Absolute moron.
Paul Merson Pundit Thread
- Thread starter VanGaalEra
- Start date
Mickson unmasked.
This prat is comparing a 36 year old Ronaldo with a 36 year old Merson. Clearly Ronaldo has lost much pace, he’s gone from lightning fast to just very quick.
Him and Souness hate United so much, they just can't be objective when they're talking about us. Both shite pundits too.
He’s a nutter.
Just after midday on a Saturday. Primetime for some Merson gum flapping.Weird bump 2 weeks after last post
I expect he's been talking shite again.
what's he said now?
I thought it was an "in before anyone else does" comment. Guaranteed a clanger like Chelsea will get 130 points this season.
Just watching the documentary on BBC1 about gambling, he’s a real disaster with it lost over £7m on it and all his savings over lockdown. You got to feel bad for him he’s a real addictive personality.
I've had my issues in past (haven't gambled significantly since first lockdown) with it so not going to prejudge and can obviously see addictive patterns in his brain I had.
Seems incredible he left Arsenal for Boro in 1997 when they'd just been relegated but shows where he was at mentally at the time. I read his book and apparently for first 4 months he was getting the 6am train up from Stevenage to Darlington to train and then would come back. Boro found out and then put him in a house with Gazza.
Loved watching him at Villa when growing up. Showed how good a player he was that he could still perform at high level for most of his time there despite gambling issues still being significant at that part.
Seems incredible he left Arsenal for Boro in 1997 when they'd just been relegated but shows where he was at mentally at the time. I read his book and apparently for first 4 months he was getting the 6am train up from Stevenage to Darlington to train and then would come back. Boro found out and then put him in a house with Gazza.
Loved watching him at Villa when growing up. Showed how good a player he was that he could still perform at high level for most of his time there despite gambling issues still being significant at that part.
Is that the woman that posted on here about Lukes law?
The gambling companies are a real pack of cnuts the way they prey on the vulnerable I can’t believe the way they set these people up.
Didn’t want to say anything but I thought maybe it could be, poor girl.
It is heartbreaking. Got to really admire her for trying to help others.
It must have worked a bit they’ve stopped giving free bets to problem gamblers albeit not entirely for everyone else.
I know people that have lost everything through to gambling and seen the fact that rich people(who don’t need the money) do it makes it worse. If some ordinary guy was trying to bet too be rich then ok but seeing rich people do it shows that it isn’t about the money it’s about the feeling/rush.
Gambling is destructive and I seen a article that bookmakers make 50% of their money off the 1% of compulsive gamblers
Yeah I was moderate-ish one and I'd get free 10 quid bets on the Friday before weekend matches pretty much for two years straight. Must admit when I read in papers of extreme gamblers getting VIP days out at likes of Ascot I did wonder how much they were actually putting in a week.
In fairness I used Bet365 and they did send the odd message warning me to control what I was putting in and you can also set limits for day and lock yourself out of the account after an hour so they do something but obviously not going to stop compulsive gambler who will hit anything all day and try to recoup losses.
Yea no better than gangsters handing out free heroin to people to get them hooked.
Gambling must be one of the worst addictions because you can gamble away everything.
I’m starting not to like the free bet they give me one if I bet a tenner on an accum but you have to go back in to bet the free bet if you lose and it only gets the ball rolling to bet more.Yeah I was moderate-ish one and I'd get free 10 quid bets on the Friday before weekend matches pretty much for two years straight. Must admit when I read in papers of extreme gamblers getting VIP days out at likes of Ascot I did wonder how much they were actually putting in a week.
In fairness I used Bet365 and they did send the odd message warning me to control what I was putting in and you can also set limits for day and lock yourself out of the account after an hour so they do something but obviously not going to stop compulsive gambler who will hit anything all day and try to recoup losses.
It mentioned one guy was depositing 7 times a day so say about £40 a go that’s £280 a day.
Despicable, scum of the earth industry.
I used to like the odd bet here and there but if I could I would ban the entire industry overnight without a second thought.
They should ban advertisements. Its hard to separate gambling and football when you watch a game, it’s everywhere.
The way it’s become normalised is a fecking joke. When you watch UFC they talk about Vegas odds and act as if it’s this clandestine fact. Over here you get Paddy Power and their slapstick ads at tea time. It’s shows how entwined we are to it that it’s become the norm.
Yeah I've done that.....
Depends what you earn really but I'd say that's on lowish side of extreme gambling myself (obviously if you're non gambler or just 2 quid accy for weekend football kind of guy then it's a ridiculous amount). Used to put that amount on for Saturday 3pms and see if I could get through to Sunday evening and see what profit if any I'd make (I'd also be withdrawing 200 quid if I got to a decent amount).
Depends what you win back aswell during the week. Some weeks I could get 400 quid profit or more no issue but of course gamblers don't speak much about the weeks when 400 quid + is lost.
That’s quite extreme gambling to me that you were doing if you’re losing £400 plus a week that’s a real problem.Yeah I've done that.....
Depends what you earn really but I'd say that's on lowish side of extreme gambling myself (obviously if you're non gambler or just 2 quid accy for weekend football kind of guy then it's a ridiculous amount). Used to put that amount on for Saturday 3pms and see if I could get through to Sunday evening and see what profit if any I'd make (I'd also be withdrawing 200 quid if I got to a decent amount).
Depends what you win back aswell during the week. Some weeks I could get 400 quid profit or more no issue but of course gamblers don't speak much about the weeks when 400 quid + is lost.
I’m lucky enough in the fact I don’t see myself as a problem gambler and can stop myself putting on too much, but tbh I’ve never even withdrawn any money ever just keep it in my account until it’s gone pointless really I keep expecting to hit big which never happens.
It depends. By end of some weekends I'd have a nice 200-300 quid profit to treat myself in the week on top of regular wage. Other weeks I'd break even or small loss. Other weekends I'd hit a run of 0-0s or low scoring games (my actual strategy was to bet on timing of goals) and so not so good....
Edit: The docu said one of the poor lads who sadly decided to take their own life gambled away weeks salary in one evening so that's the very extreme nature of it that Merson also experienced.
Must say one thing that surprised me was I've never asked any family member or friend for any money for gambling, it's just down to me and me alone to do it so surprised me Merson's sister was lending him 300 quid that just went to betting.
Perhaps that's just guilt at a family member in need but was surprised at that and would guess other problem gamblers have people close to them funding some of their sprees even if it isn't deliberate.
But yeah basically a combination of lockdown so no sport for three months giving me serious thinking, being redundant from job at similar time and also VAR start really annoying me. Over xmas 2019 I can remember having a run of 3-4 games where I could've been 700 quid up but of course the goals were all disallowed by someone's toenail being offside so that's when I first seriously thought it really wasn't worth it and then lockdown confirmed it.
Perhaps I'd be tempted again if I was ever on 50-60k salary but that's very unlikely for me so given I'm in my 30s now can't keep messing about.
It's funny the little triggers sometimes....at Uni and in my early years I was just putting a couple of quid on accys and low levels like vast majority who gamble. Then this game happened and was a big trigger:
Panama vs. United States: Final score 2-3, USA rips Panama's World Cup dreams away - SBNation.com
I remember watching this at the time and USA were about 250/1 to win after 89 mins (basically everyone thought they'd just lose on purpose to stop Mexico qualifying). I thought if they scored an equaliser Panama would just throw everyone upfield as they had to win and it happened and USA just scored on the break.
I only put 2 quid on though so obviously thought if I'd put a tenner on here etc......
That sparked things and then there were a few more high scoring/comeback games in next few months so of course you go in delusion of thinking every week will be like that when majority of matches are low scoring games.
I also had a good spell of betting on penalties being the last goal in a game (probably why I don't mind Mike Dean as ref
as he tends to give loads of penalties past 80th mark). But then I've been burnt on that aswell as they still have to be scored. Aguero missing a penalty years back away to Barcelona in CL cost me about 500 quid and Mahrez at Liverpool in 2018 was another.So can have loads of different strategies rather than just betting blind but it still comes down to luck majority of the time.
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It depends. By end of some weekends I'd have a nice 200-300 quid profit to treat myself in the week on top of regular wage. Other weeks I'd break even or small loss. Other weekends I'd hit a run of 0-0s or low scoring games (my actual strategy was to bet on timing of goals) and so not so good....
But yeah basically a combination of lockdown so no sport for three months giving me serious thinking, being redundant from job at similar time and also VAR start really annoying me. Over xmas 2019 I can remember having a run of 3-4 games where I could've been 700 quid up but of course the goals were all disallowed by someone's toenail being offside so that's when I first seriously thought it really wasn't worth it and then lockdown confirmed it.
Perhaps I'd be tempted again if I was ever on 50-60k salary but that's very unlikely for me so given I'm in my 30s now can't keep messing about.
It's funny the little triggers sometimes....at Uni and in my early years I was just putting a couple of quid on accys and low levels like vast majority who gamble. Then this game happened and was a big trigger:
Panama vs. United States: Final score 2-3, USA rips Panama's World Cup dreams away - SBNation.com
I remember watching this at the time and USA were about 250/1 to win after 89 mins (basically everyone thought they'd just lose on purpose to stop Mexico qualifying). I thought if they scored an equaliser Panama would just throw everyone upfield as they had to win and it happened and USA just scored on the break.
I only put 2 quid on though so obviously thought if I'd put a tenner on here etc......
That sparked things and then there were a few more high scoring/comeback games in next few months so of course you go in delusion of thinking every week will be like that when majority of matches are low scoring games.
I also had a good spell of betting on penalties being the last goal in a game (probably why I don't mind Mike Dean as ref
So can have loads of different strategies rather than just betting blind but it still comes down to luck majority of the time.
Interesting. I have a question: How do those individuals that make millions on gambling, make good bets? I assume it is something like Robert De Niros character in Casino where he knows everything about a game or player, that he makes a calculated bet. I could be wrong though.
Gambling on sports betting isn’t really a career anymore. These days it’s all computerised and it’s statistically impossible to make a profit over a extended period of time.
I’ll give you a example if the bookies think something is 50/50 they give you 5/6 on both sides. It doesn’t sound like much but when you lose say you give them 100 but when you win you only get 83.30 back.
If you go 50/50 over 1000€ you will be down 166 euro and end up with 833.30 back
No idea! Well the owners of Brighton and Brentford were pro gamblers or something and then they invested in analytical side with stats and made money so guess there's profiles of how they made it on the web.
I would've just been happy making 300 quid/week profit which is basically minimum wage salary but never got close to that over 12 months if you had to tot it up.
Think there's something like signing up to loads of sites, using free bets on them all and if you bet on one team and then lay the other you can sometimes make profits if you're clever enough (that concept is beyond me but some do it).
BBC also did a programme a few years back when someone flew all over the world to watch Tennis matches courtside and would phone someone to put big money on one of players winning a point before umpire inputted on the screen (so freezing the odds). Yes that really happens:
How a sneaky loophole lost gambling companies millions! - BBC - YouTube
Majority just don't bother with clever methods so it's probably lumping £100s on just 4-5 sure fire teams on accys and trying to turn a small profit most weekends. When you think about it PSG, Man. City, Chelsea, Bayern Munich will win majority of matches they play this season so just about finding the right combination of matches. Real Madrid, Barca, Juventus and Man. United all too volatile currently but were also big locks in recent times.
Oh ok. Except for the bookies. You never hear of a bookies going bankrupt.
I recall watching that scam show on bbc 2 or itv2 years ago and one of the scams they showed was where a pub that was also a bookies would be showing a game live on tv, except that the tv screen was a minute behind the true time of what was being shown. Then the person at the bar had a small screen showing it actually live and then saw what actually happened a minute before it went out on the screen to those in the pub. They were then able to scam the people in the pub.
It was only a tv show, so the people got their money back, but it was very interesting to see.
They don't but a few companies are merging currently. Loads of William Hill and Coral bookies closing/closed in last few years around where I live and this was announced even before covid was a thing so was going more online anyway. So staff working there losing out aswell.
I meant for a punter. It’s more of a career for the bookies than ever
Sports betting is slightly different and it is possible to be a professional gambler. Sports odds are set with imperfect information and ultimately odds are set by what punters are betting on rather than the absolute chance of an event occurring. In this scenario if you have better information than the general betting public then you may gain a VERY SLIGHT advantage - maybe just a couple of percent. The bookies don’t care because the odds are designed to ensure they make a profit anyway. But this couple of percent can be enough and it is possible for a punter to exploit this IF you can maintain this superior information advantage over a long period of time with a large bankroll. In this sense professional gamblers are more akin to investment banks rather than casual punters.
But don’t take this in any way as endorsing gambling. For casual punters - and i would say that is 99.9% of people, even if they gamble a lot of money - Odds are against you and you will lose ultimately.
Yea its the pareto principle. Only a very small amount of people make a killing from gambling. Same with the Casinos as well. The rules are set up such that they win.
It was an insightful documentary, really felt for the woman whose husband committed suicide because of gambling.
Merson made an interesting observation in that he basically finds his life now rather dull. He's got young children, a family and the routine he is in, as he described it 'its the same old every single day', seems rather mundane. I think we can all relate to that as we grow older and have families of our own, with bills to pay, mortages etc. I love my children to bits and would die for them, but there are moment where I wish I could go back to being in my early 20's, back at uni, with my mates playing football, getting drunk etc and living an almost carefree life.
I think for an athlete, that feeling is a lot more worse. We can only imagine what it would feel like to be in your 20's, earning millions, playing a sport you love for a living, playing with some of the best players/teams in the world and being adored by fans. Then when you retire, its back to living like a normal person (albeit with significantly more money in your bank account). But still, all the money in the world cannot buy the feelings you had as a player. Its no wonder many turn to their addictions to experience that euphoria again!
Back to Merson, he said he hasn't got it in him to fight through another relapse, and sadly, I think he will relapse! I hope he manages to find a way to cope.
Merson made an interesting observation in that he basically finds his life now rather dull. He's got young children, a family and the routine he is in, as he described it 'its the same old every single day', seems rather mundane. I think we can all relate to that as we grow older and have families of our own, with bills to pay, mortages etc. I love my children to bits and would die for them, but there are moment where I wish I could go back to being in my early 20's, back at uni, with my mates playing football, getting drunk etc and living an almost carefree life.
I think for an athlete, that feeling is a lot more worse. We can only imagine what it would feel like to be in your 20's, earning millions, playing a sport you love for a living, playing with some of the best players/teams in the world and being adored by fans. Then when you retire, its back to living like a normal person (albeit with significantly more money in your bank account). But still, all the money in the world cannot buy the feelings you had as a player. Its no wonder many turn to their addictions to experience that euphoria again!
Back to Merson, he said he hasn't got it in him to fight through another relapse, and sadly, I think he will relapse! I hope he manages to find a way to cope.
I use a monzo account and obviously many betting accounts to flirt bet trading with matched betting. My overall balance tends to go up about £100 a week.... but if I was to show some pile up of bets I make, it looks like I'm insane better, even to me, when I know what I'm doing.
If that balance ever hit £0, now that I've withdrawn my initial deposits back to my daily current account. I'd stop. But that's not gonna happen.
Eventually I'll end up with just Betfair, Smarkets and other exchanges as bookies who'll take me because once sportsbooks bookies figure it out, they shut you down really. Kinda why I'm working towards trying to learn trading, but it's not a ride in a park and requires a risk as does any trading, although plenty make serious money from it.
So for me, given what I've seen, I'd say being a pro better is certainly doable, but I'd not recommend it, obviously I'd genuinely try it if I did recommend, especially at weekends or my weeks off. But I can't seem to push through a certain ceiling of basically what I feel I'd need to earn. Be that from getting bored therefor potentially slipping from the routine and falling into chasing big wins etc or whatever.
If that balance ever hit £0, now that I've withdrawn my initial deposits back to my daily current account. I'd stop. But that's not gonna happen.
Eventually I'll end up with just Betfair, Smarkets and other exchanges as bookies who'll take me because once sportsbooks bookies figure it out, they shut you down really. Kinda why I'm working towards trying to learn trading, but it's not a ride in a park and requires a risk as does any trading, although plenty make serious money from it.
So for me, given what I've seen, I'd say being a pro better is certainly doable, but I'd not recommend it, obviously I'd genuinely try it if I did recommend, especially at weekends or my weeks off. But I can't seem to push through a certain ceiling of basically what I feel I'd need to earn. Be that from getting bored therefor potentially slipping from the routine and falling into chasing big wins etc or whatever.
Aye regarding the second quoted part, I know a few people who make enough money betting on the Welsh league where it could be called a career. There’s group chats with players, ex players and coaches where information is shared (I imagine it’s definitely illegal) that has a big impact when it comes to predicting games.
This is known by the league too, they have regular training courses about inside information etc and clamping down on it, but it’s rife. Something like £124 million is bet on the Welsh league every season, which while tiny compared to the prem is a pretty big figure for a league like the Welsh one. So there’s decent money to be made by the people who have an insight into every club, every injury status and reports from players within the team.
I know that’s a different scenario to the one you outlined.
Actually on that, there's a dude in one of the groups I follow that says his edge is simply trying to get XI's before the bookies/press. I didn't follow it much as he quite rightly didn't give out his tips and/or contacts as it'd cripple it for him instantly(he probably shouldn't have been so open about that, but others knew it anyway). But the XI alone can create mega swings into a traders hand - say Ronaldo(especially 07-09) not starting for United or something would make their odds weaker.... so knowing their odds will go weaker, you lay the win.... then back the win when the odds shift., essentially cashing out, likely on ultra minor profit from a interest perspective, but you do it relentlessly and it adds up.
I’ve heard of a few people that do this from a professional gambler it’s basically the best way to win if you can get the team sheet early. I used to do a hell of a lot of research just off the internet into teams in lower leagues and that to get injuries, suspensions so on but it’s a hell of a lot of work for minimal returns, you need to still have the balls to put on big stakes to win and it’s not guaranteed.