Hartlepool’s Dave Foley secores his side’s second goal against West Bromwich Albion. The Carling Cup is good hunting ground for gamblers. The odds are as long as the form suggests they ought to be, but as this week’s results showed even Premier League opposition can be humbled. West Ham and Sunderland both needed extra time. Bolton could not get that far and went out. Fulham went to injury time before beating Leicester. The omens are there for the next round

There is interesting betting live on the tennis in New York, especially as the timing fits the UK clock with matches starting from four and running to midnight. Live tennis betting is fast and furious and can be lucrative if you notch up some accumulated bets on a player having a good or bad run. Give it a try here. The lady in the picture is Britain’s own Anne Keothavong from Hackney (via south east asia) who takes on the Olympic champion Elena Demetieva. She is cute odds if she can catch the Russian on one of her bad days.

Bet Lewis Hamilton

The European Grand Prix held, appropriately in this year of Spanish successes, to be heldin Valencia on Sunday, is probably the defining moment of the season. Maclaren have edged ahead and in the short break since Hungary Ferrari and BMW have had a chance sort out their problems and get back on track. Valencia will show how far they are going to be competitive for the rest of the season. Lewis Hamilton is short odds to win at 5/4.

But as we saw and predicted in Hungary there is potentially another driver in the mix in his team mate Heikki Kovalainen who has the speed and the same car to take the opportunity if Lewis slips up. And he is a very cute 10/1. Get all the F1 odds here

Lionel Messi consoles former team mate Ronaldinho

The Argentines look like a class soccer act inspired by the brilliance of Lionel Messi and validated by their trouncing of Brazil in the semi-finals, but Nigeria are reborn post the African National Cup and could have the muscle to push them out of the game, if the referee lets them which on the semi final evidence he may not. In the 1899 Hoffenheim striker Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi they seem to have unearthed a potential new star. Nigeria are goods odds to cause an upset.

Get the Olympic football betting here

Bet Brazil

The Olympic women’s soccer final bnetween Brazil and USA is an intriguing clash of cultures, north and south, samba v charleston, history and expectation versuses new girls on the block, plus for Brazil the girls will want revenge after Argentina’s trouncing of the men in the Olympic semi final. Marta is the star and Brazil are 19/1 to win 3-0. Good bet?

Get all the Women’s Olympic Final betting here

The new England captain John Terry is 22/1 to score the first goal in his first match as international captain against the Czech Republic at Wembley tonight. Up to last season when injuries and perhaps the fact that opposing sides knew about his propensity to score goals from set pieces saw the goals drying up, he was ratching in the goals at a lot better ratio than 22:1, so he could be an interesting bet in the coming months, especially while England’s goal scoring options seem to be limited in other directions.

Bet on Olympics here

China’s Man Zhong celebrates victory in the men’s individual sabre with a dramatic theatric posture

Get all the first day betting here

It is always a greater risk betting on the first Saturday of the season. There is no guide to who gets out of the starting blocks quickly or whether this will be a high sdcoring season but there are a few interesting bets.

The games to avoid are probably Hull against Fulham which has draw written on it or maybe Fulham will have the firepower. People have been writing them off as potential relegation candidates but I am a fan of Roy Hodgson. On the other hand I wouldn’t mind betting this could be Hull’s only win for a long time.  It is a hard call at West Ham where Wigan who finished strongly last year are not going to play the kind of football the east Londoners like. It is a tough call to see if either Spurs or Liverpool can win away in the north east at Middlesbrough and Sunderland respectively, Maybe, maybe not.

The first four games alphabetically look home wins:

Arsenal should beat newly promoted West Brom, perhaps not without a scare or two

Aston Villa should be too strong for Mark Hughes Manchester City who will have £18 million Brazilian striker Jo upfront, but £18million is not enough to buy a place in the Olympic team and with ructions backstage cannot be a help. Some smart money says Hughes will be a shoe in at the first Premiership side in enough trouble to sack their manager. That’s Newcastle then.

Bolton should take care of newly promoted Stoke who can start their freefall back to the Championship.

And Everton will not allow Paul Ince’s Blackburn much space.

£10 on those four pays £83.

Compare that to the obvious banker that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all at home and all win - £10 would pay £19.

There is a free £10 bet for new members at BetClick - win and you keep the money, lose and, well, you don’t. They pay it.

Bet on high jump

One of the hottest favourites of all the Olympics is Blanka Vlasic at an astonishing 13/100. Second in the betting trailing in at 11/1 is Yelena Slesarenko. Blanka is named after Casablanca where her father Josko was representing Croatia in the Mediterrnean Games when she was born in 1984. She became world chanmpion in 2007 and has an unbeaten run of 34 competitions and gone over two metres in 48 events.

Bet athletics

Events may conspire against Britain’s  Paul Radcliffe in the Beijing marathon. She looks set to run at all costs but at 6/1she seems short odds. Firstly there is the damaged femur which has been rested for most of the summer. Then there is the heat in August. And the smog. And the hills. This does not look like a race designed for her. The favourite is the local Chunxio Zhou, winner of the London marathon in 2007. She is very short odds at 3/1. Also very tight odds is the 36 year old Catherine-the-Great Ndereba, the former world record holder from Kenya. It is a tough ask for anyone on the day. Anothert local contender who is more interesting odds is the improving Zhu Xiaolin at 24/1