Jimmie Johnson has won this particular event twice back in 2002 and 2009. He is currently sitting second in the point standings just 23 points behind Carl Edwards. He has a single win this year in addition to four top five finishes this year. He has three poles and six wins at Dover International Speedway in addition to eight top five finishes and 12 top 10 finishes. He holds a 9.7 average finish and a driver rating of 116.3 that ranks third in the series.

In two of the past three years, this race has been won by Kyle Busch. He trails Edwards 39 points in the point standings in third. He has two wins this year in addition to five top five finishes aas well as two DNF’s. Busch has two wins at this race track and has six top five finishes as well as seven top 10 finishes. He holds an average finish of 14.7 at Dover and his driver rating is 102. 8 at Dover, which is fifth best amongst active drivers in the series.

Carl Edwards is currently the points leader in the Sprint Cup Series and has 8.00 odds to win this event. He has been to Victory Lane once this year and has six top five finishes as well as eight top 10 finishes. He has a single win at Dover, six top five finishes as well as nine top 10 finishes. He has a 7.7 average finish and a 103.1 driver rating at Dover. His driver rating ranks fourth amongst drivers in the series.

With 10.00 odds to win this event, Denny Hamlin is currently further behind the three above-mentioned drivers in the point standings as he is in 16th. He currently has no wins this year but has one top five finish and three top 10 finishes. He has never won at this track although he has finished inside the top 10 in his previous two races at Dover. He has 10 career races at this track in which he has four top 10 finishes.

Bwin gives Jeff Gordon 13.00 odds to in this event. He has four poles and four wins at Dover along with 14 top five finishes and 21 top 10 finishes. He holds an average finish at Dover of 12.1 and a ninth-best 90.5 driver rating.

Greg Biffle has been given 16.00 odds to win the FedEx 400. The Bif has two wins at Dover International Speedway and has also secured one pole. He has six top five finishes along with 10 top 10 finishes. He has the best average running position at Dover of 8.0, an average finish of 11.00 and the second best driver rating at 110.1. He also holds the second fastest green flag average speed of 142.733 mph.

Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch both have 19.00 odds for this event according to bwin online sportsbook. Kenseth has one win as well as one pole at Dover. He also has 10 top five finishes as well as 15 top 10 finishes while Kurt Busch has five top five finishes and seven top 10 finishes. Kenseth holds a 12.9 average finish while Busch’s is 18.9. Kenseth has the third best driver rating in the series amongst active drivers with a 109.3 rating and Busch ranks seventh best among active drivers in the series with a 96.8 driver rating.

Clint Bowyer has 21.00 odds to win by bwin. He has just three top 10 finishes and has a 15.7 average finish at Dover International Speedway. His driver rating is 87.4, which ranks 12th amongst drivers in the series.

Some other bwin NASCAR odds include:

Kevin Harvick 13.00
Tony Stewart 13.00
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 21.00
Field – Any Other Driver 21.00

The FedEx 400 from Dover International Speedway will begin at about 1:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 15, 2011.

San Francisco Giants 1.75 at Pittsburgh Pirates 2.10

RHP Ryan Vogelsong gets on the mound for San Fran. He was given the No. 5 starting spot when Barry Zito has to be sidelined. His last time out was out of the bullpen and he pitched 3.1 innings with no runs and two strikeouts.

Against Vogelsong, the Pirates don’t have much experience. Lyle Overbay is 1-for-8 with one RBI, Chris Snyder is 1-for-2 and Ronny Cedeno is 0-for-1.

RHP Jeff Karstens gets the start for the Pirates. He is 2-0 with a 3.94 ERA and 14 strikeouts on the season. His last time out, he allowed just two runs on six hits over six innings. He is in the starting rotation while Ross Ohlendorf is on the DL, which could be until the middle of May.

Against Karstens, Aubrey Huff is 1-for-1 with one homer and four RBIs, Nate Schierholtz is 1-for-2 and Cody Ross is 1-for-3.

Boston Red Sox 1.59 at Baltimore Orioles 2.40

LHP Jon Lester starts for Boston Thursday. He is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA and 30 strikeouts for the season. His last time out, he pitched six shutout innings and only allowed four hits.

Against Lester, Robert Andino is 3-for-4, Felix Pie is 3-for-8 with one RBI, and Matt Wieters is 8-for-21 with two RBIs. Brian Roberts has the only homer against Lester and is 9-for-35.

RHP Brad Bergesen steps up for Baltimore. He is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA and just 11 strikeouts. He has definitely struggled this season – his last time out, he pitched six innings allowing six runs on eight hits.

Against Bergesen, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is 2-for-2, Carl Crwaford is 4-for-8 with one homer and two RBIs, Dustin Pedroia is 4-for-9 with one RBI, J.D. Drew is 7-for-19 with two homers and four RBIs and Marco Scutaro is 6-for-19 with two RBIs.

Chicago White Sox 2.40 at New York Yankees 1.59

Chicago puts RHP Edwin Jackson on the mound. He is 2-2 for the season with an earned run average of 4.88 and 30 strikeouts. His last time out, he pitched 5.2 innings allowing eight runs on 12 hits. His previous outing was for seven innings in which he allowed four runs on 11 hits.

Andruw Jones is the only who has not faced Jackson. A-Rod is 9-for-22 with three homers and nine RBIs, Derek Jeter is 11-for-31 with one homer and four RBIs and Eric Chavez is 1-for-3. Robinson Cano is 6-for-27 with one RBI, Jorge Posada is 3-for-10 and Nick Swisher is 4-for-13 with two homers and three RBIs.

LHP CC Sabathia gets the start for the Yankees. He is 1-1 with an earned run average of 2.73 and 30 strikeouts. In his last outing, he pitched eight innings allowing three runs on six hits while striking out seven and walking just one. It was his first win decision of the season.

Against Sabathia, only two batters have averages better than .333. Alexei Ramirez is 6-for-15 and Gordon Beckham is 4-for-11. Paul Konerko has the most experience at 17-for-73 with three homers and eight RBIs. A.J. Pierzynski has a homer, Alex Rios has three and Carlos Quentin has one. The most RBIs aside from Konerko is five by Alex Rios who is 8-for-30.

Kansas City Royals 2.25 at Cleveland Indians 1.67

RHP Kyle Davies steps on the mound for the Royals. He is 1-2 with a 6.23 earned run average. He has 19 strikeouts and nine walks for the season. His last time out, he allowed three runs on four hits over six innings against Texas.

Against Davies, Adam Everett is 5-for-9 with one RBI, Lou Marson is 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Asdrubal Cabrera is 8-for-21 with five RBIs, Michael Brantley is 3-for-9 and Carlos Santana is 1-for-3 with one RBI. Shin-Soo Choo, Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner all have one homer a piece against Davies.

RHP Fausto Carmona gets the start for the Indians. He is 1-3 with a 5.76 ERA and has 21 strikeouts for 2011. His last time out, he lasted five innings in which he gave up six runs, all earned, on seven hits.

Against Carmona, most of the guys have been able to get a hit off him. Alex Gordon is 12-for-23 with one RBI. Billy Butler is 9-for-28 with seven RBIs. Melky Cabrera and Mike Aviles both have a home run each off the right-hander. Jarrod Dyson, Wilson Betemit, Brayan Pena and Chris Getz have been unable to get a hit.

Toronto Blue Jays 2.65 at Texas Rangers 1.50

RHP Brandon Morrow steps up for the start for the Blue Jays. He is 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA. He has 10 strikeouts for the season and two walks – all of which were thrown over 5.1 innings in his season debut last Saturday against Tampa Bay Rays. He allowed three runs, all earned, on three hits.

Against Morrow, Chris DAvis is 2-for-3 with one homer and two RBIs, Elvis Andrus is 2-for-4, Michael Young is 4-for-10 with one homer and three RBIs, and Julio Borbon is 2-for-5 with one homer and three RBIs. Adrian Beltre, Andres Blanco, Nelson Cruz, and Mike Napoli have struggled against Morrow.

RHP Alexi Ogando starts for the Rangers. He is 3-0 for the season with 14 strikeouts and a 2.13 ERA. He has done well this season for the first time as a starter after replacing Tommy Hunter due to a groin injury. His last time out, he allowed just a single run on five hits over 6 innings. His worst outing was against the Yankees when he allowed five on six over 6.1 IP.

Against Ogando, the Rays don’t have much experience. Only two batters have faced Ogando – Corey Patterson is 1-for-1 with one RBI and Juan Rivera is 0-for-2.

Tampa Bay Rays 2.15 at Minnesota Twins 1.73

Tampa Bay puts RHP Jeff Niemann on the mound. He is 0-3 with an ugly 7.08 earned run average. He has 15 strikeouts and six walks for the season. His second start of the season, he was pulled after just 2.2 innings in which he allowed five runs on five hits. He did better in his third start, allowing just three runs on eight hits in seven innings. His last time out, he was pulled after 4.2 innings after allow six runs, five earned, on six hits.

Against Neimann, Drew Butera is 2-for-2 with one homer and one RBI, Denard Span is 7-for-15 with one RBI and Delmon Young is 4-for-10 with one homer and two RBIs. Luke Hughes, Danny Valencia and Steve Holm have been unable to get a hit and Jim Thome and Justin Morneau have only gotten one hit out of nine and eight at-bats respectively.

RHP Scott Baker gets on the mound for the Twins. He is 1-2 with a 3.24 ERA and 24 strikeouts. His last time out was his best outing for the season. He pitched seven scoreless innings allowing just four hits and striking out nine, which was a season-high for him.

Against Baker, the Rays have definitely struggled with most of the guys well under .300 batting averages. The ones that have done well include John Jason who is 3-for-6 and Sean Rodriguez with 2-for-6. The only homers have come from Matt Joyce who is 2-for-14 and Casey Kotchman who is 4-for-15. No hits from Reid Brignac, Felipe Lopez and Sam Fuld.

Other MLB odds for Thursday:

Oakland Athletics 2.50 at Los Angeles Angels 1.55

Seattle Mariners 2.80 at Detroit Tigers 1.45

New York Mets 1.91 at Washington Nationals 1.91

Blackburn Rovers vs. Newcastle United: odds – home win: 2.10, draw: 3.15, away win: 3.45

Blackpool FC vs. Aston Villa odds – home win: 3.20, draw: 3.40, away win: 2.10

Liverpool FC vs. Wigan Athletics odds – home win: 1.35, draw: 4.35, away win: 9.00

West Bromwich Albions vs. West Ham United odds – home win: 1.90, draw: 3.40, away win: 3.80

Sunderland AFC vs. Tottenham Hotspurs odds – home win: 2.75, draw: 3.20, away win: 2.45

Bolton Wanderers vs. Everton FC odds – home win: 2.60, draw: 3.20, away win: 2.60

Fulham FC vs. Chelsea FC odds – home win: 4.75, draw: 3.50, away win: 1.70

And here is my best bettingtips, odds and analyzes for these games:

Blackburn Rovers vs. Newcastle United, my bettingtips: draw @ 3.15 in odds

Newcastle came back from 0 – 4 to 4 – 4 in the second half, at their own home ground in their last match and that was one of the greatest pickups I have ever experienced.  Not only that they managed to score four goals and “steal” a point, they did it against one of the best teams in the league – Arsenal.   

Blackburn is normally a strong home side, and I agree with bwin odds that they are favorites in this game. But I do not agree on that Blackburn Rovers should be such big favorites as they have become. And that’s why I think that draw is a better pick to bet on. So my first bettingtips in this text is a draw in this game at 3.15 in odds.

Blackpool FC vs. Aston Villa, my bettingtips away win @ 2.10 in odds

Blackpool is this year’s big surprise in Premier League. Until just a couple of rounds ago it felt like they could beat any team in the league, but lately they have started to fall in the table. Blackpool stands with five losses in row now, and my question is how the players and managers will react on their first adversity of the year.

Aston Villa on the other hand is going stronger and stronger now and has started to climb in the league table. My feeling is that Aston Villa will win this game even though the match is on Blackpool’s home arena, and I find 2.10 in odds valuable to bet on. Aston Villa gets my bettingtips in this match.

Liverpool FC vs. Wigan Athletics, my bettingtips home win @ 1.35 in odds

Liverpool has finally found their play and is standing on four straight wins at the moment. At the moment Kenny Dalglish seems to be the perfect solution as manager at Liverpool FC. Liverpool plays with great confidence and then remember that neither Andy Carroll nor Luis Suarez has actually played that much. I think that Liverpool will be a danger opponent to play against for any team now and they showed that against Chelsea last week when they won at Stanford Bridge with 0 – 1. In this game I am pretty sure that Liverpool will take the win and 1.35 in odds is okay for me, my bettingtips goes to the home side.

West Bromwich Albions vs. West Ham United, away win @ 3.80 in odds

West Ham United is still in the bottom of the league, but lately they at least started to take some points. According to me, this is a pretty open game where West Brom has become to big favorites according to the odds. They don’t have a strong form at the moment and have dropped some places in the table compared to the beginning of Premier League. I find the odds on West Ham very interesting and chose to bet on the away win here.

Sunderland AFC vs. Tottenham Hotspurs, my bettingtips away win @ 2.45 in odds

This is also a hard game to predict in advantage. And that fact is also shown in the odds on each side. Even bwin find it hard to separate the teams to much. I find Tottenham as the better team, nothing to talk about there. But the fact that Champions League is coming next week, and the fact that Sunderland are pretty hard opponents when they play home at Stadium of light makes this bet hard to make. But if I have to take a side I choose to place my bet on Tottenham anyway at 2.45 in odds.

Bolton Wanderers vs. Everton FC, bettingtips away win @ 2.60 in odds

 Well, I just spoke about though and tight matches to predict, and here we defiantly got another one. Both according to me and according to bwin since they have exact the same odds on both home win and away win. Everton is a bit stronger at the moment and Bolton has lost some easy points lately. So my bettingtips goes to Everton at 2.60 in odds.

Fulham FC vs. Chelsea FC, my bettingtips away win @ 1.70 in odds

Chelsea had the chance to come closer to the top teams after Manchester United lost and Arsenal only took one point in their last game. But even Chelsea lost their game home against Liverpool and the gap to Manchester United is still 10 points. Chelsea just has to win this game, and since they are in a good shape even though they lost their last game I believe that they will win in this London-derby. My last bettingtips of this round goes to Chelsea at 1.70 in odds.

Best luck with your betting on Premier League wishes

/Amrish

Next round is on the weekend, which is normal on this time of the year when the games come a bit more often then in the beginning of the league. I will give you my best bettingtips on every game that is played in this round, which is spread over several days. First of all I am going to give you all the matches and all the odds so that you can have an overview, and then I will give you my best bettingtips per each match. I will choose to split the text into two texts. All the odds are picked from bwin football betting:

Aston Villa vs. Sunderland, odds: home win: 2.05   draw: 3.35  away win: 3.40

FC Arsenal vs. Manchester City, odds: home win 1.70 draw 3.75  away win: 4.40

Newcastle United vs. West Ham United, odds: home win: 1.80 draw: 3.60  away win: 4.00

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. FC Chelsea, odds: home win: 6.50 draw: 3.80   away win: 1.50

And here is my best bettingtips for these four matches:

Aston Villa vs. Sunderland, bettingtips:  draw @ 3.35 in odds

Aston Villa is my favourites in this game thanks to their home advantage, but they have not played as well as I thought that they would do, before this season started. They have already sacked their first manager (Martin O’neal) and brought in Gerard Houllier instead of him. But that haven’t either given that positive effect that I think the club was hoping to get.

Sunderland on the other hand has been playing better then I thought and they are hard to defeat. In this game I think that Aston Villa has become to big favourites with “only” 2.05 in odds, which is not value to bet on according to me. I have been thinking which best is the best in this game, draw or away win and came to the conclusion that draw probably is most value bet.

Arsenal vs. Manchester City, bettingtips: draw @ 3.75 in odds

What a great game between two teams that are challenging Manchester United in the top of the table. Both these teams have been going strongly in the last couple of matches and are fighting in the absolute top of the league. My feeling is that Arsenal is a really strong side home at Emirates stadium but that Manchester City can beat any team in the league when they are playing as best. Arsenal is defiantly a favourite to win this game thanks to their home advantage, but the odds (1.70) is way to low to bet on.

Arsenal outplayed Chelsea here at Emirates just after Christmas, but Chelsea’s form is very bad at the moment, so don’t be fooled by that win. And Manchester City has also been playing very well lately so Roberto Manchini is safe on his place as manager.

If Arsenal would pay about 1.90 – 2.00 in odds I would bet on Arsenal, but since we only get 1.70 in odds on the home win, I find 3.75 in odds on draw way more interesting, so that is my bettingtips on this match.

Newcastle United vs. West Ham United, bettingtips home win @ 1.80 in odds

West Ham is in the bottom of the league, while Newcastle is about in the middle. But since West ham sacked Gianfranco Zola and replaced him with Avram Grant they have started to take more points and at least have connection with the teams above the relegation mark.  Newcastle has also sacked their former manager, but it was quite a controversial decision from the owner, because they went well above expectations and that the old manager was also loved by both players and fans.

But that is history now, and now the players and supporters have to stand behind their team and the new manager. Newcastle has Andy Carroll on top and that is one of the best players in the league. I would guess that he is playing for the nation team very soon. He, together with the other players has a good chance to win home against West Ham and I try 1.80 in odds on the home win.

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. FC Chelsea, bettingtips home win @ 6.50 in odds

This might be a really long shot, but I just cannot bet on Chelsea to the odds that they are standing at. Chelsea has only won one game in their last 8 – 9 games and are falling apart. Something is really wrong with the club, and since Abrahmovic sacked their assistant manager I can’t recognize Chelsea any more.

Wolves are struggling in the bottom of the table and even though the results haven’t gone their way, they still fight in every game. And that is a fact that I think can be the difference in this game. As I wrote, this bet is a big risk bet. But I still think that it is way more valuable to bet on Wolves in this game then on Chelsea.

The rest of the games of this round will be presented in next text.

Blackburn Rovers vs. Liverpool FC, odds: home win: 3.65 draw 3.40   away win: 1.95

Bolton Wanderers vs. Wigan Athletic, odds: home win: 1.68 draw 3.55 away win: 4.85

FC Everton vs. Tottenham Hotspur, odds: home win: 2.45 draw 3.35 away win: 2.65

And the odds and my best bettingtips for these matches:

Blackburn Rovers vs. Liverpool FC, bettingtips: home win @ 3.65 in odds

Chelsea is going bad in the league, Liverpool is going worse of them all. At least compared to the pre expectations that all the experts had on the top teams. This was going to be the year when Liverpool came back to top four, and maybe even challenged for the title. Instead they are on the bottom half of the table, and I can not se any confidence in the team and players.

Yes, Liverpool wins some games here and now. Often they win home matches against poor opponents. But I can not see any stability in the play, and it almost feels like the player doesn’t believe in themselves some times.

Liverpool is a big team and will come back sooner or later. But this year is totally devastating for the team. And as long as Roy Hudgson is sitting as manager, I don’t believe that Liverpool will climb in the table, as fast as many belive.

Blackburn on the other hand is going strong. At the moment they are on the 10^th place in the league and it feels like Blackburn is going strong at the moment. Blackburn’s manager Sam Allardyce has done a great job so far with the club and I think that Blackburn can win this game as well. With the pre conditions I would say that this is a pretty even game. I would have way more even odds on these two teams then bwin has chosen to have. In other words, this is a really good bet on the home team since they pay 3.65 in odds, which I find very high.

Bolton Wanderers vs. Wigan Athletic, bettingtips draw @ 3.55 in odds

Bolton is definitely favourites in this game, both according to me and the betting company. But my job is not to find the favourites in the games, but to find the most valuable bets. And in that sentence I cannot see that the low odds at 1.68 are a bet that I can recommend even though I think that Bolton will win.

Bolton Wanderers is one of the teams (together with Blackpool) that have surprised me most in a positive way. They have been fighting for their existence in Premier League for several seasons lately, but this time they are fighting around the Europe League places. Their Swedish striker Johan Elmander has really woken up this season, after have sitting on the bench mostly with the former manager. But even though all these things speak for a win for Bolton I can not bet on them at 1.68 in odds, I just can not do it. That would mean that they have to win this game over 60 % of the times, and that is not relevant. Instead I feel that the odds on draw is a better bet here and choose draw as my bettingtips in Bolton vs. Wigan.

FC Everton vs. Tottenham Hotspur, bettingtips home win @ 2.45 in odds

Tottenham is going really strong this year as well, and I have to admit that I didn’t belive that Tottenham would go this strong in the league, since they had to focus on the Champions League as well. My feeling was that they had too few top players to play with, and when the schedule became tight they would fall in the league. But that has not been the reason and I really like Tottenham this year. They play an offensive football and are fun to watch.

In this match I think that Tottenham will get a tough match. Everton is a hard opponent to play against and they have been playing very well against the top teams. They took one point against Manchester United home at Goodison, and then they beat Liverpool in the mercyside derby. After that Everton played 1 – 1 against Tottenham away, played 1 – 1 away against Chelsea and beat Manchester City away with 1 – 2 only two matches ago. So the top team that has beaten Everton so far in the league is Arsenal. And my feeling is that Everton will take at least one point here as well, probably all three.

This is a tough game and I am not sure if the home win or draw is the best bettingtips but after some thinking I choose to bet on the home win at 2.45 in odds.

Best luck with your premier League betting /wishes Amrish

Since some of the teams has lot to play for and other teams nothing you might see that some of the odds might feel a bit “strange” compared how it would be if both of the teams almost had the same motivation to fight for the win. This is an interesting fact for you people who bet on football betting to have in mind before this round.

The last group match in Champions League is always interesting from a betting perspective just because of the fact that I wrote about. So what I am going to do in these two texts is that I am going to give you bettingtips and odds from two of the groups (E + F) that is played on Wednesday. In addition, I will give you some extra, special bets, besides the 1-x-2 bettingtips. But I will start all the group analyzes with the pre conditions for each group, so that you know which teams have what to play for:

Group ET

his is interesting from the view that it is precisely three points between each team. It also means that all teams have something to play for. However, there is no question about that it is the fight for second place in the group that is most alive and interesting.

Bayern Munich leads the group with 12 points and also has a pretty strong goal difference. This means that they are already ready for the next round and are pretty sure to win the group as well. Roma is second in the group with 9 points and minus one in goal difference. Basel is third with 6 points and even goal difference and Romanian Cluj has the last position with 3 points, moreover, they have poor goal difference.

This means that Roma need to take at least one point to secure to advance from the group. Basel has a small chance to go to the knockout stage, but they must first win away against Bayern Munich away and at the same time hope that Roma do not take any point against Cluj away.

The odds, and my best bettingtips for this group (all the odds are picked from bwin football sportsbetting):

CFR Cluj vs. AS Roma, odds: home win 5.50 in odds, draw 3.40 in odds and away win 1.65 in odds

My bettingtips: Draw @ 3.40 in odds

As I wrote earlier, this is a rather tricky group. But still one must be realistic in Cluj by not having too much hope to take third place, which would mean that they go trough to play in the European League in the spring. Roma should be satisfied with one point, since that would mean that they secures second place in the group and get to the playoff in the Champions League.

Roma have played quite poorly both in the league (Serie A) and in the Champions League, at least according to their ambitions before this season. They should be pleased that they have got into such an easy group as Roma still have been compared with several other teams in the Champions League. I think the odds on Roma are a little too low in this game since they only give 1.65 in the odds. It is a too low for me to give you that tips as the best bettingtips in this game. Instead, I think that 3.40 in the odds that the match ends in a draw feel much better. A draw is always tricky to bet on, but in this team, I think it feels right. So I choose draw as my bettingtips in this game at 3.40 in odds.

FC Bayern Munich vs. FC Basel, odds: home win 1.60 in odds, draw 4.00 in odds and away win 4.80 in odds

My bettingtips: FC Bayern Munich (Home team) to win @ 1.60 in odds

If this would not be that Bayern Munich had nothing to play for and Basel had much to play, the odds would “normally” be standing at approximately 1.35 on the win for Bayern Munich. Now they pay 1.60 instead and that is to high difference in odds then I had expected. Because according to me Bayern Munich is still the stronger team even if they rest some regular players in today’s match. I think 1.60 in the odds is worth playing at and it is therefore my betting tips in this match.

Basel, on the other hand, might had paid around 8 – 10 in the odds if this were a normal game. In this match to give the less then 5.00 in the odds and, as you probably understand, it also feels too low for me to think it is worth betting on even if they have much more to play for.

My odds and bettingtips for Group F will follow in the next text a bit down

I once saw some reliable date regarding online poker sites which stated that the average player made $150/month for the site in rake. So if a site had 10,000 players then that is $1.5 million per month. So just where are the betting firms weak? Well they do have numerous weaknesses but one thing that the betting firms from twenty years ago rarely did and that was to offer their punters or prospective punters free money with free bets.

This is common now but it does highlight one very important thing and this is that it is possible to milk these free bets for all that you possibly can and that is a good betting tip. For example one betting firm may give you a free $50 if you place $50 in action. Now strictly speaking then this isn’t free at all because you have to buy in for $50 to get this money. On the surface this seems like risk but even if you lost the entire $50 then you will still break even. The betting firm is obviously hoping that you will hang around and place far more action than that.

I once went to a corporate race event that was hosted by a company that my partner did business with. We were both given £400 in free tokens to bet with and the winnings were paid out in cash. These tokens could only be placed on the Tote prices and not with the on course bookmakers. My partner gave them to me because she knew that I understood gambling very well. You could not cash these in and they had to be used in the races. I waited until race number four and placed the entire £400 on the first and second favourite so that it returned the same amount of £400.

These two horses were vastly superior to the field and in my mind the chances of any other horse winning was remote. The favourite duly won and I collected £400 despite the fact that my partner chastised me for placing the entire sum on one race. The lesson here is clear in so much that you can protect your initial $50 by reducing your risk so that you walk away with the $50 free money a very high percentage of the time. But what you have to do is then walk away and cash in once you get this money.

According to me, the serious stage started right now, with the third game, because the teams that have started worse then expected have to start win now, to still have a realistic chance to win their grope. The presumptions are that all the grope-winners are directly qualified to the European Championship 2012 and the best second placed team as well. The rest of all the second placed teams will play a play-off (home and away) to complement the 16 teams that will participate in the championship.

In these, coming two texts I will give you my best bettingtips and odds for the matches that I think is most valuable bets. I have chosen to split it into two different texts because of that there is many matches to bet on and many odds. If you want to see all the matches that you can bet on in this round of European Championship’s qualification round, I suggest that you visit bwin football odds and see which tips and odds you find tempting to bet on.

Here are my best tips:

Kazakhstan vs. Belgium, odds -  home win: 6.75, draw: 4.10, away win: 1.45

My bettingtips: Kazakhstan vs. Belgium – away win @ 1.45 in odds

This is a game in grope A, where both of the teams have lost both their matches so far in the qualification. However, I have a strong feeling for Belgium in this game. Sometimes the facts and statistics do not give you the complete picture of the truth and this table is a brilliant prove of that. Because Belgium has played against two of the worse competitors already while Kazakhstan have had an easier start.

Belgium lost at home against Germany in a game that they was playing even against the bronze medallists from the World cup and after that they was close to beat Turkey away but just lost after have got one red card and Turkey turned the game to their favour.

Belgium has an interesting squad this year, more interesting then in a long time. They have many talented players both in the Premier League and young players coming up from their own league. They have made a generation switch which makes it even more interesting. My feeling is that My feeling is that Belgium is way better then Kazakhstan and should win this game even though they are playing away. The odds on Belgium is 1.45 and that are enough for me to bet on them, so that is my first bettingtips.

My second bettingtips from European Championship qualification:

Czech Republic vs. Scotland, odds – home win: 1.70, draw: 3.40, away win: 5.00

My bettingtips: Czech Republic vs. Scotland – home win @ 1.70 in odds

Scotland surprisingly leads this grope (Grope I), but even this time I think that the fact is lying a bit. First of all Scotland has played two matches compared to both Spain and Czech Republic, which are my two favourites in this grope. Second, Scotland has had two easy games so far in this grope against Lithuania and Lichtenstein. Even though they have had two pretty “easy” games they dropped two points against Lithuania and only won with 2 – 1 against Lichtenstein which is way weaker then I had expected.

I saw some of Scotland’s games before the qualification started as well and they have not impressed on me so far. It should be said that Czech Republic was a big disappointment in their first game as well where they lost against Lithuania, but I know that they have way more talent then what was shown in that game.

My feeling is that Czech has great chances to win this game and that the odds is very good here. I would recommend a high stake on this bet since this is one of the best tips in this round. Since Spain is in this grope as well besides these two teams (and for example Lithuania) I think that this is a really important game. I just cannot se how Spain won’t win this grope.

Compared to these teams positions and players I find Czech is better on most of the positions so I bet on 1.70 in odds and really hope that I have made the correct analyze here.

Albania vs. Bosnia, odds: home win: 3.25, draw: 3.15, away win: 2.15

My bettingtips: Albania vs. Bosnia – Away win @ 2.15

Another very interesting bet and odds according to me. Bosnia was very close to qualify to the world cup last year and they have really made great progresses in their game. It is easy to forget, but Bosnia has some of the best attacking players in whole Europe. I am sure that they will fight very well in this grope, and I think that they have good chances to reach European Championship this time.

Albania have shown good defence when they play against better teams on their own home ground, but since Bosnia have so many alternatives on their attacking line I think that the odds 2.15 on the away win feels good. They get my tips in this game.

More matches, bets and odds will come up in next text

This is bets before the Premier League starts and can be different type of bet/odds that is out at the market. For example, top goal scorer of premier league 2010 / 2011, which team will be relegated, different tips regarding which of two or three teams will end highest in the league and so on.

For every bettingtips that I recommend I will present some different odds for you as well. For example, top 20 – 30 favourites according to the odds for the top goal scorer of the year or maybe top 10 for the relegation. If you are curious about what the other odds is I recommend you to visit bwin.com/ (click you trough to premier league betting and click on what bets you want to see) and see for your self what the different odds are. If I would write down all the odds here, it would fill many pages.

Premier League 2010 / 2011 top goal scorer, odds:

Wayne Rooney, odds: 6.50

Didier Drogba, odds: 6.50

Fernando Torres, odds: 7.00

Robin Van Persie, odds: 12.00

Carlos Tevez, odds: 15.00

Jermain Defoe, odds: 19.00

Darren Bent , odds: 21.00

Marouane Chamakh, odds: 25.00

Nicolas Anelka, odds: 25.00

Steven Gerrard. odds: 31.00

Robinho, odds: 34.00

Emmanuel Adebayor, odds: 36.00

Andrei Arshavin, odds: 41.00

Javier Hernandez, odds: 41.00

Frank Lampard, odds: 41.00

Dimitar Berbatov, odds: 41.00

Cesc Fabregas, odds: 41.00

Louis Saha, odds: 51.00

Peter Crouch, odds: 51.00

John Carew, odds: 67.00

Nicklas Bendtner, odds: 67.00

Nikola Zigic, odds: 67.00

Salomon Kalou, odds: 67.00

Dirk Kuyt, odds: 67.00

Gabriel Agbonlahor, odds: 81.00

Nani, odds: 81.00

Theo Walcott, odds: 81.00

Roman Pavlyuchenko, odds: 81.00

Carlton Cole, odds: 81.00

Bobby Zamora, odds: 81.00

Here are my thoughts regarding the top goal scorer of Premier League 2010 / 2011:

I am pretty sure that we will find the winner of this title somewhere among these players. My first thought was to only present the top 20 favourites but then I realized that I would miss players like Agbonlahor, Walcott, Pavlyuchenko and these are players that defiantly are capable to win this price even thought the chances are small.

According to the odds that bwin’s traders have set, Wayne Rooney is favourite to become top goal scorer in Premier League, tightly followed by Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres. I am about to agree that these are the three players that should be favourites as well. Rooney (6.50 in odds) does most of Manchester United’s goals and he often plays most of the matches. Didier Drogba is supposed to score most of Chelsea’s goals even though Nicolas Anelka did it last year. Drogba takes most of the free kicks and is actually the sharpest striker.

Fernando Torres defiantly scores most in Liverpool, when he is not injured. I remember that Torres stood on 4.50 in odds before last years premier league started, but all his injury-problems probably has taken him down a bit on the odds-list.

All these three players have good possibilities to become top goal scorer in premier league this season, but the question is if its value in betting on them?

I have some other names down in the list, with way higher odds, that are interesting as well. You cannot forget a player who won last year and still is playing in the same team on the same position – Nicolas Anelka @ 25.00 in odds.

If a player like Robin Van Persie can stay away from injuries, he is defiantly a candidate for this title, 12.00 in odds on a bet on Van Persie feels interesting as well.

Since I think that Manchester City can bee one of the teams that will fight in the top of the table, at least one of their players should be mentioned in this list over potential good bets. For me it is clear that Carlos Tevez will be there best goal scorer.

A bit down on the odds list there are players like Berbatov @ 41.00 in odds, which seem interesting. I actually do not like Berbatov’s way of playing and his body language when he keeps whining as soon as he does not get the ball. But at the same time he has so much football inside of him and if the season starts well he might become a top corer.  While we are talking about high odds players, I should mention Gabriel Agbonlahor, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Nani who all pays 81 in odds.

So, which player do I found most valuable to bet on? I would like to place a bet on more then one player. But my best bettingtips is:

Fernando Torres @ 7.00 in odds. If that guy can stay away from injuries he is the only goal scorer in Liverpool who is a sure scorer. All the other top teams have lots of potential goal scorers but Torres is the only striker in Liverpool (besides captain Gerrard).

If you want to gamble a bit and try a player with higher odds, I would recommend Berbatov @ 41.00 in odds or Louis Saha @ 51.00 in odds.

In next text, I will share some other special bets with you.

I will start to give you all my best bettingtips in the game between Argentina vs Spain and then follow that up with my best tips from Paraguay vs Spain. I have choose to pick the odds from bwin bet on world cup and one of the reasons that I do that is because they have the biggest offer in different odds and betting opportunities of all the betting sites.

There are over 300 different betting opportunities at bwin, which can be compared with most of the sites that offers about 100 different bets per match.

Paraguay vs. Spain, odds: Paraguay to win, odds: 8.00, draw odds: 4.50, Spain to win, odds: 1.40

My bettingtips:

Paraguay vs. Spain – Spain to win @ 1.40

Paraguay has never been in a quarterfinal in the World cup’s history before so this is a very big game for them. But the fact is that Spain never have been further then a quarterfinal before either, which can be hard to think compared to the team that Spain has, and have got for a long time.

I think that the fact that Spain did so well in the European Championship two years ago (when they won the Gold medal) has helped them a lot in this World cup.

It started as it often do for Spain in World cup, they lost against Switzerland with 1 – 0. When that happened, I am pretty sure that most of the Spaniards thought something like “Not this time as well”. Because Spain was, the biggest favourites to win the World cup according to the odds before the championship started and that even thought they have never been in a semi-final before.

Nevertheless, after their loss against Switzerland they came back strongly and won against both Honduras and Chile (2 – 0 and 2 – 1) which took them trough to the second round. In the first match of the second round they played against their neighbours Portugal in a great game where Portugal seemed to bee the strongest team but where Spain made a substitution and that changed the game. Spain won with 1 – 0 after that David Villa (who else?) scored his fourth goal of the tournament.

Paraguay has been doing very well and has only let one goal in so far. They started with 1 – 1 against the former trophy holders Italy and after that they won against Slovakia with 2 – 0. In their last group match they played 0 – 0 against New Zeeland, but in that game they where not forced to win. In the second round they was headed against Japan and won after penalties (0 – 0 after ordinary time).

So none of these teams as impressed that much so far, but still one of the teams will go to the semi-finals. My feeling is that Spain is growing as they are going further and that they have good opportunities to win this game. I do not think that it will be an easy game but I still think that Spain is too good for Paraguay. Actually I would say that the odds on a Spanish win is a bit too low to bet on if it would had been a group-game or friendly, but now when it is a quarterfinal I have a feeling that the Spanish world-class-players will improve their game and win.

Paraguay vs. Spain, correct result: 0 – 1 @ 5.20 in odds

It’s not often that I place a bettingtips on correct result, but this time I have a strong feeling that this game can end 1 – 0 for Spain. I had the same feeling in their game against Portugal, but this time I am going to place a bet on that as well.

As I wrote above, these two teams have not been scoring too many goals forward. In addition, Paraguay has shown a strong defensively strength and I am pretty sure that they will try to hold up 0 – 0 as long as they can. Almost all of the Spanish players are playing in Spanish league for some of the top clubs, and if they come up to a normal standard, at least one of these players should be able to score eventually. Spain has David Villa, Fernando Torres, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Ilorente, Andres Iniesta and the question is for how long time Paraguay can stand up with their defensive line.

I choose to bet the result 0 – 1 to Spain since I think this will be a tight game in the beginning and that Spain will score in the second half. And when/if they do, they are one of the best nations in the world to pass the ball. If you choose to bet on 0 – 1 result for Spain and that is the standing late in the game I can even recommend you to keep an eye on the livebetting. It might being worth to hedge that bet if you have a high stake since the odds is over 5.00.

My best bettingtips from Argentina vs Germany follows in the next text