It’s been a tepid week for me on the betting front, although I did have a small interest in a double on Bayern Munich and Chelsea in their respective cup games. Both obliged but it wasn’t until I looked at the Chelsea result that I know I would have been panicking a bit had I followed the match live.

Shevchenko not only scoring twice but also netting a 90th minute winner. SO close to another acca biting the dust. This is why I have advocated in the past laying short prices in an accumulator care of Betfair multiples and putting your bookies hat on instead of your punter’s. One team always manages to disappoint regardless of the shortness of the prices and the seeming inevitability of the result!

On the football front, and feedback suggests that www.thefootballmaestro.com, who provide free football tips, are making some users profits – and that’s what’s important. I didn’t like the fact that the selections are ridiculously obvious, but I guess not everyone has the time or inclination to research their bets without recourse to a tipster when it comes to football.

Personally, it’s not horse racing (you don’t say!)  - there’s no insider information or stable gambles, and there are free websites with all the information you’ll need to come up with an opinion of your own, based on personal knowledge (eg if the team you support are in league one you will have a far better grasp of that league) and the knowledge of free experts such as those found at www.racingpost.co.uk’s sports pages.

Even Jeff Stelling’s column in the Sun on Saturday is worth a second glance. He’s immersed in the beautiful game and his opinion is one I would trust ( and it’s 20p!)

SCAM ALERT

This may be a bit too late, but watch out for the Derek Thompson email that sells his lays – it has nothing to do with the Channel 4 presenter and is a scam. After I sent an email to the scamster telling him where to stick his selections ( an no it wasn’t tos tick them on his website!) I’ve stopped receiving them, but this is a numbers game and if he can sucker in as many victims as possible he will make a mint from associating himself with the TV Pundit.. Weekends are usually this scamster’s hunting ground and he normally asks for £49 upfront so please be ware of this and delete the email immediately or send him a nice email telling him that you would not like to participate in his scam.

More systems have passed my desk this week ( and boy is it a big desk – heaving under the weight of systems and offers) and one which interested me came from www.computapik.com  and recounted the story of how an elderly customer ofTony Levine’s had come up with a brilliant horse racing system which wins virtually every day. Oh no I thought, another website promising the earth, so I asked Tony, via email, if he’s be kind enough to pass on a copy so I can put it to the test, and a couple of days later a copy arrived. Top class service – augurs well. I must say that this system has a good feel about it and Tony Levine couldn’t be more accommodating – at last no fly by night chancer here promising ridiculous amounts per month GUARANTEED! (Heaven help us!)

The results stand up to inspection, and yes, although it may look at first glance that you seriously can’t produce that amount of winners so consistently, once you know it’s a stop at a winner system, then the results and claims become more realistic and realisable. 

At £39, this represents excellent value for money and although I know the future is not known and we cannot base future projected gains on past results, I remain hopeful for consistent returns. One niggle though – this system hasn’t been trialled, as far as I know, during the jumps season. Those ultra cautious souls out there may like to see, at least, November’s full results to determine whether the system can replicate results from the flat (no obstacles, no marathon distances, no heavy ground) onto the jumps ( obstacles, extreme distances, and more days with heavy and soft going!)

This hold true, really, for all systems – if they can’t show full results over a full racing year ,including both codes, then get suspicious, unless the sellers specify the systems are flat only or jumps only.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the blog – it’s an experiment to see if we can get some good winners using only the Racing Post’s betting forecast and Spotlight – ie NO form anaylsis what so ever. I must say I’ve been pleased with it, and in particular the each way selections. It’s totally free so have a look – you might get something out of it!

So a couple of things for you to look at this week. Happy punting and don’t forget to have a good look around www.laytheodds.com - it’s a free and excellent resource  and ,if you look hard enough, there’s some real nuggets!