decided that I will start betting online and use a different company each week in order to try get 'welcome back bonuses.'

Anyway on to the game. Wolverhampton Wanderers are currently sat bottom of the league due to to all the teams around them playing last weekend whilst they were given time off, as a result of Stoke City's FA Cup semi-final.

Fulham, however, are sat comfortably in the middle of the league with not much left to play for this season as they are more than likely safe for another season, bar a major catastrophe.

That is why I have gone for a Wolves win. Mick McCarthy's side will feel under pressure from the fans to lift themselves off the bottom of the Premier League and continue to work towards Premier League safety. To add to this the players will be looking to bounce back from their last game 3-0 defeat by Everton.

Wolves are generally good at keeping possession of the ball, which is why I have gone for 2-1 to the home side. At odds of 9/1 with Betfair it is definately worth a few quid, which is why I have put £5 on this result. 

I have had this result in my head for days now so have decided to put my money where my mouth is. Should it come in it will net me a return of £50.

As I expect the game to be close I have put £2 on each team to be winning at half time. Should Fulham be winning at half time it will earn me £7.80 which is technically a profit on the half time bets of £3.80. Should Wolves be winning at half time then the return would be £6.90, again giving me a profit but this time just £2.90.

Looking at my account I had £2.77 left in the kitty so I decided to put a nice  'value bet' on. A value bet is an outcome that may happen and the odds are very high. The bet I have decided to back is Wolves to win the first half and then Fulham to overturn the result and win the game. This was the outcome when the two teams met at Craven Cottage earlier in the season, so who's to say it won't happen again? Betfair have offered odds of 45/1 on this outcome and Wolves have had many games where they have surrendered a lead so this is great value in my opinion. Should this result come in then £124.65 will be coming my way.

Although £124.65 is a nice tidy sum what would I prefer, Wolves safe in the Premier League or a nice bank balance through winning bets? Both would be nice but I would preferably take a Wolves half time win and then Wolves to win 2-1. Should the game finish like that then I would earn be collecting £56.13, a profit of £46.13.

I have staked a total of £11.77 on this game.

The Grand National

I don't normally bet on horses but it's The Grand National, so why not!

The Grand National is the only horse race I will ever bet on as it only happens once a year and if I'm completely honest there's not a lot I know about horse racing but with the advice of others and general beginner's luck I hope to win some money.

This week I have focussed my attentions on the biggest horse race of the year instead of football, just because everyone else will and there are good odds on offer.

The only tip I have heard this year is for the current favourite The Midnight Club. When a few people, who are more knowledgable in the world of horse racing tell me to go for the favourite who am I to disagree with them?

You can never usually go far wrong with favourites but when the odds are 9/1, with Coral, it is a definate bet if you ask me. If you compare this to a favourite team in the Premier League the odds are usually around 2/5 or along those lines but to go against odds of 9/1 is just silly if you ask me.

It is for those reasons I have put £5 on The Midnight Club to win the whole race which returns £50 if it comes in, lets hope it does so it takes my betting total to over £100.

I went into Coral with just £8 in my wallet, I had wanted to put £10 on the race but I didn't want to go back to the cash point for the sake of £2 so I would have to make do with just £8 on the race.

After spending £5 on the favourite I was left with just £3 so I decided to look through the list and pick three names that stood out to me. The first name I saw that I recognised was Comply or Die offered at odds of 40/1. The horse won this race just three years ago and with odds of 40/1 I thought it was worth a punt, they've delivered the goods before so why not again?

The second name that stood out to me was State of Play, last year's third place finisher. As I have already mentioned I am not a huge horse racing fan so I am not completely up to date with all the ins and outs of the sport but these are two names I have heard of and just looking at previous results suggests that these two horses have exactly what it takes to win The Grand National.

State Of Play has been given odds of 25/1 to win the race with Coral, which is incredibly large odds considering they finished third last year, which is why I have opted to back this horse with £1 of my betting funds.

The final horse I have opted to back is West End Rocker and I have adopted a bit of a beginner's attitude towards picking this horse. I had £1 in my wallet left and wanted to put it on a horse to improve my chances of winning.

There wasn't any other horses that stuck out to me so I got my girlfriend to choose it, so if this horse now comes in to win I will be proud of her but annoyed she managed to choose the winner and I didn't.

I managed to get West End Rocker at odds of 25/1 with Coral but many people have realised that this is a horse who has won it's last two races and placed in six of it's last ten outings, which to me suggests that this horse is a great horse to put an each way bet on.

The popularity of this horse is rising and the odds of the Irish horse winning have been cut down to 20/1, so if you are going to put some money on this horse do it quickly.

Hopefully one of these horses will romp to a win and net me a nice tidy profit of at least £18.

Here's to a change of familiarity.

£60 win

As the title says I won £60!!! Wahey.

Below is a video of me talking about how I won the money and my reasons for choosing the bet that I did. I went for a video to make up for not posting for a few weeks.



I can only apologise for me not being able to offer you this tip but below is a betting slip to show evidence that I did actually put the bet on and that I'm not making it up.

A second apology I have is for the dodgy poster in the background. It was not until I had uploaded the video I realised it was there so I apologise if it offends anyone but it was the only place I could go, as it was quiet.

Although the odds aren't on the betting slip they were 5/1 with Coral and won me a nice tidy £60 to take my whole betting experiment up to £76.

If you look closely in the picture you can see that I am holding three £20 notes as evidence of me picking up my winnings.

I hope you enjoy this post and I may post another video post soon if this proves successful.