Posted in Have I Goth News For You!, Sportsbook | Click here to comment »

Well we’re down to the final day of the Irish Masters (main event at the Irish Winter Festival)

You can watch a live stream of this event by clicking on the link at the top of the poker blog. and get live updates and play in our online winter fest (that has lots of freerolls)

Posted in Sportsbook | Click here to comment »

A small snippet from the world of Australian racing.

 
Thanks to Martin Palermo’s last minute goal against Peru on Saturday night, Diego Maradona will have one more throw of the World Cup dice when Argentina take on Uruguay. The Czech Republic are in a equally desperate situation and are relying on San Marino to beat Slovenia to ensure their progress to South Africa. Resorting to new lows, even for a tabloid, Czech newspaper Blesk have offered the San Marino players 1 million Koruna which is about 38,000 Euros if they can win. “We will do the maximum for a win but our biggest problem is that we rarely score a goal,” captain Andy Selva offered.
 
Few things in this life come for free unless you’re John O’Donoghue or Jacqui Smith’s husband, so I’ll forgive Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti for savouring every moment of the lap dance he got on Italian TV show Chiambretti Night. Jose Mourinho and Capello have also been saluted in this way, but unfortunately there are no plans to invite Steve Staunton or Jim Fallon onto the show.
 
Ladies man Sven Goran Eriksson is reportedly interested in North Korean women and, while he’s over there, he might manage their international team. Allegedly Kim Jung Il is financing the deal by selling his porn collection and abandoning their nuclear armaments programme. That’s about as politically active as I get. Notts County deny that he can do the job on a part-time basis while the man who got Sampdoria relegated and brought Nottingham Forest close to financial ruin is allegedly Ian McParland’s successor. It’s not Guy of Gisborne, it’s David Platt.
 
FIFA’s new rules will hopefully help Wales stop being so crap. It still wouldn’t allow Frenchman Tony Cascarino qualify to play for Ireland though.

 
Steve Borthwick can see – metaphorically at the moment – the funny side to Olivier Azam’s attempt to turn him into rugby’s Ray Charles [Watch it!!]. Gloucester had the audacity to appeal the 12 week ban which was turned down yesterday while Jeremy Guscott believed it was accidental. Anyway, it’s all fun and games till someone loses an eye, then it’s still fun and games. “As the doctor shone a pen torch in my eye, he suddenly cried out, “It is broken!” the Saracen’s player said, “I asked if he meant there was something seriously wrong with my eye and he said, “No, the pen torch has run out of batteries”.’
 
David Haye’s preparations for his fight with WBC Heavyweight Champion Dimitry Bumpovski Nikolay Valuev are going well. He’s not spending much time in the gym apart from knocking the head off a cardboard cut out of his opponent.
 
Ding, ding – round 2. Padraig Harrington and Thomas Bjorn’s public spat over whether senior Tour members should be obliged to play a minimum amount of events has reared its head at the Portugal Masters. Euro Tour CEO George O’Grady, possibly upset at Barack Obama’s unmerited Nobel Prize win, will attempt to broker a peace deal between the stubborn golfers.
 
The line judge who Serena Williams told to ‘shove a ball down her throat’ is mysteriously missing in action. Colleagues think the potential of a repeat performance at the WTA Tour Championships led to her absence. Who isn’t scared him? I mean her.
 
Despite attacking a camera and a tree at last year’s Australian Open, John Daly is going back for a second bite at the cherry down under.

Posted in Being An Idiot, Football, Golf, Have I Goth News For You!, Horse Racing Tips, Rugby, Sportsbook | 3 Comments »

John Oxx has made the right decision – and, even if you disagree, it doesn’t affect our customers as we’ve refunded bets on Sea The Stars to win the Breeders’ Cup!

Retiring Sea The Stars at the height of his powers with nothing to prove is the correct decision. Many will argue it’s the coward’s way out. Cynics will say, “oh, he doesn’t want to have a George Washington on his hands” or another Rock of Gibraltar. As has been Oxx’s approach throughout the season, the horse’s best interests have been to the fore. Accordingly, it was the trainer’s decision - not the owners - who decided against a trip to Santa Anita. Yes, it protects his stud value – the colt’s, not Mr Oxx’s - it isn’t the main reason. He has nothing to gain from the trip.

Perhaps prematurely, the experts waded in on the debate about the six-time group one winner’s greatness following his Arc win. Some have even assessed him on that victory in Longchamp alone. On ratings some cited the mighty Sea-Bird as the marker for all things brilliant - which is fair enough. On race-record, though, the Guineas, Derby and Arc treble had never been achieved. Racing aficionados, however, have missed the proverbial boat with punters on this great Champion and have been swallowed up by all their own hackneyed rhetoric – the good and the bad. Sea The Stars is, quite simply, a hero and history will award him the tag of legend. No one else.

The Cape Cross colt may not have captured the imagination of the public like jumping greats such as Desert Orchid or Istabraq, but he was certainly loved by those who appreciate his wonderful ability – even those who opposed him through their pockets. Walking tall after the Guineas victory, Stevie Wonder could see he was a champion in the making. The steely, determined three year old has spectacularly delivered on his early promise and beaten all comers.

Some argue he’s beaten nothing, but he can only defeat what’s put in front of him. Gauging equine brilliance seems to be based on the manner of victories as opposed to its merits. This is wrong. Barcelona outplaying Man Utd to win Champions League 2 - 0 is surely more impressive than a 6 – 2 victory over Real Madrid in La Liga? Isn’t it? Some even have the temerity to say STS doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Nijinsky, Shergar or Dancing Brave. He’s deserving of equal acclaim. He’s my Nijinsky. My Secretariat. His unique Triple Crown, I can assure you, will never be repeated.

Posted in Horse Racing Tips, Racing, Sportsbook | 15 Comments »

Warning: No midgets were harmed in the making of this post.
 
There mustn’t be any mirrors in Stephen Hunt’s house. The Irish International resorted to childish, Cartoon Vampire-esque jibes following Eamon Dunphy’s criticism on RTE on Saturday night. Branding the pundit “a skinny little rat”, the thin-skinned Hull winger and Antironaldo wasn’t happy after he and his team-mates were slated.
 
Ian McParland’s inability to keep Notts County within four points of League Two leaders is the main reason for his sacking from Notts County.
 
Bayern Munich coach Louis Van Gaal is looking for a job as a tabloid journalist. He says Manchester United offered him a job – yesh, azh the cleaner.

Stephen Ferris isn’t happy with Paddy Power. “I saw in the paper the bookies had us at 100/1 to win the Heineken Cup. That really annoyed me.” In response to their victory over Bath and the fact Paddy couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag; those previously quoted figures for Ulster have been reduced by 50%. He shouldn’t come looking for the boss now.
 
In more Dutch Beer Cup news, Leinster flanker Shane Jennings took a leaf out of Alan Quinlan’s book and courtesly tried to clean some dirt out of Mick Kennedy’s eye when the pair met on Friday night. The London Irish player didn’t ‘get into the sprit of rugby’ and reported the Irishman to the authorities after the game.
 

You can’t buy success – unless you’re an oil rich Arab. Not content with purchasing 2010 Guineas favourite Kingsfort, Sheikh Mohammed has bought the horse that finished second to him in the National Stakes just to be on the safe side. Chabal will run in the Godolphin colours with trainer Saeed Bin Suroor after the Dewhurst. It doesn’t make much difference to the betting though.
 
It’s not every day we have two snippets of racing action, so today should be considered momentous. At a recent PP think-in there was talk of another politically incorrect midget advertising campaign. While ‘Midget Tossing’ was given the auld heave-ho more for its smutty connotations, some bright sparks have come with midget racing. Needless to say people who aren’t midgets are getting offended by the ‘Midget Cup’ and calling for people to be hung, drawn and quartered. Harsh.
 

 
Des Lynam takes one small step and one giant leap for Deskind. Despite some great content on the web… among other things like me, the former BBC presenter doesn’t like the internet.
 
How do you know when UFC has gone completely mainstream - a guest appearance on The Simpsons and, to a lesser extent, Chuck Liddell on Dancing with the Stars. Playboy centrefold Marge Simpson quickly becomes the ‘Great Wife Hope’ and opens a few cans of wupass. I’m down with the hips kids.
 
The Guardian pisses off Steve Bunce!! His boxing hour on Setanta has been sadly missed since the Irish broadcaster’s operation went tits up in the UK, but 1585 people are determined to bring him back to our television screens.
 
Klitchsko-dodger David Haye will be up against it when he faces Nikolay Valuev but not for the reasons you might suspect. “I’ve never been a big fan of the matted hair in my face. The size I am, I sort of come up to his chest and apparently the word around the campfire is that he doesn’t smell too sweet.”
 
Until recently, there were few golfers who could be labelled golf’s “current John Daly” but, whether it be true or not, Robert Allenby is tarnishing Anthony Kim with it. According the Australian, the young golfer crab walked his way back to his room at 4am on Sunday morning before the final round of the Presidents Cup; five hours before the pair met in the singles match. Allenby lost 5&3, that’s how bad he is. Here have some more sour grapes.

Posted in Have I Goth News For You!, Sportsbook | 1 Comment »

Super cool showbiz King Paul Martin swung by the office (on his way back from Xposé no less!) to give us his opinion and tips on this year’s X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing’s lineup and more importantly to show us those famous MJ moves! Shamone!

And we happen to think he looks like our good pal snooker ace Ronnie O’Sullivan from the side too (jeez there’s something for everyone in our showbiz vid!)

Check it out!
(more…)

Posted in Novelty, Sportsbook | 1 Comment »

Dunne And Dumber
Richard Dunne grabbing a goal is nothing new, but doing at the right end was a welcome departure from the norm. His goal in the 1-1 draw, could have inspired a 90 yard and slide in front of his former fans, but it says a lot about what Man City have let go that his celebrations were considerably more muted.

The Dunne case is an example of what will undermine the revolution at Man City. For the last few years he was the best player at the club and even though expectations may have risen, he was still worthy of his place in the team. Signing Lescott – who’s goals hide the fact he’s often a liability in defence – and Toure was very much trading sideways and letting Dunne go was a mistake. Just because you’re spending money, doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to end up with a better player than you started out with.

Good central defenders are like an anorexic slumber party – thin on the ground. Dunne’s knack of sticking the ball in the wrong net may have hurt his image, but all top class central defenders have had moments they’d rather forget. For all the praise the ‘unsung hero’ gets, Nemanja Vidic has racked up a reasonable collection of howlers during his time covering up Rio Ferdinand’s inadequacies. Throughout European football, there are very few central defenders you’d have a huge amount of faith in. Dunne might not have been the very best, but he wasn’t as far off as Mark Hughes might have thought. Great bit of business by Martin O’Neill.

In Football News, Rather Than Football Rants:
- Don’t blame George Gillet for Liverpool’s stuttering start to the season. Blame it on sub-prime mortgages and Wall Street. And Rafa Benitez. Yeah actually, blame it all on Rafa Benitez, that won’t cause any problems.
 
- I wasn’t aware that a move to a club where you’re not going to win the Champions League was illegal. It’s stupid, but not illegal.
 
- It’s clearly a slow news day so here’s a headed goal from just outside the centre circle.
 
- Cheer up Ben Foster. You could be this bad. Same mistake – two minutes apart. Pt 1. Pt 2.
 

A Freaky Story And Other Stuff
- Ted Williams is a baseball legend and a decorated war hero. He also believed that one day science would advance to a point where he and the deceased members of his family could be reanimated from a frozen state and reunited. Not so impressed now, are ya?
When Williams died in 2002, his body was frozen. What followed was several years of legal wrangling over the ‘agreement’ – which was written on a napkin and alleged to have been filled in after Williams had signed the then blank napkin as a practice autograph. Now a judge in New York has decided there’s nothing wrong with the publishing of a book alleging that Williams’ decapitated head was used as a baseball by a technician swinging a monkey wrench. That was a long story, but one that I think was worth telling.
 
- Buoyed by his remarkable victory in the US Open, Juan Martin Del Potro is on top of the world and unbeatable. Em … no, not quite.
 
- No Grand Slam titles + not playing well = you shouldn’t be world number 1. That seems fair enough and Dinara Safina is on the verge of finding out it makes sense after an early exit in China.

Posted in Have I Goth News For You!, Sportsbook | 6 Comments »

The fellas in china town insisted we have a dragon dance at the launch of our new shop. It’s on Gerrard Street in London’s China Town - drop by if you’re in the area - free bets for all dragons.

Posted in Sportsbook | 1 Comment »

 
Yorkey, He’s Not For Girls
“Until now he has maintained a dignified silence.” ‘Now, we’ve paid him a shed load of money for that dignity’, the News of the World didn’t feel they had to add. After getting a sneak peak of Dwight Yorke’s autobiography in the NOTW on Sunday, I won’t be running out to buy it when it goes on sale. Unless I’m stuck for some toilet paper. While winning the Champions League would be interesting, the chapter on ‘How I nailed Jordan’ is the USP for of this particular crappy life story. Among some of the more explosive revelations, Roy Keane told the Trinidadian to “go f*** himself” when the Corkman walked out on Sunderland. I’d advise you no to click the link.

And they call themselves commentators. RTE’s Jimmy Magee and Dave ‘Boy’ McAuley somehow missed the punch that put Bernard Dunne on his backside for the first time against Poonsawat RedBullGym. At least they kept us entertained during the 7 and half minutes; Jimmy offering this unhelpful nugget of advice to the Dublin boxer before his eventual demise, “Deliver the milk and go to the next house.” No wonder the Irishman lost, he thought he was delivering milk, not pain.
 
More boxing….In the same way the Andy Murray is British when winning at Wimbledon and Scottish when losing, Birmingham-born Matthew Macklin is an Irish European Champion because he played minor hurling for Tipperary. He knows how to deliver some pain – (roughly 1.40mins, what a punch)

After scoring three goals against a Hull defence that included Paul McShane, Rafa Benitez reckons Fernando Torres is worth “at least £70 million” but can “do a lot better” for Liverpool. Jermaine Pennant reckons high expectations meant he never fulfilled his potential at Anfield. “Sometimes I just wanted to play my natural game, but there were so many instructions: how to go forward, how to defend. He has been through so many players, so many strikers, so many midfielders that he takes the best attributes out of them.”
 
Ok, we all know Scottish football isn’t very good, but Paddy McCourt had his own Messi/Maradonna moment when he rounded six players to score for Celtic against.. er.. St Mirren – but that’s not important.
 
Speaking of goalscorers, Notts County have signed an £11 million striker. Before any County fans get too excited that striker is travelling man Ade Akinbiyi and the £11 million is the combined fees that all the clubs he’s played for have paid for him over his career. About £20 per club so.
 
In the absence of genuine weird and whacky news, Kevin Nolan scored a hat-trick for Newcastle against Ipswich. In Roy Keane’s world, when it rains, it pours.

Bernie Ecclestone has stood up for – we assume with the aid of a butter box - pal Flavio Briatore, claiming the Italian’s ban from Formula One for cheating was “unnecessary”. In other rich, fat Italian news, it’s been revealed the QPR owner ordered substitutions via his mobile during some Championship matches … while in Singapore. He reportedly ordered that Liam Miller be taken off in a match. Sounds like he knows what he’s doing.

Despite Andrew Strauss owing a lot to South Africa – ehem… Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott – the England captain wasn’t doing the Proteas any favours during their comprehensive victory in the ICC Champions Trophy. Having earned plaudits for his sportsmanship in recalling Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka after being run out, Strauss denied Graeme Smith a runner when he suffered from cramp. “The world is round and it is going to come back again at some point of his captaincy,” said an angry Smith.

It’s only a matter of time before Terrell Owen loses it but sides usually get one decent season out of him before he starts mouthing off and throwing hissy fits. After failing to catch the ball even once in Buffalo’s defeat to New Orleans, TO repeated the explanation “I’m just going with the plays that are called.” five times in the post game interviews. Does anyone else feel a “If TO doesn’’t get the ball then TO can’t make magic happen” type rant coming on? He then responded to Rodney Harrison’s accurate summation of the talented but pie-in-the-face loving receiver as a clown by making some none too veiled suggestions that Harrison uses steroids. “Is tht Y u used steroids b/c u were worried about ur stats or ws it b/c u were losing it? Lol! U’re a loser & a cheater? Got any steroid …” Twittered TO, who was in such a rage he forgot to use spell checker.
 
In other NFL news, Michael Vick still isn’t the dog’s proverbials.

Posted in Sportsbook | Click here to comment »

Oh what an unfortunate ending. I’d just witnessed an afternoon of excellent football and then one unsavoury incident happens to ruin it all. It wasn’t Craig Bellamy’s run-in with a pitch-invading fan; the event in question came along towards the end of the Chelsea v Spurs game. Martin Tyler chirped “it’s on days like these that we make no apologies for calling it Super Sunday.” Andy Gray said something that sounded like he agreed with his co-commentator and then there was the sound of something else in the background. Let’s hope it was back-slapping as opposed to pants dropping. It was a little too hubristic for what was one and a half good games of football.
 
Winners keep going until the end. Man Utd weren’t to blame, the horrific officiating that has come to so define this season was. Leopards and spots sprung to mind after Craig Bellamy’s antics at the end of the Manchester Derby, thus marring his excellent two goals. Allegedly he told the stewards, “Hold him there, I’ve got the golf clubs in the boot of the car.” Comparisons to Brian Clough are accurate though, both misplaced their marbles well before confrontations with over-zealous moronic football fans. In other greatest Man U Derby ever news, Gary Neville should be handed some pom-poms if he wants to run up and down the Old Trafford sideline like a ‘lunatic’.
 
Stiliyan Petrov has thrown his hat into the Nobel Peace Prize ring following his attempt to bring Martin O’Neill and Nigel Reo-Coker together for a reconciliation dinner. “Nobody wants to be in this situation. Nigel knows what he has done, the manager knows as well and we are trying to help the boss get things right.”
 
Tony Cascarino, otherwise known as the pot, calls David Nugent, the kettle in this instance, black. “He’s not bad in the air, but not especially quick and his technique is average.” We’re not sure if Cas was describing himself or the Burnley striker, but either way, the Frenchman is blowing smoke up the Times’ readership’s asses – and getting paid for it.
 
When it rains it pours for Diego Maradona. World Cup qualification is in doubt for the Argentina manager and Giovanni Giustizia have seized earrings belonging to him in an effort to recover unpaid taxes from his playing days at Napoli.

While I’d love to point to the ‘you can’t touch the Gooch’ rule referee Marty Duffy made up in the All-Ireland Final as the reason for Cork’s downfall, Kerry were by far the better team. They’ll be labelled with the pointless ‘team of the decade’ moniker but some would argue they never beat Tyrone when it mattered. And I concur for the sake of annoying some Kerrymen.
 
Mickey Rourke doing a bit of hell raising is nothing new, but having an impact on the Super League is.
 
When you’re name is Gay and you’re born in the Christian heartland of America’s Midwest, I’m guessing you probably have to do a lot of running from around the time you start school. Luckily it’s paid off for Tyson Gay – kind of. He is now officially the second fastest man on the planet and will probably stay that way until Usain Bolt retires. As Buzz Aldrin once said, “second comes right after first.”
 
Oh, the irony. With Hunter Hearst Helmsley at his back, there was an element of WWF pantomime about Floyd Mayweather being confronted by Shane Mosley following his walk in the park against Juan Manuel Marquez. Since the good people at Yotobe don’t want to get sued, we haven’t got the video, but Mosley - backed up Bernard Hopkins – challenged Mayweather to a fight. Not surprisingly, Mayweather shirked away from the potentially tough opponent to probably fight someone 20lbs lighter than him again. Manny Pacquiao, perhaps?
 
“If I’m fit I’ll play in the matches if the captain or the coach really, really wants me to play.” Andy Murray sounds like he loves playing Davis Cup tennis. Now that Great Britain have been relegated Europe/Africa Zone Group II, the captain/coach’s persuasion skills better be up to scratch.
 
Without scandals in Formula One, the boring sport would surely die. Thanks to whistle blower Nelson Piquet, former Renault chief Flavio Briatore could face a life time ban from motorsport due to his involvement in the unoriginally named ‘Crashgate.’ It’s not all bad news – he’s still minted and is free to walk around semi-naked with his 29 year old wife.
 
Wasps and England International Paul Sackey almost quit rugby, I assume from just reading the headline, because the winger didn’t like people mocking his hair. In other egg-chasing news, Jonny Wilkinson has played his first match for Toulon. Due to the inevitable injury he’ll get in the next couple of weeks, 55,000 turned up to savour the moment.
 
My Italian ain’t great; Giovanni Giustizia is supposed to be John Law

Posted in Sportsbook | 3 Comments »