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African Cup of Nations betting tips

The most colourful, passionate and exciting competition in the world of football is set for its 27th edition with top 16 African national teams set to battle for the coveted title in Angola. Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and Egypt are among the favourites for the trophy this time, although there are likely to be a couple of surprises as well. With this article, we will do our utmost to help you utilize the best betting strategy during the course of the competition and to find the best value.

If past editions of this competition have taught us anything, it’s that we will see plenty of surprises. Therefore, backing the favourites at low odds is never a good thing since teams like Ivory Coast or Cameroon boast star-studded squads with players already tired form their club campaigns and they often do not want to risk injury by giving all they’ve got when playing for the national team. On the other hand, teams like Benin, Gabon or Togo mostly consist of home-based players who are aware that African Nations Cup is their only chance to earn lucrative move to Europe and are, therefore, more likely to give their all for the team. Hence, backing underdogs with Asian handicap is always a good thing to do.

If you are thinking about making an early bet on the winner, you should know that value is definitely not on sides like Ghana, Nigeria or Ivory Coast since they tend to underperform for the aforementioned reasons. These sides undoubtedly have enough quality to win the competition but they seem to lack the will power and character to perform under pressure, which explains while always motivated Egypt have won the last two editions of the competition. Here are a couple of favourites with more detailed description of their qualities and weaknesses:

Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire)

The Elephants are always the number one favourites with star players like Dider Drogba, the Toure brothers, Didier Zokora and Bakari Kone among others, and they are now led by Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic. The amount of talent in the squad is simply unbelievable but despite that, not even their own fans believe the Ivorians will won the title since they always seem to find a way to disappoint their supporters. Apart from Ndri Romaric, who was dropped for disciplinary reasons, the boss can count on all his stars but the Elephants, nonetheless, face a very difficult task. However, if they click in just the right time, nobody will be able to stop them from winning their second title in history.

Cameroon

Cameroon are another side struggling to return to old glory days despite the big potential this national team possess. The Indomitable Lions have struggled at the start of the World Cup 2010 quals but things started improving once Paul Le Guen was appointed the boss and he helped the team clinch the World Cup berth with four straight wins. Samuel Eto’o, Alex Song and Jean Il Makoun are the star players at the moment, while veterans Geremi and Rigobert Song are also included. Paul Le Guen also has a couple of up and coming players in the squad and Cameroon should be able to fight for the medal.

Ghana

Ghana were supposed to be among the favourites of the competition but their squad have been hit hard with injuries and withdrawals that are likely to damage their chances in Angola. Sulley Muntari was dropped for disciplinary reasons, while Stephen Appiah, John Mensah and John Paintsil all miss out through injuries. Add to that the fact that Michael Essien will have only had a couple of training sessions before the first group game after recovering from injury and you will see that Black Stars shouldn’t be among the hot favourites.

While Nigeria can never be serious contenders at a competition like this, there is a big disharmony in Egypt’s squad after the Pharaohs missed out on the World Cup and we think there is no way Egypt will win the third consecutive title. Algeria and Tunisia also don’t look like serious candidates for the title, thus if you are looking for the best value, you should definitely back Mali.

Mali

The Eagles have a very experienced squad with players like Freddy Kanoute, Mahamadou Diarra, Seydou Keita and Mohamed Sissoko, while this is probably their last chance to leave their trail on African football. With youngsters Samba Sow, Abdou Traore, Mamadou Samassa and Modibo Maiga also in the mix, Stephen Keshi has a team capable of matching the best teams in Africa.

All things considered, a big stake on Ivory Coast and a small one on Mali could go a long way. This is how Victor Chandler sees the favourites for the title:

Ivory Coast 3.30
Cameroon 6.00
Ghana 6.50
Egypt 9.00
Nigeria 9.00
Algeria 11.00
Tunisia 17.00
Angola 21.00
Mali 26.00
Gabon 34.00

Don't forget to check latest Victor Chandler free bet offer

What to bet and what you should avoid

English Premiership is probably the strongest competition in football today and the one with the widest coverage, thus no wonder that Premier League games often find their way to your betting slips. We don’t think too many punters are satisfied with the first part of the season since teams like Liverpool, Everton and West Ham have had a lot of problems with their poor results probably the reason for numerous losses, whereas Burnley, the club with the smallest budget in English top flight, managed to surprise quite a few top table teams at Turf Moor. Betting strategy plays a big part in every punter’s quest for success and that is why we will try to single out a few clubs that you should definitely avoid backing.

Tottenham

For a couple of years now Tottenham have boasted one of the best teams in the Premiership, with plenty of quality players, big strength in depth and basically everything a side need to mount a serious top 4 challenge but yet they somehow always find a way to underperform. Spurs are indeed doing much better than usually this term but they still lose at home to teams like Wolves or Stoke and this is a good enough reason not to back them regardless of the opponents. On the other hand, when they are low in spirits and everyone expects them to lose, Spurs go out and win the game thanks to the sheer quality they possess. By all means, do avoid betting on Tottenham.

Liverpool

The Reds are definitely the biggest disappointment of the season so far as the team that were supposed to fight for the title are now struggling to return in contention for the top 4 place. It is more than obvious that Rafa Benitez has lost the plot and with club owners still reluctant to sack him, betting on Liverpool will certainly not be very profitable. The Reds are too dependent on Torres and Gerrard, and with the pair spending a lot of time on the sidelines, maybe the poor results are not surprising. Benitez will probably reinforce the squad in January but the new players will need a lot of time to get used to the pressures of playing for the underperforming giant that is Liverpool.

Manchester City

Mark Hughes have turned the Citizens into a very serious side as witnessed by victories over Arsenal and Chelsea, as well as the underserved defeat at Old Trafford but with so many new players in the side, City had a lot of problems, notching seven straight draws at one stage of the season. That alone would be a reason to avoid backing City as much as possible but there is more to it. Mark Hughes has recently been sacked from the post to the dismay of many football enthusiasts with some first team players already voicing their discontent with the latest developments and new boss Roberto Mancini will have his work cut out for him. This side have got the quality to match even the strongest teams in the league but the players will need time to get used to Mancini and vice versa, thus you’ll need to be very brave in order to back City against any opponent this season.

You should also be wary of Manchester United, who are a lot weaker than last term, as well as injury-plagued Everton and utterly inconsistent Sunderland. On the other hand, backing Fulham and Aston Villa at home and Chelsea regardless of the venue should give you the best value for money.

Betting on Dutch Eredivisie

Dutch Eredivisie is one of the most interesting league in Europe and also very popular for most of the punters. This is down to the fact we have some four or five title contenders every season, and difference between them and other teams is pretty big, which allows the punters to make big profits with the right betting strategy. The title contenders don’t drop too many points when facing the small teams, thus backing the favourites in this league is the right thing to do. Don’t be afraid to back teams like Ajax, PSV and Twente even away from home.

You should also be aware that most of the teams in Holland play attacking football regardless of the opponent and no wonder Dutch Eredivisie often tops the charts as the league that generates the most goals per game. Unlike some other leagues, not even the relegation strugglers are afraid to attack teams like Ajax or PSV, which often makes the job even easier for the big teams but it also produces a lot of goals in every single game.

Before you start looking for the teams to back, you first need to take a close look at team squads and changes from the last transfer window. Most of the teams have similar ambitions every single season but there is always at least one team every term that significantly reinforce the squad and attempt to improve their fortunes. This time that is Utrecht, the team that have made quite a few surprises during this league campaign and those punters that realized Utrecht’s potential early into the season are already in very good position.

Avoiding betting on derby games is always a good decision, be it classics like Feyenoord-Sparta and Ajax-Feyenoord or simply duels between title contenders. You should instead look for the team that are playing well even though the results are disappointing and back them to turn the season around as that is bound to happen at some stage.

Be sure to check the situation with injuries and suspensions a team have before backing them to win as it is unlikely their performance will be the same with and without their key players. Carefully interpretation of soccer stats can also help you see which team are convincing at home and which teams tend to score quite a few goals in every game.

Premiership early thoughts and odds

Firstly, I want to thank all the participants in our first Last Man Standing Tournament at Paddy Power. It was an exciting weekend behind us. We are satisfied with the numbers. 110 players took part in the competition and 85 survived first round. I thought that many of them would be angered by Sunderland's 'balloon goal', but as you can see at tournament sheet most of ousted players backed Everton.

If you kept your nerves during Champions League matches then it is the right time to start thinking about weekend clashes. Bear in mind that in this round it will be much more difficult to pick a winner.

At first the biggest English derby is on the program, since Liverpool will host Man United. Do you have enough courage to back Rafa’s Reds? His job is on the line. Both team played Champions League matches. Close call, so the best option is to stay aside and enjoy excellent football.

On the other hand Chelsea will face Blackburn. They look like hot favorites here, but they played Champions League match, as well. Most of punters believe in their success and that is sometimes good reason to skip a bet.

I have a similar opinion regarding the Spurs game. Too obvious to be true. They won their last match against Pompey and some experienced punters cashed in their success. But experienced punters will stay away from White Hart Lane next weekend.

Backing away team is always a risky option. This weekend it is Arsenal. Champions League could take a lot of energy away, so the match against Hammers won’t be the walk in the park in any way. I don’t believe that they will win this one.

My pick for Last Man Standing for the next round is Burnley. I know that you think that I want to kick you out from the tournament with this suggestion, but will see who will stay on the sheet.

Anyway, the best option is to collect all opinions. Let’s look at our soccer betting previews:

Wolves – Aston Villa Picks and odds
Birmingham – Balloonland ups Sunderland picks and odds
Hull – Portsmouth picks and odds
Tottenham – Stoke picks and odds
Burnley – Wigan picks and odds
Chelsea - Blackburn picks and odds

Bolton - Wigan picks odds
Liverpool – Manchester United picks and odds
Manchester City – Fulham picks and odds
West Ham – Arsenal picks and odds

Don't forget to check all soccer betting odds!

See you on Monday!

Last Man Standing Tournament

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£10,000 Last Man Standing Tournament

In addition to this exclusive, each week Paddy Power will be launching a new £10,000 tournament. However, if you register via this FreeBetting.net mail for the next £10 to enter competition, we'll offer you a second chance if your team let you down!

Play Last Man Standing on the weekend of the 17th of October and if you are knocked out in the first round, we will give you a free entry to the next tournament.

Registration for tournaments ends at 12:45pm on Saturday 17th of October, 2009.

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Financial spread betting

You had the chance to familiarize yourself with spread betting at main site and in this one we will try to introduce you to the world of financial spread betting. This is practically very similar to sports spread betting, but the main difference is you are betting on shares rather than sports events.

Financial spread betting is similar to conventional share trading but the plus side is that you don’t actually have to own the shares in order to trade them. This means you won’t have to pay a lot of money to buy the shares, while another benefit is there is no tax involved. You are basically betting on share value to go up or down and you earn or lose as much money as the share rises or falls.

There is a certain risk involved as you stand to lose much more than your stake, but you can also win a lot of money if the shares go in the way you have predicted. The good thing is that you will know how much you stand to lose in the worst possible outcome if you had imposed a guaranteed stop-loss limit, while there is no limit to the amount you stand to win. If you, for example, choose to buy a share for £10 per point, you will earn £10 for every point the share value rises, whereas you will lose £10 for every point it falls. It’s that simple.

This is not really a type of online betting but rather a variation of stock market trading and it is only called betting in order to avoid various UK taxes. You will therefore profit from predicting which way the market moves but you should know that this is not suitable for long-term investments like the conventional stock trading.

We suggest to stay on the safe ground - sports spread betting.

European Cups betting

The qualifying rounds of the European Cups serve as a curtain raiser of every new season and they offer us a lot of excitements over the summer months. The number of teams from all over Europe fought for 64 for places in the group stages of Champions League and Europa League, which also bring prestige and heavy windfall for every participant. With group-stage fixtures just around the corner, we’d like to give you a few pointers on how to make the most of European Cups betting.

As you probably know, the Champions League participants receive a lot of money for making it to the group stage and for every point they win from then. This is the reason why all the teams take this competition very seriously, but the situation was different with the UEFA Cup as that competition did not bring a lot of money, thus big teams would often field second string teams in the UEFA Cup. Nevertheless, you should know that Europa League is conceived to be similar to the strongest European competition in terms of the revenue it brings and teams that have qualified for the group stages will field the strongest sides in most of the games since right money management is crucial for the survival of modern clubs.

The first rounds of the group stage are the best possible time to bet on the favourites as they are eager to ensure progress to the next round as early as possible so that they could rest some of the players in the latter stages. This is also why you should bet against the favourites once they have ensured one of the top two places in the group. Teams that have made it to the group stages for the first time ever tend to do well in the opening games when the excitement is at its peak, just remember Cluj from last season. However, they often struggle later on when the lack of quality overshadows their motivation.

Tournament favourites are often not very convincing in the group stages but that is definitely not a sign they will get eliminated once the knockout rounds commence. They just balance between the league and European campaign and slowly raise their form for the final stages of the competition. You can certainly expect them to show their best form in the final rounds, when their opponents are as strong as they are.

European Cups are competitions where home advantage is very important, especially if the two teams are evenly matched. Big support from the stands can often carry even slightly weaker team to victory, thus you should never underestimate this segment. Obviously, full stadium will not help you a lot if you are playing Barcelona but it can be the decisive factor when playing teams of similar quality to your team.

Online betting is all about gathering the information about the match in question and the same stands for betting on European Cups. Domestic form of the teams cannot help you a great deal, as obviously teams that meet in Champions League or Europa League do not play in the same domestic competition, which is why you should rather check the team’s experience in Europe and past performances in the competition and this can be really helpful.

Sportingbet bonus

Premiership season gets underway next weekend and we are all anxious to see the stars of the best league in the world. Punters everywhere are preparing their strategy for the start of the new season and we are sure they will be delighted to hear that Sportingbet has prepared a new sign up bonus for the start of the Premier League campaign.

The well-known bookie will be increasing sign up offer from £25 to staggering £200. New Sportingbet customers will receive 100% bonus on their first bet up to 25 GBP (or currency equivalent) plus up to further 175 GBP when they place a minimum of 10 bets every seven days during the first three weeks. Here is how you can take advantage of this excellent offer:

Step 1: Open an account at Sportingbet. Make a deposit, place your first bet and they will match your stake with free bet of up to 25 GBP.

Step 2: Place a minimum of further 10 bets in your first seven days since 1st play and you will get a free bet to the value of your lowest bet (up to 50 GBP).

Step 3: Place a minimum of further 10 bets in your next seven days and get a free bet to the value of your lowest bet (up to 50 GBP).

Step 4: Place a minimum of further 10 bets in your next seven days and get a free bet to the value of your lowest bet (up to 75 GBP).

*All free bets bonuses are credited as winnings-only (and do not return stake) with 1x wagering requirement.

Terms and conditions:

1. The offer is valid between 1st August and 30th September 2009
2. Qualifying bets can be placed on any sportsbook markets (singles or multiples) at a bet price of 1.2 or greater
3. Free bets bonuses not used within 30 days of being credited will be removed from player accounts.
4. Entrants must be aged over 18
5. The offer is only available to customers residing in UK and Republic of Ireland only
6. Interactive Sports Limited has the right to cancel or withdraw this offer or change any of its terms at any time and without notice. It also reserves the right not to allow certain account holders to take part in this promotion.

Be sure not to miss this great offer and remember that you only have until 30th September to register your account in order to qualify for this promotional offer. Looking forward to seeing you at Sportingbet !

If you are out of Ireland and UK check out other betting bonuses. We are sure that you will find right one!

Paypal betting

PayPal is number 1 company when it comes to online financial transactions. Over 100 million customers are using their services and this number is rapidly rising. The service allows anyone with an email address to send money online without sharing their financial information. This type of payment is extremely secure as you do not have to disclose any confidential data, whereas it is also very fast since you don’t need to type in your credit card numbers all over again.

All you need to do if you want to make an online payment is to fund your PayPal account using credit cards, bank accounts or promotional financing and then you can make all payments simply by giving your email address. When you have money to receive, you only need to disclose your email address and the funds will appear on your PayPal account. This can be very handy in online betting as you can easily deposit or withdraw the money from online bookmakers. There is also a small fee involved when using PayPal for your betting transactions, but that is a small price to pay for excellent security this company provides.

Which bookmakers accept PayPal deposits?

The down side of using PayPal is that there are only several online bookmakers that accept these kinds of payments. Betfair is one of the bookies that accept PayPal deposit, but only their customers from European Union are entitled to this option. William Hill also offers PayPal deposits and withdrawals but only in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. You can use a PayPal account to bet at Ladbrokes, but if you are registered in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden or United Kingdom. Paddy Power accepts payments using this method from customers located in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom, whereas Bwin accepts PayPal deposits from Finland, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.

Some of these bookies have great free bets! More about betting bonuses you can find on pages dedicated to the every specific bookie.

Money management - betting strategy

The most important thing for every punter is to have a successful betting strategy. If you are placing bets just for fun and don’t care whether you win or lose, then this article will help you a great deal. However, if you are into betting for money’s sake then this should be considered a useful reading. We will now explain the basic principles of money management, which can be crucial to your dealings in the world of betting.

1. Choose your goals!

Before you open an account at one of the online bookmakers, you need to see what your goals are. First thing you need to do is set up your total bank roll. This is basically the amount of money you have to spend. In order to maximize your winnings you should open accounts at several different bookies. Odds fluctuate a lot and this way you will have the opportunity to place a bet at the highest available betting odds. The most important thing to remember is that you should only bet with money you can afford to lose. Then you need to set up the goals. If you have decided to make a withdrawal once you have doubled the money, then do so when you actually earn the money. You can also just withdraw the winnings and leave the rest for further betting.

2. The amount per bet!

Our advice is to bet on singles only. Betting on accumulators can increase your winnings but the chances of actually winning a bet are much smaller than with singles. We also recommend flat betting. Flat betting is placing the same amount on every single bet regardless of winning or losing streaks. Every punter was at least once tempted to increase the stake when on the winning streak, but this is something you should never do. Your stake should be around 2% of your bankroll, which means that if you have €500 at your disposal, you should set your bets at €10. The amount should not change even if you enter the losing streak, although you can recalculate the 2% once your bankroll has considerably changed.

3. Bet only on the events you follow!

If you mostly bet on football, then you should start practicing your strategy when the season starts in August. You should only bet on leagues you follow, although nobody can tempt to back one of the favourites from minor leagues. Every punter has been tempted with placing bets on the leagues he has nothing about when all the major leagues have ended. This happens during summer when only available leagues are the unpredictable Scandinavian ones, and this is the right time to take the break and spend some of the money you have earned basking in the sun by the seaside.

4. Don’t get carried away by winning or losing streaks!

When we embark on a winning streak, we think we are unbeatable. We then tend to increase the stakes which is not a good thing. On the other hand, when losing, we are tempted to increase the stake in order to quickly compensate for the losses. You shouldn’t do this. In case you are absolutely positive about the outcome of the match, you can increase the stake, but not more than 50 %. If you always bet €10, don’t go crazy and put €50 on a single game.

5. Always follow the rules!

You should think carefully before making your own money management system, but once you have created it, be sure to stick by it, for better and for worse!