And Smith Must Score!

I occasionally have a pre-game punt on football, and let it go in-running until I can lay it off at a fair price. What a difference this makes to my viewing 'pleasure'.

If I'm on unders, every attacking move looks certain to result in a goal, every throw in dangerous, corners occur with astonishing frequency and every defensive play looks like it'll result in a penalty and so on. A goal-fest in the making.

If I'm on overs, it's the complete opposite. Every attacking move looks inept, throw-ins are all harmless looking, there are never any corners and every defensive play looks well-timed and sharp. The game has nil-nil written all over it.

The more money at risk, the more the above observations are true. If it's just a few quid, the viewing is quite relaxed, but if the numbers are higher, the viewing is anything BUT relaxed.

It's the same in other sports too. Well, no, it's really not like this of course. It's just how the mind under stress works, and one of the emotions that has to be dealt with when investing.