Friendly Tipster League 2012-13

With the big European Leagues kicking-off this weekend (Friday night) in France, it's time to see what interest there is in another season of the Friendly Tipster League. The final standings for 2011-12 were:

I should be too modest to point out that XX took Gold and Silver, with the somewhat tounge-in-cheek Back 'Lay The Draw' taking Bronze, but I'm not.

The XX group of selections were my XX Draws backed as Draws and on the Under 2.5 goals markets, and for this season I'll be including the 1.5 and 3.5 goal markets as well as the HT 0-0.

Back 'Lay The Draw' is my opposing Ian Erskine's FTS selections. In theory, these selections should be higher scoring and the draw less probable, but after 82 selections last season, the draw was clearly a value back in these games.

Football Elite need no introduction. One of the services with a proven track record, and a solid enough profit from (coincidentally) another 82 selections. One point of interest from anyone who subscribes to FE as well as the XX Draws is that there were 13 matches last season that both services selected, and backing the draw in these games saw 6 winners, with 6 games 0-0 at Half-Time. The Under 2.5 was also a profitable bet to follow.

Also profitable were Geoff's Draws finding value in the draw in matches such as Berwick Rangers 3 Elgin City 3, and at obscure places around Europe such as Telford, Tamworth, Sandnes and Brighton. I was thinking of restricting this competition to the top leagues, but I have learned so much from trying to find what country some of Geoff's selections are from, that for educational and entertainment value alone, it's worth including them. Besides, surely Geoff's luck in fluking 3-3 draws will not continue for another season.

Mark J finished very slightly in the red, and Peter Nordsted's Drawmaster hit a poor run in March to finish in the red too. Trying to force three selections from the EPL each weekend doesn't help, in my opinion. Some weeks there are none, other weeks there may be ten.

A couple of other entries were dropped - Griff's Draws fell well behind, and not surprisingly, the selections stopped coming, and the 'Game of Two Halves' was also dropped as they, as I suggested at the time, proved to be something of a lottery, and unprofitable.

Talkbet has expressed an interest in joining, and the more the merrier - up to a point. If the administration side of this starts to get too much, I reserve the right to pick up the ball and go home. 

I may include the Free Under / Over bets on Saturdays and Sundays - he selects most days, but I'm not a pro on here, so my time is somewhat limited.

The table will not reflect ante-post selections, just individual matches, and the bets should be on the main markets, rather than things like 'First Goalscorer'. The table will be ranked by P/L rather than ROI.

This is probably also a good time to remind anyone who has been prevaricating on signing up for the XX Draws this season that time is running out - at least if you want to be on board for the full season.

While past performance is no guarantee of future results, the XX Draws last season had 156 selections for a profit on the draws of 15.85 points on the Under 2.5 of 30.28 for a combined 46.13 points.

This season I am adding an 'Extended' category, which I am expecting will generate more selections, and more profits, albeit with a lower ROI than the Classic selections. But remember, ROI for show, ROBG for dough!

This weekend has one Classic selection and two Extended selections from Ligue 1.