Monday 9 April 2018

'TRUE STORY'

Being an ex punter is at times a rather ironic thing because things happen in sport, numbers come up and you say to yourself on more than one occasion, 'fair dinkum, if only I had a few dollars on it'. But that's what used to get me into trouble in the first place, I would have a few dollars on two flies crawling up the wall to try and pick which would get to the top first.
Punted on anything and everything, silly time in my life, used to give me a buzz, nearly killed me mentally and it did financially. Such is life, turn the page, new chapter.
I put $200 on Kristyna Pliskova to beat Sam Stosur in two sets at the Aussie Open in 2016. 
Odds of $4.50
Safe bet ? 
Possibly, if it was the RIGHT Pliskova.
You see I got the Pliskova sisters mixed up and I didn't realize that Kristyna was in fact ranked outside the top 100. I thought it was her sister Karolina who was around 80 places higher at the time.
I cashed in my ticket the next day, $1000.
Not a bad 'unforced error' by GT.
I picked Marat Safin to beat Hewitt in 4 sets in the Aussie Open final in 2005. I think I picked up around $600.
Dumb arsed, brain dead stuff it was, all to gain a buzz. My life at the time wasn't going anywhere so I punted for a bit of excitement, it wasn't usually about the money as many punters will tell you, it was more the ride, the adrenalin rush. Some rely on it, I did.
Anyhow I still buy a Lotto ticket, punting on sport I do not, way too many variables in sport.
Back to the irony of numbers coming up.
I sent a buddy a text last Saturday night as he was about to play a tennis tournament Sunday. I knew the opposition he and his doubles partner were about to take on and I knew it was going to be like a Heavy Weight boxer taking on a Bantamweight, however as I say in sport there are many variables so you never know what may transpire.
'Here's the scoreline for you tomorrow Champ, against .... ..... 9-1, against ... ... 9-2, and in your last match you should do that 9-1, I think that covers it buddy, Regards Mats.'
Yes I know, silly tennis talk, I still sign off to some mates as 'Mats', my all time favourite tennis player once my first hero Bjorn Borg retired on me which completely shattered my 14 year old self who relied on Borg for inspiration.
Another story, another day.
Back to my score prediction for the Round Robin event first to 9 games, three matches.
I sent my buddy a text Sunday night, didn't mention the scores, I simply said 'Hey Champ how was my prediction of you guys losing just 4 games, was I on the money' ?
Here's his reply.
'9-1, 9-2, 9-1, lost 4 games all up, won the day.........
My first thought was that it was sort of like picking a trifecta on the horses, exact order, odds not in the punters favour yet sometimes the numbers come in, rare as rocking horse shit in reality.
If only I could have been that exact when I used to punt on sport.......
True story.



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