Sky Snooker Shootout

So where was I? Oh yeah, Sunday was a good day wasn't it? In fact, Sunday was my best days gambling for a very long time. The only way it could have been any better is if a naked Kelly Brook had been led on my bed pressing the back and lay buttons for me whilst I was tenderly caressing her shapely bits.

Having already backed the Manchester double at 4/1, I woke up even more confident that City were good things at home to Spurs, and loaded up the gun at 1.9 on Betfair. After firing enough ammo at this my mate Neal very generously offered me a further £20 at evens, the biggest price anywhere in the world, so I took that as well.

The game went perfectly, as I laid City in running at 1.38 at 1-0, 1.06 at 2-0, and then kept laying the draw at prices from 2.0-1.6 between the 70 and 80 minute mark. The last second penalty was the icing on the cake and led to a huge payout, not to mention almost certainly leaving my mate in a fit of seething anger.

As well as the bonus of the double to come if United could beat my team, I'd had a large bet on both teams to score at 4/6. For most of the game these two bets were conflicting against each other, but as soon as Arsenal scored, the increasingly hapless Wenger totally changed the momentum of the game by bringing off the highly promising Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and replacing him with the highly disinterested Andrei Arshavin. In Arsene we rust.

An evening NFL double was landed with the Giants winning and unders in the Baltimore-New England game, and a sloppy last minute back of overs in the late game was the only blemish to an otherwise perfect day. For what it's worth I think the Patriots are good things for the Superbowl and will be all over the -3 handicap between now and game time.

This weekend sees the Sky Snooker Shootout. Gutted that I'm working all weekend and will therefore see none of it at all as last years inaugural event was one of my sporting highlights of the year. Some of the snooker purists and officianados I follow on twitter will no doubt talk down about the event, much preferring a best of 35 frame with no shot clock format.

As last years semi finalists proved, picking a winner of this event is nigh on impossible, but that won't stop me trying. I've had three bets, the biggest of which is Judd Trump, at a standout 18/1 with Ladbrokes. This format should hold no fears for the cool and confident Bristolian, and he's surely in with a great chance of going deep.

I've also gone for a couple of smaller bets on Ricky Walden at 50/1, and Alfie Burden at 100/1. Walden has been on the verge of the top 16 for a while, and obviously enjoys this format, losing 130-0 in the first round last year. Young Burden went down in my notepad in this event last year as a possible future winner, the event looks right up his street.

The fact of the matter is though you could have fifty bets and still not be guaranteed to pick the winner, that's what makes the event must watch TV.

I must give a shout out to my good mate Dave, the captain of our Winter Darts team who's currently living the dream (not to mention earning a fortune) by living and working in New York City. But he hasn't forgotten his roots, and here's hoping his NY darts team "Beer Parabola" can take down this prestigious tournament http://nydo.com/html/MonDivCf11.htm

Oh and don't forget to lay the draw in the England v Pakistan test at just above evens. Modern day test players have no idea how to play five days worth of cricket anymore.