Danny Willett comes from nowhere to win The 2016 Masters and the team at the Betting Emporium gave him away as a free tip when he was 66/1.
66/1.
You don’t see odds like that too often.
Unless you are a member of the Betting Emporium, the sports tipping site created by two of the UK’s finest poker exports Neil Channing and Joe Beevers.
The pair launched the site back in 2013. When thin slicing the pair my coin came down on the side of ‘trust them’. And so I did. I knew nothing about sports betting. I had always been a punter, a decision that once saw me dig a £30,000 hole in my life.
I took the ‘never again’ vow that so many punters make. I banned myself from all of my online betting accounts. Several years later, all it took was a letter telling each and every one of them that I was ‘cured’ and I was back in business.
The site started slowly. If memory serves me correctly, the only bets on the site at the time was Joe’s ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ system for Premier League games. I was staking £100 per bet. At the end of the day, I would diligently update my spreadsheet, and transfer money from bookmakers to my bank accounts.
But I was bored.
I needed more excitement.
It came in the form of horse racing.
Back when I had dug that £30,000 hole, I fell in love with horse racing. As a youngster, I was always intrigued by the blackened out windows of the bookies. I would wait outside while my Dad sneaked in and out. I remember billows of smoke pouring out of that room. It was like Narnia only it smelled bad.
Most of all I remember the Grand National. It was the only time I connected with my Dad, and the only time he ever gave us anything. He would spread the newspaper out over the kitchen table and ask us to pick a horse. I always remember picking Grease Paint. I never won a thing.
When I started gambling on the horses, it was the ultimate buzz regarding watching a sporting event with a cash incentive involved. I used to lay horses back then and bought a bot from a dodgy Slovakian guy so it would set my bets on the exchange while I went to work. I was winning and losing more in a day than I earned in a month.
I loved Channing’s Cheltenham write ups. I won a lot of money through Channing’s horse bets. I would sometimes pass these bets on to my Dad. I was trying to maintain that connection. None of them ever won.
Last week, after interviewing Channing, he gave me three tips for Cheltenham. I told my Dad. He told his mates. They all lost. On Friday, I was driving him to the airport when I asked him who he had bet on the National?
“No one yet, and don’t give me a tip from that friend of yours – he’s a muppet.” He said.
Over time, Channing and Beevers moved into other sports. American Football came first. Then one day they invited a lad onto the site to provide tips for the Masters. By this time, I was so involved in the process that I would fear missing out on a tip from the lads.
Up until this point, my bankroll management had been tight. I had rules. I needed them after the £30k debacle. I didn’t want to return to the hole. It was dark. It was cold. There was nobody else down there with me. Nobody understood the way.
The golf tipster recommended 17 different bets ranging from Phil Mickelson to be the best lefty, Vijay Singh to be the top senior, and Frederik Jacobson to be the top European. I bet every single one of them. I knew it was a mistake. I only had a £1,448.59 bankroll at that time, and by the end of the Masters I had £414.35. Every single bet lost. I pulled all my money out. I closed down all of my accounts. I had lost control.
I have learned a few things doing my bollock sports betting. The first is to be patient (something that I am not). There are no quick wins. You eek out your profit over the long term. You also have to be firm with your bankroll management and the rules that govern your success or failure in that area.
During a recent interview with Channing he told me:
“If you would have started with a £4k bankroll when Betting Emporium began, and you bet £10 a point on all bets – we don’t bet one point on selections, sometimes we might have a 50 point bet, but the average is 15 points, so average bet of £150 with a £4,000 bankroll – you would have £16,000.”
I bailed far too early.
This weekend, the Betting Emporium were once again going through the Masters card looking for value. They are professional. I am an amateur. And so I guess they don’t even remember those 17 straight losses like I do. To them, the emotion has to be set aside, so the work continues.
Richard ‘Tighty’ Prew, who offers tips on the Betting Emporium, had a look at the Masters. He picked out a free tip for all members of the site. He wanted people to back Danny Willett at 66/1, and he only went, and bloody won.
I kept thinking about the buzz of having a 66/1 bet, and how the drab and boring game of golf suddenly becomes more interesting to you than your greatest ever sporting events.
The money makes a difference.
It generates emotion that is otherwise hanging around in your bollocks somewhere wasting its life.
So head over to the Betting Emporium. See what the lads have to offer. Take some of the free tips. Take it easy. Talk to them about bankroll management strategies. Let your other half handle the money so your emotion doesn’t see you start reaching for the spade.
Who knows?
You could be on the end of a 66/1 winner.
