The betting odds surrounding South Africa for Saturday’s final rugby test against the British and Irish Lions are bordering on ridiculous. I have seen them as low as 1/4 with the average being around 3/10 and 1/3. The British and Irish Lions, on the other hand, are at 3 and 4/1 – well over the odds.

A careful analysis of the games so far show a South African outfit that, whilst very good at what they do, are far from perfect. They came within an inch of defeat in their last match against the Lions – it took a last ditch effort to see them fall across the line winners.

That effort doesn’t give me much confidence when the odds thrown up are 1/3. The Lions, on the other hand, have shown a lot of fighting spirit. The were by far the best team on the park last time out – the best everywhere except the final scoreboard. At 3/1 they certainly do look to be a value bet.

In a rather strange betting odds twist, South Africa, who currently have a 2-0 lead in the three test series, are 2/9 to make it 3-0. I would imagine if you thought they could win this final match to make it 3-0, you would rather take the 1/3 on offer for a straight out win rather than the 2/9 to make it 3-0.

For South Africa to win 2-1, which means they lose this final game, South Africa are 10/3. If you feel the Lions can win to make it 2-1 then you may find there is much value in the backing them to win at 4/1 rather than a 2-1 result at 10/1.

Online bookmakers often seem to do odd things when it comes to setting prices. I guess one of their aims is to try and channel your bets to outcomes that help their profit margins. If you’re smart, you can use these anomalies to your advantage – you just have to be quick.

The Ashes series against Australia starts in just over a week and whilst local bookmakers have been wary in setting their odds, offshore sportsbooks have been more open. Locally, England are at 9/4 with the Australians at 7/5.

Offshore, the Australians are much shorter with England as much as 7/2. In decimal terms, that’s 3.25 with local books and 4.50 offshore – a difference of 1.25. That’s an extra 12.5 units of profit per hundred bet.

One reason for the difference is the popularity of the Australian team. They currently hold the Ashes and, with South Africa, are considered the best test playing nation in the world.

The problem is, most of that is based on reputation and as they say, you are only as good as your last game. Judging on the Twenty20 World Cup results, there are a couple of Aussies sadly lacking in form.

Whilst waiting for the Ashes to get underway, the young English Lions have a chance to soften the Aussies up before the serious stuff begins. The Lions are 4/1 to defeat the Australians – the Aussies 11/10 to win and a drawn match 2/1. Given the nature of these games, the Australian batsman will want as much time in the middle as possible. The bowlers will want to get through the Lions as quickly as possible.

For the Australians, it is not a win they are after, it is good solid match practice to set them up for the first test. If you’re looking to bet on the match, the 2/1 for a drawn game is probably the best value on offer from local online bookmakers. Offshore sportsbooks show little interest in this match. They are waiting for next weeks Ash’s opener. At 4/1, the home side looks to be a nice bet.

Sportsbooks can be rather strange when it comes to setting odds. Take this years women’s Wimbledon tennis tournament. Serena Williams is playing well and has been promoted to a short 7/4 favourite to win her third consecutive Wimbledon final.

Actually, I think I should rephrase that. Serena Williams is quoted at 7/4 to win this years Wimbledon final. You see, those same sportsbook are offering 2/1 for Serena to make it three consecutive victories at Wimbledon.

Frankly, I don’t see the difference. If she wins this year, she makes it three consecutive victories. If I was going to back her to win, I would much rather the 2/1, it’s only a quarter of a point but that is better in my pocket than theirs.

If you look closely at the betting markets offered by sportsbooks and compare them to some of the special bets, you will often come across minor discrepancies that can work in your favour.

Of course, you’d have to be fairly confident she was going to win before taking either bet. Sister Venus is well in the market at 2/1 with an all Williams final quoted at even money (1/1).

World number one Dinara Safina has been playing some good tennis so it is surprising to see her unwanted in the betting at 14/1. In today’s match she is 8/13 to get past Amelie Mauresmo (7/5). If Safina does win that match then you can expect her odds to fall dramatically. Mind you, Mauresmo will be a tough nut to crack today.

There has not been a lot said about Elena Dementieva yet she is the first into the quarter finals and seems have the best quarter final draw of the all the top seeds. She is at 20/1 with online bookmakers to take the title – I suggest you don’t dismiss her too quickly. All the hype surrounds the Williams sisters and Safina so she may slip past us all for a surprise win – at 20/1 it could be worth taking the sportsbooks on.

Online betting will send Brazil into the Confederations Cup final as one of the shortest prices in many years. After all, they are only playing the United States. They couldn’t possibly win, could they?

Brazil are 1/5 to win with the USA 7/1. The 90 minute draw is at 7/2, the scoreline that I can’t really see happening. In fact, this is one of those games that is fascinating to analyze.

The US are certainly the outsiders here, there is no question. Are they worth the 7/1 – most certainly. In fact, I think online betting is being fairly generous at those odds. Brazil, on the other hand, are poor value. Their true value should be around the 1/2 mark with the US somewhere around the 7/2.

Why? Brazil are a champion team – at least their reputation is. Over the last 12 months, their actual form has been fairly poor. The US, on the other hand, have had the reputation of being good in lower class competitions but not up to ‘real’ international standards.

This tournament has seen the US stand up when it really counted. Brazil have just coasted. They have certainly not won with the kind of authority we expect from them. However, I will concede that this is Brazil we are talking about and they do seem to leave their best for finals.

Will it be enough against the US? As I said, Brazil can seem to be the worst team in a competition and struggle to make a final. Once there, they are completely transformed and become unbeatable. The question then is can they do it again.

The US has a great defense. If they rattle the Brazilian side then it’s quite possible the US could also tame their South American friends. At 7/1, online betting can have a little of my money, I think.

Betting exchanges have their place in the betting system but there are times when you need to be very wary of how you use them. Having said that, there are times when they can be your savior.

Let’s say you back a golfer to win a tournament – I will use Rory McIlroy as a good example. He was quoted at 16/1 prior to the BMW International currently underway. You may have decided you liked those odds and placed a tenner on him.

After day one you wouldn’t be so confident. He is seven shots off the lead and appears to be struggling. You have a choice. You can ride out the bet hoping he comes good, or you can decide it’s a dud bet and walk away.

There is a third option if you are a real gambler. You can visit one of the betting exchanges and see what price he is at and see if anyone wants to bet on him. He may have drifted to 30, 40 or even 50/1 depending on how realistic his chances are. You may also find someone willing to back him at that price. You take them on to cover your tenner and hope he does lose.

The real danger is if he wins. You will receive your bet back at 16/1 odds but you will be paying out at the 30,40 or 50/1 that you took. If he loses, you finish up square. It is hardly a fair exchange considering the risk, however, once you decide he has no chance of winning – and you’re realistic, chances are it would take a miracle for him to win. This means in the long run you will break even far more often than you lose.

All it does is cover your original bet so that, at the end of the day, you have lost nothing. It is not a way to make money – but then if you have decided the bet is lost anyway – at least you are not losing money.

This is just one example of using betting exchanges to your advantage. Just be sure to check out the risks first.

With Federer and Murray dominating betting it is hard to find decent betting odds at Wimbledon this year. However, there are a couple of smokies lurking that could pay handsome dividends if you strike them on the right day.

Of the top contingent, Andy Roddick is good value at 16/1 and although it is taking him a while to get into this tournament, the more court time he gets the better. He has had to go to four sets to win his first two matches but his finish in each has been first class. He should get through to the quarter finals where he will most likely meet Lleyton Hewitt – he is my second smokie.

Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer are the only two former winners here and they are both former world number ones. Hewitt is a little older now but his match against fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro was a beauty and was Hewitt at his former best. At 40/1 he is great value. I don’t know if he can match it with Federer or Murray but if he catches them off guard he could go all the way – that is if they make it to the semis and beyond.

If Hewitt and Roddick do meet in the quarter final it will be an interesting battle – I tend to favour Hewitt in that battle, he has a tricky grass court game that Roddick may find hard to counter.

The real smokie could be Gilles Simon. The Frenchman appears to be regaining some of his form that saw him take on and beat all the top seeds late last year. A repeat of that form could make life interesting for the top seeds when we get to the business end of the tournament. He is great value with betting odds of 40/1 being offered.

Don’t forget to check out UK Betting Central for latest information on all the top sportsbooks along with all the latest tennis results & news.

Gambling tips are everywhere and bookmakers often offer their own tips on how to profit from betting – however, I have one gambling tip that you will never hear from any bookmaker.

The football season is less than six weeks away and the dust is now starting to settle on player and manager transfers. We are now able to look at the season with a little bit of confidence. Only a little bit since football can spring so many surprises – my gambling tip today relies on there being a surprise or two during the season.

If you were to go back twelve months, Hull, Stoke and West Bromwich lead the betting when it came to relegation. At the moment, Hull, Birmingham and Burnley lead the beating for relegation.

As we now know, Hull and Stoke both survived relegation and stayed in the Premier League – I wonder how many people backed them for relegation? Did you?

Here is my tip. If you want to back one of these favourites for relegation, consider laying your bets with Paddy Power. Paddy has this habit of paying out on bets well before the event is over. Those punters that backed Stoke for relegation with Paddy Power would have been laughing come season end.

Paddy paid out on the Stoke when there was at least six weeks of the competition left – Stoke were not even in the last three when he paid out. Of course this backfired and Stoke missed relegation. Those that backed them still collected.

The lesson is to know your bookmakers. What do they do, how do they act, and what sort of practices do they follow? In this case, Paddy Power has a history of paying out early when they feel the result is a foregone conclusion. If their payout backfires they wear the loss – not you.

If you can find a little weakness in an online bookmakers armour – use it and with luck you may profit from it. Like I said, I don’t think any bookmaker would give you that gambling tip.

There are times when I come across a contest and I really cannot decide who will win. Both teams, or both players, seem to be equally well credentialed and with my luck, whichever one I back, the other will win. However, this is one situation where free bets really do make the effort worthwhile.

Almost every online bookmaker has a free bet offer of some sort. If not a free bet, then a matching deposit bonus. Either way, you are getting an equivalent amount for free. If that is the case then you have the option of backing both players.

Will you make a profit? Well, sort of. You won’t make a loss, however. Let’s take the Federer-Nadal match in the Australian Open. Two big names, both playing well, and both looking to win. Nadal was at 2/3 to win whilst Federer was at 5/4.

Using a matching free bet, you could back Nadal to win using your own money – he is favourite after all. Let’s say you bet 100 units on him – your return would be around 166 units.

You can then use your matching free bet to back Federer. The 100 units at 5/4 would return 225 units. If Federer loses, which he did, you lost the matching bet – however, you still have 66 units profit. If Nadal loses, you have lost your 100 units, but you have made 125 units profit from the free matching bet – that’s the 100 units you lost plus 25 units profit.

Free bets have their place if you know how to use them to your advantage. It is just a matter of finding a bet that is a sure-fire winner that involves any contest where there are only two outcomes – a winner and a loser.

The greatest bike race in the world is only ten days away and incredibly, after seven wins and two retirements, Lance Armstrong is back and bookmakers are not taking any risks.

I am of course talking about the Tour De France – 20 days of bike racing that takes in the best and worst of Europe. Riding up some of those mountain roads would be a nightmare for us mortals, going down the other side at breakneck speed even worse. In the race they call Le Tour, it’s not just fitness that counts – it’s the team around these riders that gets them to the finish line.

Armstrong is not the favourite – at least not quite. Alberto Contador is favourite at 11/10. They are short odds considering what each rider has to go through. Armstrong is second favourite at 11/2 with Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans around the 8/1 mark.

The best approach to winning on an event like this is to look for the value special bets. For example, Contador is favourite to win at 11/10, he is at 1/2 to wear the yellow jersey at some stage. If you think he is going to win then he has to win a stage or two to do so. But then, he could win a stage or two and still lose the race. Back him to wear the yellow jersey. The odds are shorter but you are more likely to get a payout.

Other specials include Cadel Evans to win a sprint – he is almost guaranteed one of those – you can back him at 1/3 to do so. Bookmakers will take you on for just about anything in the Tour de France. You can bet on King of the Mountain, winning team, winning sprinter and of course on across the line for each stage.

As for Lance Armstrong – he has a strong team behind him and a determination to win. He has been there before and know all the tricks to conserving himself and his team. Can he win again? It’s hard to say but online bookmakers are not risking him – he could be worth a sentimental bet.

The Confederations Cup is drawing to a conclusion and although the two favourites have easily made it through to the semi finals, their opposition come as real surprises. The US have performed remarkably well, finishing the round-robin group stage with a brilliant 3-0 win over Egypt. Egypt will be tipped to defeat the US by that margin so you had an effective 6-goal turn around.

Unfortunately for the US they now face tournament favourites Spain – a team that has been almost unbeatable all year. Spain got into this game with betting odds of four to one on (1/4) with the US at 11/1 against. It is hard to see the US defeating Spain although it will be a brilliant game to watch. The US will consider making the finals a dream result so in the semi-final they have nothing to lose but to go for goal – as often as possible.

In the other semi finals, second favourites Brazil confront host nation South Africa. They too are lucky to have made it through with the more fancied teams failing to fire. Italy have been the biggest disappointments of the tournament, failing to win a game. Brazil go into their semi-final as 1/3 favourites with the South Africans at 10/1.

It is hard to see the favourites being beaten in the semi’s. They have been a class above everyone else in this tournament and deserve their places as favourites. Spain are at 10/11 to win the tournament with Brazil 15/13.

Given the form coming into the tournament, and the form during the tournament, I am surprised at the prices being offered about Spain. I know Brazil have that touch of brilliance and they seem to save their best for tournament finals, however, Spain have been so polished this year that I think 10/11 on offer is worth taking plenty off. Those sort of betting odds don’t come around all that often – bookmakers, I fear, are judging this contest more on Brazil’s reputation than on their form. They are certainly not valued at 15/13.

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