30 Jan

Thought the odds on Serena were too high, market overreaction to how good Henin had looked vs Zheng, even though Zheng's game was tailor made for her. 1.7 would've been more appropriate imo so had to have a dabble. Not happy when it went to a set all, but held the line. A strange market, as Henin was never in the lead at any time in the match but traded sub 1.5.Other than that bet haven't done much else this week - some small bets on footie and NHL, the latter only because sleep patterns are still screwed and it was the only thing live on tv at that time of night to bet on. Given the results maybe I should do it more often!

27 Jan

Haven't had a single bet in Melbourne this week. There haven't been that many matches as we're into the 2nd week of the Slam and just didn't fancy anyone at the odds either pre-match or in running. Maybe an element of overcaution after hearing about my cyberfriend doing his bank and the unsignalled whiplash changes of momentum in some recent matches. But also there's a temptation to resist to getting involved when you shouldn't simply because there's fewer matches, plus many are a bit more competitive at this stage, so no free munney.

Can't see much scope for the rest of the tournament either. Serena and Henin are too short for tonight with fitness doubts over both, but can't really back their oppos either. Be amazing if there was an all-Chinese final!

Next week is a week off for WTA as well, so probably no more tennis bets till Paris on 9th Feb.

Only bet so far this week was Tottenham to win when news broke of what a weak team Fulham were putting out.

There but for the grace of god

Am really sad that a fellow punter I've known for years has had to give up as he's done his bank. Never met him, just know him in cyberspace on the Betfair forum and the blogosphere, and we've had a lot of laughs over the last few years following and betting on the tennis. I'm going to miss chatting with him. Good luck, mate, hope you sort yourself out soon.

It has made me ponder just what sort of short/medium/long term future any of us has at this game. Are we all eventually destined to do our banks in a spectacular burst of undisciplined punting or suffer death by a thousand small cuts?

Anyway, had a silly session on Sunday, with 2 nice wins wiped out by a big loss. Was done by a trademark whiplash change of momentum that WTA is famous for. Wickmayer had played fantastic tennis to take the 2nd set and Henin could barely get a ball in court, yet they come out for the 3rd set and it's the complete opposite. Crazy business. Henin's price collapsed as fast as Woz's had the night before and I was stuffed.
Later on had a few plays on the footie and the NFL. Apologies to Stoke fans, but I forgot they're a Prem team and backed the Arse against them thinking it was Prem vs lower div! Luckily Citeh and the bank of RM came to the rescue later. Didn't really fancy any team strongly at the odds for the NFL, ended up level on the Ind game, but left a bet on Minn ride too long as it looked like they might sneak it right up till the end.Waiting for Bepa vs Azarenka to start ......