Archive for February, 2012
Prohibit set for first race of the year
2011 King’s Stand Stakes winner Prohibit is set for his opening run of 2012 at the Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan this week.
Robert Cowell’s seven-year old just got the better of the Australian challenge of Star Witness and the South African-trained Sweet Sanette in a tight finish in the 5f sprint last season. The race attracted entries from all around the globe in a real international showpiece of the best sprinters in the world. Those looking at the best online Royal Ascot odds will have been keeping a close eye on things.
The success at the Royal Meeting was Prohibit’s first Group One victory of his career that spans 43 races with outings in England, France, Dubai and Sweden.
Prohibits run on Thursday is likely to be his first of many this year. Last campaign he ran on 12 difference occasions, with three victories to his name. His first success came in Meydan in the Dubal Trophy. His win the King’s Stand Stakes was then followed up by victory in the Group 3 Qatar Prix Du Petit Couvert.
Prohibit had to concede 7lbs and upwards to 12 rivals at Longchamp as a penalty from his win at Royal Ascot, but Jim Crawley managed to defy the handicap by steering his mount home by a neck ahead of Mar Adentro.
Cowell may attempt to win back-to-back King’s Stand Stakes with his mount this year, if he does so he will become the first horse to do so since Gold Bridge in 1934. Equiano was the last horse to win the race twice with successes in 2008 and 2010. His first victory was the age of three, one of only two runners to do so in the last two decades.
Pot Odds – Immediate Odds
When playing the game of poker there are a myriad of different rules, strategies and tactics to consider. In fact there are so many that you will do well to reduce them in number and concentrate first on a vital few. Ranking high amongst the vital few is the knowledge and understanding of pot odds. There are two types of pot odds: immediate and implied, and this article concentrates on the former. Read more
Ouija Board a standout mare
2004 Oaks winner Ouija Board has been one of Ed Dunlops best mares of the last two decades.
The daughter of Cape Cross picked up her first Classic success at Epsom when she won by an emphatic seven lengths ahead of All Too Beautiful and Punctilious over the 1m4f trip. She then went on to win the Irish equivalent a month later at the Curragh, this time by a shorter margin in front of the same two horses in Ireland. Those looking at the best Derby odds should bear this in mind.
Triumph for Ouija Board also came outside of the UK. In 2004 Kieren Fallon teamed up with the three-year old to help Dunlop and the filly score a victory at the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Lone Star Park in the Fillies and Mares Turf. She then won the same race two years later, this time with Frankie Dettori in the saddle at Churchill Downs in what was her penultimate outing.
One of the other highlights of a memorable career which saw her earn over £2,000,000 in prize money was in the Group One Honk Kong Vase. European horses often struggled in the contest but Dunlop’s four-year old defied the conditions to beat the best runners in Europe and Asia.
At the age of five, Ouija Board relished the challenge of the younger horses and earned her first success at Royal Ascot in the Price Of Wales’s Stakes against her opposite sex which included the highly regarded David Junior. Later that season she followed up the win by taking the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood to ensure her C.V didn’t lack any holes in the UK’s most prestigious meetings.
Tony McCoy sees specialist after fall
Champion Jockey Tony McCoy was not in action on Monday as he went to see a specialist on his back after a nasty fall on Darlan at Newbury on Friday in the Betfair Hurdle. Read more
Capuano: Build on our win
New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano urged his players to build on their 4-3 shoot-out win against the conference-leading New York Rangers when they begin a four-game trip on Sunday against Ottawa.
The Islanders let slip 2-0 and 3-1 leads but snatched the tie-breaker when Matt Moulson snapped a 10-footer past Martin Biron to star round four.
Moulson scored again to earn the Islanders only a second win against the Rangers in five attempts this season – it was also the fifth straight time in games that have gone beyond 60 minutes.
The Islanders (26-27-8), one of the NHL picks of the season, now have 60 points, six behind eighth-place Florida in the last play-off berth in the East, and begin a four-game away sequence on Sunday against Ottawa, followed by road trips to Washington Capitals (Feb 28), Philadelphia Flyers (March 1) and Boston Bruins (March 3).
“This is a crucial road trip for us,” Capuano said.
Moulson: “This is the perfect kind of game to be in right now. It’s good for our confidence. We needed a battle-type game like that to get going. We needed to win a close one. We have to know we can win those close ones going down the stretch.”
He added: “Hopefully we can feed off it and come out with the some compete level for this road trip.”
Rangers (38-15-5) have 82 points, seven ahead of Boston in the Eastern Conference race and eight in front of second-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division.
Rangers coach John Tortorella said: “I am happy we battled back and found a way to get a point but as far as where we are mentally in certain situations of the game at this time of the year, we need to be sharper.”
Tortorella: Players must hit ground running
Rangers head coach John Tortorella stressed it was imperative his players hit the ground running when they take on New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Friday in the first clash of a back-to-back set (NY Rangers -1.5 41/20 NY Islanders +1.5 20/49 bet365 game lines).
The Blueshirts enter the contest having been defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-0, on Tuesday at CONSOL Energy Center, and are now 9-3-1 in their last 13 games.
Rangers are also top of the Eastern Conference standings (NHL betting tips: 19/20 NHL Eastern Conference – win only), and rank third in the league overall, with a record of 38-15-5 (81 pts).
Tortorella’s men will wrap up February with home games against Buffalo Sabres on Saturday at Madison Square Garden (Feb 25) and New Jersey Devils (Feb 27).
Tortorella said he and his players simply had to deal with a demanding schedule and suggested there were no excuses.
He said: “We don’t have many [practice sessions] left. We’ve got our schedule already set up and we are down to single figures in terms of practice time. We need to use it to our benefit because there aren’t many more.”
The Blueshirts are 21-7-1 in their last 29 contests, dating back to December 17 and have registered at least one point in 38 of their last 50 games since Oct. 29 (35-12-3) after beginning the season with a 3-3-2 mark.
The Islanders enter the contest with a 25-27-8 (58 pts) record to rank 13th in the Eastern Conference, and have lost three of their last four games.
Tortorella added recent form meant nothing for such an important match and warned his players against complacency.
He told ESPN Radio: “Having the best record right now, in the middle of February, means squat.”
He added: “I think the fight [in] our game has been inconsistent.”
Mystery surrounds what went wrong with Always Right
John Wade, trainer of the talented staying chaser Always Right, is at a loss to explain exactly what wrong with his charge in Saturday’s Grade 3 Betfred Grand National Trial Handicap Chase after the ten-year-old was pulled up before the second last having looked as though he might be in a winning position at the previous fence, writes Elliot Slater. Read more
TCOOP (Turbo Championship of Online Poker)
The poker world just loves an acronym and the latest phrase to be shortened to precisely the right length, so it just rolls off the tongue is the TCOOP. The Turbo Championship of Online Poker is the brainchild of the online giant PokerStars and it spread its inaugural wings at the dawn of 2012.
PokerStars do not do things by half and the first ever TCOOP was no exception. The championship series comprised of no fewer than fifty tournaments, paying out millions of dollars to lucky poker sharks and fish from all around the globe.
The series started back on the 19th January with a $22 NL Hold-em (6-Max) event promising a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000. An incredible 44,787 players entered the event and the final prize pool of $895,740 dwarfed the guarantee. 88Xin88 from Canada took home the first prize of $67,903.56. Fans of Texas Holdem should remember this.
It ended on the 29th January 2012, with the final event, the $215 NL Hold’em (Hyper-Turbo) attracting 2,992 players. It was another huge prize pool of $630,713.60 and the eventual winner KvicKiller, from the Czech Rep, taking home $72,939.62.
Sandwiched in between those two events was every type of poker game you could imagine. TCOOP offered NL Omaha Hi/Lo, PL Draw, PL Omaha, NLHE, Knockout tournaments, Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, Razz, HORSE and 8-Game.
The pinnacle of each series is the Main Event and TCOOP was no exception. Event No. 49 was a $700 NLHE tournament with a $1.5 million guarantee and $200,000+ guaranteed to the winner. It was a Mexican who came out on top with David “Betudontbet” Emmons winning $382,855.67 from a total combined prize pool of $2,438,555 created by the 3,667 entrants. The TCOOP experienced was summed up when the Main Event reached heads up and lasted one hand!
Kansas City chiefs sign Routt
The Kansas City Chiefs have announced the re-signing of Stanford Routt on a three year deal thought to be worth around $19.6 million as they continue to look to compensate for the potential loss of Brandon Carr. These developments should be of great interest to those who wish to bet on NFL.
The contract includes a $4million signing on bonus as well as $6million for his first season a source as told the press following the announcement.
Routt is still owed $5million by former side the Oakland Raiders after being released in only the first year of a five year deal meaning he will make £12 million in 2012 which makes him one of the top three best paid corner backs in the NFL.
The Chiefs are understandably delighted to have acquired such a talent and are looking for him to provide extra competition within the squad.
“We are excited that we were able to come to terms with Stanford,” general manager Scott Pioli said. “He is a talented player, and as we have said in the past, we are always looking to add competition at every position year-round. Stanford’s experience and level of play will make him a solid addition to our defense.”
Routt signature was one of the most sought after in the off-season and he was also thought to be considering offers fromBuffalo, Cincinnati, Houston, New Orleans, Minnesota and Tennessee.
It now looks as if his signing will leave the door open for fellow cornerback Brandon Carr to leave the Arrowhead Stadium. However, coach Romeo Crennel prefers to focus on his new signing’s strengths rather than the departing star.
“Stanford has a proven record of success in the NFL,” said Crennel. “He’s a talented player that has spent seven seasons in the AFC West, so he is familiar with us and our division opponents.”
Football betting will be highly influenced by how well Routt settles into this new club.
Hand Combinations
If you would like to be a better poker player, then you should focus some attention on your ability to read hands, and one way of learning to become a better hand reader is to understand hand combinations.
What is a hand combination?
It depends what game you are playing, but essentially a hand combination is the cards the dealer has given you to play your hand. So in No Limit Texas Hold’em (NLHE) your hand combination will consist of two cards whereas in Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) your hand combination will consist of four cards.
Understanding card combinations enables you to narrow down the potential number of hands your opponent could be holding. You can practice this in Betfair free poker. This in turn allows you to make a more informed decision of whether to call, raise or fold. Learning hand combinations are not as complicated as you may think, and it is as simple as learning the words of a song. Here are some card combinations for you to memorise that will aid you in your decision in Betfair Omaha Poker or allow you to win a general knowledge contest.
• There are 1,326 hand combinations in No Limit Hold’em
• There are sixteen combinations of unpaired cards
• There are twelve combinations of any two specific unsuited, unpaired cards
• There are six combinations of pocket pairs
• A set has three combinations
• There are nine combinations of two-pair hands
With a little daily practice these combinations can become so ingrained in your mind, you will be able to remember them when playing on autopilot.