MABS

Hoffenheim v Stuttgart (x) 3.70
Tottenham v Man City (1) 4.20
Luton v Blackburn (x) 3.40
10 pt treble, please.

Borussia Dortmund @ 1,70
Lazio @ 1.65
Swansea @ 1.75
20 point treble please

Ooopssss  sorry if Chelsea has started already, I will switch my choice to Man. Utd. ?

Ooopssss  sorry if Chelsea has started already, I will switch my choice to Man. Utd. ?

Aye, well, the devil is always in the detail, so it should help folks if you give them the detail, plus an insight into the logic and discipline that I deploy.
Betting is a COLD / HARD game, one that few people manage to break even on, let alone show a profit, and if you do show a profit the algorithms that the Bookies now employ will soon root you out and kick you out. No one runs a tighter ship with their algorithms than Bet365 or Billy Hills, but all the Bookies are at it.
I've served my time betting, had some memorable wins, but over the last 50 years I guess I've burned £250,000 possibly more, does that sound like "betting for fun" to you ?          
Knowing how hard a game betting is I try my best to steer young lads away from it, one of the lads in his 20's that goes in the pub I drink in always asks me if I'm having a bet, ever since I put him onto South Africa to win the RU World Cup, he had 200 quid on at 9/2 and since then always asks if I'm having a bet. I try to slow him down, but when yer young you want it now, patience doesn't run in their race. We walked into Billy Hills yesterday to get a few more quid on the 50/1 shot, I was already well invested on the bet, but I couldn't resist throwing another 20 quid on it, a grand to 20 quid is warth taking, Jim had the same. I'm amazed that the odds are still there. Anyway, as we went in I asked Jim "which one of these ragged assed owd men would you like to be 40 years from now". I think he got the point..
They, like me, were all Jim's age 40 years ago, they started out with nothing and, thanks to Betting Shops they still have most of it left. None of them ever looks back as what this addiction cost them over the last 10, 20 or 40 years, more than their house is worth for some of them, but almost certainly more than they have in a bank account after a life time of grafting.
It's not even as though it's "easy come, easy go" most folks in my generation worked / grafted for their wages, so it never was "easy come" but due to the addiction that gambling is it certainly is easy go, never to be seen again. The Bookies are RUTHLESS those machines they put in their shops they have cost some folks their every penny they had, some even went into debt to continue getting their Fixed Odds Terminal Fix, sadly some lost more than their money, some lost everything and finished up topping themselves.       I wouldn't touch FOBT's with a barge pole, they are the crack cocaine of the Betting Shops, thousands of lives have been ruined due to FOBT's.
Knowing how RUTHLESS Bookies are I put my "work" in where they don't look. When Saturday rolls around I scour the non league games looking on Twitter for teams that are struggling to put a full team out, without having to call on the coach driver to play in goal or the turnstile man to play centre back, and Office Staff just to make the team up, that actually happened one memorable day. You might remember when Merthyr Town couldn't put a team out a couple of years ago, thanks to Twitter I'd picked up on that Friday night when FEW IF ANY folks outside of Merthyr had heard what was going on, I spent 2 hours backing Chesham {WHO ARE YA} who the **** had EVER heard of Chesham !!!
Most of the online Bookies had a £200 limit on the game, but I hammered them all to whatever limit they had. I was up with the larks Saturday morning putting £100 here and £100 there in the shops until the Bookies cottoned on and started dropping their prices from 11/8 Chesham to 1/3 I even bet them at that. It was pathetic for Merthyr, they were 4-0 down in 15 minutes, and 9-0 down by half time, if memory serves me well Chesham were winning 12-0 when the Chesham supporters were shouting "let them get a goal" they did the decent thing the game finished 13-1. The Man of the Match award was given to Merthyr's 15 year old goalkeeper !!!
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/crisis-hit-merthyr-town-humiliated-13921420
That result got my accounts closed with 7 Bookmakers, they were hissed off because I knew what they didn't, that's the only way to win, now and again, but you have to wait for events like that, most folks don't have that discipline, they NEED their FIX.
Good as it was {to get one ore the Bookies} there was a more memorable bet, a three horse race headed by Little Owl the horse that had at one time won the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, race in a 3 horse race, against Venture to Cognac {a good but past his best chaser} and Great Dean, a decent jumper but I could have done 3 miles faster in my day.
The betting was 1/3 Little Owl, 7/2 Venture to Cognac, 150/1 Great Dean, have you any idea what the Computer Straight Forecast would be in Little Owl didn't finish the course, are you ahead of me yet ? a bunch of us put fivers on here, there and everywhere, can't say why ? but here's what happened...
"The 1982 Fulwell Chase at Kempton Park appeared a mundane contest. True, the Gold Cup winner Little Owl was in attendance but he faced only two rivals in Venture To Cognac and Great Dean.  "Venture To Cognac had some useful form to his credit but had become injury-prone and was considered to need the run. As for Great Dean, he had been pulled up at lowly Fontwell and needed a miracle if he was to win such a valuable prize.

"Little Owl was sent off the 4-11 favourite, Venture To Cognac 7-2 with Great Dean appearing for all the world a lost cause at 150-1. "As far as winning the race was concerned, Great Dean was virtually friendless. On the course and in the betting shops it was only the odd `just-for-fun' merchant and habitues of the `outsider-of-three' system who gave him even a moment's consideration. "Or so it seemed. But dotted about the country were a handful of shrewd punters who had spotted the chance to make a killing on the race. A chance, that's all. Those shrewdies didn't expect to pickup but knew exceptional value when they saw it.

"And what a killing! Not only were these punters expecting to receive odds of around 150-1 on their bet, they were also gleefully awaiting the chance to make fools of the big bookmakers. "For once, the bookmakers had made a `rick' and a mighty serious one at that. "The mistake was in the format for the then relatively new Computerised Straight Forecast (CSF), which allowed for inflated dividends should a long-priced outsider make the frame in a small field.

"The Fulwell Chase offered an ideal chance to exploit this loophole. All it needed was for Little Owl to fail to complete the course (as he had done at Cheltenham on his previous start) and this would enable Venture To Cognac to win with Great Dean hopefully putting in a clear round to come second.

"The race went entirely to script for these backers. Little Owl leading by 10 lengths with just 3 to go, then coming to the second last and seemingly going well, he swerved and was pulled up by jockey and part-owner Jim Wilson at the 10th.

"This left Venture To Cognac clear of the already tailed-off Great Dean a full fence behind. The former sauntered round to win by a distance and Great Dean, with forecast backers holding their breath, Great Dean went over the last like a spider, one leg at a time, completed in his own time to earn a place in the history books.

Jim Wilson reported that Little Owl's bit had reportedly slipped, but the bookmakers were not happy, especially when they realised the extent of their liabilities. "Payment was held back while BOLA and the racing authorities carried out an investigation into the race. No evidence of any misdemeanour was produced and the bookmakers, suitably chastened, eventually paid out.

"They also called in their computer people to change the format of the CSF to avoid such inflated dividends in small fields in the future, and the result was what is disingenuously referred to as the `Harmonic formula' for producing CSF dividends. Today, if Venture To Cognac were to beat Great Dean in identical circumstances, backers would receive odds of only 15-1. But on the day the CSF paid £75 to 50p I had 30 quid on the bet, all in all between me and the lads in the White Lion we had £75 on the bets and we cleaned several Bookies out that day. These events are rare birds, but you never forget how sweet the meat was...  
All in all, REMEMBER what Gus Demmy told me, the less often you bet, the more often you win, if you want to get an edge, do yer homework...
Anon.

We're going to have to offer you a publishing deal at this rate mate! 
On a serious note, I like your approach to betting. Looking forward to your thoughts on Bolton's future games this season. 

Hello Stevie,
Am I a Wunderers Fan ? no, is the short answer, having said that I've been to a lot of their games in the last 50 years, more than a lot of  fans have been to. The reason being, I grew up in the midst of them, some avid, or should that be rabid FANatics. If you were born and bred in Westhoughton you were dyed in the wool as a Wunderers supporter. But, due to living next door to Fred "Punchy" Griffiths the full back for Wigan RLFC my wool was dyed in a different colour, I've always been more into Rugby, League and Union. Add to that a lifelong buddy of mine played RL "in the day" is the father of the Best Defensive Coach that Wales ever had, he's now coaching in foreign fields, I'm sure you know who I mean, "Mr Rugby League" in the 1990's.
The thing is, I can watch and enjoy either of the three games, but one thing I learned FAST was that the Fans are different, if you talk to most football fans about the upcoming game you get the standard responses, if Bolton are playing a crap team the fans don't say "we'll mop the floor with them" they say, "well, Stevenage are having a bad run, but they aren't a bad team, AND, they ALWAYS raise there game when they play us". That's JUST to cover their embarrassment IF Stevenage, Rhyll Academicals or some obscure team turns them over, that's bred in the Wunderers Fans, mind you, it's the same with a lot of other football teams.
On the opposite side of that coin is, if you went, in the day, to what was Central Park and asked Wigin's Fan's how they thought the game against St Helen's would go there'd be no precooked excuses offered, the Wigin Fan's would tell you "we'll bury the Saints" that didn't always happen, but when Saints won the Wigin lads took it on the chin, none of that "well, we were the better team, they scored against the run of play, the Ref and the wind and the pitch were against us, on and on that shyte goes".
Add to that, the violent attitude that "some" football fans have against the fans of who they are playing today beggars belief, some of them would prefer to put you in hospital than shake yer hand if your team beat them. You don't want to be stood in the wrong stand with your club colours on at a football match, yet I (and others) have stood in the middle of Saints Fans with my Cherry & Whites on when I couldn't get into the Wigin end, and NEVER had a problem, the worst you got from those surrounding you was a grimaced look when Billy Boston went ore the line for a try and Punchy converted, same grimace that we had when "the Flying Van Vollenhoven" put one down ore our line.
I put that attitude down to football being a game of frustrations, 90 minutes of stress, begging and praying that your team will score, suffering the agony of tuther team putting one over on you. Rugby is different, it's a high scoring game, often with almost what turns out to be a point scored for every minute (or two) played in the game. But as mentioned above, I can watch and appreciate both games.
Turns out that in the 60's I was rubbing shoulders with some illustrious sportsmen, Punchy Griffiths, Francis Lee (ex Man City), I knew Franny well used to have a drink with him now and again.  Franny lived in a thatched cottage in Westhoughton, right next door to Peter James, father of Michael James (now part owner of BWFC). So one way and another I had a foot in both camps, went some weeks to watch the Wunderers other weeks with the Wigin lads to watch Punchy kick more goals (again) than Neil Fox of Saint Helens, they were ALWAYS the top two in the goal kickers league table in the Sunday papers...
One I learned FAST was never listen to what a football team fan has to say about how the game will go, I lost a fair bit of money doing that. My "sport" is having a bet, I don't "bet for fun" it's no fun losing money, you need to know more about an even than the Bookies know, don't bet until YOU have the edge, that don't happen often, you just need the discipline, something that most punters DON'T have, as the old adage says "Bookmakers don't live in Council Houses".
I don't mind waiting weeks or longer before I wade in, lads I know say "I can't afford to bet with the stakes you put on" the truth of it is, they are often loosing £200 to £500 or more a month, but they "can't afford" to put £100 on South Africa to win the RU World Cup at 9/2, I had a grand on that, most of my mates back England (no matter what sport they are competing in), that's just about the worst betting strategy to work with. If you are a FANatic you can't see anything other than your team, the Bookmakers love it...
Betting is a HARD game, the games "may not" be rigged, but the odds are, 12% to 15% in the Bookies favour as soon as you slide your cash over the counter. Here's a RULE that I picked up on from Gus Demmy (Bookmaker & Boxing Promoter, in the day), I knew Gus well too, Gus told me the "secret" of betting, that being "The more often you bet, the more often you lose, the less often you bet, the more often you win". The logic being, if yer only betting a couple of quid a time, you don't really care what the Fav is in the 2:30 at Redcar, you just NEED YOUR GAMBLING FIX !!! you stand there all day sticking that 2 quid needle in until the pain and the money has gone.
If you quit betting in damn near every race, every day, the way the addicted masses do you're halfway there, just bet once a week, you can afford to place bigger stakes, that in itself doesn't guarantee that the horse or whatever will win, but if you've gone from losing a tenner a day, frittered away at 2 quid a time, and you can't even remember what you backed during the day, or WHY you backed it, other than, WELL, IT WAS THE FAVOURITE ?
So if you don't squander a tenner a day away on asking yer mates "what do you fancy in this race" just because you need a 2 quid FIX, soon enough Saturday will come round and you'll have 50 quid in yer ass pocket (itching to get out), but, 50 quid is 50 quid, yer unlikely to be asking what yer mate thinks of the 2 year old selling handicap at Ripon. You might fancy a bet on Saturday, but you have to ask yourself is it worth chancing 50 quid on ? often as not you'll decide it's not, so the sequence starts again on Monday, forget about that "good thing" at Plumpton, stay with the DISCIPLINE, if you can, by the next Saturday there's 100 quid waiting to get out.
The point that Gus was making was, if you're betting 2 quid here and 2 quid there, you WILL get skint, yer addicted to "gambling" and that's gambling against dice that are LOADED against you. But, IF you bet less often, HOPEFULLY you will be more careful on what you bet on, HOPEFULLY you will do your homework, HOPEFULLY you will find something that the Bookie doesn't  know, then the odds will be in your favour, all you need is what most folks DON'T have, DISCIPLINE.
Gus was right, and I learned from him, met Gus at Salford Dog Track in the 60's when he stood the rails there, a character if ever there was one. Bookmakers then were men who would take your bets without "speaking to a Trader" they weren't AFRAID of risk, but this lot now do their utmost to avoid risk, if you win consistently they either Ban you, or limit your bets to an amount they know you can't be bothered with, so you place the bet with someone else, that's exactly what they want, been there done that...
These stuffed shirts aren't even called Bookmakers now, they call themselves Turf Accountants, note the Accountant moniker, anything that an Accountant gets their paws on goes rotten real fast, the less I say about that the better, but it's easy enough to find how these leeches set up Offshore Accounts for the Billionaires who don't fancy paying Tax, anyway, being careful not to digress, I'll stay on track.
Brings me back to "knowing what the Bookies don't know" getting an advantage over them, knowing what I know, being on the inside track re the Wunderers and the folks holding the hot iron right now I was astonished to see that 50/1 was being offered against the Wunderers being relegated into OBLIVION, so I filled my boots with it.
The thing is, the Wunderers AREN'T last years team, they've gone, it's a new team, a Lad's & Dad's team, a team that will take a while to gel, that's IF they ever gel, so on their ability (or lack of it) they could drop through the relegation trap door, but...
We have two horses in this race, the second one being if Football Ventures owners of BWFC can't pay their way. WHERE does the money come from to keep the Hotel and the Club afloat ? they have to find £3.4 Million to pay off existing debts less than 12 months from now, plus £1 Million to HMRC,  plus £59,000 a month / 2,000 quid a DAY interest on the mortgage for the Hotel, how much business do you think the Hotel is doing right now, Bolton is the epicentre of Covid right now, and is likely to be that way for months. The Hotel doesn't seem to be an asset to the Club right now, in fact I'd bet it's a bloody headache. I guess FV (Football Ventures) could sell it, but, who to ? who's looking to buy an Hotel in Bolton right now. Other than that, where is the money coming from to pay for the football side of things ? how long do you think it will be before the turnstiles are clicking again ? would you fancy carrying to Club until the Fans are allowed back ?
It's not often you can find an edge against the Bookies, I don't think they have taken the above into account, so I took a few £1,000 to £20 bets, once I'd "got my money on" I joined Punters Lounge simply to give you guys a heads up, the more folks the Bookies have to pay out the happier I'll be, that's why I'm here... As mentioned, it's not a certainty that the Wunderers will be relegated, but I wouldn't be laying 50/1 I wouldn't lay better than Evens, knowing what I know. It wouldn't surprise me if Football Ventures throw the towel in before Christmas...
As mentioned owning football clubs is a VANITY VENTURE for Billionaires, Millionaires can soon find themselves way out of their depth.
ANON.

Juventus @1.44
Bayern Munich @1.20
PSG @1.20
£100 treble
You are doing a really good job avongirl. Much appreciated.

Hi all,
Just a quick message to say that after the tragic news of Graham (BillyHills) passing this weekend we'll be asking you to bear with us for a period as we try to organise things that he managed so effectively. This Last Man Standing Consolation competition was one of those things. Hopefully, there'll be minimum disruption and we'll do our best to keep things running as smoothly as possible.
Thanks.

Agree completely @BrandNew, I wouldn't bet on Scotland with someone else's money. If I was forced to bet on this game it would be on under goals, I don't think this'll be an entertaining goal fest, 1 goal either way could win it.

Boro have been playing with plenty of promise despite not winning in their opening 3 games.  I wouldn't take too much notice of the cup loss against Barnsley and they look a good price at around 5/4 to get up and running. 
Derby are in dreadful form (the only solace for a Forest fan so far!) and I'd expect Norwich to despatch them easily enough so 7/10 looks very fair.
Probably worth opposing Wycombe until they show they are up to this level so Luton another one for multiples around 4/5. 
 
Treble pays almost 6/1.

Everton 1.55
Leicester 1.65
Leeds 1.61
£8 treble please

BillyHills - thank you for my prize - appreciated!

Thanks for another great competition BH!

Thanks @BillyHills for sorting, Sorry been a bit busy a few times & forgot to put in my selections! DOH! That been costly for me!

Thanks, great competition

Thank you for the competition BillyHills! Appreciated!

Well run in crap conditions. Some of these days I'll start winning again.

Thanks again @BillyHills   for a great comp, went downhill after a great start ?

thanks BH for another great competition

Its the Final week of the competition so just remember you cant have the exact same bet as someone else in your division, regardless of the stake.
 
I think the next season will start in September and the new divisions will be made up of the finishing totals from this competition. A new players thread will be put up nearer the time for anyone who was eliminated from this season or any new members who want to join in.
Thanks for sticking with it during this difficult time, I have tried to keeps things as normal as possible and the response from  the members has been terrific.

Well, it would appear we can't trust one of them! Let's see if Brentford can handle the pressure and get a win to take themselves into the automatic promotion places!

In addition to the above I think we can safely say that we can have a decent fixture list until the end of July.
That gives us another 7 weeks if we start on June 13th, making an 8-week season.
 
Proposals
Resume competition on June 13th Final matches on July 25th Season reduced to 8 weeks (from 10) (already had 1 week) Fixture list to include minor leagues from Europe   
 

I should know I have 49,600 posts?

Paderborn - Koln, Over 2.5, 1.53
Hertha Berlin - Werder, Over 2.5, 1.90
Bayer Leverkusen - Eintracht, Over 2.5, 1.53

Treble. Half bank!