Boxing Betting / Dave Farrar / 14 April 2010 /

Two sporting reactions to a winning chance give Dave Farrar an insight into (hopefully) successful gambling

The comparison between top level sport and betting on it can at times seem tenuous at best.

The use of the word "gambled" in football, for example, normally applies to a striker making one of a series of darting runs that he has made throughout the game. On the 49 occasions that the ball doesn't reach him, then nobody thinks to point it out, and on the 50th, when the through ball is of the desired quality, and luck is on his side, then he has "gambled", and it has paid off. That's not gambling, that's a man doing his job and working the law of averages.

Sir Alex Ferguson probably gambled on What a Friend last Thursday, but did he gamble the night before on Wayne Rooney? Well, his best striker told him that he was OK, and so he played him. Then he got a kick and he wasn't. But United aren't out of Europe because the "gamble didn't pay off", they're out because they feel asleep, then panicked, then fell asleep again. Nothing at all to do with punting.

The notion of gambling is referred to frequently in football, and yet the connection is largely irrelevant, but there are other sports which can teach us a whole heap about punting. Watching a top level one day batsman, a Kumar Sangakkara or Younis Khan, pace an innings and adhere to an ingrained system of risk and reward would be one, but this weekend just gone we have been presented with two sporting examples that we ought to keep on Sky Plus for ever and a day. And, no, I'm not talking about the event over which the nation goes punting crazy, and the winner provided by two of the team that brought you Binocular, but two of even higher drama, straddling the weekend on Friday and Sunday night.

On Friday night Audley Harrison saved his career with one single punch. And Michael Sprott's final glimpse of the big time turned to dust in the space of a second. After spending a deeply unpleasant day with Harrison in Monaco ten years ago, and watching him kid his way through a pro career, I have to say I really don't like the man. And after watching Sprott on several awful undercards in Germany, always game, always a pro, and never giving up, I'm very fond of the man from Reading.

On Friday Sprott was nearly there: he was ahead on all the judges' scorecards going into the final round, and he knew Harrison would try and knock him out, as it was the only way. And instead of running, he went for his opponent, and tried to put Harrison on the back foot, from where he knew that he couldn't win. He gambled by being a man, and by using a tactic that he knew could certainly win the fight, but was also the only way that he could lose it. It was the wrong thing to do, but my goodness it was brave.

One unwritten rule of punting is that, when you're ahead, you should press up and go for the big win, rather than protect what you have. I've always thought that this philosophy comes from people who theorise about gambling, rather than actually do it. And as Sprott was carried out on his shield, my sporting star of the weekend, the idea that you should stick with what you have, rather than keep pressing, was there in horribly stark reality.

From the madness of that to the more controlled mental torture of Augusta. Golf is all about risk reward, and that's not really the lesson that interests me. There are so many parallels that you can draw between everything that happens around Amen corner and an average day in front of your Betfair account, but the one that will stay with me is about the management of a loss.

On Friday, at around the same time that Sprott was knocked unconscious, Lee Westwood double bogeyed, and slipped from his lofty position on top of the leaderboard. Afterwards, Westwood said that learning how to cope with moments like that was one of the most important lessons that he had learnt. He stood on the next tee, and started again, forgetting what had happened previously. And he started to grind his way back, and we all know where he ended up: on top of the field, save for one of the greatest ever golfers doing his thrilling thing.

Contrast Westwood's cool head to the reactions of both Paul Casey and Ian Poulter to dropping shots at various stages. Casey let it get to him and missed the cut. Poulter was affected by it, but at least had the strength to eventually fight back. It's why I think that Westwood will be a multiple major champion, Poulter will win one for sure, and Casey never will.

What has happened before has no bearing on what happens next, and you are the one in control. Because a horse that you fancied has just lost, does not mean that the one you like in the next will lose as well. Because you are on a losing streak on the Saturday football, does not mean that you have to lose your mind, chase your losses, and end up with an empty bank account. Stay in control, make use of what you have, and do what you need to do to win. The lessons that we can learn from a brave man from Reading and a genial one from Worksop. Both role models for us all, both sporting titans in their very different ways.

You can follow Perfect Punter on Twitter, and comprehend the agony that he goes through by not following his own advice. Just go to www.twitter.com/perfectpunter and sign up.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: