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I must admit, I’m still basking a little in the glory of picking out Jenson Button and Brawn GP for success in last year’s Formula One Championship. Alas, I can’t promise you 9-1 and 8-1 winners in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ title races this season but I still think there’s a bit of value to be had in the ante-post markets ahead of this week’s opening GP in Bahrain. For once, there’s been plenty to capture the imagination during the close season, not least Michael Schumacher’s return to the cockpit. The German rightly demands iconic status having won more Grand Prix and F1 World Championships than any other driver in history. One does have to question, however, how much hunger he still has after three years spent testing motorbikes and acting as an advisior for Ferrari. Considering his close relationship with the Italian giants it is also strange that he’s making his comeback with Mercedes. The fact that the innovative Ross Brawn is now chief designer at Mercedes will have heavily influenced Schumacher’s decision to return but I fear the physical strain of a long GP season may be too much for the 41-year-old and would willingly lay boylesports, extrabet and sportingbet’s 13-2 about him making a fairytale comeback to the Drivers’ Championship. Then, of course, there’s the battle of the Britons at McLaren. If Lewis Hamilton is feeling any signs of insecurity about having the current world champion join him at Woking, he certainly isn’t showing it. For the second year in a row, McLaren will have the number one driver in their ranks but, no matter how much practice he’s undergone, it’s going to take a few hours race time for Jenson Button to get the feel of his new car and that’s where Hamilton may hold the edge over his compatriot. The 2008 champion finished last season with a flourish and can carry that momentum forward to this campaign so bwin’s 9-2 is sure to attract support as oppose to Button’s widely available 14-1 quote for back-to-back titles. As always, of course, Ferrari will be competitive. Fernando Alonso is the ante-post favourite (a best 11-4) to bring home the title in his first season in the famous red car but it remains to be seen how the confidence of Felipe Massa (9-1 with bet365, skybet and sportingbet) has been affected by his horrific crash last year and Ferrari are worth opposing in the Constructors’ Championship (2-1 with Paddy Power and Ladbrokes) on that score. How about a punt on Red Bull in that market? There have been early signs this year that Renault have finally developed an engine to match Ferrari and McLaren and new regulations, which have effectively slowed down the cars, may well play into their hands this season. Australian Mark Webber (20-1 on betfair) broke his duck in F1 in Germany last year and is sure to make his presence felt again this time around but their number one driver looks to be rising star Sebastian Vettel, who pushed Button all the way last year and must surely go close again in 2010 with a stronger start. My money will be on the young German at 5-1 with boylesports. His team are priced at 10-3 with the same firm to win the Constructors’ Championship.

Let’s be honest, nobody is going to get rich backing England to win their three-match one-day series in Bangladesh at a best 1-4 with betfred so we are going to have to examine alternative options to keep the wolves from the door this week. Backing Graeme Swann to take most wickets is certainly viable. Swann (11-4 with Victor Chandler) has given every indication he will thrive on the Bangladesh wickets and, following a tremendous Ashes series and another solid showing in South Africa, is showing no sign of letting his standards drop. He again shone in last week’s two T20 games against Pakistan in Dubai and in England’s warm-up match against a Bangladeshi Board XI and is a near-certainty to start all three one-day games and be given his full quota of overs with the rest of England’s attack having a fragile look about it at present. Stuart Broad, 11-4 with Stan James and Ladbrokes, is probably the only other of England’s bowlers likely to feature in every match but the youngster can still blow a little hot and cold and looks a risky proposition at that price to me. James Tredwell, England’s second spinner, can be backed at a general 6-1 while Yorkshire team-mates Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad are a best 11-2 (bet365 and extrabet) and 25-1 (skybet) respectively to take most Bangladesh wickets. You can almost certainly guarantee yourself a profit by scouring the correct score markets as well. Let’s not forget, England have played and beaten Bangladesh eight times in the 50-over format of the game and most of those victories were by wide margins. This may be a bit of an experimental squad being led by Alastair Cook but it’s still one that contains proven one-day and Test performers in the shape of Swann, Broad, Cook, Collingwood, Pietersen and Prior and they will have no excuses if failing. Given that, Victor Chandler’s 5-4 for a 3-0 England whitewash shouldn’t be missed, though you can still employ a safety net in the shape of totesport’s 11-5 for a 2-1 scoreline should the England selectors decide to give some fringe players an outing or a touch of complacency creeps in. Either result would still turn you a profit. Kevin Pietersen, incidentally, heads the top England batsmen market at a general 3-1 but you can get 5-1 with skybet against him being upstaged by England’s new ‘South African’ scoring sensation Craig Kieswetter. 

I must admit, I’m not a great fan in general of greyhound racing. I think I’ll always associate the sport with boring winter afternoons in the betting shop when all of the horse racing had been abandoned. However, it’s also fair to say that ‘a night at the dogs’ is an entirely more pleasant experience, especially when in hailing distance of a free bar, so I can understand how some greyhound tracks are still packing in the punters. One of those is Crayford, where the three semi-finals of the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket takes place this weekend. Six dogs will then progress to a final in March for one of the sport’s most coveted prizes but greyhound enthusiasts are still debating the performance of current favourite Dazzle Special in the heats. Theresa Hunwick’s bitch didn’t win her heat, she was beaten more than two lengths by Group Skater, but few who witnessed the race will believe that the Irish raider can come out on top again should the pair meet in the final. The only luck Dazzle Special had in running in her heat was bad luck. Crowded out and almost brought to a standstill at the first bend, she then cannoned into the rails approaching the end of the first circuit to trail the leaders by a massive margin. However, the bitch metaphorically flew around the final lap to pick off her rivals one-by-one, eventually pipping the trail-blazing Bodell Clare to grab second spot and confirm her progress. Relative fortune does tend to even itself out over time and it’s hard to envisage Dazzle Special having so much bad luck in a race again so soon and she may still be worth backing to capture the Golden Jacket itself next month, despite the bookmakers having taken note of her extraordinary first round performance. She is currently a best 5-2 while old rival Group Skater can be backed at a general 4-1. Hello Hippy, Group Skater’s stablemate is an 18-1 chance with Skybet. The other one for money has been Danbury Dodger, who recorded the fastest time in the heats and is well drawn to make all in his semi-final for which he is a general 4-5. The Crayford specialist is a general 9-2 to go on to success in the final.

Sky Sports ‘Super 6′

For some, this competition will feature in your weekend betting routine, at least it does for us. The rules of the competition are simple; there will be six matches, all of which kick-off at 15:00 GMT (The kick-off time will be the same for each weekend Super6 fixtures), and YOUR CHALLENGE is to correctly predict all six scores of the matches selected to win a cool £100,000. However, that’s not where the money winning spree ends, no, even if you correctly predict a few correct scores, you’re in with a chance of claiming some of the other prizes on offer. For instance, were you to correctly predict 5 correct scores and no-one else had surpassed four correct then you would bag a sweet £5,000 just for making a few guesses and would also become the weekend’s top Super 6′er.

• If you finish with the highest amount of correct scores for the weekend, but share the honour with other players, then the winner will be decided on who picked the correct first goal minute, or whoever was closest. By this; you will be asked to predict when (in minutes) the first goal will be scored out of the six games selected for Super6 purposes. This will only come into affect if two or more players finish with the highest amount of predictions for the weekend and will then be used to decide the winner in a tie-break question fashion.

There are other prizes up for grabs, mainly in the form of free bets which are distributed at the end of the month for the highest scoring player in a calendar month. There’s also an overall prize of £20,000 for the Super 6′er of the year which is basically awarded to the player who guesses the most amount of correct scores through the season.

It all sounds so simple but, believe me when I say this, it’s so damn difficult! To this day, with this season being Super Six’s second stint, according to our recollection, there has been just the one winner of the £100,000 top prize. Jonathan Kilpatrick is the man we all envy as he correctly predicted all six correct scores during the boxing day fixtures and grabbed himself the biggest Christmas present of his life when he took home £100,000 just for guessing a few scores on a bitter cold Boxing Day afternoon. That could be anyone of us and it’s reason alone to have us all believing that we too can be the next Super6 ‘top dog‘.

If my brief summary of the competition isn’t enough, or you simply didn’t understand a word I was saying, then why not log on yourself or register your details if you’re a new player. It’s absolutely FREE to enter, and plus, SkyBet, whom provide all the prize money, are doing a special promotion where you receive a FREE £5 Bet when you activate a SkyBet account and bet £5 on any sporting event, this being done in accordance with adding your Super6 details when prompted. This isn’t compulsory, which means you don’t have to take advantage of SkyBet’s offer to play Super6, but it’s beneficial if you’re a punter.

Simply log in or sign up today and all the information you need will be on the website, ranging from; prize info, weekly and monthly leaderboards, pundits opinions and rules on how to play the game.

Sky Sports Super6 – Click here to go directly to their website… Good Luck!

My Super6 Weekend Predictions (13^th February):

Barnsley 2 – 0 Plymouth Argyle

Coventry City 2 – 1 Queens Park Rangers

Leicester City 2 – 0 Scunthorpe United

Middlesborough 3 – 0 Peterborough United

Derby County 1 – 1 Birmingham City

Reading 1 – 3 West Bromwich Albion

First Goal: 4 Minutes

I know how much of a trek it is from Devon to Doncaster. I used to go to school within hailing distance of Town Moor and most years our annual holiday consisted of an 11-hour drive down to the west country to spend two weeks in a static caravan, usually to stare at puddles in Ilfracombe. Nowadays, of course, a much-improved road network means you can cut that journey time in half but it still represents a significant undertaking transporting a horse those 270 miles and not one that a trainer like Victor Dartnall would consider without good reason. Therefore, I’d ask you to mull over carefully the reasons why the aptly-named Exmoor Ranger is in South Yorkshire this weekend. For starters, this is a chaser very much on the upgrade judged on his comfortable win at Newbury in late November. That didn’t look a great race at first glance but third Victorias Groom has won twice since to boost the form and, going on previous runnings, Exmoor Ranger slots nicely into the ideal weight/age range for this week’s Skybet Chase and should be suited by the easy 3m. With his jumping problems apparently behind him now and top Irish jockey Davy Russell booked, the general 9-1 is well worth the gamble. Theatrical Moment steps out of novice company and onto a reasonable mark for his handicap debut over fences but his best price (Coral’s 9-1) reflects this, while layers are being similarly avaricious with the prolific Seven Is My Number (a general 7-1). My worries about the latter would be that he is too high in the weights considering he was effectively handed his two most recent wins on a plate and is up against far more experienced rivals here. Allied to that, David Pipe’s gelding may struggle to confirm Bangor form with Khachaturian on 8lbs worse terms and I certainly wouldn’t put anyone off backing the latter, who looks well treated, at Paddy Power’s 12-1. Soft ground would bring Gone To Lunch (a general 25-1) into the equation, providing he’s fully recovered from his Welsh National exertions, but those conditions wouldn’t suit last month’s C&D winner Calgary Bay (11-1 with bet365), who is 11lbs higher today, while Killyglen (widely available at 11-1) has questions to answer after a shocking effort in the Hennessy at Newbury in November. General 12-1 chance Trabolgan looks a light of former days so we are sticking with Exmoor Ranger to bring home the spoils.

The new Super League season is upon us and that must mean that summer is just around the corner! But before you dig out the sleeveless tops from the back of your wardrobe and iron those floral bermuda shorts that don’t look good anywhere but on the beach at Ayia Napa, how about setting about funding your holiday by lumping on the Leeds Rhinos with bwin to finish top of the regular season. The Austrian-based bookmakers, who are offering a matched bet up to £30 for new customers, are relatively new kids on the UK block and, as such, may be trying to establish themselves in the market by putting up one or two giveaways in the weeks ahead. That certainly seems to be the case with offering 11-10 against the Rhinos finishing top of the pile again (most of their rivals are going odds-on!) and this price should be snapped up before it inevitably disappears. Leeds arguably still have a little way to go before emulating Wigan’s exploits in the 1990s but there is no disputing their current dominance of the domestic scene. Last October, they completed a hat-trick of Grand Final wins and coach Brian McClennan is confident that a fourth will follow in 2010, despite the loss of Lee Smith to rugby union. Kiwi Greg Eastwood will enhance the Rhinos‘ options, while Aussie centre Brett Delaney with prove an able replacement for Smith. In addition, former Kangaroos captain Danny Buderus is fit again and, with big things expected of youngsters like Kallum Watkins this term, it’s difficult to see where the champions have a weakness. They are 13-10 with sportingbet for another Grand Final win. St Helens, beaten finalists in last year’s Grand Final and top of the regular season in five of the last seven seasons, should again be among their closest challengers. But the loss of Sean Long and Lee Gilmour could take a while to recover from and some of the Saints‘ promising youngsters are going to have to come of age pretty rapidly. Given those facts the 7-2 offered by skybet, sportingbet and Stan James to top the regular season isn’t that attractive. Warrington won the Challenge Cup last year but are perennial under-achievers when it comes to the league so the general 12-1 makes little appeal but the team they beat at Wembley, Huddersfield Giants, might be worth a little each-way interest at a general 14-1 as they look to have recruited wisely over the winter. They shouldn’t be as big as Wigan (Ladbrokes) who may remain maddeningly inconsistent for a while longer until new coach Michael Maguire settles into the role.

Manchester City have been shortened to general 4-1 second favourites for this season’s FA Cup after another weekend of relative upsets in England’s premier knockout competition. A City second-string cruised past Championship strugglers Scunthorpe in round four but whether the Premier League’s biggest spenders will still have Brazilian striker Robinho among their ranks when they take on Stoke City in the fifth round remains unclear, however. The former Real Madrid star has allegedly already told a Brazilian radio station that he’s joining Santos in his homeland on loan until the end of the season, despite denials by City manager Roberto Mancini. City’s next opponents Stoke were one of those teams responsible for a surprise in the fourth round, knocking out 10-times winners Arsenal. The Potters, who have never reached an FA Cup Final, are now 50-1 chances with Skybet, boylesports and Betfred, to lift the trophy in May. With Manchester United and Liverpool already having already fallen by the wayside and Spurs (8-1 with Blue Square, 888sport and Ladbrokes) being held to a draw by League One  Leeds (80-1 with Betfred and Stan James) Chelsea, the last survivors of the traditional ‘Big Four’ of the Premier League, are now understandably hot favourites to defend their crown, only Ladbrokes putting their head above the parapet by offering odds of 7-4 against the Blues who will face Championship side Cardiif City at Stamford Bridge in round five. Birmingham City may be worth an interest at bet365’s 16-1. Alex McLeish’s side are in teriffic form, underlined by their win at Everton in the last round, and they shouldn’t be unduly worried about a trip to Pride Park to meet an ordinary Derby County (200-1 with boylesports and William Hill) in the last 16. Aston Villa, with one Wembley appearance already booked, are general 7-1 chances having been paired with either Wolves or Crystal Palace while Fulham (general 14-1) will also fancy their chances of further progress with a home tie against either Wigan Athletic (available at 50-1) or League Two Notts County. That’s providing the latter survive another winding-up order this week. South coast near neighbours Southampton (150-1) and Portsmouth (40-1) clash at St Mary’s in perhaps the most attractive of the fifth-round ties.

SkyBet are backing England to win the World Cup, with a great money back guarantee. SkyBet will refund all outright bets on any of England’s rivals for the World Cup, if John Terry stands there and lifts the trophy on July 11th. Yes, if England win the World Cup in South Africa, SkyBet will return losing stakes placed on any other nation to win. You will automatically be entered into this, as soon as you place a bet on anyone other than England to win the World Cup. This is a nice feature, for as an England fan placing a bet on Brazil for example to win the trophy, you’re going to win either way. If England win you’ll get your bet refunded, and be dancing in the streets, if Brazil win, then you will at least have some winnings to console yourself with.

SkyBet is loaded with features to fill your every betting desire. Football dominates of course, simply because Sky brings the best of the English Premier League into your living rooms, and they are able to back that service up with a fantastic sports book. One interesting feature in the football section of their sports book, was a Transfer Special section. What was found in here? A list of high profile players, and selections to choose from, where the punter thinks they will be playing next. An example is Liverpool’s Fernando Torres. The bet is, where will he be after the Summer 2010 Transfer Window? Liverpool are 1/2, Chelsea and Man City are both 6/1 or perhaps it’ll be one of the Spanish giants, Barcelona 7/1 or Real Madrid 8/1. This is a fun section, worth exploring if you have your inside tips!

There are some great football promotions to add a little spice to your online experience. Check out their Soccer Saturday Super Six competition, which runs weekly. SkyBet will present you with six matches and all you have to do is guess the correct scores for each. One guy won the £5,000 prize last weekend, for six correct FA Cup Third Round predictions.

SkyBet also offer concessions on their betting, as another football promotion, in a FairPlay award which benefits the punter:

• The most notable one here is their correct score bet. If your correct score prediction is correct at 90 minutes, but then someone goes and scores a late injury time goal to mess it up, SkyBet will refund your stake as a free bet! That could save a lot of stress from seeing a last minute winner go in.
• They do a similar thing with their First Goal scorer bets. If the player you back to score first gets taken off in the first half with scores at 0-0, then you’ll get your stake refunded as a free bet.
• The same refund stands if a player backed to be top scorer in any English or Scottish League transfers to a different league.

An extra bonus for a couple of the above bet concessions, is that SkyBet enhance their odds on first goal scorer and correct score markets for two hours prior to kick off of one of their televised matches. Want to watch Sky Sports? Then SkyBet makes that easy for you to, as account holders who are also Sky Sports customers can watch Sky Sports right online. All you need to do is enter the promo code in your SkyBet account, make a bet and then SkyBet will contact you with details of how to receive their service right on your PC for free!

SkyBet’s online betting service, is definitely one worth checking out, and they sum everything up nicely with their tagline “it matters more when there is money on it.” Perhaps there are fewer truer words spoken when it comes to sports betting. If horse racing is more your thing, then SkyBet offer special daily Extra Values on their horse racing book, with some races features for little extra incentives like 5 places for an each-way bet, instead of the normal three. Check out their promotions page for bonuses on their live racing.

Poker? Casino? Games? Yes, they are all there as to be expected. Their Sky Vegas section really is excellent, and you can got lost in there for hours playing games, including a penny arcade. They have their own promotions in there, as well as a welcome bonus, so it is worth exploring and seeing what is on offer for yourself. The same can be said of their Bingo section, which is also excellent and extensive.

But their Sports Book is where SkyBet really shine, and they genuinely do challenge for some of the best market prices around, without question. A wide range of sports are covered, and some non-sporting ones such as politics and TV and Film Specials. It’s all there, driven by a left hand menu, so you don’t have to go searching too hard for the bet that you want. Under the tennis, Andy Murray was found at 11/2 to win the forthcoming Australian Open. With all of the major sporting events happening this year, from the Winter Olympics, to the World Cup, to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, to the Six Nations, you can be assured of fantastic service with SkyBet.

Everything is backed up with great stats and form, so whether playing games or browsing the sports book is your thing, SkyBet has it all. You can even combine all your gambling favourites, by playing casino while watching Sky Sports live on your computer, keeping an eye on the live in-play betting while you. Excellent service, highly recommended and to top it all off, they offer you a very nice welcome gift. SkyBet will give you a free bet up to the value of £10 when you place your first bet (a single or each way) on a new account!

I can’t recall there ever being the slightest interest among layers previously in pricing up the Hopman Cup. The traditional curtain-raiser to the tennis year, staged at the Burswood Centre in Perth, Western Australia for the past 21 years, has always passed relatively unnoticed by bookmakers and punters alike. 2010, however, is different. Andy Murray’s decison to take in the singles/mixed doubles round-robin tournament  instead of his usual route via the Qatar Open in Doha as part of his preparation for the Australian Open has attracted a lot of media interest, enhanced by the fact that the Scot is being partnered by former Wimbledon junior champion Laura Robson, whom many believe is that most rare of creatures, a British girl with the potential to make it to the upper echelons of the women’s game. Ranked three in the world, Murray is by far and away the highest rated player in the event and would be expected to win all three of his group singles matches. But he’s never excelled at the doubles game, while Robson may struggle to compete, at this stage of her career, with the likes of Elena Dementieva and Sabine Lisicki in her singles matches. Taking into account both will have bigger fish to fry in the months ahead not even Skybet’s 11-2 makes much appeal for Great Britain to win the event. That honour could go to Russia, who team Dementieva with Igor Andreev. The latter has been ranked in the world’s top 40 for the past three years and won more matches than he’s lost on the ATP Tour while his partner is currently ranked fifth in the world and, just as importantly, has bags of experience on the doubles circuit. Russia  7-2 with Ladbrokes to win the tournament and 6-4 with Betfred and Ladbrokes to win Group B, should have the measure of Germany (a general 6-1 for overall success) and Great Britain in their section and are fancied to see off Group A fancies Spain (7-1 with Betfred to win outright) in the final.

Is it just me or does the managerial merry-go-round revolve that quickly nowadays that the game appears to be shed experienced head coaches more quickly than the average Christmas tree drops its needles? Championship side QPR are a prime example. The board may be fronted by multi-millionaires but any business acumen they may have acquired in other fields seems to go out of the window where football is concerned. Paul Hart recently became the R’s ninth manager in two years but, significantly, has only signed a contract until the end of the season. Given Rangers‘ predeliction for change, that may yet prove optimistic. There have been some very bizarre decisions taken in boardrooms this season. Steve Gibson, chariman of Middlesbrough and a man with a reputation for his patience with managers, decided to dispense with Gareth Southgate’s services with his team just a point off the top of the table. Since Southgate’s departure, Boro have fallen away dramatically and, at the time of writing, now lie in the bottom half of the Championship a full 20 points off the pace – isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing! Then. of course, there’s the strange case of Manchester City. On the same weekend that Manchester United lost 3-0 to Fulham, Liverpool surrendered tamely at bottom club Portsmouth and Chelsea were held to a draw at struggling West Ham, City were putting four past Sunderland at Eastlands. Mark Hughes‘ reward, his P45! City chief executive Gary Cook has already admitted that Roberto Mancini had been offered Hughes‘ job the day before the Welshman was sacked but denies there has been a players’ rebellion in lieu of the decision. That hasn’t, however, put off Skybet pricing up a market on which high-profile star will be first to leave the City Of Manchester Stadium. Robinho, who has hardly endeared himself to City fans of late, is the 11-4 market leader while the oft-outspoken Craig Bellamy is a 9-2 chance with Paddy Power. The Irish firm also make former Inter boss Mancini 1-2 to still be in charge of City this time next year.