It was once said that the betting game could tame lions. Huge upsets, comebacks of epic proportions and solitary goals away from enormous pay-outs, can leave punters feeling broken. We look at a few of the biggest near misses and hard luck stories of recent years.
One of the most painful hard luck betting stories in recent times has to be the unlucky punter from Newcastle who struck a 1p Correct Score accumulator on the Champions League last 16 matches. Simon Torres Pike selected 6 separate scores and stood to win £1million if he defied all of the odds and guess correctly. Choosing one correct score is difficult enough, but Pike found himself in the position of accurately predicting five of the results. With the massive windfall within touching distance, all he required was Barcelona to be victorious 2-0 against AC Milan and Coral would have been forced to pay out one of their longest odds accumulators ever. Alas, AC Milan upset the applecart and shocked the best team in the world, winning 2-0 themselves. A bitter blow for Mr Pike, but he did receive complimentary tickets to the Nou Camp as compensation.
February 5th 2011. Newcastle v Arsenal. Within 26 minutes, the game looked absolutely dead and buried. Arsenal had scored four times and were in total control of the game. Even after 67 minutes, the score line remained the same. Some big staking individuals looked to ‘buy money’, backing Arsenal after the fourth goal at 1.02. One bold individual staked £50,000 to win £1,000 and he can only have watched on in dismay with what subsequently unfolded. Newcastle managed a miraculous comeback, scoring four goals in twenty minutes, gaining a valuable point, with the match finishing a 4-4 draw. A painful lesson for the big staking punter that it really is not over until the fat lady sings.
When striking a bet on the football, tennis, rugby or even golf, these hard luck, heart break stories can be avoided. Greening up can eliminate any risk from a bet and can net you a guaranteed profit. Greening up can be done on betting exchanges, as they allow customers to bet on events to win, and for them not to win. The process of greening up involves betting on a team/player at certain odds, and then striking the opposite bet when the odds become more favourable. For instance, someone may back Rafa Nadal to win the Australian Open final against Roger Federer. Nadal was 2.2 pre match but storms to a 2-0 lead in sets, leaving the title within his grasp. He would be available at around 1.1 after the end of the second set and the customer could bet on Nadal to lose the match and lock in their profit. If Federer were to make a famous comeback and win the match 3-2, the punter could have a wry smile, safe in the knowledge he made the right call in greening up.
Betting exchanges offer the facilities to green up, whereas regular bookmakers do not. This is just one of the numerous advantages of using an exchange such as WBX. Better odds, low commission rates, excellent customer service and the ability to back and lay selections mark betting exchanges down as a fantastic alternative. WBX are an up and coming exchange, offering huge loyalty discounts, low commission rates and an ever increasing number of markets. They really are a viable alternative to the larger firms such as Betfair, with no premium charges on winning accounts.