Follow The Money: Maybe not

Follow the Money / Follow The Money / 18 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

"Over to Ascot now where Maybe possibly looking like she’s a lay having drifted from [2.3] out to [3.05] in the 14:35 Chesham Stakes."

The Follow The Money crew tell us who's worth siding with and who's worth swerving ahead of today's action at Redcar, Ascot and Ayr.

Today's Follow The Money comes from the meetings at Ayr, Redcar and Ascot

We start up at Redcar where there has been solid money for Red Duke in the 14:15 Maiden Stakes. John Quinn's two year old colt has been backed from [2.58] into [2.04] in what looks the perfect race to open his account. This £140,000 purchase made a cracking start to his career in a conditions race at Pontefract, staying on late behind a useful Tom Dascombe filly and Caspar Netscher, who was an excellent third in the Windsor Castle on Tuesday. He is American-bred so is sure to relish the quick ground that Redcar has provided (after the rain the rest of Britain has received missed the course) and in a poor race this looks a great opportunity for him.

Over to Ascot now where Maybe possibly looking like she's a lay having drifted from [2.3] out to [3.05] in the 14:35 Chesham Stakes. Royal Ascot two year old races are notoriously hard to predict due to their competitiveness and despite Aiden O'Brien sounding quite bullish in the build up to the meeting about his charge, punters are looking elsewhere for value with a number of horses making just their second or third start. Furthermore, fillies don't have a great record in this race and there has to be some doubts over Maybe's ability to handle the ease in the ground.

Over to Ayr now where in the 17:50 there has been an eyecatching move for Staff Sergeant. This lightly raced 4 year old had been trading at [7.0] early on but is now available at [4.4]. There has been a fair amount of rain up at Ayr and Staff Sergeant's best handicap run came in a course and distance handicap with cut so the going and course look sure to suit. He also won his maiden at Southwell, which is a surface where the form tends to translate better for soft ground horses than the other all-weather tracks. His last start was a good fifth in an amateur ladies race at York, which are often muddling affairs, but did involve a higher class of horse. This looks the perfect race for Jim Goldie to add last night's hat-trick at the track.

Recommended Bets

Back Red Duke @ [2.04] Redcar 14:15
Lay Maybe @ [3.05] Ascot 14:35
Back Staff Sergeant @ [4.8] Ayr 17:50

That's all for today. If you're on the move this information is recorded on 0870 90 80 181

The Ascot markets on Betfair have seen plenty of fluctuations so far today. Here's what to read into the different price changes....

Welcome to Follow The Money, today's selection can be found at Ascot and Ripon....

Today's Follow the Money comes from Royal Ascot and Hamilton....

Betfair website

Blom, or Maybe The RNG, Crushes Palmer

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 12 April 2011 / Leave a Comment

Scott "urnotindangr" Palmer

There is a saying in poker that goes along the lines of "it's better to be lucky than good," though it is usually used in a negative tone against someone who has just sucked out on you, in my case anyway. So what happens when a poker player is 1.) Good and 2.) Getting very lucky? A complete demolition that is what occurs!

Sunday 3 April saw Viktor "Isildur1" Blom take on fellow high stakes pro Scott "urnotindangr" Palmer in the latest instalment of the SuperStar Challenge. For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past couple of months the SuperStar Challenge sees a player take on Blom over 2,500 hands of no limit Hold'em or pot limit Omaha over four heads-up tables with blinds of $50/$100. In the 2,500 hands played on April 3, Palmer found himself in front to the tune of $5,425, a lead he took in this latest battle.

Within the first five minutes there was an all in encounter and it showed just how this particular match was going to go. A raise to $300 from Palmer was met with a three-bet to $1,000 from Blom and a call from Palmer. The flop came down Ks-Ac-Kh and Blom fired a bet of $1,200, a bet that Palmer opted to call. The Tc on the turn did not slow Blom down and he bet again, this time $2,650 and again Palmer called. The river brought the Qs into play and Blom moved all in for his remaining $5,950 and Palmer snap-called with his QdJs as he had turned the nut straight but Blom tabled AsKd for a flopped full house. First blood to Blom.

From this point on Blom continued to run hotter than the sun, including winning another stack from Palmer when he held Ad9h against Kc9s on a cooler board reading Ah-Kh-9c-5c then winning an all in preflop match-up with AhKh against Palmer's pocket nines before a disgusting hand that saw Blom all in preflop with Ad9s against the ThTd of Palmer, only to see the Swede go runner-runner on a 7s-2d-8s-6d-5d board! Ouch.

By the time they had played 700 hands Blom was in the lead by almost $45,000 though Palmer still fought back valiantly and was doing everything in his power to keep the enigmatic Blom in his sights but sometimes you just have to accept it is not your day, put it down to experience and try again some other time. Palmer had seemed destined to lose all evening and the biggest pot of the night, coming just a couple of hundred hands away from the allocated 2,500, emphasised this.

Palmer opened with a $300 bet whilst holding QdJc and then called when Blom three-bet to $1,100. The flop came down 8d-Qh-Ad and Blom kept up his trademark aggression with a $1,300 bet. Palmer elected to call and the online poker Goliath's saw the Qc fall on the turn. Blom bet larger this time, $3,150 was the total and this time Palmer sprung into action and made it $8,000 to play. Blom then made a strange re-raise to $12,850 and Palmer called. The river was the 2h and Blom bet the $8,250 that he had left in his stack and Palmer called with his trip queens only to see the $47,000 pot slide towards Blom as he held AhhQs and had turned another full house!

By the time the 2,500 hands had been played, Blom had profit of $66,607 in front of him, meaning he had won Palmer by $61,182 overall. He has so far beating the likes of Daniel Cates, Eugene Katchalov, Isaac Haxton, Tony G and Daniel Negreanu. Surely it can't all be down to simply running good.

Fancy taking part in some high stakes action yourself or are you more accustomed to micro-stakes? How ever high or low you play Betfair Poker has a game for you. Join Betfair Poker Now!

Doyle Brunson is a living legend. The 77-year old Texan is synonymous with the game of no limit Hold'em and has played at the very highest level for more than 50 years, but could he be ready to make a...

For many years there have been thousands of arguments over which players are better at poker, those who play cash games or those who participate in various tournament formats. No firm conclusion has ever been drawn, nor is it ever...

Ben Wilinofsky is an accomplished online poker tournament player with over one million dollars in cashes in his career so far but like many online poker pros, he had struggled to make an impact on the live tournament circuit. Notice...

Betfair website