*** The Eurovison Final 2013 In Running Thead ***

until next year

bloody georgia ruined it. all my other bets won easily. made a loss overall though!

overall washout for me

Hungry my only top 10 winner too srich. Would have preferred Belgium

Italy had me sweating for ages but done it comfortably in the end.

strange voting tonight though - the juries seem to have had more of an impact than previously.

It's getting boring favourites winning all the time though.

with the new voting 1-26 ranking must have made a difference

the drift on Denmark to near three was crazy

Made the right bets Fig. I'll be very interested to see how Marco did on the pv/jury split.

they really need to do something to stop Azerbaijan and Ukraine from dominating every year though.

Hungary!!!

knackerd after watching that man a fair bit top ten market speacialy netherlands and italy

did you not back Malta top 10 fll ?

Nope. Didn't like the price. Preferred Belgium in double figures and got some 22

whos up for going next year....will start a thread on forum

jt 11th I think. Hungry overtake them on 2nd last vote

It was not a good night for me overall.  I traded a bit in-running, but still a bad night.

was ireland last?

UL pk. Lots of burnt fingers I think.

Roll on the voice and bgt

susan boyle would have been better lol

yes, corby, couldn't even get spain last. 2nd last

hmm £12.71 what a waste of time watching that.  Would have been triple if Ukraine came 2nd but nevermind

no idea how i lost money.

i fancied denmark to win, ukraine was my 2nd fav. but didnt back either cept denmark top 3 at 1.25
fancied malta top 10 but didnt do it cos they always bomb when i back them.
large bet on russia top 10, but ruined by a large bet on georgia who got sod all.
bet on italy and spain in the big five but only for a small bet. pillock.

good job im 5k up in the last month or id be pretty pissed right now.

where the feck where georgias points??
and, i didnt back it, but why the hell did ireland not do better?

is it first time ever that ireland has been last in the contest?

semi winners announced yet?

i guess azerbaijan won the 2nd semi?

they will be out soon

Top 10 posted earlier...

1. Norway
2. Azerbaijan
3. Denmark
4. Ukraine
5. Belgium
6. Italy
7. Netherlands
8. Greece
9. Iceland
10. Moldova

Not bad?

So much for laying the 1.7 as the value play!

Anyway, BGT on ITV2 now, for those of us who missed it earlier.

I guess Ireland wasn't placed in the semi

Best song won, good entertainment, wd winners...not me

Three months of my life to roughly break even on here!  Good job I actually like this music (I know, don't say it!!)

Haven't done the totalling up yet but I think it's going to be within a few pence breaking even Ha ha.  Thank the Lord I had a dabble on Sp Index for the first on ESC.  Hit 4/4 on there including a Romania/Armenia matchbet I'd forgotten about until I just checked there a minute ago!  Nice one Cezar the geezer!

on ORF they said denmark won 1st semi

I thought Ireland was very gay personally. Didn't expect it for lanterne rouge though

when does betfair open the market for next years eurovision?

around christmas

christmas time normally I believe

january when all countries are announced?

CowaBanga
semi winners announced yet?

i guess azerbaijan won the 2nd semi?

________

ah yes, I foprgot about that little potnetial up my sleeve.  Had nie bonuses with Turkey and Greece in recent years to top up my tally.  Fingers crossed I've got a few quid to come from that

i wonder who won the jury vote? denmark will have won the pv me thinks

I suspect they won both

i think i got goosed on the clips. the georgia one i dont think they played the waterfall bit, just a random bit in the middle. i remember thinking hmm thats a crap clip to show

norway was bombed badly for semi 2

I guess the fact Bonnie wasn't a complete disaster was down to her being a name and popular in quite a few countries.  Imagine what she could have done had she actually still been able to sing.!!

honest what price did u get on azerbaijan semi 2?

Giant for Ukraine - Original? CHECK
Man in box for Azer - Original? CHECK
Sandwoman for Ukraine 2011 - Original? CHECK

Maybe it's about tiem we threw in a gimmick or two

I took 6 on Azer in the semi, Cow

norway had no gimmicks and finished top 4, good display, that was the best song in my opinion music wise. maybe would of won in another year

i cashed top 4 at 2.00

grandfinal results here: http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=1773
semi 1 results here: http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=1783
semi 2 results here: http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=1793

Semifinal 1

167 Denmark
156 Russia
140 Ukraine
095 Moldova
075 Belgium
075 Netherlands
064 Belarus
054 Ireland
053 Lithuania
052 Estonia
—
046 Serbia
041 Montenegro
038 Croatia
027 Austria
011 Cyprus
008 Slovenia

amazing that Ireland got through into the final given it's eventual result

surprised at moldova though

reverse the draws for Russia and Ukraine in the final and Russia 3rd, Ukraine 5th I reckon

Georgia 10th in semi 2

semi 2?
link dont work

norway came 3rd in the semi

these old fashioned ballads have no chance

san marino came 11th. 16 points behind georgia in 10th

Malta 3 points off 2nd place and 2 points behing Norway in semi 2.  Unreal.

well you now got more stats to work on for next year

can't wait to see the actual jury/pv split votes, guess that will be in 4 weeks time

Semifinal 2

139 Azerbaijan
121 Greece
120 Norway
118 Malta

so denmark got more points than azerbaijan with 1 less country in the semi

Anyone have the full result of the 2nd semi?
I still can't find it

yes fll its here: http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=1793

Got it now.
Latvia last

Semifinal 2

139 Azerbaijan
121 Greece
120 Norway
118 Malta
083 Romania
072 Iceland
069 Armenia
066 Hungary
064 Finland
063 Georgia
—
047 San Marino
045 Bulgaria
041 Switzerland
040 Israel
031 Albania
028 Macedonia
013 Latvia

no nil points this year

FINAL SCORING
281 points for Denmark
234 points for Azerbaijan
214 points for Ukraine
191 points for Norway
174 points for Russia
152 points for Greece
126 points for Italy
120 points for Malta
114 points for The Netherlands
084 points for Hungary
071 points for Moldova
071 points for Belgium
065 points for Romania
062 points for Sweden
050 points for Georgia
048 points for Belrus
047 points for Iceland
041 points for Armenia
023 points for United Kingdom
019 points for Estonia
018 points for Germany
017 points for Lithuania
014 points for France
013 points for Finland
008 points for Spain
005 points for Ireland

What were the odds on Ireland finishing last? I didn't expect that at all,  I thought they'd finish above the UK

obviously keep the results well guarded, otherwise georgia wouldnt have been 1.5 for a top 10 if they only finished 10th in their semi. anybody with that info would have layed the crap out of it.

Press centre vote as bad as ever; only got 5 out of the top 10

How did you do GB?

Counting everything about 180 down.  Tried to trade some of my 2500 green zlata at 5s to level out but missed it.  Can't complain and had a decent run for a while tonight.  Have to say your 3 big reds had me worried for you.

100 of that was a top 4 lay of norway.  How Italy drifted in the top 10 market I will never know and that 2.38 Dicky got to be top of big 5 was the bet of the night.

I wasn't worried yesterday but the market going so against me today, meant I was pretty resigned to my fate.

This is part of the reason why I was in such a bad position.

Eurovision Song Contest 2013/Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Outright  Denmark   20/1  Won  C  £2.50  £52.50 

A couple of years ago, or even a year ago I'd have been able to get a couple of hundred at that price and would have been sitting pretty.

I think I managed £400 on Loreen just after she won her national final @ 9/2

£2.50 is quite a difference

Maybe time to concentrate more on Golf and the Horses.
Nicely in profit on both.
Losing on Specials this year

Yes I have lost on 2 on the trot...back to basics.

Traded a ridiculous amount on outright and somehow managed to scrape about 70 quid overall.
Learnt a few lessons I guess.. Old ballads seemingly are out, ESC's not yet ready for a bit of moodiness or class without pyros or gimmicks.
Brains all mushed but was fun though.. I think

Only one I could see coming back for the victory song was Denmark but I went into denial rather than back her at 2.5.  For all the usual block voting which was as bad as ever tonight you can't really argue with the top 10 we got.

Usual lesson learned of losing is worse than winning is good and take a profit when you can.

I ended up -£422.My only winning bet was a few quid on Netherlands Top 10.Got virtually everything else embarrassingly wrong.....Ireland Top 10 being the worst of an awful selection of bets.Closest I got was an E/W play on Russia (5th) so galling to come home and see it finished above Ukraine in the Semi-Final.
Oh well,you can't win them all....I'll console myself by trying to think of a title for an Ash Morgan train.

I know this is a repeat subject but there are nothing wrong with reverses or losing on an event. The main thing is that they were the right bets at the time. I think it would be much worse to have lumped on Denmark just to get out of a hole, not because it was thought to be a near certainty and still value. Sometimes I suspect we get used to the 'right' bet also winning. The last few years we've has something trading very short very early on, so if you missed most of the early value on Denmark, it's a tricky place. Then we may be looking for reasons to oppose it. Think of all the profits made opposing France that year. The market is much more efficient than it used to be I guess, being very much a part-timer these days I'm only picking up the scraps

Personally I do struggle to get to grips with the jury element of eurovision. I'm expecting Marco to have done well on the pv, so we'll see.

Chin up everybody Nuggs organising a trip

15min.lt have this morning come out with an extraordinary story that points towards Azerbaijan paying people to vote for them in the Eurovision final. They have this morning reported the story of students in Vilnius who were approached by two Russian men, and were payed to vote for Azerbaijan in last night’s Eurovision final. Each of the students were payed 20 Euros for each time that they voted for the specific artist.

The paper then sent a number of undercover reporters with cameras and voice recording equipment to a cafe where they would be given sim cards to vote with. At the meeting the men boasted how this was done in almost all the countries taking part in the contest and how that they did it across countries as not to cause suspicion.

Each group that is payed had five phones each and then must vote as many times as possible in the 15 minute window. After the 15 minutes a group manager then checks the number of votes sent for the country. The men went on to say that the same thing happens during the semi finals. The most interesting part is where he admitted that Azerbaijan use this technique in 15 countries, and that Russia are also involved in buying votes.

Interesting Lithuania gave Azerbaijan 12 points last night and 7 points to Russia meaning for the first time in years Georgia scored only 8 from Lithuania.

UK TV Ratings ‏@TVRatingsUK 5m

The #Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was watched by 7.70m/35.3% on @BBCOne, peaking at 10.55pm with 9.28m/48.4%.

N1 bear. That's a pretty good peak for 11pm

Cheers Cider.

Small profit overall, but missed several main bets - Norway win, Spain to be last, Romania and Estonia top 10 all cost me.

Winners: Italy top 10, Azer top 4, Israel not to qualify, Netherlands top 10.

Bit of a kind of year for ESC really.

Predictable short priced winner.

given recent form, should we all just lump on the jolly next year?

With the jury/pv system, then I don't think there will ever be any certainties, stu. Except that Azer will be top 4 if the cheats are allowed to get away with paying for votes every year.

I agree Cider. Backing at value prices is the key. The problem these days is getting on...and I can't see that changing.
I also got screwed by the draw with the my Ukraine/Russian bets. I am sure their positions on the leaderboard would have been reversed with their positions in the running order were reversed. Belgium, my main top 10 vote, another one that would have come in with a late draw.

Maybe becoming more of a trader is the way forward and backing acts/countries who I think will shorten, even if I don't see them as value at the time.

if*, not with

Russia would have been top 4 for sure with a better draw FLL

You'd have thought so.
The 2nd half had far more male singers, which I am sure helped the female ones. Ukraine in particular.

Also my favourite 3 songs in the 1st half were all male and similar in a way. Malta the last one to perform did the best. I'm not sure Lithuania would have been top 10 from any position, but I am sure Belgium would have been if it had been on later and after Malta.

Talking of my man Andrius. I love his response afterwards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=r2fNOOPw8WY

'20? What's the fv cking number 20?'

3 of the 'hot' girls were all late on. More Ukraine and Denmark but Norway also.

Ireland wasn't terrible, altho I noted it was a bit 'gay'. But it was dramatic all action and quite memorable anyway.  For a country that's Euro friendly last place does suggest the draw has less impact than might be suspected.

The lesson I will take from this, in eurovision, being overtly sexy is not a barrier. I'd have thought most female (voters) would have wanted to scratch Zlata's eyes out.

...and most men to bang her eyes out...

Well, exactly

Three of the first four featured attractive women....

I think that this was a very tricky year in retrospect. The fact that the songs were not the best this time around made it very tempting to go against Denmark when even getting on it on Tuesday night and laying off before the final would have netted a 0.5 return. Perhaps the technique now is really just to ride the drift in of a short priced favourite.

Another major complicating factor was the Balkan wipeout. If the Balkans had been competing the lead would not have been as great but it surely would have won. If Azerbaijan are truly fixing things then they should be banned for a year. It's pathetic. I do know quite a few Eastern Europeans though and they liked the song so there was genuine support for it from my experience. I find Ukraine's strength more hard to fathom (and Ukraine have bombed before), their song was a mess and the giant walking on was so clumsy. Running order and voice quality are clearly a factor but also perhaps a poverty of choice.

And can we lay the phrase 'pimp slot' to bed? That is all about x-factor and nothing to do with Eurovision. There are 26 songs for God's sake, I think people are often flagging by the end. The period from around 16-22 is probably the bit that has the most attention paid to it at least at parties that I have been too.

Anyway I didn't have a good year but I enjoyed and appreciated all the forum comments (including when I was lurking during Jan to Apr). Cheers.

So true about pimp slot.  I know when Germany had the pick of all the slots in 2010, they opted for aroun 19 or 20 (can't quite remember.  In typical German efficient fashion they picked a trap that got them the win.  Last slot doesn't equal victory by any means in ESC

Cider
Three of the first four featured attractive women....
_________

Four of the first four if you include the totty who joined the Azer guy on stage midway through

I can't stand him but he can't do a worse job than the BBC over the last few years

http://oikotimes.com/2013/05/28/simon-cowell-would-like-to-help-the-uk/