TAB review March 31

[dave nz]

Two losing $50,000 bets last week would suggest our bigger punters didn't have a great time and that's a fair assessment. Both of those wagers were on basketball in the States and went as follows: $50,000 at $1.82 on San Antonio and Golden State to produce 207 points or less in the NBA and $50,000 at $1.82 on Phoenix and Utah to score 228 or less, also in the NBA. To stay on the basketball theme we had one match where two different punters heavily wagered on two opposng options. In the college match between Pittsburgh and Villanova we took $15,000 at $1.92 on the match producing 142 points or more, a winning bet, but we also fielded a bet of $13,000 at $1.97 on the same match producing 141 points or less. A winning bet from the NBA - $10,000 at $1.37 on the Orlando Magic beating the New York Knicks.

The only New Zealand side to lose in the latest round of Super 14 were the Blues who lost at home to the Waratahs. In live betting we took a $35,000 bet on the Tahs at $1.57. The big upset of the round was the hiding that the Highlanders handed out to the previously unbeaten Bulls. We took a series of winning bets on the Highlanders, $10,000 at $1.82 on the southern boys getting a 5 and a half point start, and two head to head bets in live betting, $10,000 at $1.20 and $10,000 at $1.06.

The Manly Sea Eagles won the NRL last season but they have made a horror start in 2009 and after three matches are still winless. In their latest match they were beaten by perceived wooden-spooners, the Penrith Panthers, 12-10. In live betting we took two significant bets on Manly : $20,000 at $1.18 and $16,397 at $1.18. Successful wagers in the NRL last week included $13,800 at $1.35 on the St George Dragons beating Cronulla and $10,000 at $1.20 in live betting on the Brisbane Broncos downing the New Zealand Warriors.

The second cricket test in Napier between New Zealand and India finally petered out to a draw after the tourists were able to bat their way out of trouble over the last 2 days of the game. There were several significant bets during the match with mixed success for our punters. We took $10,000 at $1.42 on the draw and $10,000 at $1.60 on a New Zealand victory. One exotic bet that proved extremely popular was only on sale for about an hour but had our customers rushing to get a piece of the action. The option was - " will Jesse Ryder score 300 or more". When the option was offered Ryder was on about 180 and many punters were happy to take the $6.00 on offer to say that he could reach a total that no other New Zealand batsman has ever done in a test match. Ryder was eventually dismissed for 201.

Most of the world's best tennis playersare gathered in Miami at the moment for the Sony Ericsson tournament. A couple of sizeable bets at short odds to report in live betting on the tournament, both were winners. $18,000 at $1.03 on Berdych to beat Blake and $10,000 at $1.03 on Federer to beat Kiefer.

The AFL (Aussie Rules) season started last week and one significant bet to relate. It was $10,000 at $1.22 on Port Adelaide to beat Essendon, which they did.