It Still Hurts, But In A Different Way

by Romaine

One of my other pleasures - or vices depending on whether you ask my girlfriend or me - is placing the odd bet on the football. It's a lot of fun and it doesn't hurt as much as playing, just a little bit when you come so close to a big win.

It's a bit weird the first time you go to a bookies to do it (you can do it online too now of course - William Hill are good here), but it's a lot more fun than the old 'football pools' that my dad, and granddad used to do (but never won!).

It's a lot easier than it looks, but I know it totally freaked me out the first time I tried doing it. All you see is a wall of confusing numbers, and odds and stuff. But just have a go. You learn fast and if you only bet minimum amounts it costs next to nothing to have a bit of fun while you learn the ropes. It's probably worth doing a 5 minute read up online before anyway, you can get the basic football betting odds stuff explained from a quick Google search. I wouldn't put a lot of time into it though, just have a go and learn 'on the job'.

Those old boys are maths geniuses - me, I'm just like Forrest Gump.

The other way to learn about betting on the football is to either ask a friendly shop assistant (wait till the shop is not busy!), or ask some of the regulars to talk you through it. Some of those old boys are practically maths geniuses I tell you! They can figure out odds, spreads and winnings in their heads without even a pause for thought. I'm like Forrest Gump compared to them :-)