Biggest Hard Luck stories

In my youth I backed a dog at my local dog track which was 5 lengnths clear inside the home straight.
As I was cheering it home to my horror it stopped in its tracks and threw up.
I lost my weeks wages.

it depends how you bet iprefertolay.

If you win the lottery, Euro Millions or the pools its all about luck.  As it happens I was bought a book for Xmas called "Luck" by the cricketer Ed Smith, which I really should start reading again.

Luck is arguably the most important element in life.

Not sure mine is particularly hard luck story, but anyway.

A few years ago, I think it was 2011, I went to Gold Cup day at Cheltenham. I'd made a few sheckels during the week in fact enough to just about cover betting during the day even if every horse I backed lost. I drove down so didn't have much chance to look at picks during the day although I'd had a brief gander the previous night. Anyway, so when we arrived, I looked through the entire card to try make some picks so I knew what I was going to back each race and just enjoy the entire day without continually studying racecards. I wrote down all my picks ready to just back before each race. I won the first and got beaten by a head in another (I think the second), but the first winner ensured I was up for the entire week. No more winners for the rest of the card before the last race. I'd written down Oiseaux de Nuit for the last race but when it came to the race I had no idea why and just didn't fancy it - not even at long odds so I decided not to play. Yep, you know the rest, Oiseaux de Nuit won and I turned down what I could have had at 80-1. Even making an E/W bet, I'd have been plenty up. Gutted. Proper gutted.

CLYDEBANK: Can you remember how much your stakes came to, with all the different bets combined?

Clyde, their is a famous saying "its better to be lucky than good"

However, arbing takes away all such elements of so called luck, misfortune etc

A mathematical certainty of winning is fine by me barring human error on my part.

Plechy It's more difficult to remember the stakes than the winnings since there were a lot of bets in a lot of different places.  It's hard to recall although I'm pretty sure the vast majority of cash was between 10/1 and 12/1 after the semi final.  She was 50/1 in a place or two at one point but I was either too slow or just unable to get that.

Back in 1994-95 ish I was attending uni in Dundee and part of our usual day to day business was to nip into L@ddies near the Wellgate Centre and have a couple of punts (me and a mate on the same course). I decided on one particular day to put a placepot on and we were in the shop long enough to see the first two races and at the time of leaving the shop I had two £1.00 lines alive (I spent £8 on the bet picking two runners in three of the six races and one runner in the other three).

We had to go back to our classes so I would have to wait until the racing was over to find out how I did.  Back then there was no quick way of getting results...CEEFAX was a pain so my usual method was to phone L@ddies or Hills and find out whether or not to throw my slip in the bin.

I started off by asking what the placepot return was for that particular meeting and was told it was £2200 to a £1 stake. I knew I had two lines going when I left the shop so I asked the woman on the line to go through the results for the other 4 races. One by one she gave me the results and by the fifth race I had another two lines up with just the last race to go.

I had picked the fav in the last race and the woman told me it had placed second. Elation...I had 4 lines up at £2200 a pop so nigh on 9 grand awaited me. I decided to get her to go through the results one more time just to make sure. Everything was hunky dory up to the last race. She told me again that the fav had placed second. It was a 5 runner affair so 1st and 2nd were the only places that mattered. I knew my first 5 races were watertight so I asked her about non runners in the last..."yes..", she told me, "..there was a withdrawn horse in the last.".

I just about spewed up. That withdrawn horse meant that the race had been reduced to a four runner event and for placepot purposes only the winner of the race counted. £8800 down the pan . I'm sure the bookies do this kind of thing on purpose.

I've posted this before re my "bad luck".

CH 4 ran a competition on Derby day ( 10 June 2000) and the prize was £50,000 if out of 5 named races you could get 13 placed out of 15 selections ( 3 selections per race).

Over first 3 races had 8 points out of 9 with only the Derby and another race to go.

I was against the fav Beat Hollow as just believed Sinndar would win so opted for Sinndar and Sakee together with a rank outsider Zyz trained by Barry Hills at 100-1SP.

Sinndar won with Sakee 2nd .......but the fav grabbed 3rd....AGHHHHHHHHHH...my bias against it not winning was costly on that race.


Nevertheless now had 10 points from 12 with last race to go. Now needed 1st 2nd and 3rd to share in £50,000 prize!

It was a 5 F sprint at Epsom in 4.35 race.......so get first 3 home in a sprint is extremely difficult, but I was confident about 2 of them,my doubt was choosing either the fav ( the fav and had strong form for such a sprint......but I thought the draw might give it some problems so opted for Vita Spericolata).

The race started.......and the fav got off to a slow start, whereas all 3 of my selections were all going well, especially the one with Peslier on it who seemed to be riding an excellently timed race.

I had 1st 2nd and 3rd with about 50 yards to the finish.........and the fav was boxed in and needed a phenomenal finish to figure in the 3.

This is where the LUCK came into race......suddenly a gap opened up for Fallon on fav with roughly 50 yards to go..........and it took off and had a blistering finish to win the race.......with my 3 following it home. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Fallon's strength in riding that one home was superb and it was the best horse in the race......but it was all a bit ironic that the horse's name was Astonished....which I was !


Nobody won the prize, as far as I know, but my stupidly in ignoring KF on such a good horse in last race and opting for a horse that had less class was daft!

12 points from 15 .....just missing prize by 1 point!

2 favourites not being included in selections.......especially Beat Hollow as opposed to a 100-1 shot was especially stupid.....that was definitely my fault!

Astonished was lucky to get that gap to get into places/win......and still believe that a combination of bad luck and stupidity cost me dearly that day .......AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Petrus: I'm crying reading that, 20 years after the event. Hope I've not reignited some old nightmare here...! Good story, though.

DFC: How on earth did you react in the immediate post-race aftermath? How did you 'get over it'?

Here's one story about a football acca told by a Betfair forum man (and betting shop employee) a few years back that must rank as one of the biggest 'hard luck stories'...

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“It didn’t happen to me, but a young foreign lad placed a 17-fold acca on the World Cup qualifiers. I took the bet and, as I always do with these, thought to myself ‘FFS’. When went and checked the results later, he had 16 results correct so far. His predictions even included the draw between Faroe Islands and Austria.

“It all came down to Poland v Czech Republic, which I think he had down as a draw. Poland went 2-0 up, the Czechs pulled one back on 87 minutes but, alas, there was no equaliser.

“He would have been good for £665k. We haven’t seen him since. He’s probably topped himself.”

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Surely this sorry tale will be of some comfort to the 'if only' acca backers like me...

Had already kicked myself over choosing a 100-1 shot against Derby fav......so was blaming myself for being stupid on that race....the winner was "easy" to select as was the 2nd ......and probably my thinking was that the fav would run a good race...but when could not catch winner or Sakee it would fade to 4th ....allowing an outsider to grab 3rd.....Just never happened!

Realistically I knew that it was very very unlikely I could get all 3 in last race....5 Fs sprints being chaotic type races where hard to guess the places. So was prepared to not win prize....but it was so very close on that last race

Just let off a few expletives at KF for being so bl oo  dy good in the finish!!!!

I think the ones who put up the £50,000 prize that day must have thought nobody would win it .....but I suspect there were a number of hard luck stories that day .....and I would not be the only one with 12 points!

Can't remember such a prize being put up after that day( maybe they did after changing troosers a few times )

Time for kip...

GL with book.

I recall once betting on an India v Pakistan World Cup T20 game (or it could have been a tournament ODI) and trading my position to the extent that no matter which team won, I would win about £40 regardless of which one it happened to be.

Feeling satisfied and no doubt a little smug, I took the family out for an India meal that night with about 5 or 6 overs still to play - it didn't matter, I couldn't lose, so no need to delay our evening meal any longer.

Well, I didn't lose. But what happened was, I came home later that night to find the teams had tied on runs and there was an additional 'bowl out' over, or whatever they called it, to decide the match. And that became a different market.

Point is, because it was a tie, all bets in the Match Odds market became void! Served me right for being so smug.

OK, here's another one, my worst tale of woe to date. It was back in 2002 and I was working as a software system test analyst in Amersham. I'd joined Betfair probably 6 months to a year prior and I was still wondering what all the fuss was about as I found I could lose money on Betfair just as easily as I could by going to the local bookies (I hadn't yet grasped the concept of laying and trading).

I used to frequent the local Joke's shop in town for my punterering but when I returned home at the weekend I much preferred L@ddies or Hills (I lived in Ipswich). I used to grab the fixed odds footy coupons on occasion and many a time I would put a punt on. I had limited success, there was always one that let me down.

Upon perusing the coupon one midweek I noticed that there was a section that had handicap betting on it. The away team was given 1 goal start and the prices reflected that handicap. Most of the prices for the draw were priced around 3/1 with some where there was a strong favourite playing at home the draw price was even bigger at 4/1, 9/2. Many many games result in just one goal separating the two teams,with the home side usually prevailing 1-0, 2-1, etc so I thought that this might just be a good earner if I did a bit of homework.

It's a long time ago so most of this story comes from memory although I still have the original fixed odds coupon plus the multiple matrix that I had worked out on paper...I just don't have them to hand in front of me to refer to.  I can't rightly remember how many matches I picked but the figure 13 wants to come forward for some reason.

I elected to pick a number of games (13?) from this particular section of the coupon and back the draw (taking the away goal handicap into account). I decided to back 4 folds and above up to 8 or 9 folds and to a 5p unit stake the bet was going to cost me around £1200 as I recall (there were a LOT of permutations). I think it was around midday on the Friday and I picked up the phone and called Hills to place my bet (from my desk in Amersham). The guy on the phone said they couldn't accept the bet as the lowest unit stake for a phone bet (regardless of the final cost to the punter) was 10p and I would have to visit a shop to get my (5p) unit stake bet on.

I had two options, increase my stake to 10p and thereby increase my outlay to nigh on 2.5k or go to a local shop. The local shop was a Jokes as I recall which was up the road about 5 mins walk. I can't rightly remember if the coupon I used was specific to Hills or not but I have a feeling that it was which meant I would have had to get Jokes' coupon and then start from scratch (different games etc).

I remember a couple of days prior to all of this I put a detailed message up on one of the betting forums I frequented and asked for opinions on my proposed bet, ie a load of 4 folds and upwards using the handicap draw section of the coupon. I had several responses but the most detailed one advised me that it wasn't a wise bet to place and went into reasons why.

I didn't go to Jokes on the Friday and I didn't phone Hills back to increase my stake. I went home for the weekend (I lived in Ipswich at the time) and I watched the scores come rolling in on Saturday evening and it made sickening viewing. I think there were two or three more matches to be played on the Sunday with Celtic playing at home being the standout one as they were odds on favourites to beat their opposition which they did...by one goal (I think it finished 3-2). By the time all of the weekend results were in I think I had 9 or 10 results in my favour. Had I placed the bet to a 10p unit stake on the phone instead of bottling it I would have picked up somewhere in the region of £42k.

I actually contacted Hills and got them to send me the year to date's previous coupons so I could check to see if what I had just missed out on was commonplace, ie a large number of matches in the handicap draw section of the coupon finishing with the home team winning but just the 1 goal. My 'week that never was' was the only one that had a significant enough number of home teams winning by just one goal to have made a decent profit from taking the approach I considered.

In 2008 I had a good look at the boxing in the Olympics.  There were 3 Irish fighters in 3 different weight categories and by sheer coincidence and good fortune two of them looked to have really solid claims for a medal and the other one had a fair crack too.  I looked at the Irish firms prices and found that with both Spoils and Paddies all 3 were priced in the 9/1 to 6/1 region (although one of them Kenny Egan shortened to 2/1 shortly after).  This I thought was a rare opportunity to combine the bets in multiples, get great value and look like a patriotic mug punter in the process.  Not being able to get the bets on myself, I would need someone to put the bets on for me and someone I could trust should all 3 win.  I knew just the person and knew that we would probably need to be quick.  The intention was to do a £50 trixie with Boils who were best price, or failing that a £25 trixie with both bookies.  I am unsure whether the bookies would have excepted multiples but my expectation was they would.  I tried twice to get hold of him that day but he never answered his phone and before you knew it Kenny Egan had shortened to 2/1.  I did manage to do doubles and trebles online with Unibet, plus some singles elsewhere, but the prices and stakes were such that the payout was around 5 to 7k, not the 40-50k that the proposed bet would have come to.

Clydebank, surely you can have found a.n.other to have got that bet on ?

mesmerised I don't have a limitless supply of people willing to put bets on for me that I can trust and each person that does has a shelf life.  If I had 5 packets of wine gums I wouldn't open all 5 at the same time.

I once messed up bad when laying Tiger Woods to be the third round winner in the US Masters or Open cant recall exactly.
It was late in UK and had been drinking heavily that eve.
Woods was around  seven or eight shots behind the leader.
I went to bed forgetting I had unmatched bets still on.
The following day I checked my account to my horror it dawned on me,yes Woods did win,cost me hundreds

Many years ago I messed up badly laying and backing(elsewhere) in the US Open golf, top Australian.
It unfolded that they wernt exact markets.
One golfer was classed as Australian yet not with the other markets.
Needless to say it cost me a packet.

MY UNCLE WAS IN THE BOOKIES AND THE HORSE HE BACKED FELL AT THE LAST FENCE WHILE IN THE LEAD 10 LENTHS CLEAR .THE SAME THING HAPPENED IN THE NEXT RACE ,HE THEN WENT HOME AND HE TOLD HIS WIFE ,SHE SAID ITS NOT ALL BAD NEWS ,A MAN FROM  GERMANY PHONED UP AND SAID YOUVE BEEN AWARDED THE CONTRACT TO RE POINT THE BERLIN WALL ,THEY PULLED IT DOWN A WEEK BEFORE HE WAS DUE TO SET WORK ON IT

I backed Bayern Munich tonight at 1.12 to win when they were awarded a penalty late in stoppage time.
Germany who are renowned for being excellent at penalties, surely he couldnt miss!
He missed the game ended seconds later as a draw 1 1

iprefertolay: I backed Bayern Munich tonight at 1.12 to win.
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At what stage did you back Bayern at such a short price?

You weren't the only one feeling pain at the end, though. I just needed a Bayern win to complete a 7-fold acca which would have returned £390 for my £10 stake.

The other teams were all in home and hosed, comfortable victors on the night: Wolves, Leicester, Leyton Orient and Rotherham all to win AWAY; Atletico Madrid, Brentford and then Bayern to win at home.

OK, so Bayern didn't need to beat Arsenal tonight, having taken a two-goal lead from the first leg. But, as you say, when Germans are awarded a penalty. At home. In the dying seconds.

Ah, what do we expect...

Bloody Thomas Muller.

Padraig Harrington 2000 B&H International.

I had done a sopread bet on Harrington early in the tournament. A win would give me about £500 profit a top 3 upto £200. After day 3 Harrington lead by 5 shots and was playing really well, the Sunday was going to be a stroll. The news came out before the 4th round started that Harrington had not signed his card, he was disqualified. With this being a spread bet he went to the bottom of the players and I lost around £300.

Bradford v Leeds 2007 Millenium Stadium RL

I had laid Leeds £250 in the final game of the magic weekend. With 20 seconds to go and Bradford leading 38-36 the Rref Steve Gansen gave Leeds a penalty. Sinfield goes for goal and 2 pts to level the game. I start celebrating my win. Sinfield mises the penalty and the ball hits the post and falls into the arms of Jordan Tansey(Leeds) he scores the try, it's ok though because he is off side, however Gansen refuses to go to the video ref and awards Leeds the try, they win 42-38.

Petrus,

This might make you feel a bit better over your Placepot miss..

The dividend would not have been £2200 had the last race not been reduced to one place.

With two places and the favourite second, the divi would definitely have been reduced...

Steamship, those are the kind of horror stories that I was hoping this thread would produce, so thank you for sharing.

I wonder, long after the dust has settled, about the psychological effects of losing such bets.

Do you console yourself by thinking you had made the right moves and were simply denied your winnings by extraordinary incidents of fate?

Or do those kind of bizarre events make you feel even worse than you normally would after losing?

2005 USA Grand Prix.

I leave bets up laying outsiders to place in the top 3 and top 8 and go out.  I get back home just as the race is starting the warm up lap and check to see what bets have been taken and see all of them have, very unusual. I soon found out the reason why.

All of the cars start on the grid and pull off for the warm up lap then one by one all but six pull off into the pits, two Ferraris and four of the outsiders I have layed. It was a protest about the tyres.

Bets must be void I think, No say Betfair the race starts on the warm up lap.  So for the next two hours I watch these four cars drive around, all of them finishing in the points.

I complain to Betfair but unlike some bookies they do not void bets.  The loss was only about £3/400 but the injustice of it really wound me up for a few days.....until I fell asleep while trading a horse race and the horse I had layed won before I had a chance to back it....turning a profit into another few hundred down the drain.

Remember that race, the 14 cars that could not complete a full race because of safety reasons at one of the turns that caused Michelin tyres to over speed, actually completed the warm up lap meaning technically they competed thus bets stood, it was one long charade and distinctly remember the Yanks seething. If that had of competed without installing a extra chicane that they lobbied for, they would have all been liable to criminal charges.

https://twitter.com/CheltenhamTips/status/443785036228067328/photo/1

This wasn't for loads of money and it was on here, so I would have lost 40% of it anyway, but it would have been in the region of 300-600 after premium charges and it makes a good story.  I had backed Bournemouth to win League One.  It's the last game of the season and they need to win away at Tranmere to win the league.  They are quite short in the match odds so I decide to hedge the bet by laying them.  Even if they were to lose they will still win the Championship as long as Donny don't win away.  The game away at Tranmere finishes as a draw.  The Donny game is slightly delayed but that's a draw too going into injury time.  Lovely jubbly I think, I'm going to win twice.  Then (Tony Cottee I think) shouts penalty.  My heart sinks, please be to Brentford, please be to Brentford is going through my head.  Yes I say to myself as I find out the penalty is awarded to Brentford.  Up he steps, hits the bar, the ball rebounds into play and Donny go up the other end and score, taking the title

This is possibly my favourite lucky story.  It's 2006 and it's Portugal in the World Cup.  They've scored 5 goals so far, 5 players are on one a piece, one of whom is Maniche.  They are into the knockout stage and one crazy bookie is quoting Maniche at 20/1 to be the top Portugal scorer.  That's absurd I think to myself.  If they get knocked without scoring I've got a 16/5 winner.  I get as much as I can of the 20/1 as I can and decide to hedge the bet by laying 1-0 2-0 3-0 to The Netherlands.  Portugal end up winning 1-0 and who scores it but Maniche.  That's a right result I think, Now I'm on a 20/1 shot who should be odds on.  Next up England.  Once again I lay 1-0 2-0 3-0.  The game ends 0-0 and is still 0-0 after extra time.  We have guests watching the game and I'm a bit drunk.  I make my excuses as penalties beckon and withdraw to the office.  England are odds on for the penalty shoot out ... around 1.85 I think and shortening, absurd price in hindsight and even at the time I was a bit shocked.  I lay England in the penalty shoot out, nothing to lose I say to myself.  If they win I'm on a nice 20/1 winner anyway.  For the record I'm still cheering England on in the penalty shoot out, how many chances are we going to get to make the World Cup semis.  Portugal win and my 20/1 bet on Mancihe has resulted in 3 subsequent wins and I'm still more than likely to kop at least a dead heat on my 20/1 poke.  Next up France.  There's a 3rd place play off so I sit the match out.  France win 1-0 and its likely Portugal will field fringe players in the 3rd place play off and they are playing the hosts anyway so I'm pretty confident I'm going to collect.  Nevertheless, I decide to lay 1-0 2-0 and 3-0 to Germany.  We are in the 88th minute and its 3-0 to Germany.  Then up pops Nuno Gomes to score a consolation goal for Portugal and my correct score lays have landed again.  He's not one of the 4 other players one goal so the full winnings from the 20/1 remain.

Golf - Open Championship 2003
€250 win; €100 place Thomas Bjorn at 100/1 with Paddy Power.
Bjorn took three attempts to get out of a greenside bunker on the par three 16th, and lost by a shot.

The Curragh 22/5/99, Irish 2000 Guineas day
The Irish Jackpot was £20,000.  You needed to pick winners on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th races.
I had the first three: Eastern Purple 14/1; Saffron Walden 12/1; Tarry Flynn 8/1.
Holding 6 of the remaining 14 tickets, covering four of the 12 horses in the 4th race,
there was a chance to win all, 1/2, or 1/3 of the jackpot if one of my four horses won.
The jackpot wasn't won, and was carried over.

As I was driving home I remembered I had put £20 on a four horse win accumulator.
The first three had won: Fasliyez 4/9; Eastern Purple 14/1; Saffron Walden 12/1
Local radio were broadcasting the 5:20 race, the last leg, and my horse was Genghis Khan, the 5/2 fav in a field on eight.
Genghis Khan came 4th.  Possible payout £19,716.
He won his next race by 10 lengths.

I was on Thomas Bjorn at 100s too!!

There was a good hard luck story in the Stu Ungar biography.
He was at a boxing match and was "winning" a six figure when his boxer was knocked out in the last few seconds of the fight, and counted out after the bell went to end the fight.

I placed a bet a few years ago on A1 Motor GP,France to win championship(not a specific race) £10 @ 50/1.
France were miles clear in the championship.
The weekends race. France trailed towards the end of the field with engine trouble,and my bet was matched.
After the race I rang up a bookie who comfirmed France were 50/1 ON to win the championship.
I had 50/1 for a 50/1 On shot.
France easily won the championship.

I guess the layer fell sick

Its not over till its over!
Barcelona backers(trading at 1.08) must have been pissed off when City scored to draw level on 89 mins.
The draw went to trade at 1.11 for the greedy,and Barcelona you could get 13/1.
Barca scored one min later to win! in stoppage time.

Excellent stories, chaps - please keep 'em coming.

Plechy plz put my name in your book and could I have a copy.
Always glad to help.
Will submit more.

2010 UK Snooker Final.  Final frame, Higgins is 20 ahead but they are down to the brown exchanging safeties.  I accidentally click my mouse sending 2.5k lay on Higgins at 1.5. Then I nervous twitch because of it and send another 2.5k lay in.  Thinking **** at this point but should be able to dump it at 1.4 for 800 loss.  Fire a chunk in quickly but only about 800 gets matched.  Not ideal but all I need is a couple of safety shots and it'll get matched.  Moments after I've put my 1.4 bet in Higgins gets down doubles the brown the length of the table (hitting the jaw before dropping of course) winning him the match.  Technically my fault but rough none the less

b munich missing that penalty the other night cost me a 7 fold with PP for over £550 payout with the 30% bonus added. and the germans are renowned penalty takers.

This is a long one.

It was the 2003-4 season (I’ve just checked) Sheffield United were playing West Ham in what's now the Championship.  For reasons which will soon become apparent I can’t fully remember the exact details but this isn’t far off. 

I’m a Baggies fan (that’s not the hard luck story!) and I think Sheffield were top of the table or maybe second – anyway I wanted West Ham to win. I was also convinced that they would.  And I was prepared to put my money where my mouth was. Both teams were in good form but I wanted West Ham at 3/1.  I can’t remember the exact odds but I think they weren’t much more than 2/1 on here. Bookies were offering 2/1.  I’m pretty sure it was an evening kick-off (but not 100%) and will tell the rest of this tale of woe as if it was. 

I will digress a little here, you can skip this paragraph.  For some drinking is a pastime. I’ve always taken it a little more seriously than that.  It’s one of my better traits and if I wanted a job now (which I don't) i'd put on my CV "and I could drink you under the table you twa*".  I had a good liquid apprenticeship from a young age; children were allowed to accompany family in Working Men’s Clubs and some pubs also had rooms where they were allowed in.  I probably started drinking about 10 – “’alf-a-shondy wow ‘urt ‘im” as they used to say around here. Having a good start imbibing fine ale and inhaling other people’s smoke (I finally caught up with them at a later age) I continued these noble arts at senior school in the pub across the road.  We did have to remove our ties but I’m sure the school badge should have given the bartenders a clue as to our age!  This was all pretty amateurish stuff but I finally learned to drink when I became a member of Her Majesty’s Forces viz-a-viz The Army.  This fine establishment really hones drinking skills.  It takes years of training but I was really keen and enthusiastic often putting in extra curriculum activities.  Fast forward quite a few years and you get an idea of where I’m coming from.

I want 3/1 on West Ham but can’t get it.  A pub I used to go – fantastic pub by the way – had a bloke, who was, and still is, a good friend nicknamed the “bookie” for obvious reasons. I decided to go and see the “bookie” and have £500 quid on West Ham.  He didn’t want to know.  This was still a good few hours before kick-off.  So we did what you do in pubs.  Eventually he comes up with an idea; he knows a real bookie and gives him a call.  Real bookie doesn’t want to know. So we did what you do in pubs. With about five minutes to go before kick-off I’m miffed. But then God smiles on me and the “bookies” phone rings and the real bookie offers me £300 at 11/4.  Which I take with relish – a few pints always helps.

“Bookie” has a radio and we listen in.  Can’t remember who scored first but West Ham go 2-1 up.  Good game. So we did what you do in pubs with more exuberance.  West Ham go 3-1 up.  So we did what you do in pubs with even more exuberance.  Then I have a brilliant idea.  I’ll go home and lay West Ham on here.  I only lived about 5 minutes away so could easily make it in time to lay-off West Ham.

So get home, fire up pc, log-in.  Can’t go wrong there’s only minutes left to play – the game kicked off ages ago and will be over soon.  So click Lay for £300, safe sex is good. But something was wrong.  I’d backed West Ham but never mind no time left.   As soon as the bet was accepted Sheffield scored. 2-3 which is still is ok.  Luckily there’s absolutely no time left for kick-off and Sheffield to score. But you never know so decide to lay West Ham again.  Safe sex is good. I’m a bit miffed on clicking wrong button so promptly do the same thing again!   But game is over now; it is way, way passed time so I can finally breathe easy. But something’s happened and game is about 15 minutes behind schedule – anybody remember why?  And would you believe it Sheffield score again.

So managed to lose about £800 on click of wrong buttons. And boy did I learn my lesson: never, ever back West Ham away!

But the Baggies did get promoted that season!

The Knight
12 Mar 14 12:26
Joined:
02 Sep 01
| Topic/replies: 375 | Blogger: The Knight's blog
Petrus,

This might make you feel a bit better over your Placepot miss..

The dividend would not have been £2200 had the last race not been reduced to one place.

With two places and the favourite second, the divi would definitely have been reduced...



In all these years that never crossed my mind The Knight...with the piss poor luck I've encountered in the past had that fav won the last the PP would have probably paid £2.20to a quid stake... I don't feel so bad now

Many years ago, my Dad told me that back in the 60`s he was a rep and had to drive round all day visiting places. He had a bet most days and knew the bookie well. His bet was a tanner yankee and he`d phone it in of a morning. This particular day he had a boil on his ar$e and sitting on it whilst driving was really painful. So in the afternoon he decided to go back to base rather than carry on. Unbeknown to him his first 3 selections had come in at big prices, at which point the bookie rings his base and does a deal to give my Dad £100 and call the bet quits, that was a fortune then and he took the offer. The 4th horse won and he`d have copped over a grand. If he hadnt had a boil on his a$$ the bookie wouldnt have been able to ring him as he`d have been out on the road. I dont know if this was true, but I have no reason to doubt it especially as he was always known as one of the unluckiest blokes around, I think the bookie was called Alec Griffiths and was around the Wolverhampton area. (He went to a hotel in Blackpool once and they had a fancy dress party, he decided to go as a member of the black and white minstrels, so he "blacked up" went down to the dining area, to find it was the wrong night)

Every weekend during the NFL season i always used to do the same type of bets. Pick 3 teams and back the doubles and a treble. More often than not i would get a return (used to do this bet knowing if i got 3 right 4/5 times a season i would be up)

Anyway the game in question Dallas @ Philadelphia (was already 2/2 on the other games). I had backed Dallas +7.5 the score dal 24-31 phil deep into the 4th qtr and Dallas were moving the ball. With about 30 seconds left the cowboys were inside the Eagles 10. Great i thought they score i win they don't score i win. The big 4th down play Drew Bledsoe throws an interception straight to Lito Sheppard who returns it 100+ yds to score a touchdown final score dal 24-38.

Years ago, when I used to frequent betting shops, most Saturday mornings I would visit my local bookies and 'study' the Post.
I'd always place a few 50p reverse tricasts on the dogs, nice pick-up now and then.
This particular day I picked 3 outsiders, T1 @ 12/1, T2 @ 8/1, and T6 @ 6/1
Also remember there was an odds on fav, the other 2 around 6/4 and 2/1?
Race starts and my 3 break well and lead around the first bend. There's a tumble behind with dogs rolling all over the place!
Going down the back straight my 3 are left all alone, T1 leads... T6 and T2 a couple of lengths behind.
Next thing, they stop the hare... in case the dogs that fell get injured!
Would have paid out in the hundreds I reckon.

viva el presidente! 03 Mar 14 14:15

[...]

Investor will be able to give you chapter and verse about football matches he's taken a hit on when something pretty unbelievable happened.

Thanks viva. Yes, here are a few 'memorable moments':

Moment 1
10 January 2010 Hamilton v Rangers, Tenerife v Barcelona and Lyon v Plabennec

In all 3 games the team that was down scored 2 goals in the 45th minute + first half injury time. Incredible that this happened on the same day. One of the teams was Barcelona (who were still 200+ to win first half before they got the goals), and the other two were underdogs far less likely than that to make a comeback.


The whole thing cost me about £2.4k.  By comparison, over 209 days of running this strategy, my worst losing day was £187.26 before this.

Moment 2
6 February 2010 - Feirense v Beira Mar

0-0 was trading at 1.06-1.07 if I remember correctly, around 88 mins. Low goal expectancy game. In those days I used to trade multiple games in play at the same time without watching them. I backed under 1.5 goals as well as laying 2 goals or more in the total goals market. Everything got matched to the tune of an £18.5k red (I was laying odds of 210). I found that a bit odd and went on the Betfair forum to find out what was going on. That's when I found out that rather than the 2 minutes of injury time I was expecting, there were 14!! minutes and 2 quick goals.

Moment 3
6 June 2010 - Molde v Lillestrom

Molde (the favourites) were up 3-0 in the 89th minute. I laid the draw at 1000, sticking up 20 quid (so a potential liability of just under £20k). The odds I was offering were so poor I only got £3.54 matched. However, they came back to draw the game!

Match Odds    Layed - The Draw    3.54    L     1,000.00    LOST    -3,536.46
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxynNCWyKNw

Moment 4
5 February 2011 - Newcastle v Arsenal

At 0-3 I backed Arsenal at 1.02 for £50k. At 0-4 I still had the draw as a value lay. I probably messed up by not getting off pronto when Arsenal got a red card. Anyway Throughout the game I was getting rid of my risk, and it was painful to not be able to take advantage of the ridiculous odds that were popping up. I finished £14k down.

------------------

All extreme examples, as "I bet £5k at evens and lost" just isn't very exciting

I bet 5k at evens and lost.

T20 cricket Sri Lanca v England on 27/03/14
Sri Lanca 189
England 0 for 2 first over
Sri Lanca seeded no 1 in world at this format
Sri Lanca trading at 1.06
England had to achieve thier highest ever succesful run chase!

England won with four balls to spare.
I backed Sri Lanca.

ps put me in your book and please can I have a copy.
shall I give you my email?

I once laid a horse which was a distant 20 lengths third approaching the last fence. The 1st place horse fell at the last, the second place was taken down by it and the third, my lay, cantered home.

look at the Open thread on the golf forum where KR would have won a £1m if Scott had won. Hit 1.02 i think....

About twenty years ago i punted on a horse in the bookies, came to the last clear in front, fell. The next race backed another horse again in front going over the last, fell.  Both were odds against when I backed them  pre-race and I was skint at the time, really skint.

This was before Betfair, but recall going to Kempton one day and backing five second places and a fourth.  What was significant about the fourth place?  Well I put the same six selections in a placepot and the dividend was over £200 which also gives some idea of the prices of the second placers.  The other significant thing about this day was it's the only time I've been horse racing where I took the wife with me.

Think I was nineteen at the time and had a 10p ew lucky 15.  The first 3 all won and the final horse was Cima at 20/1 in a 16 runner hcap hurdle race at Devon and Exeter.  It was just before pictures were introduced into betting shops so it was a tannoy commentary.  The commentator said it was foggy so there was literally no commentary until they jumped the last at which point it was Mountain Man and Cima neck and neck all the way to the line.  Photograph called, which seemed to take an eternity to announce, and fate decreed that Mountain Man had won.  The bet would have returned over £1500 had Cima got up, which was an absolute fortune to me at that time.

Even at 19 I was an ew thief

In 1995, I worked at a promoters office in Montreal.  Though we were indie, we partnered shows with a big corporate U.S. firm. 

They had a football pool with all their offices.  It was $75 to enter and there were 90 participants between all their offices.  Half went to weekly and monthly prizes, the balance $5,000 for first then second got $800, third around 500.

It was really hard-core competitive, the rankings always the first five minutes of the weekly conference call. 

As the season went on, my selections got better, my flatmates pooling their knowledge when I found myself climbing the rankings and occassionally bringing home shares in the weeklies which meant we ate better.

As I found myself in the top five, it started to get ugly.  They didn't like the idea of this 'Canadian' indie guy taking their money. 

For the first ten weeks, a receptionist in Los Angeles compiled it.  But for the last six or seven weeks, it went to their accounting office that would not share the selections.

The conference call after the second to last week found me going past two of the hardcore players (they used to bet around $2,500 a game, weekends in vegas, etc).  But what made it doubly irritating for my american counterparts is that sharing 2nd with them a woman in the Toronto office who knew little about football and had been playing 'lucky pin' most of the year (though her boyfriend was helping).  She had scored an incredible 40+ selections the past three weeks (I think I was leading with around 98? from 180

The whole week was intense, my boss at the time going that every call my name came up, etc.  It became a cross-border competition.  I then found out there was wagering on the eventual winner as well as Canada v the States. 

The last week, I sent in my selections and a few minutes later received a fax back with the grid showing our selections.

After scratching out around half the games where we all agreed, the permutations were there.

The season ended on Christmas that year and we all took the same team so it came down to the 23rd and 24th.

The 23rd knocked out the hardcore guys and results suddenly found myself competing with Sue for the big prize.  Three differences with 1/2 point spreads meant no chance for a tie and a split.

As the scores came in, it was apparent that the first two were split.  The third game was Washington and Carolina, neither team advancing to the play-offs, neither team needing a win for any reason. 

The spread was more than a field goal, less than a touch down so probably 4.5 or 5.5.  And in the fourth quarter, Washington kicked a field goal and the score was 20-10.  As the game ticked down, Washington punted deep and with little time and the season over for both teams, we started the dance around the flat.  Both benches seeing that their season was over and glad their knees held out, the usual shot of players standing with helmets in one hand, both benches dejected with the season over, the score having no meaning to Washington.  No reason for Carolina to care either.

But Carolina did care.  They wanted to finish on a winning note.  And with the clock ticking down, they ran a hurry up offense and moved up but still in their own end. Then they moved down the field.  I don't remember the sequence of plays, rushes or passes.  I do remember the silence.  Then, a long pass and.......it was completed.......and.......THEY LOST THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....but they scored a touchdown and beat the spread!!!!!!!!!  FUUUUUUCKKKKK.

We stared in disbelief.  There was no reason at all for it.  It was pointless.  Even the commentators made remarks that they weren't even doing it for a home crowd, etc.  But they did it.  It was unbelievable.

Second prize must have paid January's rent but left a sour taste.  The first conference call of the year starting with a cassette recording played over the speakerphone of the last few plays of the game.

Many years ago I got a tip for a Scottish lower league soccer game. I was usually completely skint anyway but on this occasion for some reason I had a few quid lying around. A good few quid for me at the time.

I can't remember the exact reason, but we had to have a double. We were supposed to have minimum trebles back then, but if you stuck in an English cup game it changed the rule to singles and above.

My mate and I scoured the coupon and picked out a game that I believe was Leeds at Bolton in the FA Cup. I've done a quick google and this seems to confirm that.
I get all-in on this double, about 6/1 if I remember right and follow the scores on teletext. The Bolton game has been snowed off but our other bet has won.

My mate checks with the local Billies rule and it seems our bet will stand if the game is replayed within a certain time period - which it is.
We wait until they manage to play the game, a week or two and sweat out a Leeds win.

To this day I don't know 100% what happened next, but because my mate checked with them and been told the wrong rules, he got paid as a gesture of goodwill. Me, I got my stake back. The game had been played outside of the time limit and the other game was not allowed as a single

My biggest hard luck story has been happening over a long time, learning about online betting sites..........basically a waste of time lol.

One that might make it good in the book that I unfortunately have no proof of was told by a friend of the person in question in the early 90s and it always came across as true when I heard him tell it.

Person in question had done some small building work for one of the nearby dog tracks. When offered his payment his reply was "Don't worry about that, just make sure my dog gets trap one at the next meeting".

Sure enough the dog gets trap one and is a tasty price. All the money goes on and it shoots out like the proverbial rocket and stretches it's lead. Certain winner, good job all around.

However, behind is revealed the reason it's miles clear. There's been a huge pileup and dogs are running the wrong way. Race is called off.

Obviously the price wasn't available next time out.

My first real job was as a trainee programmer with Bass Computer Services in West Bromwich. There were a few of us who bet the horses including an older guy called Brian who went to Cheltenham every year with his mates from the Brewery. This particular year (1980) they all won so they decided to play up their winnings by going to the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter. They hired a minibus to take them there and one of them bought along a friend who they hadn't met before. One the way home after many beers this friend started to talk. He said he shouldn't be telling them this but a trainer called Yardley based near Droitwich was setting up a horse to win first time out over the sticks. They were running him on the flat to get him fit but he would win first time out over the jumps. The horses name was Riddaragh.

Brian told us this information and at the time I used to buy a weekly paper called the Handicap Book which I kept to study previous form. I checked out Riddaragh and sure enough he had run twice recently on the flat over 2 miles at Haydock and Leicester. Both times he had started at 33-1 and his form read the same: 'slowly into stride, never near'. I then checked his up coming race entries. For a week or two there was nothing. Then the next week he was entered into about a dozen selling handicap hurdles all over the Midlands but he wasn't declared. Next week same thing happened, lots of entries but nothing doing. However the following week he was declared to run in a 3 mile selling handicap hurdle at Hereford on the Saturday (FA cup final day).

But something didn't quite stack up. Firstly Riddaragh had only run twice over hurdles (finishing with 2 duck eggs 00) so he was given automatic top weight of 12 stone. Why didn't they run him once more, get him beat and he would be carrying closer to 10 stone rather than 12? Secondly the trainer Yardley had declared another horse in the same race and the stable jockey Bill Morris was on that horse (I hadn't even heard of the jockey riding Riddaragh).

Me and my mate Pete decided to go to Hereford races anyway. I took 2 weeks wages with me (£200 in those days) but I was still uncertain whether or not to bet it. We got to Hereford racecourse with an hour to spare so went for a drink in the bar (Riddaragh's race was the first race on the card). We were in the bar when an announcement came over the tannoy: 'There is a jockey change in the first race, Bill Morris is to ride Ridarragh'. This was when we decided that the coup was on but I was still concerned about the weight.

When the horses came out into the parade ring I realised why the connections weren't bothering to get him beat again. Riddaragh was by far the biggest horse I had ever seen. He could have been carrying 13 stone and it wouldn't have made any difference! We went to the betting ring where Riddaragh was steady at 8-1. I had five £20 bets at 8-1 and was wondering whether to put the other £100 on when the ring went crazy. The 8-1 was wiped off all the boards to be replaced by 9-2 which lasted about 10 seconds. The bookmakers then chalked up 7-2 which again didn't last very long. He went to 5-2 then 2-1. At the off no bookmaker at Hereford was offering a price against Riddaragh. He was returned 2-1 second favourite but that must simply have been the last price laid.

The race started (two complete laps of Hereford racecourse). The third favourite went off in front with Riddaragh and the actual favourite stalking him in second and third. The rest of the horses were a mile behind. They passed the stands and went out on the second circuit. When they were furthest away from the grandstand the favourite was pulled up (stopped?). Riddaragh was in second place about a length behind and the jockey Bill Morris hadn't moved a muscle! By now I had already spent my winnnings on a flash new car but then it happened. Riddaragh hit the second last hurdle, completely lost his action and eventually finished lame!

To say I was gutted was an understatement! A brilliantly planned coup that very nearly came off. Later a bookmaker friend told me that over £100,000 had been placed on Riddaragh at shops throughout the Midlands so I wasn't the only one to do his dough!

I did get my £100 back in the later races but it was small compensation for what might have been...

A god read this thread, will add my woes to the list. In the days of new years specials 2007 was the year, bookmakers used to send a list of what special bets they intended to offer to the racing post for publication the following day. My daughter rang me to say she had been given a copy of Hills "specials" and she wanted my view. There were plenty of "riks" 8/1 a GB or Irish trained winner of the Arc. But by far the biggest was the 66/1 the premiership title to be decided on points. I told her to ask for £50 on each there were a couple of others so we had £200 on in total. They rang her back to tell her the 8/1 was an error and they had voided the bet, ok I thought.
Next morning I was as you would expect on their doorstep at 9.00 with a cash in hand, asked for 4 bets of £50 on various things including title being decided on goal difference, the manager rang them through for confirmation, he came back to me and said there had been a price change and it was no longer 66/1 but 80/1 and to my suprise they accpted the bet. I had priced it up at about a 5 or 6/1 shot so 66 and 80s was massive.
Fast forward to the last day of the season and going into the final games Chelsea and Manchester United were level on points with Manchester having a superior goal difference. Manchester won 2-0, Chelsea struggled but eventually took the lead in the 63rd minute to lead Bolton 1-0 the final whistle blew at Old Trafford Manchester had won. Chelsea obviously aware that United had won conceded an equaliser in the 93rd minute to scupper my bets.
Obviously I had covered myself but a tie on points would have been a £2.5k better result for me. Hills had a very lucky escape that day

bud - an excellent post

A few christmases ago I really fancied this horse and decided to back it on betfair in running as knew it would be held up. Got massive odds as indeed horse was held up near the back. Thr fav for the race was well in front so my horse went to 27.0 on betfair. Now i knew this was incredible value so placed my biggest bet ever @ 27.0 for £1836.52p my entire betfair bank.


Then unbelievable just as my horse began to move forward the fav fell and in a few fences time my selection was 20 lengths clear approaching the last.

It jumped the last like a stag and crossed the line walking it was so far ahead.
i was jumping for joy dreaming of retirement,vegas lap dancing clubs and the like this was it, my one time had come.

What happened next was so unbelivble it defies all logic , after hearing what happened I cried for the first time since my son was born.


It broke me, my will had gone. For 27 years of betting this was my one chance the time in life when it happens and it changes your life for ever.

Dreams had been turned into nightmares, the christmas was ruined i knew i would never get this opportunity again.
you know the moment when you plan everything it works a treat and the someone comes along and just says like Jim Bowen from bullseye " this is what you could of won ".  Your life flashes before you and the cold sweat starts dripping down your brow, the shakes kick in then the tears start to flow. Firstly one tear then the flood no one can console you your life is over. Family don,t understand as you sit in a darkened room just muttering anf mumbling to yourself.
No ammount of time heals the wounds or mends the scars.

Every time you are shopping for jeans in Primarni instead of armani you think back to the potential of that life changing moment.


I live with thjis every day there is not one day of my life i dont think back to that fateful life and soul destroying day..
































Betfair refused to pay out the horse in question voler valadette.

why

£1800 on a 26-1 fella .

how long do you think this would last you n your lifestyle . Not long id say .

Northbouys succinctly asked WHY did betfair not payout......not answered.
I agree with Zealot betting £1800 on a 26/1 shot is a sure fire way to the workhouse.
If you had been paid out, how long would it have lasted?.....a month tops.

everybody knows the voler valadette story - at least, anybody who could be said to follow horseracing does. I've only a passing interest in HR but know this story inside out.

Tourist's not welcome.

enlighten me desperate, i guess it was a ringer

A punter put up an in running lay of something like £24 Million for Voler @27 or so , even though it looked a likely winner most of the race

Obviously everyone watching could see it was incredible value but there was so much money there that only about 1.5M was taken i think . so it was still 27 as it crossed the line

The layer did not have £24 million in his account or even enough to cover the bets that were placed.  Actually don't think he even had a grand in here .

It was some kind of IT screw up .The lay never really existed as it was not backed by real money . Betfair voided and a lot of people were seething  . Personally i can;t see why they really expected to get paid . Though it did raise the issue of how you can be certain that your matched bet is 'real' so was a problem for Betfair PR wise as had a lot of publicity .

of course 20 odd million was the amount people could stake so the red figure on the punters screen would have been something like £700,000,000 if it had all been matched and probably about 30 odd million with what was matched

Biggest ever meltdown on horse forum

this was the in running thread

http://community.betfair.com/horse_racing/go/thread/view/94102/28800603/21m-...

thanks tobermory.

This isn't a hard luck story.

In the 2002 World Cup the USA were beating Portugal 3-1.  At about 70 minutes into the match a USA win was 4/11.
So I took a deep breath, phoned up the bookies, and had the biggest bet of my life, €1,100 to win €400.
When I put the phone down and looked at the screen.  Jeff Agoos of the USA immediately scored a brilliant own goal.  Facing his goal (!) he hit a volley from about 12 yards that Brad Friedel never saw.
I sweated the remaining twenty minutes as Portugal battered the USA looking for an equalizer.  It ended 3-2.
The USA with 4 points eventually went through from Group D to the last 16. Portugal ended the group stages with 3 points.

Check here for one of the best own goals ever (from 13:00).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rX1bbTaJ40

Crystal Palace v Liverpool   05/5/2014
Liverpool needed to win going for title.
Palace nothing to play for in mid table.
In running Liverpool 3 nil up,Liverpool win matched at 1.01 for £340,829
Draw backed at 999/1

Result 3-3

Lots of fingures burnt especially 1.01 backers or 999/1 layers

Very enjoyable read this thread. Not for sadistic reasons mind.

Four people today stood the change of winning and sharing the £250,000 from a free bet on Sky sport Super 6 competition, they all had all 6 correct scores up until the 94th when Fulham equalised against Palace, 62.5k down the drain. Now that is gutting.

World Championship Snooker, April 2014.
Ronnie O`Sullivan v Mark Selby.
Ronnie going for his sixth World title and third consequetive win.
Selby yet to win the World crown.
O`Sullivan leads by ten frames to five, and trades to back at 1.05.
Surely it was a forgone conclusion as Selby could be backed at 20/1.

Result.... Selby won with four frames to spare!

On this day which I call mad Monday, three apparent sure fire winners all lost, with in running prices backed as follows >

O`Sullivan 1.05, Liverpool 1.01 and Valencia 1.02

The lesson here is that their is never ever a certainty, whatever the sport or event.

Horse Racing, 16/05/14 Killarney 20.25pm
Artic Fire the odds on fav was matched in running at 1.01 as it lead by a length well inside the final furlong.
Shu Lewis who was backed in running at 130/1 came with a late run for a photo finish.
Betfair traders on photo finishes seldom get it wrong and Artic Fire was trading at 1.2 but drifted alarmingly to 1.5

Shu Lewis won by a nose.

I backed Artic Fire post race not for a lot but im sure many had their fingurs burnt.

is your calendar wrong mate

sorry  13th apologies.

Worst for me, Big Bucks, Annie Power Chelts 2014. For weeks Id been telling people people lay BB and AP, i think BB was around 4/1 and AP I think was near enough odds on so not a massive out lay., BB was never going to win as fitness was no where near 100% as people believed, and AP was not proven over distance. Previous to the start of the days racing I placed L63 on various other horses (Id have to check back previous bets to see who as names don't stick in my head easily). Every time I told someone to lay either BB or AP they completely disagreed with me. Mean while a friend of mine, who develops systems in picking winners, had told the group I'm part of that More Of That (i think) was the clear winner and should back it at around 15/2. So guess who I backed as part of my multi? Thats right Annie Power, not big buck who was proven over distance and going or MOT who I was told had a brilliant chance, but AP. At this point my cash out was around £330 on a £12.60 stake, I decided that everyone, bar my friend, was adamant AP wouldn't be beat, so though "let the bet run". Think you know the rest MOT won at about 15/2, AP 2nd at evens or odds on, (can't rememberer) and I think BB was 4th. Other 2 horses placed so 2 winners and 3 places gave me a return, but only a third of what I should of cashed out on had I of listened to myself. Plus theres the 12/15 on the coral football jackpot at its biggest rollover and a few other bets I should of laid off or cashed out, but wines going to my head, so I'm offski.

Lost 6.5k in less than two weeks - backed o'sullivan, laying correct scores, backed wrong tennis players when it is a 50/50 shout, backed benefica, backed spurs @ west ham, backed south american football staying up until 4am in the process. Totally totally pissed off. I'l never recoup that amount. It's gone and I'm not even going to attempt to claw it back. It's done and I've been taught a lesson in chasing and this day was always going to come. I now need to learn to just watch sport without the thrill of the bet - it may be dull but at least I wont have the stress and anquish when it goes wrong. This is a massive amount of money for anybody and especially me.

I feel your pain OBR. I stick to level stakes these days, so even though I might bet on rubbish I have no idea about trying to get back my loses, it stops me from doing my bollocks in one session.

I've no idea how to do this.

Your not the only one OBR, ive bet far more than I can afford to lose as many do.
Ive backed a horse on US racing in the early hours when I should have been in bed for a grand at odds on, it lost.
The other losses id rather not go into.

but you still gamble? My question is how can people watch sport without the thrill of a bet? I can't imagine that - especially if it wasn't my team playing.

OBR, ive learnt the only way to win is arbing, but its only small beer,but wins nether the less.
You have to be disciplined which im not.
If I had stuck to arbing I would be an extremely rich man.

But arbing is risk free so what's the point in watching the match as the outcome is not relevant?

I think I need to know how to stop and enjoy any tennis match or football match for the spectacle it is.

ORB,you obviously need a buzz watching sports.
I get a buzz finding arbs,but it will never recover what ive lost.
A tip for you keep your bets small and dont chase losses, otherwise,its the sure fire way to the workhouse.

I found that too time consuming - I've done that before. I am not disciplined to keep them small. Maybe I need speculative bets to be placed to win big and that way if they win I'm happy and if they lose i don't lose much.

Sounds like you just need to pack in gambling and use your money for something else.  If you can't enjoy sport without a bet, don't watch it and don't bet on it.  If you're happy throwing your money away, then fine, it's your choice, but you don't sound happy with it so surely there must be other things more deserving of your time and money?

I'm assuming arbing is trading?? if so I watch the match/race to know when to lay off my back bet. Never get emotionally involved with anything, have my stop loses set, my position to trade out to win set. Once I've made the money turn TV off. If your going to get emotionally involved in the game don't bet, it will only lead to upset. (unless of course you win, but which case you can't always win).

Premier League Darts 22/05/14 P.Taylor v Raymond van Barnevald semi final.
Sixteen time champion of the world, Taylor had never lost to Barnevald in the premier league on twenty one previous matches.
Taylor lead four legs to one, and traded at 1.04 to back,whist Barnevald traded at 20/1.

Result Barnevald 8 Taylor 5

bad day for the backers at 1.04

iprefertolay: these aren't hard luck stories, they're just stories about short odds gubbings, which happen daily.

Seeing these backers getting gubbed at rediculous prices is better than having sex.

May 23, 2014 -- 1:06AM, iprefertolay wrote:

Seeing these backers getting gubbed at rediculous prices is better than having sex.

Really.?

very much so...milkenz

That you get more satisfaction from seeing the misfortune of complete strangers than positive experiences that you personally have is a very sad reflection on you.

older u get harder to get up

F.A. Cup day 1989 and no racing on T.V.

I usually did a Lucky 15 every Saturday on the T.V. races in those days so I decided to do a £1 one line placepot at Newbury instead for a bit of an interest.

Brought up the Teletext after the match to check how it went,not really expecting anything.

First two won or placed and the third was a NR but the favourite placed followed by places in legs 4 & 5

Last race was a 20 runner 3yo handicap and my horse was You Missed Me @8/1

Didn't make the frame(12/1 was the lowest price in the first four places).Naturally I was disappointed but then again it was only a quid.Forgot all about it and headed out to the pub.

I then made the mistake of going into the bookies at lunch time on Monday to look up the Sporting Life to see where You Missed Me finished.

It was beaten a neck into 5th after being hampered (RP online doesn't mention this though).

Placepot paid £1262.One of the two bookies I used at the time paid a 10% consolation if your last leg let you down.

I did my placepot in the other one.

I`m an indie, so have innumerable tales of luck, both good and bad. There are, however, two particular examples of bad luck that stand out. Both involved an uncannily similar set of circumstances, without which, they would be in the `good luck` stories folder!

The first, and smaller, of the two involved that infamous rick by the Sporing Index boys, when pricing up the number of `wides in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. I think it was Paul Kealy, writing in the RP, who suggested that the opening quote of (from memory, something like) 270-280 had been calculated using the wrong assumptions. Perhaps that the compiler had based his figures on the 5-day game, which bore no real relevance to the tournament in question.

So convincing was the article, so little apparent downside, that I decided to have a decent crack at it, I rang another local indie with whom I had done loads of business and who was also a good friend, to have a buy at the 280, £100 a point. I asked him if he had seen the article, (don`t forget, these were pre-internet days). He hadn`t, but said he would, and call me back soon. Which he didn`t. Next day, I called him again. He had seen the article and, as I had asked to buy at 280, he felt honour-bound to accept it, even though the quote had now risen to (again from memory, something like) 300-310..As his friend, I appreciated his offer, but couldn`t do it to him. After all, no bet had actually been struck the day before, at the 280. I don`t remember the rest of the conversation, but, for some unknown reason, I ended up having no bet.

Only to see the quote go to, from memory, 1200? Before finally making up at something like 970. 70-odd grand, if only my man had seen the article.








Second story, which really is `the one that got away`.



Many of you will remember that, about 10 years ago, in a big publicity stunt, Fred Done offered an even-money, £1,000,000 bet: which of Man Utd or Chelsea would finish higher in the forthcoming Premiership season. No big deal, you might think, except for the fact that Chelsea were only 4/6 to win the Premiership. ( I`m not entirely sure if it was 4/7 or 4/6, so I will assume it was the less extreme figure.)

So, 4/6 to beat 19 teams INCLUDING Man U, or even money, and only have to beat United? The problem was that Done wanted the bet to be taken by one person, not a syndicate or anonymous company. That wouldn`t provide the publicity in the same way that having a million pound bet with some Joe Soap would. Fred was on tv for three or four days, bemoaning the lack of a challenger, before I had an idea.

For some reason, on that particular day, I didn`t have a million sitting in my back pocket, but I knew a man who would have. He is one of the biggest private bookies in Britain, and many of you will know him. I rang him. but he was out. I asked his son if his father had seen the offer. He suspected not, (again, pre-internet).

Next day, the father rings me, saying he had now seen the challenge, but that he didn`t want to take up the offer, as the last thing he needed was the tax man discovering that he had a million in cash lying around, he had to stay low-key.

I had no such concerns, so offered to do it for him, to be `the face` of the bet. He agreed, and so I, by now very excitedly, rang Fred`s number. I`ve forgotten the name of his right-hand-man who I spoke to, but he told me that after something like five days having passed with no challengers, one had turned up just 30 minutes ago, and Fred was in the process of finalising the bet with him. But that if, for whatever reason, the other challenger didn`t pursue it, Fred would call me straight back.
Three or four hours later, I received a call confirming the offer had been taken. I was 30 minutes, out of FIVE DAYS, late. Turned out that Fred had got fed up waiting five days for a Joe Soap to take the bet, had relaxed his previous conditions, and had made the bet with Victor.
I asked him if Fred would care for a second million pound bet, but the next day I received a call saying `thanks, but one million is enough for Fred`.


Chelsea romped it. If only my man had seen the challenge a few minutes earlier...