Today's WC Games
Group E is still wide-open for teams to advance to the knock-out stage, which should make for better games than the somewhat disappointing 0-0 between Argentina & Holland last night. Czech Republic v Italy will be an interesting match-up, we may well see another draw, but only because what the Czech's lack in defense they make up for in attack, and vise-versa for Italy. With Baros back for Czech Republic he could be the man to cause a stir today. I'm going out on a limb and plumbing for a 2-2 draw, with Italy twice coming from behind to equalize. The other game in Group E between Ghana and the USA should finally see the States picking up 3 points. Ghana have looked a much better side than pre-tournament talk suggested, but with their 2 goalscorers from the last game suspended I think the weakness will show and the US will win by one goal. USA have their own suspension problems in Mastroeni & Pope, but that could be a blessing in disguise, Pope has been error-prone so far this tournament and someone else (Conrad ?) will get a chance to shine in his stead. USA win 1-0. Group F tonight will see Brazil - Japan and Coatia v Australia. CRO v AUS is the pick of those two, as they can each still qualify with a win. I think the Socceroos have enough to get through but the Croats will not lie down easily.
World Cup & Royal Ascot
I'm still suffering a bit from jet-lag, but the world cup is keeping me in a bouyant mood, especially with a few bets coming up trumps. I'd already picked Ecuador to be the surprise package of this world cup, and placed a bet before leaving for Vegas that they would win their first match and also qualify from the group along with Germany. Today Ecuador face the Germans at 15:00 BST, whilst at the same time Poland will play Costa Rica. They both look like draws to me, with the first being a score draw like 2-2 and the second more like 0-0. At 20:00 BST it's the final games in Group B, Sweden v England and Paraguay v Trinidad & Tobago. Obviously I'm supporting England in the first, and will have a small bet on a 3-1 England victory, but again they look like similar match-ups so perhaps a 4-draw accumulator could be a good bet of the day. Last night I went round to see how Twister was recovering from the jet-lag and we watched the Spain v Tunisia game. Tunisia took a one goal lead in the 8th minute, just seconds after we discussed having a bet on them being first to score but Spain to win the match. At half-time it started pouring with rain and Spain made some good subs, we decided you had to fancy them to cope better with the conditions and be the better side second-half so put £20 on them to win at 3.3 to 1. Spain were all guns blazing and looked certain to score after some good chances and spills from the goalkeeper, finally in the 72nd minute Raul pounced on a spilled save by the goalkeeper and tapped in the equalizer, 4 minutes later Torres rounded the keeper to finish and give the lead to Spain and on the 90th minute Torres converted a pen to make the final score 3-1. Good to see Spain cope with going a goal behind early and great to see Torres spicing up at just the right time, I picked him for a good outside top goalscorer bet before the tournament and got him at 36-1, now on 3 goals he is leading the scoring charts and the odds have dropped to 4.5 - 1. There's still plenty of play left of course and several players on 2 goals but if Spain can progress to the Semi-Finals I still think there's a very good chance he'll take the Golden Boot, especially when you consider he could easily have had a hat-trick last night. The other betting news is that the Royal Ascot meet begins this afternoon, with the 15:10 race being the pick of todays bunch. Takeover Target is a very strong contender and Glamour Puss has a good market for a place. Good Luck !
Vegas baby !
I'm back from Vegas and completely exhausted… the jet-lag is just about wearing off now and I'm back in work and trying hard not to get too deep into corporate mumbo-jumbo too quickly. Unfortunately for the few of you who read this blog, a lot of what happens in vegas has to stay there else we might incriminate ourselves, but lets just say there were raises and reraises, chuck-ups and fuck-ups, all on-red, all on-black and all-ins, conversations with hookers, strippers and drunken lawyers, double 00's and double shots, trifecta's, superfecta's and world cup 'soccer' matches. It was a cracking week. I would have stayed if I had a green card and more bottle. Playing poker at the Mirage was the biggest highlight for me, playing roulette at 5am while blind-drunk was another. I'm sure I'll recount more when I'm less tired and my reflective is head is back on straight, damn I love that place, I've already started looking at flight prices for the return trip, hopefully I can go 3 trips for 3 years. I basically won enough to cover the flights & hotels, though I dumped a lot of that our final night, when we were out till 6am and we checked out of the hotel at 10. More to follow in a little while, for now it's back to the grind of work and internet poker ! Hope y'all had a great week.
48 hours to Vegas !
48 hours ago I was on a four hour flight home from Madeira with my family, 48 hours from now I'll be on an eleven hour flight with my friends to Las Vegas. Despite the dent to my bank account, I'm in heaven right now. Last week was amazing, next week will be amazing, and the best part is that I have no post-holiday blues in between :o) The only hard part is going to be getting up in time to watch World Cup matches which start at 6am, oh well it's a small price to play, guess we'll end up with some strange sleeping patterns and a couple of all-nighters during the week. Excited about the stay at the Mirage, enjoying their pool & poker room. Excited about the Caesars' tourneys that I've heard so much about. Life is good and scheduled to get better. With a bit of luck I may even bumb into a blogger or two, though I probably wouldn't know it even if I did. As I've been away all week I haven't played any poker at all, though just before I left I had a decent 10 days and boosted the balance by an extra $1000 at the .50/1 and 1/2 NL tables. I should be fierce, fresh and fiesty by the time we hit the tables in LV. Oh and of course I mustn't forget that 24 hours after I arrive home, jet-lagged and hopefully a penny or two richer, it's the PokerStars Blogger Freeroll. See you all there :o)
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