...Dan

Roda (1.57) v Jong AZ Jong Ajax v VVV Venlo (2.30) £10 returns £36.14

Seuntjens misses 2 big chances, Utrecht go down to ten men and Almere get their first win of the season I'm really starting to think I'm actually cursing teams with my posts in this thread. I might have to start tipping Man City wins.

I lose every week anyway, so I might as well be ambitious... Utrecht to beat Almere and Seuntjens to score anytime (4.20) NEC to beat Vitesse (2.15) £10 returns £90.30.

Man I really thought I was on to a win here. Pau 2-0 down at half time

Pau (2.70) v Annecy Concarneau v Saint Étienne (2.15) £10 returns £58.05. I'm shocked by the Pau odds. They're above Annecy in the table and have the 3rd best home record in the league, with 2 wins, 1 draw, 7 goals scored and only 2 conceded. I was actually tempted to just do the single, but where's the fun in that?

Seko Fofana is a massive loss for them.

Man, I hate this game

Dinamo Zagreb (-2 handicap) (1.95) v Slaven Belupo Lens (1.50) v Metz £10 returns £29.28.

Betis (1.90) v Rayo Mallorca v Athletic (2.45) £10 returns £47.77

I'm not sure John knows you don't have to go for correct scores. Maybe he thinks this is the prediction league.

Let's go with two Friday night games so I can get the disappointment out of the way early Andorra (1.90) v Cartagena Leuven v Antwerp (1.66) £10 returns £31.81.

I'm grateful for this game for reminding me why I shouldn't bet.

I'll try to play it more safe this week with some home wins Angers (1.66) v Annecy Bordeaux (1.61) v Concarneau £10 returns £26.92.

Imagine winning a bet like that in this game and not actually putting any real real money on it

And it's fallen at the first hurdle unless Kortrijk score twice in 5 minutes

I don't think USG will be quite as good this season, they've lost some big players. They're a good team and very well run club, but everything went through Teddy Teuma last season and now he's gone to France. Boniface was very good in attack too and he's gone. I was thinking about putting USG in my double in here but decided against it haha. I watched the match and it was more Standard being shit than USG being good. They had decent odds in the first couple of matches because Standard and Anderlecht are big clubs, but both of them are a bit of a mess at the moment. They might struggle to break down stronger teams/more defensive setups, with their blunted attack compared to last season. Yeah Kortrijk did very well away at Gent who are one of the strongest teams in the league last week, so hopefully at home against a weaker team they can get the win. Anyway, I shouldn't take over this thread with JPL talk haha

Yeah I like the look of them but it's probably gonna lose haha. Kortrijk's best and most creative player Kadri is strongly linked to a move to a bigger club so I hope he doesn't move before this match.

Kortrijk (2.80) v St Truiden Pau v Bordeaux (1.95) That's 5.46, £10 returns £54.60. I'm not shopping around for the best odds, every bet I post will be from bet365.

Yeah I enjoyed this last time, I'm in.

Oh so not with anyone from the forum then? Yeah I was thinking like £10 buy in but ideally you'd want a good 10 players to make the prize money decent and I'm not sure we'd be able to get that many forum members to play.

Yeah I've been thinking it's a shame that money is such a big part of it, because it's a really enjoyable game. This is why I prefer tournaments where you just pay for entry and everyone starts with the same number of chips because then it's just like you're paying to do a hobby and have fun like you would playing 5 a side with your friends. Then if you lose you don't really feel like you've lost anything. I don't know if it's the norm but in the tournaments I've played there was a rebuy option if you lose all your chips. I don't like that because then it's like you're gambling again instead of just paying to play a game.

Did you ever do this? I decided to learn to play poker on Saturday and I've played a few tournaments on bet365 and 888poker and I've really enjoyed it. I'd be up for a forum tournament if we can get a decent number of members to play.

I feel uneasy about everyone saying with such confidence that Putin has underestimated Ukraine and the support from the rest of the world, that his war isn't going to plan etc...isn't he a master of deception and misdirection? By acting like we know exactly what's going on in his head aren't we at risk of underestimating him? Surely we should be questioning his motives for every action instead of just taking it at face value? I'm no expert on any of this but I watched a documentary called Hypernormalisation a few years ago which explained his tactics to confuse everyone, and to me he doesn't seem like a man who is as easy to read as people are making out.

Well that's a relief.