Never back any reality TV contender who appears to have half or more of his/her brain still intact to win the contest. Always assume that any official statement from a football club relating to an event on which you may be planning to bet – e.g. dismissal of current boss, appointment of another one, potential purchase/sale of players – is complete and utter tosh.

 

Always watch a boxing match with the sound turned down so that you can make your own assessment of what is going on in front of you. Poker players are forever looking to spot giveaway ‘tells’ from the others around the table, but I am unaware of anyone ever suggesting taking this well-proven technique to the racecourse. Come up with something you know about but the bookies don’t, and then approach them to ask for odds.

 

They won’t be able to resist the challenge and could quite easily quote you over the odds – remember the Hole in One Gang, who won fortunes by the simple expedient of going into betting shops and asking for odds about holes in one happening at golf tournaments. Some bookies knew the true likelihood and quoted them odds of from 4/5 to 5/2, but some had no idea at all, and they were offered – and accepted – odds of up to 100/1, and cleaned up, perfectly legally.