Michael Schumacher has said that the Ferrari team, a team and car that hold so many good memories for him will be the ones to beat this season. Their drivers are Fernando Alonso and the returning Felipe Massa, now fully recovered from a horrific and potentially life-threatening facial injury suffered during a race last season. It is great to see him back in action. Alonso is the heavy favourite in the betting for the World Championship and has betting odds of 7/4. Team-mate Massa is further back in the betting at 10/1.

10/1 for Massa may be value odds as should the Ferrari be the strongest car then he certainly has the ability to battle Alonso at the front of the race for the win. He was very unlucky not to win the World title in 2008 when a mechanical problem cost him the championship on the last bend when Lewis Hamilton just managed to win his maiden World Championship.

Sebastian Vettel is second favourite at 9/2. He drives for Red Bull along with Mark Webber and it is worth noting that despite Brawn GP being very strong in the driving championships last year Red Bull were second and arguably stronger at the end of the season. They only lost the Constructor championship by 19.5 points and could be a threat this year. Webber won his first Grand Prix at the end of the 2009 season and a sports bet can be placed on Mark to win the championship at 12/1.

There is sure to be much speculation about how well Michael Schumacher will do this season. He has played down his chances of victory in the Drivers championship but you know he will be desperate for success this season. His odds to win reflect the public’s belief in him and he is 11/2 to win another World Championship title. Famed for his aggressive and often dangerous manoeuvres will the fact he now has nothing to prove have mellowed him out? He will be very keen to show young guns like Alonso and Hamilton exactly why he holds amazing records for fastest laps and most Grand Prix wins. He most certainly wants to win and his presence guarantees huge exposure and excitement for this seasons Formula 1 season.

Race 1 is in Sakhir, Bahrain which kicks off the new season on the 12th to 14th March. Nineteen Grand Prix races will take place between the start race and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 14th. Will Button retain his title? Will Hamilton remind us why he was thought of as the best young driver in the world a couple of seasons ago or will Vettel, Webber, Alonso or Massa spoil Schumacher’s comeback party and dominate the season like Button did last year? Stayed tuned for the race betting at bwin which will appear closer to the event and look out for more F1 betting articles in the near future.

By Malcolm Clarke

This year, the betting will be different as there are no unambiguous favorites like there usually are.  There are four main golfers, though, that appear to have the skills and abilities to secure the title.  According to some online sportsbooks, these four golfers have the same, or very close to the same, odds of winning the golf tournament.  These four golfers are Robert Allenby, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlory, and Paul Casey.

Currently, Allenby holds a ranking of 14 in the world and in the past three years, has successfully finished within the top five in this event each year.  Five of the last seven events that Allenby has participated in, he has secured a Top 10 finish, with two wins, and these events include tournaments that were held outside of the United States.

Westwood holds a ranking of 4 in the world.  He didn’t make it to this event last year, but recently, in the last 14 of his 18 participated events, he has finished in the Top 10, which does include two European Tour victories.

Casey holds a ranking of 6 in the world and he also didn’t make it this tournament last year.  In the last six events, five of them hold true to top 11 finishes, which also includes a 2nd place finish that he secured in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

McIlory currently holds a ranking of 9 in the world and placed 13th in this very event last year.  In ten of the last 13 events of McIlory’s, he has finished in the Top 7.

With only one race into the season, Kevin Harvick holds the first place position in the point standings.  Regardless of Jimmie Johnson’s win last week at Fontana, he holds the 12^th position in points.  Jimmie Johnson is the leading favorite for the Shelby American while Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, and Tony Stewart follow in odds.

Last year, this same event was shown as the Shelby 427, but the race is again 400 miles so the name has changed.

For the last two years, Kyle Busch has secured the pole at this event and won the event last year.  The 2008 winner was Carl Edwards and from 2005 to 2007 Jimmie Johnson secured the win and found himself in Victory Lane.  The previous two years before that went to Matt Kenseth from 2003 to 2004.  Jeff Burton secured the win in 1999 as well as 2000, finished fifth in 2008 and third this year.  Jeff Burton holds a Top 10 average finish here at Vegas.

The favorites for the race this Sunay at Las Vegas Motor Speedway include Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, and Tony Stewart.

Jimmie Johnson has three Top 5’s as well as four Top 10’s in addition to his three wins here.

Mark Martin has five Top 5’s as well as nine Top 10’s in addition to his one win.

Kyle Busch has three Top 5’s as well as four Top 10’s in addition to his one win.

Jeff Gordon has five Top 5’s as well as six Top 10’s in addition to his win.

Denny Hamlin has one Top 5 as well as three Top 10’s with no wins at this event.

Tony Stewart has four Top 5’s as well as six Top 10’s with no wins at this event.

Will Stewart or Hamlin be able to secure themselves in Victory Lane this year so they can have a win or will Jimmie Johnson secure a fourth win at the Shelby American?

Snooker and online sports betting fit together perfectly. The matches are unpredictable with enough swings to provide value opportunities throughout. Unfortunately where money is involved and prize money sparse beyond the best sixteen players in the world there is plenty of room for temptation for players to do something they shouldn’t. To the credit of most snooker players, 99% of pros refrain from such activity but scandals that have caused Jamie Burnett, Stephen Maguire and Stephen Lee to be questioned continue to appear in the news. We hope all the players are not guilty and it is worth mentioning that so far there is no hard evidence to suggest otherwise, but still the name of Snooker gets tarnished.

Stephen Lee, 35, was arrested on February 12th as part of a joint investigation into irregular betting patterns conducted by West Midlands Police and the Gambling Commission. There was no information provided as to what result or bet was in question but as Lee was arrested the likelihood is that there were irregular bets made for a match that he was involved in and that result came to pass, resulting in a big win for the sports bettors. World Snooker has pledged to launch their own investigation on the matter, which is ongoing. Lee was bailed and may face further questions in the future from Police if they undercover new information relating to the alleged irregular bets.

It is not the first time Stephen has made the news for less than positive reasons. In 2000 Lee was arrested for testing positive for Cannabis. At that point in his career he was number five in the World. With World Snooker under a new regime with Barry Hearn involved this is an untimely blow as Hearn looks to re-invent the sport.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is launching a search for “Snookers Next Star” giving one young player expert advice in an effort to create the next marketable snooker player who brings an element of flair and interest to the game. The last thing the sport needed was for more negative publicity. In April it is the showcase event at the Crucible, the World Championships. Ronnie is currently the favourite to win his fourth World Championship title at 5/2 with bwin. John Higgins is second favourite at 9/2 and my pick for the title, Mark Selby, is third favourite at 7/1.

Stephen Lee released a statement via a spokesperson saying he was working hard to try and qualify for the World Championships and wanted to stress he was happy to co-operate with Police in their enquiries. If you would like to bet on Stephen Lee becoming World Champion, bearing in mind he must qualify for the event, his odds are 150/1. If he managed this feat he would be the biggest outsider since Shaun Murphy won in 2005.

As a fan of Snooker I hope that Lee and all others named in alleged betting scandals are innocent. I also hope that however unpalatable the Police get to the truth and quickly. It will not stop me thoroughly enjoying the Snooker action when the World Championships start in the Crucible in April 2010 and I hope you get involved with all of the fun betting action also.

By Malcolm Clarke

Here are all the matches and odds for these five games, the odds are picked from bwin-football-betting-tips:

Blackburn vs. Bolton, odds: home win 2.00  draw 3.30  away win 3.60

Aston Villa vs. Burnley, odds: home win 1.35  draw 4.50 away win 8.50

Fulham vs. Birmingham City, odds: home win 2.05  draw 3.25  away win 3.50

Manchester City vs. Liverpool FC, odds: home win 2.60   draw 3.20   away win 2.60

Wigan Athletic vs. Tottenham Hotspurs, odds: home win 3.55   draw 3.30  away win 2.00

I will start to give you my two best bettingtips for today’s matches and then analyse the rest of the games and try to sort out how I think it will end and where I think we have potential value bets.

Fulham vs. Birmingham City – bettingtips; Home win @ 2.05 in odds

Fulham has been in a shorter down period some matches ago, but after their win against Burnley with 3 – 0 I think that they are on their way up again. Birmingham on the other side had a brilliant form a couple of matches ago but has lost some games and doesn’t feel just as strong as some weeks ago.

Birmingham City had a strong row with matches without loss (I think they had thirteen games). However, as is often happens with teams less strong squads even Birmingham has come to a point where I think that they will have a tough period in front of them. For example Birmingham lost away against West Ham in their last league game (2 – 0) and only have one win in their last five games.

Fulham is, and have always been this season, a strong side home at Craven Cottage. They have taken points from most of the top teams here at Craven. After Birmingham have started to loose again Fulham is just behind Birmingham in the league table now. Birmingham stands on 9^th place with 37 points and Fulham is on the 10^th place with 34 points before this game. Since Fulham has better goal difference, they will pass Birmingham in the league table if they win today.

Compared to these two teams home / away stats it also feels like it is clear home advantage here. Fulham have won 8 of their 13 matches played at Craven Cottage while Birmingham only has four wins in twelve games away, six looses. Therefore, I think that they have big chances to win against Birmingham City as well. The odds on home win are 2.05 and I find that valuable to put a bet on.

Manchester City vs. Liverpool – bettingtips; Home win @ 2.60 in odds.

A big game just behind top three in the table and this is a vital game in the chase for the forth place in the league. As you all probably know the fourth place even means a ticket to the qualification round to Champions League for the coming year, and that means lots of money for the clubs.

I think that both of these clubs are aiming for the Champions League and almost need to go there to cover up all of the costs. Liverpool has been playing in Champions league for the last 6-7 years and cannot afford to not play in the biggest tourney for club teams.

Nevertheless, this year has been a tough one for Rafa Benitez and his Liverpool and even when they have won games, the play just does not seem satisfied. Manchester City on the other hand has a great record after the Italian manager Roberto Mancini arrived and they have even beaten both Manchester United (in carlings cup), Arsenal (4 – 2 in the league back in autumn) and Chelsea (2 – 1 in the league) this year.

In addition, I do not feel that Liverpool is close to these teams this year and find the odds on home win as a great bet. I think that Liverpool often is overvalued when it comes to betting and odds and this is a great example of that. I would say that about 2.30 would be normal odds on the home win if I decided the odds in this game, but now I am sitting on the other side of the table so I pick this as a bettingtips instead and recommend you to bet on Manchester City today.

In the rest of today’s matches, I think that Aston Villa will beat Burnley easy. Even though the odds seem a bit low I just cannot see them not winning in the battle of top four. Therefore, this is a good bet according to me as well. Burnley is one of the weaker teams in Premier League outside their home ground. Two odds that I feel interesting in this game are hcp (0-1) or halftime / fulltime 1 / 1.

When it comes to Wigan vs. Tottenham and Blackburn vs. Bolton, I find both this games hard to predict and neither of the odds are valuable to place a bet on.

Good Luck with your premier league betting

/Amrish

Manager Fabio Capello was furious enough with the situation to strip John Terry of his captaincy in a short twelve minute meeting. Good for him. Former managers may have given him another chance and took the easy way out citing his suitability to the role. Not Capello. He is sending out a message to Terry and every member of the squad; shape up or you will be booted out of the team next. Players need reminding that an international cap is a privilege and not a right, I think they have got the message loud and clear under Capellos strict regime.

Currently England are amongst the favourites for the World Cup. Their current odds with bwin are 6/1 behind Brazil at 5/1 and the favourites Spain at 17/4. With Spain inconsistent before winning Euro 2008 you can see we have a good chance at the tournament. The incidents between Bridge and Terry are not likely to alter the odds, but consider other things that will be occurring around the squad right now.

The other players in the squad will be unnerved by what is going on and will be discussing the coverage in the papers between themselves and contacting Wayne Bridge and offering their support. Likewise, but perhaps to a lesser extent, the same thing will be happening to Terry. The mere fact they are discussing the debacle is a bad thing for England. Capello does not like to get involved in things like this and is a tough, matter of fact manager. He will be aware, however, that the England team has to deal with media scrutiny a little more than other countries. It demands a different approach.

Ashley Cole’s injury has cast doubt on whether he will be at the World Cup. Bridge is only viable replacement unless Gareth Barry moves into the role where he started his career. Bridge has not publicly stated whether he would accept a call-up to the squad and rumour has it he has so far snubbed efforts by Terry to get in touch and discuss things. The fact that the spotlight is now on Terry and Bridge playing together is cannon fodder for the media and something Capello would have been keen to avoid in the World Cup build up.

Younger players may be disillusioned with their captain and the nature of the incidents involving Terry and Bridge force you to take sides. By nature this splits the squad. It is now vital for Capello to bring the squad together and ensure things are not left lingering. Rio Ferdinand needs to be accepted as Captain and the squad needs to move forward together. Hopefully this can happen at the Egypt friendly.

I would personally like to see Bridge and Terry play together in the friendly and give at least a public sign of a truce, even if that masks their private feelings. This public truce would serve to dampen the media flame that is burning so intensely at the moment. I think that perhaps Capello will want the same thing as he is not the type of manager to view this as anything more than an irritating distraction brought about by silly players not thinking about the repercussions of their actions.

In my opinion the media did gleefully exaggerate the story. The woman involved was not with Bridge and even though she has a child with him the link to Bridge was exaggerated in terms of the reported “Terry has an affair with team mate’s girl” angle. Of course Bridge is embarrassed (we all heard the crowd chants) but Terry is rightly being criticised for his extra marital activities and it is not the first time he has been caught out. He needs to realise the media are watching for him to slip up. Failure to toe the line has cost him his captaincy, he needs to make sure he limits the damage this has caused and it does not upset the England squad anymore than it has done already.

Our World Cup hopes may depend on it.

By Malcolm Clarke

As an add on to talking about market speed then I think that it is only fair that we now discuss the dangers of betting in running and how market speed ties in with that. The amount of time that you will have to place your wager while an event is in progress is really dependent on the type of event. If you are watching the final round of the US Masters from the Augusta National for instance and Tiger Woods hits a 320 yard drive off the 15th tee in the closing stages to set up a possible birdie chance, then you have several minutes before he walks down the fairway and plays his next shot in which to place a bet.

Likewise in a game like Tennis for instance, there is a period where the players change ends where the action actually stops for a brief period. Cricket is another game where in running betting moves relatively slowly except in circumstances where it is drawing to the close of the match and a vital wicket or run could change everything.

So in short, you have a lot more time in which to operate when betting in running in certain sports over others. Sports like horse racing and football are very fast moving and the action is constant and especially in sports like horse racing. As soon as a horse race begins then the action is constant all the way until the finish line thus making the in running betting activity very frantic indeed and mistakes and misclicks are common place. Staying on the subject of mistakes for a minute, I feel that we really ought to touch on the subject of best price for a minute.

BEST PRICE

Before the betting exchanges came along, we as punters were really programmed to back horses or anything else for that matter to achieve a positive result. Be it either backing your fancy to win or to run into a place, we were still wagering money on the outcome of a result that had to be positive in order for us to win. But the betting exchanges changed all that. Now suddenly a negative event like a horse falling or a team losing could be a money earner for us.

Punters already were aware that getting the best price when backing something to win was highly advantageous. If you could get 10-1 when most other people were only getting 8-1 then you had a far better chance of being a successful punter in the long term than those that basically just took any old price. So when people go on the exchanges they are already programmed to try and get a better price when backing.

But here comes the snag and a pitfall that although may seem terribly obvious, many new exchange punters have fallen into numerous times. That trap is when it comes to actually LAYING. Whenever you are looking to lay something then you are looking to obtain the SHORTEST possible price and not the highest.

Remember, when you lay then you are accepting a bet from another punter or group of punters so you are in fact offering them odds on a particular event. Because you are offering someone else odds then it only stands to reason that you want to offer the skinniest price that you can possibly get away with. If you believed in your own mind that England had absolutely no chance of lifting the 2010 Football World Cup then you want to offer the shortest or to take the shortest price you can manage in the slim possibility that you are wrong.

If you could LAY England to win the World Cup (meaning that you were accepting other peoples bets who thought that they would win) at 2.0 (Even money) then this would be a tremendous result for you as England at Even money to win the World Cup before the event even started is far too short a price. Even if you lay them and you are wrong and they go on to lift the trophy then you are still only paying out even money.

But you should not LAY England at any price simply because you don’t expect them to win the competition. If you lay England at 100.0 (99-1) then you have offered odds of 99-1 to other punters who want to back England which is still grossly wrong but in the other direction and in a direction that can seriously hurt you I might add. So to recap then, when you are looking to back your fancy then you are looking for the best possible price which means the highest possible odds. But you are looking for the shortest possible lay price when you are opposing a selection.

You can also request a price as well on the betting exchanges. Let us say that you fancy England to win the World Cup but you think that the price that is currently on offer of 9.0 (8-1) is a little too short. You think that 11.0 (10-1) is a more realistic price. You can then simply place a bet into the system at 11.0. Of course when you do this then you are dependent on someone or a combination of people being willing to LAY England at that price as well and this means also waiting until the prices to BACK below your requested price of 11.0 have been snapped up and the price has moved out.

But if for any reason you wish to cancel that bet either because you have had a change of heart or maybe because you want to free up funds to make another bet then you may cancel the entire bet at any time as long as the bet or a portion of the bet has not been taken.

MARKET SPEED

There are many potential pitfalls that can hurt novice or even experienced betting exchange users for that matter. It is all so easy to click on the wrong bet or to click something in haste or even to click something correctly but you end up doing the wrong thing simply because you were under extreme time pressure.

As has already been mentioned, exchanges have a very large number of markets. These markets which are mainly on sporting events but can also be on non-sporting events as well tend to vary widely in terms of length. For instance, a men’s Tennis match at Wimbledon could take anywhere from between one and a half to four hours depending on how far the match goes. A F1 Grand Prix takes just under about two hours while a test match will take at least three days and possibly as long as five.

But one thing that you will quickly come to recognise on the exchanges is that certain markets are vastly more popular than others. Most of this is to do with the overall level of public interest. That level of interest can also increase dramatically whether or not an event is televised as televised events tend to attract all of the punters who like to bet “in running”.

But what tends to happen is that the market will actually speed up the closer to the off it gets. The amount of action in those final few minutes before a horse race for instance will be very substantial indeed.

This will mean that the prices will be changing far more rapidly than at any other time except of course for in running betting which is a completely different story whatsoever.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

Odds compilers gather as much information as they can on the sports match to take place and assign odds to each outcome. Punters can then wager on that as a bet. The bookmakers make money because they do not offer a return bigger than the chances of the outcome actually taking place. For example, if one outcome in the sports bet would happen 80% of the time then the bookmaker would offer you odds of 70% for the favourite, guaranteeing over time you lose 10% of your money. Does this sound unfair? This is how bookmakers make their business work and the skill in odds compiling is always maintaining their bookmaker’s edge. The skill in betting on sport as a punter is being able to find winning bets that offer value so over time you stay in profit.

Considering bookmakers still accept bets on sports you can be assured that no-one has yet found a solution to beating the bookmaker. What punters need and constantly search for is good information to help them find these winning bets at a price that represents value.

Good information in sports betting is anything that you know that would alter the chances of the outcome of the match. If a golfer has a sore wrist, for example, or is struggling on the putting green this may be a reason to avoid the bet despite attractive looking odds. If you spot a value price you should stop and think if the bookmaker has made an error or are they privy to the same information you are aware of. Consider if your own research is accurate as they do not miss much.

Many punters check the early odds then place bets as information becomes available, racing against the bookmakers before a price change can take place. This is particularly common in horse racing when a gamble occurs and a horse price becomes a “steamer” (where the price drops dramatically in a short space of time). It happens in sports too, for example, when it turns out two or three star players of one football team will be missing through injury for a key match.

Sports betting information must be reliable. You should treat any information you hear as possibly relevant until you can confirm it. Sometimes football teams say that a player is going to miss a key match to throw their opponents tactical preparations. If you can find out that this player is in full training, perhaps in secret, you may get value at the current price.

In snooker, for example, I know that Peter Ebdon practised a lot with Liang Wenbo and Ding Jun-Hui before they became big names in Snooker and has great respect for their games. They both beat Ebdon in practise and when the odds favour Ebdon I back the young Chinese players, knowing he has lost to them many times and fully appreciates their talents at the table. Check the results from the past; I have done quite well from this. Any information you can obtain that an odds compiler may not be aware of is very useful to help you decide if you can bet in an advantageous position against the bookmaker.

Knowledge is definitely power in sports betting.

By Malcolm Clarke

In these two texts I am going to give you my best bettingtips from Champions League since its getting close. One new thing in this year’s knock-out stage is that the last 16 is played split in two different weeks. The first four first games are played 16^th and 17^th of February and the last four games are played the week after.

In this text I will give you my analysis the first two matches in the first knock out round and follow that up with Wednesday’s two matches in next text. Here are the odds for the first two games, the odds is picked from bwin betting on football:

AC Milan vs. Manchester United, odds: AC Milan win 2.50, draw 3.20, Man United win 2.70

Olympic Lyon vs. Real Madrid, odds:  Olympic Lyon win 3.10, draw 3.30, Real Madrid win 2.20

And my bettingtips in these two games:

AC Milan vs. Manchester United, bettingtips: Home win @ 2.50

This is a big game in the first round between two of the most successful football teams in Europe. AC Milan from Italy won Champions League in 2007 and Manchester United won the same trophy the year after that.

And these two teams often go far in Champions League witch means that they have met each other a couple of times as well. Milan started this season very badly and half way into the autumn I think that their manager Leonardo was close to being sacked. But after a nervous start they took several wins in a row and challenged Inter in the top of the league table just before the derby some weeks ago. But Inter Milan showed that they still are best in Italy.

But AC Milan is always a danger opponent in European cups and even though they play bad in the national league it feels that they can beat any team in Europe. For example they turned a 1 – 2 down to a 3 – 2 win away against Real Madrid in the group stage.

Milan went trough from a tough group with Real Madrid, Olympic Marseille and FC Zurich. Even though they lost against Zurich in the second round Milan came back strong and took four points against Real Madrid, and that’s strong.

Manchester United is, just like AC Milan, a strong when it comes to European cups and has been in two straight finals. But it’s always hard to play away against Italian teams. Even though Manchester United lost Christiano Ronaldo before the start of this season they have gone very well. Wayne Rooney has scored lots of goals and the older players often do very well when it comes to big matches.

But in this game I find the home odds high and since these teams often play well at their own home ground I find AC Milan’s odds valuable. So my first Champions League’s bettingtips goes to Milan home against Manchester United. It’s sad that one of these classical teams has to leave at this stage, but it makes this round interesting.

My second tips:

Olympic Lyon vs. Real Madrid, bettingtips: draw @ 3.30

This is actually also a big game in this first knock-out stage, but unfortunately whole Europe’s focus will go to AC Milan vs. Manchester United.

Real Madrid bought lots of world class players before this season such as Kaka, Christiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso. Those players coasted more then most of the teams are worth totally but after have loosing the league and Champions League to their worst opponent, Barcelona, I think that Real Madrid’s president felt that he had to make some radical changes. And the solution was to buy some of the best players in the world.

Lyon has a strong side and went trough from their group before strong teams like FC Liverpool. Lyon and Fiorentina came to the knock out stage and Liverpool didn’t even go trough from group E. And even though they played well in almost every game in the group stage, they have two really tough games ahead of themselves in Champions League.

The odds in this game are pretty even and I feel that this first game can be even as well. My feeling is that the French side has to go for a win here at home to have a realistic chance to make it to the quarter finals in Champions League since it’s hard to win away against Real Madrid. But at the same time I feel that Real Madrid will be happy with a draw here and the odds on the draw pay back over 3 times the investment and I think that the odds is worth betting on even though it’s always hard to bet on draw.

Please read the next below as well to find more Champions League bet.

Regards /Amrish