11 on the trot

Kilkenny and Academica didn't put up much of a fight against the Bookie Beater selections last night. 5-1 and 4-1 defeats at the hands of Cork City and Sporting Lisbon means it's now 11 selections correct in a row for the Paddy Power Pot. It also means the pot now stands at £71.35 which is a 43% return since the start of the season - Bank Beating stuff!

Of course, one wrong bet could undo all the good work so far and this Saturday could prove quite tricky.

A £17 bet is required but there aren't many of the "big boys" playing at home this weekend. However, the £17 will go on Rangers this afternoon who face Falkirk at Ibrox.

A second bet may be placed on Dinamo Bucharest and AZ Alkmaar but that decision will rest on the result of the Rangers game.

Spain is Main if you're looking for a Gain!

Atletico Madrid put Vojvodina to the sword last night with a 3-0 home win which should book their place in the next round of the UEFA cup. It has been a good week in Spain with Valencia and Atletico both doing the necessary for the Paddy Power Pot.

Friday night normally means some Portuguese and Irish action and tonight is no different.

Cork City play hosts to Kilkenny and are priced at 1/5. Sporting Lisbon are priced at 1/4 for their match against Academica. The Paddy Power Pot demands a £15 bet and prices of 1/5 and 1/4 on a double will provide a £22.50 return.

The weekend sees a number of countries around Europe kick off their league season. Just as well because there aren't too many BookieBeater bets on the go. Rangers and AZ Alkmaar look the best of a bad bunch for now as most of the Big Boys are playing away from home!

An update on Saturday's betting strategy will appear after further analysis.

Back To Spain

Valencia won rather easily on Tuesday evening - 3-0. That has moved the Paddy Power pot up another notch which means there is now £15 available to be "invested" in the next set of matches.

Tonight sees many of Europe's middle ranking teams battle it out for a place in the next stage of the UEFA cup. Many of the big boys have been drawn away from home but there is one match that stands out as a Bookie Beater Bet: Atletico Madrid are priced at 1/7 against Vojvodina. They may be without Fernando Torres now, but Atletico should pack a big enough punch to win this match.

Low Odd Certainty?

Valencia may be priced at 1/7 for tonight's match against Elfsborg but a Champions League place is up for grabs and it would be difficult to imagine Valencia not making good use of their home advantage.

The Paddy Power Pot demands a £14 bet and that is what it is getting!

Super Saturday!

Linfield won
Glentoran won
Anderlecht won
Rangers won
Bayern Munich won
Stetaua Bucharest won
Shaktar Donetsk won
Standard Liege won

Glentoran and Linfield scored 11 goals between them so it was quite surprising to see odds offered of 4/11 and 1/3 respectively. Saturday pushed both the Paddy Power pot and the Sky Bet pot up by 10%. What bank can match those returns?

Today should be about putting money on Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. However, the Chelsea camp may not be a happy one just now and they are missing some key players. I'm avoiding that one. Arsenal take to the pitch without Thierry Henry who left the club in the summer for Barcelona. How will they cope? I'm not wagering any money on them while we wait to see! And Manchester United? They will win but I've already earned enough this weekend so I may just sit back and enjoy watching this game!

Big Weekend Ahead

The Sky Bet account got off to a steady start on Wednesday as Shaktar won their match against Pyunik which means another £12 bet this weekend can be placed.

Sky Bet take bets on Northern Irish matches which is great news for the Bookie Beater. Linfield and Glentoran have traditionally been very strong at home in this league and while it is not uncommon to see ridiculously short odds remember, a return is a return. 1/10 is a 10% return on your investment!

Today, the Sky Bet account sees its £12 go on Linfield at 1/3 and the money being doubled up on Anderlecht at 1/5. If the results go the Bookie Beater way, that £12 will grow to £19.20.

On the Paddy Power front, the Bookie Beater is attempting a treble! Bayern Munich at 1/6, Rangers at 1/6 and Glentoran at 4/11. The £9 bet should grow to £16.70 if all goes well.

WORD OF WARNING
The Bookie Beater experiment is in its third season and results have traditionally been difficult to determine in during August, September, March & April. Do newly promoted teams punch above their weight during these months? Possibly. No matter what the reason for the phenomenon, care must be taken over the coming weeks and even this Bookie Beater is slightly nervous about today's matches. After all, for many of the teams it is the first day of the new season!

We're Off Again

Today marks the beginning of a new Bookie Beater season - 2007-2008. This time round, the Paddy Power and Sky Bet pots will both start off with £50. Last season's profits have been locked in!

The Paddy Power pot is immediately being reduced by £12, however. Celtic v Kilmarnock @ 1/5 meets the Bookie Beater criteria and 25% of the pot (rounded down) has been placed.

There are some cracking ties coming up this week. There are plenty of Champions League qualifiers to be played with most of the home teams being clear favourites: Shaktar, Rosenborg, Steaua, Sparta Prague, etc. More analysis will follow but expect bets to be placed on Tuesday & Wednesday.

Next week, the Barclays Premiership gets underway and Chelsea & Manchester United should kick off their respective seasons with home wins. Bayern Munich should also ease to a win despite losing so many players over the summer.

Looking ahead... there's no doubt that the Bookie Beater will continue to back the big boys. Chelsea, Celtic, Manchester United, Barcelona, Lyon, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Linfield and Glentoran. Of course, that doesn't mean that I will be limited to these clubs!

Good luck for the season ahead.