The £10 to £10k Challenge: And for my next trick…
After making it the perfect ten, £10k tipster John Baines says his hardest decision is which winning bet to pick next.
Arsenal may have been out-fought and out-thought by Chelsea on Saturday, but Coventry City are the sort of lower league fodder that they revel against. A 6-1 Capital One Cup win over the Sky Blues was just what I needed to make it ten wins on the spin in the £10 to £10k Challenge.
That Gunners win at a remarkably generous 9/50 zipped me up to £47.60 from £39.88 in my pursuit of turning a tenner into £10,000 and after a slow start, the stakes are rising and prizes becoming greater with each passing week.
The beauty of the £10k challenge is that I have to place bets of value equal to or longer than 1/10 and that gives me plenty of latitude to take a softly, softly approach should I need to.
However, given that bwin cover hundreds of leagues across the globe, with a little bit of research, a quick look into league tables and form means I can generally pick out a few punts with greater rewards than 1/10.
| Champions League | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dortmund | 1-2 | Bayern Munich | £155.00 | (27/4) |
| Dortmund | 0-1 | Bayern Munich | £160.00 | (7/1) |
| Dortmund | 0-2 | Bayern Munich | £175.00 | (31/4) |
| Dortmund win | £76.00 | (14/5) | ||
| Draw | £84.00 | (16/5) | ||
| Bayern Munich win | £35.00 | (3/4) | ||
The other beauty of the £10k challenge is that I don’t necessarily need to pick winners and in previous games I’ve gone for goals to be scored and indeed, just teams to score.
All in all, I’m armed with a plethora of bets to choose from – my dilemma is working out what is likely to come in and at what price to make it worthwhile.
Initially, the £10k challenge was based on 73 bets at 1/10 to get to the holy land but I’m the sort of guy who does 40mph in a 30mph zone and wears the same socks and boxers for days on end to save time.
If I wanted to titillate for longer than necessary, then for my next bet I’d go for Real Madrid to beat Deportivo La Coruna at 13/100 or CSKA Sofia to see off Etar in Bulgaria, but as Mrs Baines knows only too well, I generally try to get to the business end of things with the minimum of fuss.
So cutting to the chase, this weekend’s bet and the eleventh step of the £10k challenge will be for reigning Slovenian champions and current PrvaLiga leaders NK Maribor to do the business at home to ND Mura 05.
Bwin’s 3Way betting market has a Maribor win at 1/4 and putting my £47.60 on that will allow me to move swiftly on to £59.50.
To give you a bit of background, Maribor have won the last two Slovenian titles and are currently nine points clear again having won nine of 11 and drawn the other two. They’ve won 22 of their last 25 league games and 13 from 15 at home – all without losing.
Trying to get in the way of them, and me, are Mura 05, who are halfway up the table but have lost five of their last six away from home and look in no sort of shape to get a result.
If I can make this betting lark look easy, then so can you. Bwin will give you a free £20 bet when you register here.
Bet 11: NK Maribor to beat Mura 05 @ 1/4
Current Balance: £47.60
Potential Balance: £59.50