The Aqueduct

Subscribers to the XX Draw Selections this weekend have received twelve bonus selections, the 'extended' selections mentioned in this post a few days ago. The end of season period might not be the best of times to add these, but the selections held up well through April and May last year, picking up 10.5 points from 34 selections, and anything close to that would be very welcome.

 Had a small win on the IPL cricket this evening, following Mark Iverson in on the Chennai Super Kings v Pune Warriors. The peaks and valleys of the chart show this sport is great for trading, but unfortunately I don't care for cricket, and there seem to be far too many more knowledgeable people on the sport than me, and the prices move fast too!

Unfortunately I gave up most of that hard-earned profit with a dabble on the Atletico Madrid v Valencia Unders - I had 1.81 whereas 2.0 was available. Value, but no winner today. That'll teach me to pretend that a UEFA Europa League game really is a League game.

As predicted a couple of days ago, the play-off chasing Utah Jazz easily defeated the play-off eliminated Portland Trail Blazers last night, covering the 4.5 handicap comfortably 112-91. The NHL play-offs did not go quite so smoothly, as the Philadelphia Flyers conceded 10 goals - 4 goals in the first period, and 5 goals in the second period - at home, in an elimination game. Wasn't expecting that!

 As Scott Ferguson quipped on Twitter yesterday, and I paraphrase, if football management doesn't work out for Pep Guardiola, let's hope he starts a bookmaking company. Pep's suggestion that Chelsea are now favourites to reach the UEFA Champions League final seems a little off the mark, with Chelsea available at 3.15 to do just that. It was one of those matches where the underlying statistics actually increased Barcelona's rating slightly despite taking a loss.

 And while we are on the Chelsea v Barcelona topic, specifically the free tip to Lay The Draw in this match, Cloppa mentioned

"And the guy had the cheek to put on twitter that if you would have followed those tips last night you would have made money!"

How the Marseille v Caen game could have been exited with a profit escapes me, (early goal for the 'dog, equaliser soon after, game ended 1-1), but yes, with Chelsea holding on to win 1-0, anyone holding their 'Lay The Draw' position would have won, but you would have needed to stay in until the 81st minute or so before being in profit. A big risk in a game where the pre-game favourite was so dominant. 757 completed passes to 159!

 Older readers might picture the 'what have the Romans ever done for us?" scene from the brilliant "Life of Brian" here when I suggest that

"apart from the 0-0 games, or games where the Underdog scores first, or games where the first goal comes after 70 minutes, or games where the equaliser comes quickly after the opening goal - what is wrong with laying the draw?"