Satisfying Accumulators

Last weekend's 6 match accumulator was very satisfying. The odds were terrible, admittedly, and three of the six matches ended up 1-0 but £10 became £24.72 and that is all that matters.

Celtic, Besiktas, Anderlecht, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Porto were the favoured teams.

This weekend sees most of Europe getting back to playing football after the winter break but unfortunately it is FA Cup weekend in England. Would you put money on Liverpool at 1/100?

I've gone for Rangers, Linfield and Bayern Munich at 2/7, 1/7 and 1/7 respectively in a three-match accumulator. Should things work out as planned, then serious consideration will be given to moving some of the proceeds on to PSV Eindhoven and Roma this evening.

Sunday's selections are still undecided but are likely to include AC Milan and AEK Athens (and maybe Olympiakos depending on how brave I feel).

Good luck whatever way you decide to go.

Cup Weekend

Last weekend saw some big names struggle in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Liverpool could only draw with lowly Luton Town and Everton crashed out at home to Oldham!

Should the Bookiebeater have a bash at backing better teams this weekend in the cup matches taking place in Scotland and Northern Ireland? Of course.

Celtic are at home to Stirling Albion which should be a "gimme". Priced at 1/20 it hardly seems worthwhile though it is a 5% return on investment!

Portadown and Coleraine play Newington and Tobermore United respectively. The home teams are facing "junior" opposition in the Irish Cup and are priced at 1/7 and 2/9. They should be too strong for the youngsters.

And finally - a rule-breaking bet on Linfield (also priced at 2/9). Linfield face Loughgall but the rule-breaker is actually the fact that Linfield are away from home.

This quad should just about double your money - but they are cup matches so be careful!

The Land of the Celts?

Today's BookieBeater bets have been placed and it is to the Celtic isles that the money goes.

Celtic are priced at 3/10 to beat managerless Hibernian at Celtic Park. Celtic need to win to keep the pressure on Rangers.

Linfield are priced at 1/4 to beat Glenavon. Linfield have a formidable record at Windsor Park and they will be keen to take maximum points as they try to keep the pressure on Cliftonville.

For those who like a punt though - try Ballymena United at 4/7. They have been playing terrific football recently and there are whispers that they may just be strong enough to mount a serious title challenge themselves!

A No Bet Saturday?

I'm struggling today. I'm sat staring at the computer screen trying to identify where all my favourite teams are and I can't see them - at least, I can't see them playing at home against weak opposition.

Bayern Munich are away; Linfield are away; Rangers are playing Hearts; Glentoran are playing Crusaders; the top English teams are playing each other tomorrow!

One glimmer of hope is Porto but I'm not even sure I can be bothered with that! Schalke maybe? At 1-2 it is an option.

So - nothing happening today. Indeed, a look ahead to Sunday is almost as disappointing. Ajax face PSV for example. Only Real Madrid at home to Osasuna at 2-7 looks worthy of a Bookie Beater bet!

The Champions League

The Bookie Beater was disappointed at the weekend. AEK Athens was a let-down!

However, we can pick ourselves up again tonight with a punt on Valencia who face Rosenborg in the Champions League priced at 2/9.

I shan't be doubling up this bet as the remaining fixtures are not to my liking. However, I do play an online score-prediction game for Champions League matches. The scores I've gone for tonight are:

Shaktar 1-2 AC Milan
Celtic 2-0 Benfica
Olympiakos 1-0 Real Madrid
Lazio 1-1 Werder Bremen
Valencia 5-0 Rosenborg
Schalke 2-2 Chelsea
Liverpool 3-0 Besiktas
Porto 2-0 Marseille

It will be interesting to see how many of these I have got correct! I've managed to get 7 correct this season so far (out of 48 matches)!

Can The Good Week Continue?

Villareal, Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur all won on Wednesday and the £11 bet returned £22.10.

There are plenty of options for you Bookie Beaters today (Saturday). A lot of the big boys around Europe are playing at home and you could take your pick from:

• Spartak Moscow (@ 1/12)
  
• Bayern Munich (@ 2/11)
• Werder Bremen (@ 2/7)
• Rangers (@ 1/5)
• Glentoran (@ 2/9)
• Linfield (@ 2/5)
• Aston Villa (@ 4/9)
• Cliftonville (@ 3/10)
• Olympiakos (@ 1/4)
• Lillestrom (@ 2/9)
• Anderlecht (@ 2/7)
• Club Brugge (@ 1/3)
• AC Milan (@ 2/7)

This Bookie Beater, however, is going to split his bets. £14 on Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen and £16 on Rangers, Glentoran and Linfield.

If all goes well during the day, then some of the proceeds may go to Anderlecht.

Ghoulish Night Ahead?

It's Halloween - the night for ghosts, witches, wizards, zombies, etc. In other words - a scary night!

Hopefully the night won't be too scary though as the Bookie Beater is going for a treble! Even more astonishingly, the Bookie Beater is heading to Italy as well!

Inter Milan face Genoa and are priced at 1/4: Inter Milan are the only form team worth backing in Italy just now. They don't concede goals and should be too good for Genoa, but hey - this is Italy, so anything can happen.

Villareal face Levante and are priced at 1/4: Villareal ought to be too good for Levante and the Spanish Primera has been a reasonable hunting ground.

Tottenham Hotspur face Blackpool and are priced at 2/7: This is a strange one. It's the Carling Cup which I typically avoid as the decent teams only seem to field reserves in this fixture. However, Spurs have just appointed a new manager - Juan Ramos. Surely his hotshots will want to impress on his debut? Failure to beat Blackpool could mean a lot of the players will be leaving Spurs in the January transfer window!

The Paddy Power pot needs a £11 bet and this treble equates to a little over 2/1.

Happy Halloween.