Like most big Golf tournaments, the betting is all about Tiger Woods. Woods is best priced at 5/2 with Blue Square to win his 5th Masters Tournament, and has been a popular bet since he won this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in dramatic fashion.

5/2 is very short for someone who hasn’t won the Masters since 2005, but the bookies are ducking for cover. The golfing world is hoping for the Tiger & Phil show at Augusta this week, which is confirmed by the betting trends.

Corals go 10/1 that Woods and Mickelson fill in the top 2 spots – a very ungenerous price in my opinion!

Such has been the money for Tiger, that Centrebet have opened a market on the Top American, without Woods.

Phil Mickelson, who will also have his backers, is 10/1 with Ladbrokes – who are paying out five places.

Before getting carried away with the over-bet favourites, it is worth remembering that Trevor Immelman won at an astonishing 100/1 in 2008. He is 100/1 again this year to repeat that feat.

2007 winner Zach Johnson was also a surpirse, but is still overlooked this year at 40/1. In 2007 he was matched at an astonishing 459/1 on Betfair.

Next in the betting is Padraig Harrington at 18/1. He keeps his best golf for the toughest courses and is 8/13 in the Top Irishman market.

There have already been a few market moves, including Paul Casey who is into 33/1 from 80/1 after winning the Shell Houston Open.

Seattle native Fred Couples was leading for most of the final round, only the bogey the final 3 holes. He is 100/1 from 400/1. 

With the betting dominated by Americans, perhaps 4/6 isn’t such a bad price with William Hill for USA in the Winning Nationality market.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding 19 year old Rory McIlroy, who is as short as 25/1 in places. He is the only teenager in the Top 50, but he will be up against it.

The ‘usual suspects’ could make the shake-up, the likes of 30/1 Sergio Garcia, 66/1 Singh and 40/1 Ernie Els. 

bookies.com is your best bet for comparing golf odds between the bookmakers:

US Masters 2009 Winner Betting

Place Betting Top 10 

Place Betting Top 5 

Playoff Betting 

Top American Betting 

Winning Margin Betting 

Winning Nationality Betting

Are you looking for the betting on the 2010 Lincoln Handicap? Click here!

22 runners go to post in Saturday’s 1m William Hill Lincoln Handicap, the curtain-raiser to the flat season.

Being a handicap with 16 runners or more, the bookies are paying 4 places at 1/4 the win odds. All the antepost betting has revolved around 4/1 Expresso Star, who has won his last 3 starts.

John Gosden will inspect the ground, and will make a late decision whether or not to chance the favourite on the quick surface. The going should be good to firm, and there shouldn’t any significant rain before the race.

The gamble on Expresso Star was ignited by a Newmarket gallop, forcing the bookies to run for cover from 10/1.

With doubts even over the favourite’s participation, there must surely be some each way value out there.

In the last 9 runnings of the race, only Babodana (2004) has carried more than 9 stone to victory. To make our job easier then, let’s discount 33/1 Lady Deauville, 25/1 Blythe Knight, 8/1 Swop, 33/1 Eva’s Request, 16/1 Don’t Panic, 25/1 Docofthebay and 20/1 Mia’s Boy.

In the last 10 years, only Zucchero and Blythe Knight were the only 6 year old winners. Discount 50/1 Royal Power, 40/1 European Dream, 12/1 Flipando, 33/1 Ace Of Hearts, 50/1 Bolodenka and 16/1 Benandonner.

Of course, if you take the statistical approach, you wouldn’t have found last year’s Cesarewitch winner, 50/1 Caracciola. However, it does make our job easier!

The following are left:

25/1 Whistledownwind wears a visor for Jeremy Noseda, but will want it softer.

11/1 Huzzah has been well supported in the bettting but may want cut in the ground. Drawn in 17, he should get towed along with the pace.

40/1 Dream Lodge was 21st out of 21 in the Spring Mile last year and is overlooked.

50/1 Philario has form behind Premio Loco at Kempton which reads well. Apprentice jockey Martin Lane is good value for his 5lb claim meaning Philario has a place chance.

50/1 Cobo Bay is a front-runner who won first time out last year.

9/1 Charm School is from the same yard as the favourite, but could well beat him from a higher draw. He finished 3rd in a 7f handicap at Doncaster in November, despite not getting a clear run.

14/1 Zaahid has been nibbled at in the betting and will be ridden by Robert Winston. He is drawn in 2, but the pace may be with the higher numbers.

20/1 Titan Triumph has 5 wins from his last 6 starts, but they have all been run on the all-weather.

Conclusion:

A tricky contest to start the flat season, but it may be worth taking a chance with Philario, who is 50/1 with Stan James.

1pt each way @ 50/1 Philario (Stan James, 1-2-3-4, 1/4 odds)

bookies.com is your best bet for comparing Doncaster odds:

Spring Mile Betting

Cammidge Trophy Betting

William Hill Lincoln Handicap Betting

Rather unfortunately for our over 2.5 goals bet in Lyon (2-0), goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had a stormer. We won’t let that ruin what was otherwise a very profitable weekend’s betting!

Lyon are out to 7/10 to win Ligue 1, and Toulouse are into 33/1 after destroying PSG 4-1 last night, having been as big as 1,500/1 at the start of the season.

Forget Sky, next weekend there’s an outstanding weekend of sport on terrestrial TV. Channel 4 have the William Hill Lincoln Handicap and the Dubai World Cup. The BBC have the Melbourne GP, Anglo-Welsh Cup (Rugby Union) and the Track Cycling World Championships in Poland. ITV are showing the 2009 Boat Race on Sunday (1.20pm).

All of the events will have winners, and where there are winners there is betting.

Last year Oxford won their 3rd Boat Race within 5 years, but Cambridge still leads the series 79-74.

Oxford are best priced at 4/11 with William Hill to win again this Sunday, the shortest ever price offered on weigh-in day. It comes as no surprise to see the bookies ducking Oxford – they have the heaviest crew in the event’s 180 year history.

Oxford University also have an amazing 5 rowers who competed in the Beijing Olympics last year and their President Colin Smith won a silver medal.

Impressive stuff.

5/2 Cambridge have the experience to trouble Oxford, with 5 returning Blues. Their cox, Rebecca Dowbiggin won the race back in 2007, and is eager for another win.

Her experience will certainly help get Cambridge through the perilous 4 1/2 mile course on the Thames. The strong stream demands cool navigation, and punters should factor in Cambridge’s experience.

The dead heat has only ever happened once, and Paddy Power offer 150/1 for that outcome this year.

My punting instinct tells me that Cambridge must be the value call at 5/2, but Oxford’s strength is likely to prevail.

Instead of lumping on Oxford at skinny odds, punters should take a look at the winning margin market.

Ladbrokes go 5/6 for Oxford to win by 3 1/2 lengths or more, which seems reasonable after they won by 6 lengths in 2008.

A new course record is an 8/1 shot, but a new slowest time looks even more unlikely at 33/1. It’s 20/1 that either crew sinks and 100/1 for both crews to sink!

bookies.com is your best bet for comparing rowing odds:

The Boat Race Betting

Paddy Power have markets on The Next Pope, Archbishop of Canterbury and Bank Of England Governor, but today we’ll cast a betting eye over William Hill’s Poet Laureate market.

Andrew Motion has to step down next month after his 10 year stint, which means you’ll get a good run for your money now instead of waiting for Pope Benedict XVI to die.

Motion will not be involved in the selection process, and has been heavily criticised for his job.

Carol Ann Duffy is the 5/4 co-favourite to become the first female Poet Laureate. Hills report that 94% of bets have been for her, but at that price they’ll be keen to lay her. She was the favourite in 1999, but was snubbed. She rubbished rumours of a contest with Andrew Motion, and it is thought that she would gladly accept the position this year.

We could see her go odds-on in a couple of weeks time, but the current odds are pretty skinny for my liking. Her work is accessible and she merits her position as favourite.

Simon Armitage has been halved in price from 5/2 into 5/4. He has received several awards for his poetry. He also lost out in 1999 but is still very positive about the position, even though he won’t comment on his own chances.

Wendy Cope has drifted from 3/1 out to 10/1 having declared herself out of the running. The bookies will still tempt punters at the price who aren’t in the know.

Roger McGough is 6/1, and has already received an O.B.E. That price seems a bit short, but he’ll be on The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s shortlist. Remember the final decision is taken by the Queen, but you can’t imagine that she’d spark controversy.

James Fenton is the next realistic candidate at 8/1, with the rest of the field at bigger prices. He received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2007.

bookies.com is your best bet for comparing odds for specials markets.

Next Poet Laureate Betting

Last night Ulrika Jonsson caused the ‘biggest upset in reality TV history’ by winning this year’s edition of Celebrity Big Brother. Before the final show she was availble to back at 12/1, but even more stunning is that she drifted out to 66/1 with some bookmakers when put up for eviction with Lucy Pinder.

She was also matched at a high of 94/1 on Betfair. Cast your minds back to when Ulrika was a 2/1 shot to be evicted:

I said I though that Ulrika wasn’t a bad bet at 25/1 last weekend, because she is very funny. I was secretly disappointed to see her drift in the winner market, to a giant 66/1. She has now come back into 33s, which could be a better bet than Lucy to get evicted, which is what I expect to happen tonight.

Yep, Lucy also got evicted. We also tipped her up as a potential winner just after the show had started:

Ulrika Jonsson is certainly of interest at 25/1, because she is used to performing for the TV cameras. I’m not referring to her dubious love life, but her presenting skills. There hasn’t been any great money for her yet, but I’m happy enough with the current price to latch on now.

Recommendation:

2pts 11/4 Ulrika Jonsson Top Female

1pt 25/1 Ulrika Jonsson Winner of CBB

1pt 6/4 Verne Troyer Winner of CBB (Saver Bet)

Perhaps even more amazingly was the flop of Verne Troyer at 1/5. I thought that our saver bet on him would get us out of jail as the money came pouring in for him, but finally we have managed to oppose a losing short priced favourite. JLS and Martina Navratilova were both runners-up, but Ulrika has rewarded the Bookies Blog value-seekers!

4/5 Ray Quinn looks like he’ll oblige in Dancing on Ice, but the bookies won’t be too worried. William Hill have reported a profit of £100,000 from last night’s shock result.

bookies.com compares a wide range of odds for specials markets:

Dancing on Ice Winner Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Film Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Actor Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Actress Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Director Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Supporting Actor Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Supporting Actress Betting

BAFTA’s Betting

I got excited when our alternative, 7/2 Anne Hathaway, took over favouritism at 2/1. She is now a 6/1 chance, so don’t quite write her off yet!

William Hill are offering 1/5 that Kate Winslet wins at least one Oscar, and 15/8 that she wins 2 or more. She has already been nominated 5 times without winning an award, and you can get 4/1 that she goes home empty handed.

Kate is 4/6 favourite with Paddy Power to win Best Actress, but Sally Hawkins has emerged as another serious contender. We said that she should be ‘by no means ruled out’ at 5/1 and is now 2/1 after winning the Golden Globe in the comedy section.

Elsewhere Slumdog Millionaire is a very warm order at 2/5 to win Best Film after it won the equivalent Golden Globe. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is next at 5/1, although it failed to win a Golden Globe from 5 possible categories.

bookies.com is an odds comparison site, where you can check out Oscars Betting:

Oscars 2009 Best Film Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Actor Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Actress Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Director Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Supporting Actor Betting

Oscars 2009 Best Supporting Actress Betting

BAFTA’s Betting

The race is one for Champion Chase contenders, over 2m at Kempton Park. It will be televised on Channel 4 and the off time is 3:15pm.

I was on Twist Magic in this year’s Tingle Creek at 14/1. Twist was running a massive race and was more on the bridle than Master Minded just before he fell. Maybe I’m gutted about the last run, but the fall may have taken something out of him. Nevertheless, I’d much rather be on Twist and AP McCoy than the other Nicholls runner, 7/2 Takeroc.

This is definitely a race to watch, because even 16/1 Ashley Brook has a massive chance if back to his best. Today I’m advising a decent sized bet on Petit Robin in the antepost market for the Champion Chase. Master Minded may be short at 4/6, even though he looks the likely winner at this stage. That can all change, as these star horses are just as prone to injuries and setbacks.

William Hill are best priced at 16/1 for Petit Robin in the Champion Chase, which is a terrific price. He has won 4 out of 5 and is open to a great deal of improvement after a decent win at Newbury in November. Representing the Nicky Henderson yard, it wouldn’t surprise me if he win impressively on Saturday, meaning that the 16/1 will be long gone.

Recommendation:

3pts each way 16/1 Petit Robin

Desert Orchid Chase Betting

Champion Chase Betting