However, Germany has actually impressed more on me then Argentina, since Argentina where one of my potential winners before the World cup started. Germany came to this World cup without really being one of the favourites, which feels a bit strange now when they have proved so much. Germany is a strange nation when it comes to World cup. They are not often counted as one of the biggest favourites, but still they always makes it at least to the quarterfinals, often further then that. Now the two big giants face again in a world championship and I will try to give you my best game tips from this match:

Argentina vs. Germany, odds: Argentina to win, odds: 2.35, draw, odds: 3.35, Germany to win, odds: 2.85

My bettingtips:

Argentina vs. Germany, Argentina to win @ 2.35 in odds

This is a hard game to predict, but I have a feeling that Argentina is the better side. Those two teams actually played a friendly just before the world cup and that time Argentina won with 1 – 0. In addition, not only that, they where even way better then Germany in that game. But that was then and this is now. Because Germany has shown that, they are a totally different team then theu where in the qualification and the friendly’s. When Michael Ballack got injured most of us thought that Germany was going to get a tough championship. Instead all the youngsters has grown to world class players and are really good at the moment.

Both Mesut Özil, Sami Khedira and Thomas Muller where pretty unknown for most of the non-German people before the World cup started and now its them who are holding the team up. It was those three who outplayed England totally and now they are in a new quarterfinal.

But I think it will end here. Argentina has even better players in their squad with players like Leo Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez on the attacking line. They have more players to bring on if it wont work with these, such as Diego Milito, Kun Aguerro and Martin Palermo.

Behind all these attackers, Argentina has De Maria, Juan Veron and Javier Mascherano. There are muscles in the Argentenean team as well, clearly.

This will be a great offensive battle to watch and I think that the South Americans will win with stand as winners. My feeling is that both teams will try to play the way they have played so far in the World cup, which means many players in the attacks. Argentina is the favourites both according to me and the odds and me that bwin offers. But I have leaned to never underestimate Germany, so I keep the stake low.

Argentina vs. Germany, over / under 2,5 goals – Odds: Over 2,5 goals 1.90 in odds – Under 2.5 goals 1.80 in odds

My bettingtips:

Argentina vs Germany, over 2,5 goals @ 1.90 in odds

This is a really good bet if you ask me. Both of these teams are offensive in their way of playing and they have also played like that. Both Argentina and Germany have their strongest players in the attacking line or as offensive midfielders which makes me believe that it defiantly can be more then three goals in this game.

I am a bit surprised that bwin holds under 2,5 goals as favourites in this game since both teams are playing as offensive as they are.  I rather think that this game can end like 4 – 2 in any direction then 1 – 0.  In the second rounds, first matches both Argentina and Germany showed that they keep attacking even though they have the lead, and that is really good for this bet. Germany took an early lead against England but they kept attacking. With fast counter attacks and fantastic passing skills, they made the English players look chocked. The game ended 4 – 1 to Germany and who could have expected five goals in that game?

Even Argentina showed in their game, against Mexico, that they kept attacking after their early lead. They had 1 – 0 but kept playing forward which lead to both 2 – 0 and 3 – 0. After that, Mexico scored a goal but Argentina’s win was never threatened.

Therefore, I have big hopes that it will be scored at least three goals in this game, maybe even more, and am happy to get as high odds as 1.90 on this bet from bwin sportsbetting odds. This time I choose to bet a higher stake since I find the bet so good.

Good luck with your World cup betting

/Amrish

Now it would be obvious here that you would be betting without any clear indication of what the true odds should be as you do not know the relative numbers of different coloured balls in the bag. But now let us take this into another phase where a punter has done their homework and has found that out of those 20 balls……10 are red….4 are white…..2 are blue…..2 are green and 2 are black.

Now what this analysis has done is identify the likely winner which in this case is red as there are 2.5x the number of red balls than the next highest colour which is white. So if we had to bet on which colour would be likely to appear then the bet would need to be on red above any other colour. But in betting then this does us little use for the following important reason! The bookmakers are setting the prices and so you will probably be receiving smaller odds than the event actually happening.

If we look at what the true odds should be in this analogy then we simply convert the number of balls to a percentage and then to odds. There are ten red balls which equates to a 50% chance of red appearing…..50% in odds form is Even money. There are four white balls out of twenty which is 20%…..expressed as odds then this is 4/1. A brief summary of the remaining three colours shows that there are two of each which equate to 10% per ball and 10% in odds is 9/1.

So the true odds of red are Evens, white is 4/1 and the rest are 9/1 each. But what if we looked at the prices that a bookmaker was giving us and he was offering 4/6 on red? Suddenly it appears that a bet on red is not such a great proposition after all as the odds do not reflect the chances of red appearing. Continuing to bet on red at those odds would lead to long term losses. But what if the second favourite was being offered at odds of 6/1? This now represents value as even though the white ball is less likely to appear than the red, as a betting proposition then it is a far better bet as it has the potential for long term profits.

Sometimes a horse may not be reaching its full potential for a multitude of reasons. Maybe it doesn’t like the travelling involved in getting to meetings, it may feel spooked by the large crowds and under perform. There could be numerous factors behind why a horse initially does poorly during its early runs. So if a horse is showing signs of improvement then there is every reason to believe that this improvement will continue.

This is why the handicappers have such a tough job because racing results and winning and losing margins are often very misleading. So what we are looking at here is a situation where the official handicapper must try to estimate just how much “extra” this horse actually has. As you would imagine, this is a very difficult task and one which leaves a good scope for those who follow small groups of horses very closely to be able to get an edge.

But this is where the true advantage is because there are simply too many horses with too much history for any one punter to follow them closely all the time. Some professionals try to short cut this by using computer software to try and speed up the process or to use algorithmic strategies that do not require deep long winded thinking and analysis. This can help tremendously but it does leave one vulnerable to not having worked something out properly.

However form can be looked at both ways and it is also amazing just how many punters blindly follow horses simply because they have had good results in the past. Usually past performance can indicate future performance but it is certainly no guarantee of it. One only has to look at this years Football World Cup for analogies and France were a very short price to qualify from their group……they came bottom. But those prices are based on France winning the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships followed by reaching the 2006 World Cup Final.

But closer inspection reveals that the 2006 World Cup Final came in between failures at the 2002 World Cup and the 2004 and 2008 European Championships. This is clearly a case of a team being past their prime but yet many punters still back them in the belief that they are going to experience past glories. This principle is exactly the same with horse racing.

Knowing that a horse is mentally disturbed or isn’t quite up to par in terms of fitness can lead the shrewd operators into a position where they can exploit this to their best advantage in horse racing. Once again we have a clear problem in so much as irrespective how good the trainer is, he cannot properly communicate with the horse in the same way that he could with another human being.

In athletics then if the athlete felt some little niggling injury then he would mention this to his trainer. But in horse racing the trainer and stable staff are left to their own devices to try and assess how the horse is feeling. But even though the horse may be fit and well both physically and mentally prior to setting out for the meeting, travelling inside the horse box for perhaps several hundred miles could and does have some effect in some cases.

So for a horse to have a good run then it needs to be at its best both physically and mentally and this is where these professional gamblers come in because they try and assess the fitness of the horse in question. This usually involves the favourites or horse very high up in the betting. The fact of the matter is that in most races, the quality difference between the favourite and the rest of the field or several other contenders is so close that anything that affects the form of the favourite even if only slightly is hugely significant.

If you had a horse that was 4/1 favourite in a very competitive field with several others at 10/1 or less and the 4/1 favourite had some slight problems then this could be a clear indication that opposing the horse could be a good strategy. To see why then we only have to look at what 4/1 actually means. What 4/1 means is that this horse is expected to win one race in five so in other words…..20% of the time. Now if a mental or physical condition led to the horses chances of winning the race being reduced by a mere 10% then suddenly the horse only has a 10% chance of winning.

When equated to odds then 10% is 9/1 so if you think that 9/1 is a better indication of this horses chances of winning this race then the horse at 4/1 then becomes a clear lay and value can be found in laying it.

Group D – Winner:

Germany, odds: 1.72

Serbia, odds: 4.50

Ghana, odds: 5.25

Australia, odds: 8.50

My bettingtips: Serbia to win the group @ 4.50 in odds

This is a tricky group that has no bad teams in the group. A real unlucky draw for all teams, especially for Australia because they “actually” is pretty good. But in this group I find it difficult for them to go trough. Germany is, and should be, the favourites in this group but I am not quite sure where the Germans stand right now. I have great respect for the Germans who often plays like a solid engine and have a strong collective as team. They go far in championship after championship, but they will not have it easy in this World cup.

Ghana has many young players in their team who are upcoming stars in Africa and they made a really strong effort in the African championships in January. But my opinion is that they are slightly too weak in this context. Therefore, Serbia will be the team that I choose to bet in as group winners. The differs in the odds between Serbia and Germany is too much for me to bet on Germany. I do not find any odds value on the Germans. However, I find 4.50 in odds on Serbia way more interesting from a betting perspective.

Other interesting bettingtips from group D:

Total goals to be scored in the group:

Over 14,5 goals, odds: 1.85 / Under 14,5 goals, odds: 1.85

My bettingtips: Under 14,5 goals @ 1.85 in odds

I find this bet as one of the best bettingtips in the long-term for World Cup. Because I find this group as very defensive and the probability that the total goals to be scored is 14 or less is very high. Serbia is defensively strong and has, during the last years, had their strongest link in their defense. Ghana is also a team that focuses most on their defense both when they play Africa’s Cup of nation and in World cup and friendlies. I find Ghana as one of the best teams in Africa if I only compare to the entire teams defense.

Australia has also been playing very defensively when it comes to matches against better teams and they often play 0 – 0 or 1 – 0 / 0 – 1 in these type of matches. That leaves only Germany to threat by bettingtips, and even if Germany have a stronger offence then the rest of the teams in this group, I don’t think that they are interested in going all of attack when the other teams plays so defensively.

With those thoughts in mind, I guess you all agree with me that this bet is one of the best. If I am going to loose on this bet it has to be scored at least 2,5 goals per game in average and I just can not see that happen. Therefore, I thank bwin for the odds at 1.85 on that the goal line will stand on 14 goals or less in this group.

Australia to go trough from the group to the knock out stage?

Yes, odds: 3.20 / No, odds 1.30

My Bettingtips: No @ 1.30 in odds

I have been writing a lot about that I have big respect for Germany and that they somehow always manage to go far in World Cup, and how I think that Serbia can win this group. Or at least that the odds that they pay is valuable to bet on. Of course, I even think that they have a chance to win the group, otherwise I would never bet on them as a group winner.

In addition, if any of those teams will collapse I am pretty sure that Ghana will be there and try to take a place in next round by going trough from the group. Ghana plays on their own continent and will probably have the best support from the supporters.

But I cannot see how Australia is going to end first or second in this group and go trough. The odds on Australia to go trough is 3.20 and that is not an odds that I would bet on. I am thinking on the other way, that Australia will end last in this group. And since I think so I find the odds at 1.30 in Australia to not go trough as a good bet even though the odds can feel a bit low. Australia went trough from last years World Cup, but to be honest they both played in a easier group back then and the most important thing, they had Guus Hiddink as manager. Hiddink is one of the three – four best tactical managers in the world and can help almost any team go far in championships. This year they only have an “okay” manager and that is probably not good enough.

Therefore, I choose to bet on Australia not to go trough as my last bet from these two groups.

Good luck with your world cup betting

Best wishes /Amrish

There are tons of betting odds from bwin on their site for various matches but for this article we are going to focus on my favourite part of Tennis betting, the outright winners market. So who will lift the trophy?

Men’s Singles Tournament

The heavy favourite with bwin.com is Rafa Nadal. He has crushed the clay court tournaments leading up to the French open and would have probably won last year had injury not hampered him against eventual finalist Robin Soderling. Rafa has odds of 29/100 to win the event as I write this article.

Roger Federer is second favourite at odds of 11/4. He has made at a minimum the semi-finals of the last 24 grand slams which is truly an incredible record, but he has only won once at the French. Nadal dominates him on clay and I expect Federer and Nadal to make the finals but for Nadal to win. There may be one year; however, that Federer gets the better of Nadal on clay with a superb performance.

Andy Roddick is 17/1, but struggled in his opening match. Murray got through the banana skin Gasquet contest but needs to overcome a knee injury and playing in the heat to have a chance. On clay you feel Murray lags further behind the top two players. Djokovic and Verdasco, a clay specialist, are 18/1 and both could have a run. For an outside bet you might want to consider David Ferrer, who made an ATP 1000 final the previous week and is 29/1.

My overall tip, which will be no surprise to anyone, is to expect a Federer versus Nadal final yet again.

Women’s Singles Tournament

Justine Henin is getting back to her old self after 20 months of retirement and still only 27 there is plenty left in the tank for her. She is 9/5 favourite for the championship that she has won in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. She has the belief and experience to claim this title and significantly the same players are threats to her like the Williams sisters than when she won so many titles before. I think she is a great bet to win this year, fresh after her long break and hungry for more success.

Maria Sharapova is 10/1. It is a pity her career has been blighted by a serious shoulder injury, but she is beginning to show signs of her previous best that won her two grand slams. I think she could have a run and thanks to her gritty play and glamorous looks she always has plenty of support on the court.

I believe Caroline Wozniacki is a future grand slam tennis champion and she is 20/1. If you are considering betting on an outsider she would be my pick.

Other well-known players expected to do well in the French Open are Serena Williams at 29/10, Jelena Jankovic at 4/1, home favourite Aravane Rezai at 7/1 and Venus Williams at 17/2.

Get your bets on early for the French Open as the betting odds are revised constantly due to the many matches taking place throughout the day in the early stages of the tournament.

By Malcolm Clarke

My tips for the Golden Boot winner are, (note all betting odds used in this football article are from bwin.com)

Lionel Messi – 7/1 & Gonzalo Higuain 18/1 – ARGENTINA

Messi has had an incredible season with La Liga champions Barcelona with 47 goals in all competitions. He goes into the World Cup with a renewed public opinion that he is not only the best player in the world but thought of in a similar vein to Maradona and Pele and is quite rightly the favourite to take the Golden Boot back to Argentina. If Argentina does well in the competition under Diego Maradona, then Messi will surely have a great chance at scoring lots of goals and thus making a success of any wagers on him. At 7/1 I think this is a good bet.

Higuain has burst onto the scene at Real Madrid and looks every bit a quality player. With Messi alongside him he should get chances to score.

David Villa 8/1 & Fernando Torres 12/1 – SPAIN

As Euro 2008 champion’s expectations are high for Spain. Their young forwards Torres and Villa have another two years success and experience under their belt and will be disappointed with anything less than a semi-final place this summer. Both players are under intense scrutiny with massive transfers potentially in the offing for both players. Torres has endured a tough season at Liverpool but his goal scoring ability has never been in question. Villa is a top player who could well be the star of the World Cup in what is an extremely talented Spanish side. A bet on either player to win the golden boot award is not foolish.

Wayne Rooney – 15/2 – ENGLAND

England relies heavily on Rooney and he has shown temperament frailties in the past. In the pressure cooker environment of the World Cup Rooney will be goaded by opponents and this could affect his composure at key moments. If England win the World Cup or come close expect Rooney to be very much in the frame for the golden boot. England’s poor performances since the 1990 semi-final appearance lends me to think playing down Rooney’s chances for this award is sensible, but I have never hoped I am wrong more in my life! Other England players who often score are Frank Lampard at 100/1, Steven Gerrard at 80/1 and Peter Crouch at 70/1. Crouch always does well against lower quality international sides and could grab four or five goals in the group stages if he plays in the matches.

Cristiano Ronaldo – 16/1 – PORTUGAL

Cristiano Ronaldo has continued to score lots of goals from midfield and is reaching an incredible peak in his career. Clearly one of the best midfielders in the world this strong and agile player strikes fear into every opponent. If Portugal do well Ronaldo will score goals. At 16/1 I am tempted to back Ronaldo as his goal scoring pedigree at every level he has played at is totally proven and Portugal will look to Ronaldo for goals and leadership. And it does not take a genius to realise how motivated he will be for the World Cup.

It is a scary thought for any team. Hopefully Messi, Ronaldo et al will reward our faith in them and produce some amazing football this summer at the 2010 World Cup.

By Malcolm Clarke

My first ever World Cup was Argentina in 1978 and the reigning world champions West Germany along with Brazil were clear favourites in that tournament and neither of them reached the final. In fact Brazil were even bigger favourites in 1982 along with holders Argentina with Maradona in his prime and both countries failed to get past the second stage.

Brazil were firm favourites in 1998 after winning it in 1994 but they at least did reach the final despite never playing to their potential in that final and losing 3-0 to France. But in recent times, it is hard to see a more dramatic case of a huge favourite biting the dust than in 2002 when France went into that tournament as reigning World and European Champions. Not only did they not win the tournament or even reach the semi-finals but they were eliminated in the World Cup group stages finishing bottom of the group without even scoring a single goal.

Brazil were firm favourites again in 2006 as defending champions but lost to the French along the way. So the lessons from history then are clear and that favourites don’t really stand that much more of a chance than the rest of the field combined. This is a serious factor because if you blindly believe that a nation like Spain will automatically win the World Cup just because they are a great side then you are failing to take into account not only the chaotic nature of sporting events but also the other really great sides in the tournament as well.

Teams like Argentina, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Portugal, England to name just a few. In the latter stages of any cup competition then luck will play a vital role. But this applies to the group stages as well. Take Germany for example, they will be firm favourites to progress from their group that includes Ghana, Australia and Serbia but yet every one of those teams is a potential banana skin for the Germans.

It would not fall beyond the realms of probability for the Germans to miss out on qualification. Serbia came top of their qualifying group that included France so that will be very difficult and Australia put in some fine performances in the last World Cup and now can clearly beat any side on their day. The fact is that there are a lot of nations who are dangerous and who can beat anyone on their day and there are three such teams in Germany’s group.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

Each football bet that we place will rely on England having a good squad of players to back to glory so Capello must choose carefully. The provisional squad is as follows, with my predictions for those seven players who will miss out on the final squad in bold.

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.

Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.

I think Capello will take all three goalkeepers, but if one is to be sacrificed it will probably be Joe Hart. In defence Jamie Carragher will provide cover at left-back and therefore Stephen Warnock will probably miss out. In central defence the two peripheral players are Dawson and Upson. As Dawson has never won a cap despite being involved in various squads I think he will be the play who is sent home.

In the midfield positions I think that it is too early for Adam Johnson and because Lampard and Gerrard are completely established in the centre Huddlestone and Parker will miss out. With Gareth Barry being injured, I expect him to be sent home as well. I believe Capello should take all four of the forwards but there is a possibility if Barry stays with the squad then it may be Carrick or Bent that is sacrificed.

The World Cup groups have been set for some time and Capello may risk taking Gareth Barry because the passage through to the knock-out stage is not nearly as difficult as it might have been and even the peripheral squad players should have enough talent to step in and still win through with something to spare. Looking at the squad I think the outcome of whether Barry can have a chance of being fit for the knock-out stages of the competition is key in regards to who gets sent home.

It is an exciting time for a sports betting fan to research into the world cup squads and how the selections will impact the odds. With a record amount of money likely to be wagered on the World Cup this summer you should sign up with an account with bwin.com and prepare for the action. Hopefully England can do it, but regardless of the eventual outcome this will be a fantastic summer of amazing football that only comes around once every four years so make sure you enjoy it!

The only thing bigger than the world cup this summer will be the transfer frenzy of signing the top performers.

By Malcolm Clarke

With the World Cup fast approaching we England fans are watching the sport news closely to see how Wayne Rooney’s groin is recovering, whether Gareth Barry will recover in time for the tournament and hoping that Lampard does not get injured in the FA Cup final next weekend. It is a stressful time for football fans! When the football matches eventually start the bookmakers have estimated more money will be bet on the world cup than ever before, even in the aftermath of a deep global recession! So what is so good about sports betting?

Betting on sports help us to feel part of the game and it also satisfies many parts of human nature. The idea of risking money and taking risks appeals to people, as does making money and feeling the euphoria of winning. Some players even enjoy losing, although I would never recommend becoming hooked on that emotion. As emotional beings humans enjoy feeling euphoric. You will have heard the phrase “the bookmaker always wins”. The feeling of taking money from bookmakers and bucking the trend of bookmakers coming out on top keeps many sports bettors returning for another attempt to win money.

We are all gamblers at heart. Business people risk thousands of pounds everyday betting that their business model will continue to work today as it did yesterday. Financial traders risk the money in your bank playing the world markets to make their banks profits. Property investors are betting on the market increasing the value of their homes. Sports betting is a recreational version of the reality we all live in; risk. We are trained to take risks in life so it is natural we gravitate towards creating similar conditions in our spare time. (Sports bettors are therefore similar to other adrenalin junkies like surfers or rock climbers)

Placing a bet on bwin.com for my favourite Pool player to win their match and watching the live streaming via bwin.com causes a strange thing to happen. I suddenly really care about the result. Each ball means something; each rack is a step closer to not only the player’s goal in winning the match but in my goal in winning my bet. My heart is pumping and I feel nervous, but in a good way. I know that my bankroll management means I am not feeling nervous because I am risking too much, I am just enjoying that feeling of being involved and trying to win some money. Sport becomes much more meaningful to me during the bet and gives me a reason to cheer for the outcome I want because there is something at the end of it.

The amazing thing about sports betting is that you do not need to bet large amounts of money to feel this enjoyment. A bet of £1 feels good when you win and you collect winnings. Thankfully bwin.com has a lot of variety and plenty of sports to bet on so you will always have a match, game or event to research and bet on. That is another part of sports betting that is fun; working out the likely outcome, spotting value and claiming your reward for this knowledge when your well thought out sports bet wins for you.

When the World Cup starts, make sure bwin.com adds that extra spice to the excitement. I cannot wait!

By Malcolm Clarke