The Grand National is probably one of the most popular races in UK horse racing betting, and definitely one of the most exhilarating and exhilarating races of the year for fans of the sport. As you might expect, Twitter is awash with people looking for for Grand National tickets). There’s no time like now to do your homework, to decide who you are going to put a bet on as well as what free-bets or special offers you will take advantage of up when you place a bet (most bookmakers advertise excellent value promotions for the Grand National).

Read our Grand National betting ideas below to identify possible champions, and give you some interesting Grand National facts at the same time.

PICKING A WINNER AT THE GRAND NATIONAL

• Lots of Runners: With around 40 contenders in the race you can surely expect a spectacle. That’s a lot of legs! It’s quite common to see riders falling and horses running without jockeys.
• Long Track: 4.5 miles
• Jumps & Balance: Runners with history of falling are not very likely to possess confidence and to maintain their composure to realistically stand a chance of winning.
• Stamina: This is a long race – so it makes sense that horses with no history of victories on tracks over 3 miles in distance are more unlikely to win on a 4.5 mile track.
• The race is synonymous with the racehorse “Red Rum”which was trained on the beaches of Southport and went on to win 3 Grand Nationals, capturing the nation’s hearts.
• Each way betting – placing an each way bet on the grand national is an easy way to make profit, as bookmakers pay four places on each way bets as standard
• It is not often you will find a runner in the event with such short odds that you won’t make a profit with an each way bet, should the horse place 1st-4th.
• Sportsbook

GRAND NATIONAL FREE BETS

Bookmakers and betting sites such as betrescue are more than happy to acquire new customers by offering free-bet offers during popular sporting events such as the Grand National, Wimbledon etc.

Check out the Free bets pages on betrescue or bets free bets for over £600 in free bets for the 2011 Grand national.

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Picking a winner in the Grand National

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January Transfers: Piennar and Bent on the move

Manage your Bankroll

One of the main reasons why most sports bettors lose their wagers is because they follow poor money management techniques. Inconsistent betting is a surefire way to lose money in the long haul. Betting $20 for one event and $200 for another will eventually cause you to lose your bankroll. Another way to lose at sports betting is to doubling your stake after winning or losing a wager. Getting emotional and betting more money than you should is a bad practice to follow. To avoid falling into this trap, sports bettors may well start learning about managing their bankroll.

Betting on the Wrong Sporting Event

Football and basketball are two sporting events that see the most action in terms of money being wagered. However, many betting veterans believe that these are perhaps the toughest sports to show long-term profits. Baseball on the other hand is a sport that works in favor of the average bettor as also hockey where you could gain a distinct advantage over the bookmaker. You’d think that bettors would make a beeline for these two games, but in reality, you don’t find many people staking their money on them. Generally, bettors prefer to bet on the sports they like or enjoy playing. Few people enjoy baseball and fewer still bet on hockey. To avoid being the loser, it’s a good idea to bet on sports that are known to be profitable even though you may not particularly enjoy the game yourself.

Know the game

My dad always used to tell me that half-baked knowledge is dangerous in casino and gambling in general. Many football betting gamblers lack thorough knowledge about the sport they bet on. Often, they are at a disadvantage since they are competing against other bettors who spend hours on studying the trends, betting angles and handicapping. If you seriously want to win your bets, ensure that you can make informed judgments about the sport you would like to bet on. If you lack the time to make a detailed study of your favorite game, do find someone who does; it could be a sports service or a sporting forum where you can get all the information you need.

Keep it tight

Some sports bettors feel that they should bet on all the sporting events that are televised. Knowing that televised games are heavily bet upon, bookmakers too take advantage of the opportunity; so the betting lines are the sharpest for any televised sporting event. Today, almost all the sports are being televised and bettors could easily have seven to eight wagers on such games at a time. If you are into betting on each and every televised game, obviously you will not win all your bets. So, the best way to cut your losses is to wager smaller amounts than what you would otherwise bet at a normal game.

Many sports books these days also offer free bets and casino betting and clients can use their sport betting account to enjoy casino games as well. It is relatively easy to get a royal flush at video poker and win a few hundred dollars rather quickly as compared to the small profit they would make by betting at sports. Sports bettors are thus easily lured away by casino betting. In sports betting, there is no single, reliable way to win all your bets. However, if you practice a little discipline, put in an effort to study your favorite game and follow good money management technique, you can be a step ahead of the others. Of course, you do need to put in a lot of time to gain the knowledge and the expertise to pick out the winning sports and choose the right odds. Feel Free to view the bookies forum for more information on how to not lose on football betting.

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How to avoid Losing at Football Betting

2010 Premier league Most Expensive Transfers

Arsenal Transfers

The gunners have been spending a lot of cash this summer with contracts signed by Frenchman  Laurent Koscielny from Layton Orient ( €12m) and Brazilian forward Wellington Silva from Fluminense (€4m).

Birmingham Transfers

The Brum side signed midfielder Enric Valles from Spanish NAC Breda as well as  Nikola Zigic from Valencia (€7m); Also acquired recently was  Ben Foster (goalkeeper)  from Man-U  for €7m.

Blackpool

Defender Craig Cathcart from was signed from Manchester United(€0.6m).

Bolton

Bolton Wanderers paid €2.4m for  Marcos Alonso from Real Madrid.

Chelsea

The big purchase of the 2010 English premier league ,  Ramires from Benfica joined chelse at a cost of  €22m. Also joining the blues this season is  midfielder Yossi Benayoun from Liverpool (€6m).

Everton Transfers

€1m for  Magaye Gueye of France, bought  from Strasbourg. Portuguese forward Joao Silva was signed up from  Aves,  for  €.6m.

Liverpool Transfers

Midfielder Jonjo Shelvey was contracted from  Charlton Athletic for€2m. <idfielder Christian Poulsen from Denmark cost the red devils  €5.5m on transfer from Juventus. Also acquired was  defender Danny Wilson from Scottish Glasgow Rangers for €2.3m; Also of note is a free transfer of Joe Cole from Chelsea.

Man-City Transfers

Manchester City paid €19m for  Aleksandar Kolarov, defender from LazioYaya Toure from Barcelona also joined and Spaniard David Silva moved from Valencia for a whopping  €32m; Jerome Boateng from Hamburg joined at a cost of  €12.5m.

Manchester United Transfers

Premier league team Man United signed  Bebe from Guimaraes for  €8.8m, Hernandez from Guadalajara Chivas for  €10m and  Chris Smalling from Fulham(€8m).

Newcastle Transfers

Newcastle bought  James Perch, a defender from Nottingham Forest for a fee of €1.2m. Free transfers for the Newcastle side include  Sol Campbell (Arsenal) and Dan Gosling(Everton).

Stoke City Transfers

Another big premier league acquisition this season is  Kenwyne Jones who was bought from Sunderland for€9.7m.

Sunderland Transfers

Angeleri (Estudiantes) for a fee of €1.8m;  Bramble from Wigan Athletic(€1.2m) and Belgian goalkeeper Mignolet from Sint-Truiden for a fee of €2.5m.

Tottenham Hotspur Transfers

Spurs paid €10m for midfielder Sandro from Internacional.

West Brom Transfers

The Baggies bought Nicky Shorey from’Villa ( €1.8m), US  goalkeeper Myhill from Hull City (€1.8m;) and defender Gabriel Tamas from Auxerre for a fee of €0.9m.

West Ham Transfers

Winston Reid from Midtjylland (€4.2m);  Frederic Piquionne from French teamLyon for €1.2m and Barrera from Pumas (€4.7m).

Wigan Athletic Transfers

Wigan Athletic picked up James McArthur from Hamilton for€0.5m, Ronnie Stam from Twente for €4m, forward Mauro Boselli  Estudiantes(€6m).

Wolves Transfers

Wolves bought two players from Hull City,  paying  €3.6m for  Stephen Hunt and another €3m for Steven Mouyokolo. Additional transfers for Wolves included Jelle van Damme (€3.3m from Anderlecht) and  Steven Fletcher (Burnley,  €7.8m). As money.co.uk points out – there are plenty of very financially savvy footballers out there.

One thing is for sure, all of these transfers are impacting on the English premier league odds – but one can only speculate as to which of the twenty competing teams will win the premiership.

Who are you betting on winning the 2010 English premier league? Did the managers spend wisely and get value for money? What kind of betting bonus will you use to bet on the final?

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English Premier league Transfers over €100m and counting..

The Dutch fans and players have been looking for a shot at a World Cup final for all of their lives. The Spanish side boast a team of superstars with great technical ability, defence, ball control and proficiency – with an excellent game based on possession and passing. Spain will be looking to win the game by playing solidly and taking no risks on Sunday, and not worrying about playing flashy entertaining football.

Why Holland will win the 2010 World Cup

• The Netherlands has plenty of players with experience playing against Spanish players in La Liga, (e.g. Van Bommel, Sneijder,, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Robben and Johnny Heitinga).
• The duo of Robben and Sneijder will ensure that things happen given the limited opportunities offered my the Spanish defensive line. Mesut Ozil is okay, but Sneijder has proven himself to be a pass-master – if he finds the right ball at his feet and Robben or Kuyt are primed for action, it could spell downfall for Spain.
• Mark Van Bomel and De Jong will keep the Spanish midfielders in check, where Gernmany’s Schweinstager and VfB Stuttgart Midfielder Sami Khedira were able to do in the semi-final.
• The Netherlands’ strength comes from its solid midfield defensive wall If the Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk plays 6 back, Kuyt, Sneijder, Robben and van Persie could be just what it takes to make something happen, and catch Spain on break against the run of play.
• Lack of expectation to win: Everyone knows that Spain is the clear bookies favourite – so The Dutch can just relax and play their game with nothing to lose. We’ll be serving the scores live on our live soccer scores site.

Can the Netherlands win the World cup? hmmm.. The football betting odds are definitely against it….

Why Spain will win the 2010 World Cup

• The Spaniards are all about keeping posession, and looking at the numbers they are all about successfull passes too, with Xavi Hernandez and Busquet’s delivery success in the staggering 88%-95% region.
• Defenders Gregory van der Wiel (age 22) and Giovanni van Bronckhorst (a ripe old 35 years old) just may be susceptible to the quick Spanish attack.
• Since before the tournament began, everyone knew that Spain are the superstars in the tournament, certainly the most skilled team (along with Brasil). The cream may just rise to the top as it tends to do.
• Spain’s David Villa is one of the world’s best strikers from outside the box. Just ask Chile’s goalkeeper Claudio Bravo or any sports handicappers around the world who know about football..
• If spain aren’t calmly passing the ball around they are pressing into dangerous positions up-field. It’s quite possible they will force the Dutch defense of de Jong and van Bommel into some tricky situations.
• It is well known that van Persie does not get on with Sneijder, Could be interesting!

World Cup Final Betting: Match Preview- Spain Vs Netherlands

Whichever way you look at it, the two sides are probably the best, most consistent teams we’ve seen this year in South Africa in what’s been a bit of a meh, so-so, whatever kind of world cup, although we were treated to some with moments of brilliance as well as some controversy (disallowed balls over the line, a game-saving hand-ball, those loud vuvuzela’s, ticket scandals and so on) to keep the newspapers and media busy.

I wasn’t sure about the Dutch vs Brazil game – it was obvious they had a good chance, but did they have the balls? The result was good and that win can give them mental clarity and strength in their upcoming confrontation. If they can recover from 1-0 down to the Mighty Brazillian team, they can sure as hell take whatever the Spaniards have in store for them

Spain will not relish the thought of a playing against the Netherlands’ Robben who loves banging the ball down the wing and cutting in and out through the defensive line. His team-mate Wesley Sneijder has already scored five goals in this tournament already…

I may be wrong, but after reading plenty of sports betting advice and thinking about the teams, I think the Dutch will come up trumps in this match with a 2-1 win over Spain.
What do you thiink? Are the bookies wrong to think Spain have the game in the bag?

World Cup Betting Resources

• World Cup Odds Comparison – Get the best odds for each team (checked against 50+ bookmakers, and updated in real-time).
• Free Bets – Special World Cup Free bet offers from a selection of our online bookmaker partners.

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2010 World Cup Final Preview

Brazillian Striker Robinho knocked one in after just ten minutes, and Brazil seemed to dominate the first half of the game. The Dutch players had a different dynamic in the second, and an own goal by Felipe Melo made it evens with all to play for at 53 minutes.

The winning Dutch goal was a magnificent header by Wesley Sneijder, leaving a stunned Brazil knocked out of the tournament.

The win against Brazil was the ninth win in a row for the Dutch who are on a hot-streak of twenty-four unbeaten games.

Do you think the Netherlands will go all the way?

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Ten man Brazillian team beaten by Dutch