Karlovic wins, Kyle withdraws...

Tuesday 13th February 2018

In your Ones to Watch email today:

• Kyle withdraws...
• Good books and bad books...
• Karlovic wins...

Kyle withdraws...

A quick update on our latest bets...

Kyle Edmund has withdrawn from the ATP Buenos Aires event. He was removed from the official tournament draw-sheet last night with ‘Illness’ cited as the reason. It turns out Kyle has developed a throat infection and decided not to play this week.

These things happen in sport, and when it comes to betting – it’s something we have to accept. As I’ve said before, I don’t claim to have any ‘insider’ info from the locker room. In fact, there was nothing online about this that I could see until around midnight last night UK time – and 12 noon in terms of news stories.

With the tournament itself having started at 5pm Monday this means that the tournament had started – but Edmund had played no part in it (he was due to play his first match today)...

Ploughing through the bookies’ rules pages is a laborious task at the best of times, especially for a market like Outright Winner where almost every bookmaker seems to use slightly different wording...

Our tournament bet on Edmund goes down as void with Bet365, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral – the top four bookies listed in our email advice on Monday.

I’ve included a summary of my rulebook findings below. As ever, the advice is to check with the specific bookie that you bet with. It might also be worth emailing your bookie to ask the question.

This kind of thing doesn’t crop up very often – less than once a year with our Ones to Watch selections, I’d say.

• Back in 2016 we had a similar case when Shuai Zhang withdrew from the WTA Tianjin event before her 1st Round match. On that occasion, when asked, the likes of Bet365 and Betfred confirmed they would void bets at the end of the tournament (eg. when the Outright Winner market was settled). Skybet, 10Bet and William Hill all voided Zhang too. That Betfred example would seem to contradict the wording of their rules (see below) – so as I say, it’s always worth contacting your bookie to ask the question

Good books and bad books...

We only go with bookies that offer Each Way bets in the Outright Winner market.

From the bookies’ rules that I’ve looked at today, it’s 10-6 in favour of the ‘void bet’ and stakes returned outcome.

With Edmund not taking part in any matches in the tournament, bookies in our good books would appear to be:

• Bet365: ‘Non-runner no-bet’

• William Hill: ‘If the selected player withdraws or is disqualified during the given tournament without playing any part in a competitive match, bets placed on this market will be void’

• Ladbrokes: ‘Once a player has started playing in a tournament, bets will stand on them for outright tournament betting purposes’

• Coral: ‘Once a player has started playing in a tournament, bets will stand on them for outright tournament betting purposes.’

• Paddy Power: ‘Stakes will be refunded on players withdrawn prior to the start of their first match’

• Betfair Sportsbook: ‘Stakes will be refunded on players withdrawn prior to the start of their first match’

• Skybet: ‘If a player does not take part in an event bets on that selection will be void’

• Boylesports: ‘Outright markets are offered on a Non-runner no bet basis ... Once a player has started playing in a tournament, bets will stand on them for outright tournament betting purposes’

• 10Bet: ‘In the event of a non-runner, all bets are void’

• NetBet: ‘In the event of a non-runner, all bets are void’

Whereas the bookies in the bad books who go by a rule of keeping all stakes even if a player doesn’t play, can be named as...

• Betway: ‘All bets will stand’

• Stan James: ‘All in compete or not’

• Winner: ‘Outright bets will stand, regardless if a player competes or not’

• Betfred: ‘Stakes will be refunded on players or teams withdrawn prior to the start of an event’

• BetVictor: ‘All outright bets shall stand irrespective of whether the player competes’

• Marathonbet: ‘If a participant takes no part in an event before its start then all bets on this participant are void’

Karlovic wins...

On to simpler and better news now...

We made it four out of four winning match picks last night, with Ivo Karlovic beating Jared Donaldson in New York.

That Match Winner bet paid out at odds of 8/11 (1.73) or 4/6 (1.67).

Karlovic won in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6. And we pointed out in our analysis, the 6’11” Croatian was indeed formidable on serve – hitting 20 Aces and not facing a single break point in the match.

Coming up...

Nothing catches my eye on today’s schedule but remember we have an Outright Winner pick running for us in Doha with Simona Halep at 10/1 Each Way, set to play her first match on Wednesday.

I’m away from my computer for a couple of days now – but I’ll be back in touch towards the end of the week with an update, and any bet opportunities that I spot between now and the start of next week’s five tournaments. They don’t call it ‘frantic February’ for nothing...

Enjoy the tennis...

Best wishes,

Tom Wilson

Ones to Watch