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Centrebet Capers TENNIS Lleyton Hewitt’s defeat last night in the second round of the Australian Open has capped off a mixed opening week for the seeded players at the event. Hewitt joins other high profile casualties Venus Williams, Mary Pierce and Tim Henman in the stands for the second week of the tournament. The former world number one started last night’s match against Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela as a 1.40 favourite, with the biggest bet at that price $6000. Chela also had his supporters at 2.95 including one wager of $5000. The biggest bet we’ve taken to date on the tournament was $85,000 (from Austria) for Roger Federer to win his first round match against little known Denis Istoman. It was a walk in the park for Federer winning in straight sets but he was a 1.01 chance. The punter won $850 from his massive outlay, good bets to take if you are a bookie. Federer's title price hasn't really shrunk much as we enter the third round; he is still a 1.40 chance. Andy Roddick is playing well and a $5000 wager at 8.00 has seen that price sliced into 6.00 and he really looks the only danger, if there is one. In the women’s draw, Justine Henin-Hardene looks in fine fettle and is now 3.35 to win the title. The injury concern to Kim Clijsters has seen her price blow out to 5.50 and she has been hard to sell. Lindsay Davenport is next in line at 6.00, just ahead of Maria Sharapova (7.50), who is definitely gaining support each time more of her is seen on television. Martina Hingis is a terrible result in our book, she’s into 5.50 and second favourite following some impressive performances in her first two matches. Hingis was rated a 151.00 chance when she announced her comeback just prior to the start of the tournament. CRICKET Who said it was going to be another boring, one sided summer of cricket? South Africa gave bookies a massive result when they defeated Australia at the Gabba last Sunday. The Aussies were hot favourites at 1.28 but after they won the toss they were into 1.25. At that point in time, one of our regular Indian clients placed the equivalent of $40,000 on Australia at 1.25 with South Africa drifting to 4.00. Even though the Aussies posted a moderate 228, they came out of the dinner break as 1.70 favourites after we took three bets of $10,000 at 1.75. There was also money for South Africa at 2.10, including one bet of $16,000 from the UK. The Proteas tried hard to lose as the run rate slowed to a crawl in the middle part of their innings but surprisingly the loss of Boeta Dippenar who was the top scorer, seemed to quicken the scoring rate. As a result of that South Africa went into Tuesday's match against Sri Lanka as favourites but we had to drift them out to get any decent bets. After we opened them at 1.25 it wasn't until they touched 1.35 that we saw our biggest bet of $40,000. Even though Sri Lanka had been belted by Australia, they were well backed, including one bet of $6000 at 3.50 from a Sydney client notorious for backing outsiders in cricket. He has won plenty doing the same thing over a number of years and has another $15,000 to play with after Sri Lanka showed what they were capable of. The action moves back to Melbourne today and the loss last week have scared a few away from taking the short odds Australia. To date we have taken bets of $7500 and $5000 for the Aussies at 1.30, a price which normally would be snapped up. There has been plenty of support for South Africa, who has been cut from 3.75 into 3.50. GOLF David Toms emphatically answered any questions about the state of his game, let alone his health, with a five shot win over South African Rory Sabbatini and compatriot Chad Campbell IN Sony Open in Hawaii. While the win was not a total surprise as he had his supporters at his opening quote of 21.00 including $1,000 from a very astute judge, it was expected that recent lack of golf would work against him on the final day. Both Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk were backed to win $50,000 at 5.00 and 9.00 respectively and while they finished sixth and tied for seventh, neither really challenged the top of the leader board. We head back to the mainland this week for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic played over five rounds at La Quinta Country Club in California. The event is a little light hearted for a lot of players and apart from world number four Phil Mickelson lacks depth. Mickelson was a winner here in 2002 and again in 2004 and was favourite at 7.00 prior to the opening round while defending champion Justin Leonard was 17.00 but unwanted in the betting. Except for a $5,000 wager on Mickelson at his opening quote the event has lacked and real spark. The first event on the European tour kicks off with the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship played at Abu Dhabi Country Club in the United Arab Emirates. It is an inaugural event but is headed by some of the worlds finest players including world number two, Vijay Singh was installed 5.00 favourite over Spaniard Sergio Garcia at 9.00 Paul Casey and Thomas Bjorn, both 26.00 and Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez. 34.00. All been backed to win in excess of $100,000 by one of our regular golf clients making this the premier golf event of the weekend. RUGBY LEAGUE Things have been bubbling along nicely on betting to win this year’s NRL title. We still can't find too many to back St George Illawarra at the 5.50, maybe because they have been burnt too often in recent times but in our opinion they are the team to beat. Behind the Dragons, there have been several well backed sides. Parramatta has had some off field drama's concerning their future coach but they have been well backed at 6.00. In the past two weeks we have taken three separate bets of $2000 for the Roosters at 6.50. We also continue to see a string of bets for the Wests Tigers and 10.00…..and why not? The young side gained great experience from their Grand Final win last year and will again be a force in 2006. Manly punters sprung a surprise when they took the 21.00 a couple of months ago and we have had to bring them in again after more bets totaling $4000 came in at 17.00. Craig Gower's off field antics have seen Penrith blow from 15.00 out to 19.00 and there are no takers. The Warriors have been backed to take out $140,000 at 34.00 but can they overcome the loss of Stacey Jones? We don't think so. RUGBY UNION The Super 14 season is only three weeks away and Centrebet has the best coverage of bet types for one of rugby's premier events. The Crusaders head the betting at 3.50 ahead of the Blues at 4.50 with the Waratahs at 5.00. In the battle for the wooden spoon, the South African provinces hold the key with the Cats favourite at 3.65 ahead of the Reds at 4.00 and Cheetahs at 4.50. The Cats have been backed almost exclusively against all other runners which is somewhat of a surprise given the Reds have been stripped of key forwards and the Cheetahs and Western Force are untried and unproven at this level. It’s certainly an intriguing battle with bookmaker against punter in that market. Apart from the major two bet types we are also offering odds to make the semi-finals, winning team home nation, highest finishing position from each country and a Grand Final quinella. The Crusaders and Blues head the betting there at 5.00, with most of the popular combinations including the Crusaders. DANCING WITH THE STARS The fourth series of Dancing with the Stars won’t be shown on television for a few weeks yet but the stars have begun training, so betting is open. This is easily the best field assembled and as the betting has grown ten-fold as each series has concluded, this will be a bottler. The previous three winners have all been Channel 7 employees, so it clearly doesn't do the dancers any harm to work there. This time, nearly half the field works for 7 in some capacity so that can only make it harder. We have crowned former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins the favourite at 3.50. Hawkins has been extensively used by the network since she won the title and as we have seen before, this is one reality show where it doesn't hurt to be a female. Jennifer has a background in dancing as she has been doing so since she was five years old. Weatherman and all round nice guy, Grant Denyer is pushing for favouritism (3.75) and the early signs are that the betting public thinks he can go all the way. Everyone has had a joke about Simone Warne possibly being at an advantage due to her texting ex-husband but we rate her a legitimate chance anyway (6.00) as she is clearly a popular person with the Australian public. It will be interesting to see how far she progresses. Until next week, good punting For further information contact Gerard Daffy at Centrebet on 02 9206 8715 or centrebet@centrebet.com
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