That said, one or two really did stand out but that could also have been because the ‘talent’ they were up against was so horrific that my ears are still bleeding which of course makes them look like the next Whitney or Celine when in fact they could be just quite good – it’s all relative people!

So who are the bookies, specifically Paddy Power, favouring at this very early stage….

Gamu Nhengu (sang her own version of Walking on Sunshine) is tipping the polls at 9/1
Katie Waissel (thinks she’s Madonna and wants to be love child of Etta James and Freddie Mercury!!!) is in second place at 16/1
Lynn Frances O’Neil (Scottish girl with fabulous voice) is in third on 25/1

Of course these odds will change and more will get added as each show progresses but they’re not bad odds is you really fancy one of them win!

But out to beat them all is No.1 seed Rafael Nadal who looks set to win the only Grand Slam title to have eluded him. Novak Djokovic is seeded third, with Sweden’s Robin Soderling ranked fifth while US hopes are resting on ninth seed Andy Roddick, while John Isner, Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey are also seeded.

The top seeds for the Open are: 1 Rafael Nadal, 2 Roger Federer, 3 Novak Djokovic, 4 Andy Murray, 5 Robin Soderling, 6 Nikolay Davydenko, 7 Tomas Berdych, 8 Fernando Verdasco, 9 Andy Roddick, 10 David Ferrer, 11 Marin Cilic, 12 Mikhail Youzhny, 13 Jurgen Melzer, 14 Nicolas Almagro, 15 Ivan Ljubicic, 16 Marcos Baghdatis, 17 Gael Monfils, 18 John Isner, 19 Mardy Fish and 20 Sam Querrey.

Nadal may be gunning for the title but the bookies certainly don’t see it that way with favourite Federer nearly odds on to win it! The US Open begins in Flushing Meadows, New York on August 30th 2010.

They used their methods all over the world over a number of years, earning themselves millions of dollars and weren’t doing anything illegal – Blackjack is one of the few games that you can play at the casino that you can beat the table through skill rather just plain luck. Casinos have of course altered their rules of play over the years to counteract the most popular card-counting techniques.

MIT first took a serious interest in blackjack when they ran a course called ‘How to Gamble if you must’ which was attended by students from one of their campus dorms Conner 3, who already had quite an interest in blackjack. Following the course the group were excited about what they had learned and decided to take a trip to Atlantic City in the spring of 1979.

All bar two of the group went their separate ways following graduation – JP Massar and Jonathan, both of whom remained in MA. They got together with a professional blackjack player and an investor and went to Atlantic City in December to play following a ruling that made it illegal for the casinos there to bar card counters.

Other students were recruited to the playing team following another running of the course at MIT and in 1980 Massar met Bill Kaplan, a Harvard graduate who had run his own successful blackjack team in Las Vegas for the three years prior. Using money gained as Harvard’s outstanding scholar-athlete Kaplan had managed to generate a 35+ fold rate of return in less than nine months of play. Kaplan’s team were by this stage burnt out from playing in Nevada, so they had parted ways to gamble internationally. Kaplan agreed to go with Massar’s team to Atlantic City to observe and critique their play. Their faults were abundant and Kaplan agreed to back their team dependent on formal management, training and tracking of play.

The MITs first stake was $89,000 with ten players playing on the bank, including Massar and Kaplan. Within ten weeks they doubled their original stake and profits per hour were $162.50 – profits were split in proportion to playing hours and computer simulated win rates and the players earned approx $80 an hour, and investors returns in excess of 250%.

Techniques utilised included not just card counting but advanced shuffle and ace tracking techniques, with Al Francesco’s techniques, as had been published in his team mate Ken Uston’s book Million Dollar Blackjack just prior to the formation of the MIT team, the approach the team predominantly took.

By 1984 notoriety followed Kaplan who could not at this point enter a casino without being followed by security in search of his by this point 35-strong team. The team played on for a number of years following Kaplan’s ‘retirement’ until some say exhaustion and weakened management caused them to discontinue. Others say that the last player was escorted from the table with the words: ‘You can’t play here. You’re too good for us.’

They prove so popular due to the instant wins they provide, the ease of play and the lack of rules or complicated strategies. They’re even more popular now that you can play them online!

The first thing to really reinforce if you are new to playing slots, is that they are not rigged or set up to make you fail. The payouts are randomly generated which means that each spin of the reels has an equal chance of striking a big win. Before you start playing however there are some things you should know to ensure you are more likely to have a win!

While they all look pretty similar – flashing lights, a handle, coin slot, reels and pictures of fruit, it is worth bearing in mind that not all games are the same. There are several types of game, the first being a ‘multiplier’, which pays out for a certain symbol, with the number of coins you play multiplying the pay out, for example if the game pays out five coins for three cherries when you have played one coin, then it would pay ten for the second coin and fifteen for three coins played. This type of game does not however penalise you for not playing the maximum amount of coins and you should use this type of game if you only want to play one coin at a time.

The ‘bonus multiplier’ game gives you a bonus when you play the maximum amount of coins. That’s not to say you automatically get a bonus for playing the maximum amount of coins – it means you will get a bonus if you hit the jackpot. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it!

A multiple pay-line simply means that the game has more than one line of play – some games could have up to twenty, for example JackpotJoy’s Deal or No Deal. You play per line meaning that if you play and a particular line turns out to be a winner, but you haven’t bet on it, then you won’t win anything for it.

‘Buy-a-pay’ games tend to confuse a lot of players but the one thing to remember is that you should never play these games without taking the maximum bet. The reason for this is that the number of coins bet are tied to certain symbols, of which there will undoubtedly be a wild or jackpot symbol, which will need the maximum bet to be placed in order to be activated. If it isn’t and you get all the right symbols match up, it will be as if your jackpot never happened – you can imagine the disappointment!

Progressive slots is where the jackpot continually increases in size depending on the amount of money being bet by players – a percentage of the money played is added to the jackpot, and to be in with a chance of winning it you will more than likely have to get through to the games bonus game, which most of the time means playing with maximum coins.

There are two kinds of progressive jackpots – single progressive which is where the jackpot increases from the spins on one machine and can only be won on that machine, and a multiple progressive which will involve several machines.

Always remember before starting to play any slot game, to read the instructions!!!

Details: BBs do not qualify you for this promotion ~ Promotion runs from Friday 20th – Sunday 22nd midnight ~ Only for Paddy Power Bingo players ~ Paddy Power hold the right to alter, end or suspend all promotions without warning.

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Everyone loves summer and with Paddy’s Summer Sizzler you are going to fall in love with it all over again, not only is he giving away £/€100 everyday but now he has added a fantastic Summer Goody Bag to the deal!
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Last Chance Saloon
You have more chances of winning with Last Chance Saloon. We are offering a free scratch card on a selected game for everyone who is unlucky enough not to win in the main bingo game. There are 3 Last Chance Saloon games in the Sapphire room on Thursday night between 8pm and 11pm. Last Chance Saloon also runs hourly in the Gold room from 9.54am right up to midnight.

There are dozens of top quality poker books out there that will help you improve at online Texas Holdem if you read them thoroughly, understand them then go out and practice what you have learned at the poker tables. Some of the older books, such as “Super System” and “The Theory of Poker” may have been written a couple of decades ago but are still relevant in today’s game. Before you buy a book make sure you read the reviews carefully as Holdem is one of the most written about subjects in recent years and not all authors are exactly qualified to write on the subject.

Another way, and one that is usually free, is to join a poker forum and take part in the discussions on there. The biggest and best, although sometimes a little cut-throat, is Two Plus Two, a site where some of the best poker players in the world discuss hands, theory and a whole matter of subjects with anyone who will listen. To get the most out of the forum you need to post some of your own hands too.

Once you have initially studied the game you will learn much quicker if you log plenty of volume, that is play plaenty of hands. The best way to learn is to actually sit at a cash game because you will often be playing with deeper effective stacks so will have to constantly consider proper bet sizing, and a whole range of poker moves will be open to you. The skills you learn at the cash game can and will be transferred over to tournament poker but it is difficult to do the opposite.

Finally, once you have done all of the above you can start to consider joining a training site. There are also many of these on the internet so make sure you choose one of the three bets one, Poker X Factor for SNG and MTT and Cardrunners of Deuces Cracked for cash games. If you are feeling exceptionally flush you could hire a personal coach but these often charge in excess of $500 per hour for the very best in the business.

UPDATE: The new Game Hunter app is now live in the iTunes store, don’t worry the app is free! It acts as your complete guide to casino, poker, bingo and fruit machines. The iPhone application allows you instant access to the best of the Game Hunters reviews. You can also keep up-to-date with all the betting news and sports stories with the live feed from the www.TheGameHunter.co.uk.

The app itself is very simple and shouldn’t cause any problems on your iPhone once downloaded. If you do have problems with the app simply uninstall and redownload. Below you can see the screen shots of the app. Feel free to download and rate.

Much to the relief of his many Irish Racing fans, including an estimated 1000 members of the official Overdose International Fan Club who had journeyed to see their hero from as many as 20 different countries, Zoltan Mikoczy’s son of the late stallion Starborough took his unbeaten sequence to 13 with a half-length victory over local horse Boschka, prompting all concerned with the near legendary sprinter to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

It’s been a long road back for the five-year-old who ‘won’ the group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp, only for the race to be voided due to problems at the start. After winning in Hungary last April Overdose sustained a serious hoof injury which threatened to end his career, but after a long spell on the sidelines he appears on the road back to his best. Although winning jockey Gary Hind observed that the horse had needed the run and was getting tired in the closing stages of this weekend’s contest, connections stressed that the race had been seen from the start as no more than a stepping stone to more significant targets later this season.

Plans to go next to York for the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes next month appear to have been shelved for the time being, with Mikoczy feeling his star needs more time to reach peak fitness, Sights are now set on a return visit to Paris in October for Europe’s premier five furlong Group1 sprint, after which plans remain fluid.

Who knows, maybe the Hungarian could be flying high at Churchill Downs after the Breeders’ Cup Sprint?

Candy’s Aussie Rules colt was sent off favourite for the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot in June having won his first two outings in impressive fashion, but failed to fire as expected and came home in sixth behind Approve having refused to settle in the early stages of the contest.

Given a two month break since his Ascot exertions, Candy believes that Dinkum Diamond (33/1) is capable of giving a good account of himself in the weight-for-age sprint, for which the recent dual Group 1 winner Starspangledbanner, trained by Aidan O’Brien, remains a somewhat uneasy favourite having drifted to 11/4 in the face of strong support for Barry Hills’ Equiano, the horse who pushed him all the way in the July Cup, and is now a general 3/1 chance with York Ebor Odds.

It seems that Irish trainer David Wachman is also intending to run his juvenile Meow in the York feature, the filly having only just failed to land the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot last time out. Betting firms make the daughter of Storm Cat just 12/1 to land the spoils.

The third possible York Ebor favourite odds runner for the juvenile brigade is John Best’s Stone Of Folca, fourth in the Norfolk Stakes before going mighty close to landing the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at the recent Glorious Goodwood meeting. Best, who sent out the flying two-year-old Kingsgate Native to land the Nunthorpe in 2007, seems bullish about his colt’s chances, confidence reflected in his current odds of just 10/1.

The eight-year-old thrilled his legions of fans when once again showing his liking for the track at Glorious Goodwood, adding a victory in the Group 2 Audi King George Stakes to his 2006 Steward’s Cup success, as well as two other subsequent placed efforts in the ultra-competitive handicap. He’s always a favourite racing tip.

The dual Group 1 Nunthhorpe Stakes winner has been a magnificent standard bearer for Bastiman’s yard, already amassing nearly £740,000 in career prize money having cost connections just 13,000 guineas as a yearling at Doncaster Sales back in 2003.

Although his Goodwood victory was only his first this term, the son of Compton Place had showed that he retains all of his ability when running great races to be placed in the Palace House Stakes, the Temple Stakes and the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, prior to his cosy success when showing his customary late burst of speed to beat Group Therapy.

Shortly after pulling up however, Borderlescott seemed very lame and early prognoses suggested he would not run again this term due to a chipped bone in his pelvis. Subsequent tests have shown no such damage and indicate a muscular problem which seems to be improving rapidly, but not fast enough to allow the Yorkshire-based horse to go to York’s Ebor meeting later this month to attempt to land a third Nunthorpe. He would have been many people’s horse racing tip to do just that.

As long as he stays sound, Bastiman’s pride and joy will go instead to Paris in eight weeks time in a bid to improve on his third placed effort in 2008 in the great international sprint event.

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The fixture is a repeat of last year – a game that ended 2-2 after 90 minutes – and that one was a rematch from 2007 – a game that ended 1-1. In between, United drew 0-0 with Portsmouth. Do you sense a pattern here?

Prior to last season’s four-goal extravaganza we were becoming accustomed to dour, low-scoring affairs in the Community Shield. Putting 2009’s result to one side, United and Chelsea were involved in a pair of tight games last term, notable for late goals (of the four scored in Premier League clashes, three were in the final 15 minutes).

As for who will score the goals, Wayne Rooney is sure to be given a run-out after returning to training only a week ago. Given he’s not yet had time to find his feet, there will!

The first big clash of the season between the classic generation and older horses over a mile-and-a-half, the presence of both the brilliant Epsom Derby winner Workforce and his Dante Stakes conqueror and subsequent Irish Derby winner Cape Blanco, set the race up to be a thriller. Add in the presence of top class older horses Dar Re Mi, Youmzain, Harbinger and Daryakana, and the chances are we could see something very special indeed.

Even though he is a hot favourite (10/11) with those who bet online, it is arguable that Workforce still has to prove he is the real deal despite his facile seven length romp at Epsom, in which he defeated rank outsider At First Sight (beaten twice since), who re-opposes on Saturday. Sir Michael Stoute’s colt looks a class act and will be fresher than most of his rivals having bypassed the Irish Derby, a race in which Aidan O’Brien’s Cape Blanco, who easily accounted for Workforce at York, got the better of his stable companions Midas Touch and Jan Vermeer (beaten since), in workmanlike fashion.

Harbinger was very impressive at Royal Ascot, although this does represent a step up in class for him, but Dar Re Mi is proven at this level time and again and would have needed the outing and found the 10 furlong trip inadequate when only fourth in the Eclipse at Sandown earlier this month.

There have been good vibes emanating from the Channon camp around perennial Group1 runner-up Youmzain, whilst French raider Daryakana, unbeaten last season including in the Hong Kong Pacific Vase, is reportedly working well having been only narrowly denied in the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud last time out

All in all, the big race this weekend will surely be a thriller and I take John Gosden’s Dar Re Mi (14/1) to spring a minor surprise and get the better of Workforce.

This is just the beginning of the initiative, which is bringing together all the major stakeholders of the industry, with the goal of pursuing a wide-reaching and ambitious change for the future benefit of British horse racing. Horse racing has for quite a while been facing challenging times, with declining betting revenues, reduced racehorse coverage, less television coverage and decreasing numbers of racehorse owners. Racing for Change and the introduction of initiatives such as the televisation of Stewards Enquiries are seen as being means of both modernising racing and increasing its relevance to potential punters and sports fans.

While there wasn’t the time to set up the enquiries to be televised for Royal Ascot, they were during the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth day, which was followed up by Glorious Goodwood meeting the following week. These broadcasts follow on from those undertaken at the Investec Derby so that feedback from participants and the public can be assessed. Jockeys are supporting the trial, which is particularly important considering a lot of the time it is jockeys who are the predominant speakers at Stewards Enquiries.

A Stewards Enquiry is basically where the stewards (amateurs unpaid officials who attend the racecourse on behalf of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to ensure that the Rules of Racing are adhered to) call into question some aspect of the race. The stewards have the power to disqualify horses and alter the outcome of a race should they believe the rules of racing have been infringed – You will know if an enquiry is to be held regarding a race if you hear a klaxon is sounded after the race and the settling of bets is postponed until the enquiry is complete. Horseracing fans have been calling the move to televise the enquiries a greatly welcome and revolutionary move. After all the people who actually bet on racing and keep the sport alive by funding a large part of it are surely entitled to witness the reasoning behind the decisions which affect results.

Jamie Stier, the head of race-day operations and regulation at the BHA thought that through the trial those watching at home would ‘gain a more comprehensive understanding of the processes and considerations undertaken by the stewards in determining the result of a race which is subject to an inquiry.’ The enquiries will be available on both terrestrial and digital channels, but only those races shown on terrestrial television will be open to televised enquiries – races aired before or after on digital channels will not be broadcast.

However according to Portuguese marketing agency Futebol Finance, this year the top ten world football earners list is no longer dominated by the Premier League – in fact only four players made it through – Emmanuel Adebavorm, Carlos Tevez (both Manchester City) John Terry and Frank Lampard (both Chelsea) who earn £7.4 million, £7 million, £6.5 million and £6.5 million respectively.

Still, one questions whether any players performance warrants such a high salary – even if they are the best player in the world. Is it fair? Football is currently being threatened with the prevalent market conditions, with many clubs moving towards cost cutting and sustainability. Will the World Cup and the public’s reaction further vindicate salary slashing of those who play sport both nationally and internationally?

While David Beckham is the exception in the world of football (earning well in excess of other football players despite having made the move to LA Galaxy – his earnings come via his maximsation of sponsorship deals: a quarter of his earnings come from Asia while his company Footwork Productions made £10.5m profit in 2007) other sports pay well in excess of football salaries. For example very elite golfers, Formula One drivers and tennis players get paid more than their football equivalents.

Tiger Woods is the world’s highest earning athlete, despite the bad press he has received in the past year, although his earnings have dropped ten percent to £59.53 million, down 40% from £84.15 million in 2008, according to Sports Illustrated. Tennis player Roger Federer, with earnings of £40.63 million came in second place on the international list, while there were only three football players in the top ten earners list – Lionel Messi (£28,946,700), David Beckham (£26,640,962) and Cristiano Ronaldo (£26,312,100), the rest of the list being made up of Golfers, Boxers, Baseball, Basketball and Tennis players.

However, the free market of football means that if one player is offered way over the odds the whole of the professional footballing system suffers. Ever higher wages make individual clubs less and less sustainable, as they have to keep on funding themselves through borrowing. It also damages competitiveness, which is really the Premier League’s greatest quality. The time has definitely come to consider whether footballer’s wages should be capped!

The tournament was put to the votes of the fans, and the eight winners of randomly-drawn ties went through to the quarter finals, the winners of those to the semi-finals and then on to the final. The competition held no prizes for voters or winners, but each of the final eight winners were very worthy of their win.

There was no real competition for the title of best flat horse and best jump horse with each of the winners, Sea the Stars and Kauto Star easily landing into their groups. Some of the other groups however did hold some controversy, one of them being the quarter-final exit of Aidan O’Brien in the vote for the best flat trainer.

At the same stage Newmarket was lost from the poll in the search for the best racecourse. The ultimate winner of the flat trainer group was Sir Michael Stoute, who is looking like having a good chance in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot with Harbinger, while fans of the Grand National will be disappointed that it was Cheltenham that won the best racecourse as opposed to Aintree.

Matt Chapman beat John Francome in the final round of the voting for the Best Broadcaster, with 54% of the vote, which will have come as a surprise to some of his critics. His toughest challenger was Alastair Down in the semi-final stage, where the two changed lead position a number of times in a nail-biting finish to the round which saw Chapman finally achieve 51% of the vote, getting him through to the final.

Paul Nicholls won the best jump trainer category and Mick Kinane won the best flat jockey category. The toughest competition of the tournament was between Tony McCoy and Ruby Walsh for the winner of the best jump jockey. As always with those two, they were miles ahead of their opponents in the stakes, but it was a slim line between the two, with each of them taking the lead several times during the final hours of voting.

In the end, just as the deadline struck, it was McCoy who won over his old rival, by just 2% – and many would say a well deserved win, he is after all a fifteen times champion and this year ended his Grand National jinx as he claimed victory at his fifteenth attempt on 10-1 joint favourite Don’t Push It. There are the Ruby fans who would claim that it was only because he wasn’t in the race that McCoy scooped it… but we will leave it at that… the votes have been counted, and the tournament won!

So what can you expect from this new game? For a start it’s very different to any other bingo game out there because the games use letters instead of numbers – 26 letters drawn and players will need to match letters on their card to build a horizontal or vertical line to win.

The games are faster, as only 26 letters can be called so it won’t go on forever!! And on bonus games, all players who just missed out with a ‘one to go’ will get a Gold Run scratch card where they can win up to £50 woo hoo!!

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And at Mecca bingo, because they’re such kind and generous guys and girls, they’re giving £5 FREE to you to try out the game and don’t worry if you’re already a customer – they’ll just credit the £5 to your account when you go to the Blockbusters Bingo area but grab this offer quick because it’s only running between July 21st and Jul 31st!

When the decision to pause the tournament for four months was first announced a couple of years ago it was met with mixed feelings. Some only saw the negative qualities such as it detracting away from the history of the tournament or the fact it takes the momentum away from the final tablists. But others saw some positives including allowing the WSOP to gain extra publicity and the players who made the final table receive great deals from poker sites wanting them to endorse their product. Regardless of your views the “November Nine” as the gimmick has been called has been a success so it looks as if it is here to stay.

Each of the nine remaining players are guaranteed to take home no less than $811,823 but all of them will have at least one eye on the $8,944,138 first prize, and of course the coveted WSOP bracelet that comes with winning the Main Event.

The biggest story of the November Nine is that Michael Mizrachi, the player who won the inaugural $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship and with it his first bracelet, has also made the final table of the Main Event. He already has over $8.8m in live tournament winnings and a win or runner-up finish will see him overtake Phil Ivey as the number one in the all-time money listings.

The rest of the final table of nine are relatively unknowns with many of them playing online poker professionally. The only other player at the final table with at least $1m in live tournament winnings is Tampa based poker pro John Racener, all the rest have won around $600,000 between them.

All but one player, Cuong “Soi” Nguyen have listed their profession as a professional poker player which adds substance to the claim that poker is a game of skill but the non-poker playing public love an underdog story and would prefer a rank amateur to win poker’s biggest prize.

When the players return to The Rio on November 6 they will be seated as follows:

Seat 1 – Jason Senti – 7,625,000 chips

Seat 2 – Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000

Seat 3 – John Dolan – 46,250,000

Seat 4 – Johnathan Duhamel – 65,975,000

Seat 5 – Michael Mizrachi – 14,450,000

Seat 6 – Matthew Jarvis – 16,700,000

Seat 7 – John Racener – 19,050,000

Seat 8 – Filippo Candio – 16,400,000

Seat 9 – Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000

In view of the extensive coverage given to Sea The Stars’ majestic romp to glory in the race in 2009, there had been some hope that the Arc had been given a new lease of life by the powers that be at the Beeb.

However, with cutbacks across the board and racing a low priority in the general sporting scheme of things, this could be the last time licence payers foot the bill for coverage of the Parisian event. The broadcasting of the event on BBC2 instead of BBC1 also hints at the lack of priority given to the race. Those interested in Group 1 horse racing tips should be very concerned.

Channel 4, who earlier this year announced major cutbacks to their coverage of horseracing in the UK, are in no position to step into the breach, so unless one of the digital sports networks feels it worth taking a chance on bolstering racing, this could well prove to be the end of the road for a race that has provided British racing fans with such outstanding memories over the decades.

Dancing Brave’s surge to victory on the outside of the field in the 1986 renewal will live long in the memory, as will last year’s sensational change of gear shown by Sea the Stars under an ice-cool ride from Mick Kinane, to destroy a top class field and win his sixth Group 1 in as many months. Fans of racing tips will be hoping for another exciting renewal this year.

I suggest you savour every moment of the 2010 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. It may be the last we see on terrestrial television for a very long time.

Yorkshireman Ogden has been in the racing business for decades and has tasted plenty of success under both codes, but his highest profile wins thus far have been in the National Hunt sphere with household names such as champion chaser Voy Por Ustedes, the enigmatic and hugely talented Exotic Dancer, Ungaro, Star De Mohaison and the tremendously popular Marlborough.

Last week’s Newmarket July meeting though proved something of a watershed for Ogden, who not only saw Sand Frontiere spring a 14/1 shock in the Group2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes, but tasted further Group2 glory when his juvenile colt King Torus landed the Superlative Stakes.

Sans Frontiere, a distant fourth to the smart Harbinger in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, showed much improved form to run out a cosy winner from Redwood in the HQ feature, and winning trainer Jeremy Noseda has confirmed that after running the idea past Ogden there is a chance that the Galileo colt will be trained with a view to bidding for the ‘race that stops a nation’ some 12,000 miles away in Australia in late autumn.

Noseda also suggested that a bid for the Group1 Irish St Leger at the Curragh is another distinct possibility and that all plans remain fluid.

Some betting tips are offering a price about Sans Frontiere beating the Aussies in their own backyard, and currently go 33/1.

I was at the Curragh when Tactic made his most recent appearance when taking a further step up in class in the Group2 At The Races Curragh Cup, and he looked well in the preliminaries. Although the form book screamed that the Sadlers Wells gelding had plenty to find with the proven group performer Profound Beauty, I was more than optimistic he would prevail and could not have been more delighted with the manner of his success in handing out a two-length beating to the favourite who loomed up to join him at the distance, only for Tactic to find extra reserves and win going away in the last 100 yards.

I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Dunlop’s charge doesn’t continue to improve through the grades and make his presence felt in our ‘Cup’ races, but the event I have in mind is the Melbourne Cup, a two-mile international handicap run at Flemington in early November that looks tailor-made for Tactic’s prominent style of racing and gutsy manner.

Tactic’s owner Sheik Hamdan al Makhtoum has won the race before (in 1994 with Jeune), and would doubtless like to get his hands on the coveted trophy again. If Dunlop plans a campaign to take in the big Australian race the Sheik may well end up back in the winners’ enclosure according to the racing tips for today.

At current ante-post odds of 25/1 with most racing tips, Tactic is, in my opinion, well worth a speculative interest.

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This makes playing in one of the later positions at the table much more attractive as you have more information at your disposal before you have to make your decision. Many players are aware of this, especially online poker players who have a plethora of information available to them via forums and software but a large percentage of these players fail to actually fail to fully utilise their positional advantage over their opponents.

If you are playing position properly then you should be playing aggressively preflop, raising limpers and isolating weaker players. You can actually force your opponents to tighten up dramatically preflop by three-betting them lighter than usual. Some players will try to become the table captain and try to run things their way but if you have position on such a player then you should retake control and show them that position is king.

You should also run more multi-street bluffs, particularly in a cash game. There is a large percentage of players who will limp into the pot, call your preflop raise and then check/call your continuation bet. At this point many players will give up on their hand, unless they have a made hand of course, but having a position means you can fire again on the turn and even the river if needed to put your opponents under maximum pressure. For example, a player limps in and you raise with 9h8h. He calls and you both see a flop reading Tc4d2h. He checks, you continuation bet and he calls. Now the turn brings the Ac, a lot of players here would check behind if checked to but it is perfect for firing again and you will take the pot more times than you would give the move credit for.

Finally, you should be willing to value bet more thinly whilst you have position on your opponent. Many players will simply check behind their opponent on the river when they have a hand they think to be best but are not 100% sure but when you have position on them you should bet a large percentage of the time and put the pressure back onto your opponent to make the call. The amount of pots you will win without showdown will far outweigh the times you lose when you are beaten or have to fold to a check-raise.

The stolen cup belonged to Mr Mould, whose horse Charter Party won the cup in 1988. In total Police said that racing trophies and memorabilia valued at more than £150,000 had been taken in the raid, The cup, which is made of solid gold is said to be worth around £10,000.

Other trophies stolen included a Challenge Cup and the Britannia Handicap Cup. Nigel Twiston-Davies, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup this year with Imperial Commander, said: “I’m afraid it is Charter Party’s Gold Cup that has been stolen. A new Gold Cup is awarded to each winner of the race, so the one stolen is not the original, however it oviously is a treasure to it’s owner.

Always popular with the crowds at the ‘Garden Racecourse’ the Ripon Town crier rings his bell as the horses go to post and when they’re off and running, and it would not surprise in the least if Yashrid is the one who calls the tune as the runner cross the winning line for the competitive mile-and-a-half handicap.

Owned by Sheik Ahmed Al Makhtoum, Yashrid looks a definite improver and the type to go on to make a name for himself in due course at a higher level. Winner of a decent 10 furlong handicap at Ripon in May, he was then a respectable runner-up in a Newbury handicap (the form of which is working out well), before showing plenty of guts on his Polytrack bow to defeat Cloudy City at Wolverhampton a few weeks ago.

That effort at Dunstall Park caught the eye of a number of seasoned race readers, with the gelded son of Rahy showing plenty of courage and winning in a style that suggests he can take the step up a grade in his stride. Philip Robinson will be on board and is sure to have his mount close to the pace n a track where front-runners have a decent record.

Mark Johnston has a number of entries and his preferred of Bowdler’s Magic, Jutland, Mister Angry and Shernando is likely according to most racing tips to prove the biggest danger to the selection.

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While legendary in his own right Austin never achieved as much as his contemporary Fred Perry who is the last British tennis player to have won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. He won the men’s crown three times in succession in the Thirties and was revered by the Wimbledon crowds despite his dissimilarities in background from many of the All England Club patrons in those days – he had grown up in Stockport the son of a Labour MP.

His triumphant hat-trick was nicely finished off with a forty minute 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 win over German Baron Gottfried von Cramm in 1936. It was the quickest final of the century and the second shortest of all time. He decided to turn professional after his third singles win, and was then pretty much ostracised by the tennis establishment, and it wasn’t until well after his retirement that he was recognised by the authorities as having made an outstanding and unique contribution to British tennis. His statue was put up in the Wimbledon grounds in 1984 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his first singles title. Following his death in 1995 at the age of eighty-five, the All England Chairman John Curry stated he was a ‘superlative ambassador for our sport throughout the world… a true champion in every sense’.

So our male wins at Wimbledon all occurred a very long time ago, but the last female British tennis player to win the Ladies Singles title was Virginia Wade in 1977. Between 1972 and 1976 Wade reached the semi-finals twice and the quarter-finals three times, but states that it was the fact that the Queen was to be present on the final day of play in 1977 that provided the extra motivation she needed to subdue her nerves!
She was thirty-one in 1977 and her belief in herself provided her with an excellent semi-final victory against favourite Chris Evert, and even the loss of the first set against Dutch Betty Stove didn’t put her off – she won 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Her career briefly saw her rise to World No. 2, and she doesn’t understand how, since her win three decades ago, she can still be feted at Wimbledon as the most recent British singles champion. She says she finds it dispiriting that the only woman since her to have had her hands on the trophy is the Duchess of Kent!

There’s always next year……

There are some who speculate whether Federer is on the way out, having exited Wimbledon at the quarter-final stage, but it would be a brave person to bet against him winning more major titles – he could well go on to win another handful of them, so he remains a serious threat to any other tennis player, and their ambitions to become the best player in the history of the game.

But Nadal after all made short work of winning his second Wimbledon men’s crown beating twenty-four year old Czech Tomas Berdych (who to give him his due had beat Federer in the quarter-finals) 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and thirteen minutes, having never dropped serve in three routine sets and using his formidable forehand to the best of his abilities. Nadal had played Berdych ten times previously, and while the Spaniard had a seven-three lead, it was never a given – the Czech had dominated Nadal with his power some years ago, but their one previous meeting at Wimbledon in the 2007 quarter-finals saw Nadal win 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.
A second Wimbledon title and an eighth grand slam put Nadal up there with the likes of Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi.

So how does one become a tennis player of such distinction? Well Nadal started playing tennis in his home town of Manacor, Mallorca in Spain when he was four years of age with his uncle Toni who is his coach. Another influence was his uncle Miguel who is a former professional soccer player who is thought to have inspired in Nadal a healthy attitude to sport and competition. Nadal plays left handed, although he is naturally right handed, and it was his coach who decided that his two-handed backhand would benefit from a strong right arm.

Even though it was obvious he had talent from the outset, it wasn’t until he was twelve that he decided to pursue a career in tennis instead of football. When he was fourteen years of age he played against the tennis great Pat Cash who, having originally been scheduled to play against Boris Becker, took offense at having to play a fourteen year old. Nadal won.

He went on to win his first ATP match in 2002, beating Ramon Delgado, making him the ninth player to win an ATP match before his sixteenth birthday. 2003 saw him become the second youngest player to be ranked among the world’s top 100 singles players and at his Wimbledon debut he became the youngest male player (at seventeen) to reach the third round since Boris Becker in 1984. After a year out due to injury, he went on to win the French Open in 2005 (as well as become the youngest player in history to reach the Top Ten players list since Andrei Medvedev in 1993) and again in 2006 and 2007.

His career started as a typical successful tennis pro and while he is best suited to clay courts, his general tennis abilities such as excellent defence, fast mobility, his topspin groundstrokes, a strong two handed backhand and an ability to direct his fury at the ball rather than his opponent mean that he is successful under any conditions. He continues to amaze on court and at just twenty-six years of age has plenty of time to overtake Federer as the best player in the history of the game of tennis.

And it wasn’t just the trainer that was being cheered on Twice Over’s return to the winners enclosure, Queally will also have been thanked by the punters, having taken control of the race in the early stages and finishing the race by a half length. He admits that he was ‘screaming for the line to come at the end, but thankfully it did. He [Twice Over] is a wonderful character… I knew he had ability and I was mad about the horse so got a real kick out of this’. The jockey rode five Group One winners in 2009, four of which came in the second half of the season and he will be hoping to maintain stamina and performance like the one given in the Eclipse for upcoming Newmarket, Doncaster and York races.

Twice Over had been backed down from 9-4 to the 13-8 favourite for the Eclipse despite finishing only seventh out of ten runners, behind Sea The Stars, in the same race last year. The horse’s new found vigour has been put down to the efforts of Cecil who has rejuvenated him to claim victory in the Champion Stakes and finish third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Cecil’s first win in the Eclipse was with Wolver Hollow in 1969, during his first season as a trainer and he went on to win it again with Wallow in 1976 and Gunner B in 1978. The thirty-two year gap for the racing legend was the result of illness, personal problems and a reduction in the amount of horses at his stables Warren Place. Some thought he was about to fall off the edge but there was always a light at the end of the tunnel – Cecil is after all an amazing trainer and the punters have always had his back.

Now following this victory in a near- £300,000 prize race, the world could be the Cecil camp’s oyster. Cecil has stated that he will wait and see what the Prince (owner Khalid Abdullah) wants to do and whether he would like him to be entered into the Dubai World Cup, but it is obviously something that appeals to the trainer, who believes that Twice Over stands a good chance. Prior to that there are many more races closer to home to be tackled and it is likely that Twice Over will continue to do Cecil and his team proud.

Full year figures just released by the consortium revealed an increase of £302.7 million on the previous year’s figures of £5,149.1 million. These sales are the best National Lottery performance in a decade despite having to prepare for a new licence and having to deal with some of the most significant challenges they have ever had to face form the wider market.

While some might not be too happy at the consortium raking in such profits from others’ desire for a little bit of luck, especially in a time of recession and hardship, it must be remembered that any increase in sales performance for Camelot result in an increase in annual returns to the Good Causes – and this year they deliver the highest returns to the Good Causes in ten years, £1,548.4 million which is a rise of £170.8 million on 2008/09’s returns of £1,377.6 million.

Those who play the National Lottery have now helped raise over £24 billion for the Good Causes, money that has funded more than 330,000 individual lottery awards to date, and compared to other means of gambling the company’s policy is to encourage as many people as possible to be involved, with as little individual spend as possible – demonstrating clear evidence of being a truly responsible operator. The London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are just one example of the good that can be done through the Lottery. The games are receiving a contribution of £2.2 billion from the National Lottery, £750 million of which comes from specially-designated games. Worldwide there has been a trend of slowing lottery sales, but not so in the UK where Camelot regularly refresh regular games as well as offer new and innovative ways of play.

All good stuff but as lottery players we most love hearing about the individuals who scoop the jackpots! The latest example is a couple from Manchester, Sharon and Nigel Mather who won £12,408,000 after matching all five numbers and two lucky stars in Friday 11 June’s EuroMillions draw. The couple who have two children only realised they had won the life-changing sum after Sharon checked the results on TV when they returned home from holiday. The ticket was bought during a week’s break to Minehead, which was a gift courtesy of Sharon’s father, John Morris, who wanted to treat the couple to some time away with the children. And they are not the only jackpot winners – with a UK millionaire created every week due to the National Lottery, it is definitely something worth being involved in!

The event took place at the Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort on the 5th and 6th of July and aims to support mid-western charities and groups in their work with the underprivileged and disadvantaged. All proceeds from the event go to the development of these services and well over €55 million has been raised since the event began back in 1990. Prior to the event charities organise pre-qualifying tournaments throughout the country in a bid to enter teams in the Pro-Am.

The event which has a prize fund of €1 million is comprised of 56 teams of four players who compete over two days, with each team having one professional golf player and three amateurs. This year saw the fourteen major champions competing with thirty-five major titles between them. They are: Michael Campbell, Ben Curtis, John Daly, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Lucas Glover , Pádraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman, Tom Lehman , Sandy Lyle, Graeme McDowell, Mark O’Meara, José Maria Olazábal and of course the legendary Tiger Woods who holds fourteen titles!

Since it was first held in 1990 the tournament has grown from strength to strength, and while the first event raised almost €1.2 million for charities in the Limerick region, it has attracted more and more support, recognition, professional players, volunteers and celebrity contacts over the years. 30,000 tickets in the form of a baseball cap are sold each year for the star-studded event, at the cost of €50 each – spectators can chose from eight different coloured caps representing Ireland, Munster Rugby and each of the six Munster counties.

This year the likes of AP McCoy, Mick Fitzgerald and Ruby Walsh represent horseracing on the fairways while Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Hugh Grant, Samuel L Jackson, Hugh Grant, Michael Flatley, Kyle McLachlan, Aiden Quinn and Westlife were joined by sporting figures such as Jamie Redknapp, Martin O’Neill, Niall Quinn and Ireland rugby lock Paul O’Connell.

Last year’s winner was Padraig Harrington, but of course most of the media hype for the event surrounded Tiger Woods, who disappointed in his first round – he slumped to a seven-over-par 79 over almost six hours – he carded one birdie, six bogeys and a double bogey in what was his first appearance in Europe since the media frenzy that surrounded him following his extramarital affairs.

The thirty-six holes are played in the exquisite 840 acre estate of Adare Manor, which has been transformed by the Kane family into a five star hotel. The eighteen hole Championship course was designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr who is one of the most respected and best known golf course architects in the world, having designed forty-five of the top one hundred golf courses in the world. The Golf Club measures 7,453 yards and uses 230 acres of countryside. The Maigue Rives comes into play on three holes with a dramatic finish at the eighteenth hole, which Trent Jones considers to be possibly the best par five in the world.

So, not only a golf tournament with the attraction of celebrities and world class golf, the event is a rarity in its dramatic location and focus on the less fortunate in society, and could not exist without local community involvement and achievement.

Paul made his prediction for South Africa’s World Cup final live from his tank at Sea Life Aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, the event was broadcast around the world. He correctly predicted all of Germany’s World Cup games, including a shock defeat by Serbia in the group stages and the ousting by Spain on Wednesday.

After that defeat, there were calls in Germany for Paul to be roasted with lemon juice and olive oil or turned into a plate of paella. But his owners said on Thursday that he is safe with them. “If Paul gets it wrong tomorrow, nothing is going to happen to him, to Paul,” said Sea Life’s Tanja Munzig.

William Hill bookmaker is so impressed by Paul’s predictive powers that it was offering even odds that he will pick the winner of the final on Sunday, between Spain and Holland.

“Punters are keen to keep on the right side of Paul’s tips, so we are giving them the chance to bet that he’ll pick the winner before they even know which side he has opted for,” said William Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe.

Mathematicians have already been stunned by Paul’s accurate predictions and have said that the odds of him picking six winners in a row are over 210/1 – which would probably have been a better bet than putting your money on any of the teams in the actual World Cup!

Soon it will be the turn of the Dutch and Spanish to hold their breath as Paul is scheduled to pick who he thinks will win the World Cup very shortly…..Let’s hope the outcome doesn’t lead to any more death threats which have plagued Paul since his incredible talent has become more widely known – the Argentinians promised to captured, kill and cook him with potatoes – Yes, people of Argentina, it’s the Octopus’ fault that you’re out of the World Cup!!!

Spain, the European Champions, dominated possession and barely gave the Germans a chance to prove themselves with Carles Puyol’s second-half header breaking the deadlock at seventy-three minutes, the clincher needed to send Spain to their first World Cup final. The last time a country won the World Cup for the first time was back in 1998 when France won, and prior to that it was 1978 when Argentina won for the first time.

While many are sure that Holland are the better team, having reached the final twice, in 1974 and 1978, and therefore more likely to win the Cup, there are others who are certain that now is the time for Spain to shine (and would also concur that although Holland got to the final twice, they lost both times to inferior teams). They are the reigning European Champions and were ranked favourites to win the Cup by some punters far ahead of the tournament.

They may be eternal underachievers but their fans are convinced that this is their year, and you can see why – they have a superb balanced squad with their defence having been made a lot more consistent by the presence of Gerard Pique, their midfielders could be classed as some of the best in the world, and the partnership of David Villa and Fernando Torres is lethal.
Striker David Villa was the first to admit following their entry to the final ‘When we play our best football we’re very hard to stop’, and it was blatantly clear throughout the semi-final that the team had recaptured their form, and truly deserved their place in the Final. ‘That was the best Spain have played at this World Cup’ said Sergio Busquets, Spanish Midfielder.

Even Germany had to admit that Spain are in a different league, with Marcell Jansen stating; ‘Spain are on a different level. They play as one in attack and defence and they all work together. They are a very compact unit.’

It also says a lot that the Dutch themselves weren’t optimistic of getting to this stage in the proceedings: their management didn’t book accommodation in South Africa beyond the 5th of July! Spain have been a little bit more sure of themselves – if anything it is likely to be the weight of expectation that could drag them down, but one hopes that they recognise that they are just beginning to find their rhythm – and with chants from their supporters like: ‘alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol: hemos venido a emborracharnos, el resultado nos da igual’ (‘alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol; we’ve come here to get drunk, we don’t care about the score’) it’s unlikely that they will take themselves too seriously!!

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