Prepare for a one-sided contest, where the visitors park ten men in their own half, hoping to keep a clean sheet for as long as possible. For England, this will be an exercise in patience to begin with, although there is little doubt that they will win this match. Capello’s men are unbackable at 1/16 (Skybet) to beat their opponents, although the 3/10 (Paddy Power) about them winning at half-time and full-time might interest a few punters. After all, Croatia led Kazakhstan 2-0 at the interval last month, and the Three Lions have since demonstrated they are more than a match for Slaven Bilic’s team!

This match represents an opportunity for Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to prove that they can play in the same England team, and it’s the latter who is in stunning form for his club side at the moment. The Chelsea midfielder is 6/1 (Ladbrokes) to open the scoring, while his Liverpool counterpart is the same price with Boylesports. All eyes will be on Theo Walcott, who was the hat-trick hero in Zagreb, and the Arsenal winger is 6/1 (Ladbrokes) to be the first name on the scoresheet. If you fancy him for another three goals, it’s a 50/1 chance with Blue Square.

While correct score quotes of 6-0 (16/1 Sporting Bet) and 7-0 (33/1 Sporting Bet) might be attractive, the reality is that England are more likely to score three or four goals against the defensive Kazakhs. Minnows are more organised than ever these days, and the 11/2 (VC Bet) about the home team cruising to a 3-0 win looks about right.

Meanwhile, England’s main Group 6 rivals clash in Kharkov, and the bookmakers are struggling to separate Ukraine (13/8 Boylesports) and Croatia (15/8 Paddy Power). The visitors didn’t turn into a bad team overnight, and may cause the home defence all sorts of problems as they look to bounce back from the 4-1 reversal. The Ukrainians only mustered a 1-0 win against Belarus in their previous home match, and that was thanks to a Shevchenko penalty in stoppage time. The former Chelsea man is 6/1 (bet365) to score the first or last goal of Saturday’s match.

The PartyPoker.com Poker Den III was a very “Big Game” indeed. Running from 2pm on Tuesday, 30 September until 9pm on Wednesday on 1 October without any stopping in between, the game took place in East London. There were big pots, big pros and some big-time entertainment from beginning to end.

Phil “Unabomber” Laak and Neil “Bad Beat” Channing tried to play their way through the entire 30-hour marathon. Whoa!

Some of the big losers included David Williams. The young American, who was runner-up to Greg Raymer at the 2004 WSOP Main Event, lost about $40,000 in the cash game. Roland De Wolfe was out nearly $10,000 more than that at about $50k. However, Sammy George was down nearly $80,000. Ouch!

British pro Andrew Feldman was ahead by $63,350 and American player/commentator Robert Williamson III added $63,675 to his bankroll by the end of the nearly two days of play. The one VIP allowed into the mix, German online player, Bobo Sbrzesny, earned $22,850 – not bad for an amateur, right?

The Poker Den III was organized in conjunction with Matchroom Sport and will be shown on UK Channel Five early in 2009. Commentary will be provided by Jesse May, Ian Frazer, Matt Broughton, Andrew Feldman, Roland DeWolfe and Roberto Romanello.

Become “King of the Table” at Party Poker as part of the site’s first ever $2 Million GTD Tournament on November 30, 2008. Go to PartyPoker.com now for all the details!

From 2-5 October 2008 Irish eyes were focused on Killarney. 832 players took to the green…felt, that is. Those brave lads and lassies were fighting over a right big pot o’treasure, they were. A total of €416,000 was up for grabs in this €500 + €50 event.

Due to the popularity of the tournament, a week prior to the Main Event, event sponsor Ladbrokes Poker raised the total number of entries from 625 to 750. Even so, the tournament organizers had to accommodate nearly one hundred more people. Wow!

As Bryan Coleman, Irish Territory Manager for Ladbrokes said, “"We're absolutely delighted with the turnout and would like to thank all the players who made this festival such a success.” Joining in the action were players such as Roy “The Boy” Brindley and former Irish Poker Champion as well as WSOP bracelet holder Marty Smyth.  In all, 83 players earned some money in the event.

The last bloke standing was one Jimmy McSweeney of Cork. McSweeney received a cool €100,000 for outlasting everyone else. He defeated Andrew Roberts in heads-up play. On the last hand, he took out his opponent with a pair of sixes.

These are the final results:

1) Jimmy McSweeney - €100,000
2) Andrew Roberts - €65,000
3) Bo Erichsen - €35,000
4) Hugh Whelan - €25,000
5) Nick Heather - €20,000
6) Ian Smith – €15,000
7) Steve Johnson - €10,000
8) Barry Hand – €12,000

Ladbrokes is gearing up for the LEOCOP IV, which begins on 26 October 2008. Qualifiers are going on now. Head over to Ladbrokes today for more information!

Even at Aylward Towers we're beginning to feel the effects of the credit crunch so yours truly needs to start finding a few winners, and where better place to start than at Ascot on Saturday.

The most richly endowed race on the card is the Ladbrokes.com Handicap (due off 2.20pm) and I'm hoping to relieve the sponsors of some of their money by backing the progressive ALLIED POWERS at 6/1 The Michael Bell-trained runner has run crackers on his last two starts, going down narrowly to the equally progressive Wasan (one to follow this Autumn) at Doncaster's St Leger meeting before seeing off a decent field of older handicappers at Ayr last month. He's running off a 6lb higher mark here but he looks to be thriving on his racing and has more scope for improvement than many of his older rivals here. The trip of 1m4f is ideal, as is the likely soft ground, and with Jamie Spencer booked to do the steering he looks a knocking good bet.

Jamie Spencer could be in for a good afternoon as he's also booked to ride the Queen's FOUR WINDS in the Group 3 Deloitte Autumn Stakes (3.30pm). The son of Red Ransom finished third on his debut, despite looking far from fully wound up, and confirmed the promise of that effort when accounting for Ra Junior over 1m at Sandown last month. That form was boosted when the runner-up obliged in style next time out, and my Newmarket gallops mole tells me that Four Winds looked the 'real deal' when working under Spencer on Racecourse Side this week. This is his toughest task to date but I reckon we could well see a royal winner on Saturday.

I'm less confident about finding the winner of the opening Cornwallis Stakes (1.10pm), but I can't let ANGLEZARKE go unbacked at what should be decent odds. Tim Easterby's runner had no chance from a bad draw at Ayr last time and is better judged on her second in the Flying Childers Stakes, which has traditionally been a good pointer to this race. Between 1990 and 1996, four horses who made the frame at Doncaster took top honours here, while more recently both Hunter Street (2005) and Captain Gerrard (2007) followed up prominent performances in the Group 2 with victories at Ascot. Let's hope Anglezarke can keep up the tradition.

Recommended Bets:

Allied Powers 2pts @ 6/1 Ladbrokes
Four Winds 1pt @ best morning-line price
Anglezarke 1pt @ best morning-line price

Multiple Choice: 1/2pt trixie (3 doubles, 1 treble)

Zarkava's Arc win was one of those great moments in racing history. It's just a shame that we probably won't get to see her race again. Still, we can look forward to seeing some more equine stars in action at Newmarket on Saturday week, for what is known as Champions Day. This is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the flat season, with some serious prize money to be won, not just by the Group 1 horses in the Champion Stakes and the Dewhurst Stakes, but also the staying handicappers in the Cesarewitch.

The Champion Stakes has attracted a quality entry that reads like a who's who of this season's star performers. Trainer Aidan O'Brien is likely to be mob-handed in his bid to win this prestigious contest for the first time, but he may have to wait at least another year to get his name on the roll of honour as the Jim Bolger-trained New Approach is likely to go off at cramped odds. Last year's Dewhurst winner and this year's Epsom Derby hero is currently trading at 3 on Betfair, with only two other horses at single figure odds - Mike de Kock's Archipenko (6.4) and the Henry Cecil-trained Phoenix Tower (5.1). The latter would be a popular winner for his legendary trainer Henry Cecil, and a deserving one too having finished runner-up on no less than four occasions in top company this season, the latest behind Duke Of Marmalade in the Juddmonte International Stakes.

O'Brien might have better luck in the Dewhurst Stakes as his Rip Van Winkle looks very much the one to beat, albeit at short odds - currently 2.24 on Betfair. After winning his first start in the stewards' room, the Galileo colt beat Cuis Ghaire in the Tyros Stakes and is on course to make his third start at Newmarket on Saturday week. O'Brien has made no secret of his enthusiasm for Rip Van Winkle, saying in a recent interview: "He's only won a Group 3 at the moment but in his work he's an unbelievable cruiser. For a horse by Galileo he's very quick - in the morning he'd go up with five furlong horses and cruise the same as a sprinter. He could be very exciting, but obviously he hasn't done it yet."

Rip Van Winkle is already favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas (9/2 Paddy Power) and Derby (12/1 bet365), and looks unopposable in the Dewhurst. 

The Cesarewitch provides punters with more of a challenge. The current ante-post favourite Askar Tau is as low as 7/2 with some firms, but he could be worth opposing. Marcus Tregonning's three-year-old has been favourite in each of his last five races and has won them all. He could easily complete the six-timer, but this race has been a graveyard for his age group (none have reached the frame in 22 attempts in eight years) and for market leaders - only one winning favourite in the past 10 years. Still want to back him at 7/2?

Take him on with the David Pipe-trained MAMLOOK, who showed he has the necessary speed and stamina to win this race when finishing second in the Ascot Stakes at the royal meeting. Unraced since, he's clearly been laid out for this race by his astute handler and he looks well worth a bet at the current 10/1 with sportinget (9/1 Boylesports). Pitched-in at 8/1 by some firms, he looks sure to go off much shorter on the day and may even challenge for favouritism. If he gets a favourable high draw, double your bet!

Recommended Bet:

Mamlook 2pts each way @ 10/1 sportingbet (9/1 Boylesports)

While Lewis Hamilton is predictably favourite (7/4 Sporting Bet) to win at the Fuji Speedway, it’s worth noting that the Brit has failed to win any of his previous five races. You have to go back three months to Hockenheim for the last time the McLaren driver took maximum points, although he has subsequently finished second twice and third in Singapore to ensure that he leads the Drivers Championship by seven points going into Sunday’s race.

Indeed, firms expect the 23-year-old to now claim his first Drivers Championship this year, going a best price 1/3 (Blue Square) about Hamilton. Realistically, Felipe Massa (5/2 bet365) is the only driver which can prevent him from being victorious, with the Brazilian needing to better his rivals by eight points or more over the last three races of the season. The Ferrari driver failed to get into the points at Singapore, although he’s 11/5 (Sporting Bet) to keep his dreams of being champion alive by winning in Shizuoka.

The last two Grand Prix have been excellent results for the bookmakers, who have seen Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso triumph at Monza and Marina Bay respectively. The German is now being regarded by many as ‘Baby Schumi’ after some fine performances this year and, while he’s unlikely to win another race (33/1 Paddy Power), it might be worth backing the 21-year-old to finish on the podium (13/2 Blue Square). Two fifth-placed finishes sandwich his triumph in Italy, and there can’t be many drivers with more confidence than Vettel at the moment.

It’s also worth noting that, despite only winning two races all season, Kimi Raikkonen continues to register the Fastest Lap on a regular basis. The Finn has had a disappointing defence of his crown, failing even to score any points in the past four Grand Prix, although the stats suggest that the 23/20 (Centrebet) about him once again completing a circuit in the quickest time is value. After all, he’s managed this on the past three occasions, proving that the Ferrari car is the quickest but perhaps not always the most reliable!

There are five teams in with a chance of winning Group 3, including Northern Ireland, after a creditable 0-0 draw with Czech Republic in their last match. Nigel Worthington’s men can look forward to Saturday’s trip to Slovenia with a reasonable degree of confidence, and they are 3/1 (William Hill) for those that think they can pinch a win.

Others will fancy the home team to take maximum points, especially after a 1-1 draw in Poland and a 2-1 victory against Slovakia last month. They are no better than even money (Ladbrokes) to triumph in Maribor, while it’s 5/2 chance that they lead at half-time and full-time as they did in their last match. Milivoje Novakovic was the goalscoring hero that night, bagging a brace, and he’s 6/1 (Ladbrokes) favourite to score first or last against the Northern Irish. The visitors are fairly limited when it comes to firepower, although David Healy and Kyle Lafferty are 15/2 (Blue Square) and 10/1 (888sport) respectively to open the scoring.

Meanwhile, Poland have an opportunity to steal a march on Czech Republic in Chorzow, and they’re 17/10 (bet365) to move six points clear of their main rivals. It was a disappointing Euro 2008 for the Poles, who were many people’s dark horses to go well, although they’ve not started the World Cup qualifying campaign too well, drawing at home to Slovenia and mustering just a 2-0 win in San Marino. Perhaps the draw (9/4 Skybet) offers better value, with the visitors keen to avoid losing any ground at this early stage. They’re 7/4 (Boylesports) if you fancy them to take all three points, although their goalless draw at Windsor Park would not fill me with confidence.

Nevertheless, Petr Rada’s men are strong favourites to win this section, with VC Bet offering a best price of 8/13 about Czech Republic winning Group 3. Poland (3/1 Stan James) are expected to cause them the most problems, while Slovakia (14/1 Boylesports), Slovenia (15/1 bet365) and Northern Ireland (18/1 Paddy Power) are all given a similar chance of qualification.

7,245 players put up their money to play in the Poker Stars Sunday Million on 5 October 2008. However, that was not quite enough to meet the $1.5 million guarantee. PokerStars, the online home of former WSOP Main Event champions Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Joe Hachem, had to pay out more than $50,000 to meet that mark to ensure that winner, barring any deals struck at the final table, would earn the six-figure first place prize.

As the action winded down to four, Soren “Kongsgaard” Kongsgaard, who took down this event on 8 June 2008, was still in the hunt. A former Danish Poker champion, the baby-faced Kongsgaard, who finished third in the 2007 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, ended the day in fourth place. Soon after his departure the remaining three players agreed to a deal which provided them each with six figures.

In the end, Daniel “Allanon85” Drescher claimed the remaining $30,000 and the top prize after raking in the last pot to secure the title.

These are the final results:

1) Allanon85 — $177,450
2) aty79 — $109,000
3) cdbr3799 — $107,000
4) Kongsgaard — $69,000
5) forza-guti — $54,000
6) insanocut — $39,000
7) tnapoleao — $26,250
8) Tyler9897 — $17,250
9) sjco22 — $10,500

There were 3,572 participants in the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 on the first full weekend of October. Unfortunately for the online home of Chris Ferguson and recently-crowned WSOPE champion John Juanda, the site had to pay out more than $35,000 to meet the guarantee. Despite that fact, more than $132,000 was on the line for first place.

As the final table got underway, FadinAway had the top stack with nearly 2.3 million chips. He was able to hand in there ‘til the very end. Although he lost the lead, he was able to turn the tables before the final hand was played against TheDirrty. FadinAway snatched the lead away and cracked his opponent’s aces on the last hand. Ouch!

Here are the final standings:

1) FadinAway - $132,787.50
2) TheDirrty - $80,250
3) Dstemrich - $52,500
4) TheAsianVampire - $41,400
5) Kisso - $31,050
6) Corporations - $23,025
7) crazychicken - $17,250
8) Matteo02 - $13,500
9) MarvinGarden - $10,050

On Sunday 5 October 2008 Ultimate Bet had to pay out $33,800 to meet its $200,000 Guarantee. 829 players showed up to play at this tournament, each hoping to get his or her hands on the $45,000 first-place prize.

There were some familiar faces at the final table. For example, BEATBOXED, who finished 6th in this tournament just two weeks ago (on 21st September), took the 10th slot this time, adding $9,000 to his bankroll. jenny-8675309 bested her previous showing in this event. Previously, “jenny” earned $1,400 for a 17th place finish. This time she made it to fifth position and took home $11k.

The number #2 finisher was NoSoup4UUUU. NoSoup4UUUU is a former champion of this event (9 March 2008). Unfortunately, the ‘soup Nazi’ couldn’t seal the deal this time. He came up short against the stuman123. This is stuman’s first win at UB and he happily collected the $45,000 as well as the title.

Here are the results:

1) stuman123 — $45,000
2) NoSoup4UUUU — $27,000
3) roughnecks69 — $18,500
4) ZooterFitz — $13,000
5) jenny-8675309 — $11,000
6) jturtleb1 — $9,000
7) dmw8869 — $7,000
8) -kizzy- — $5,000
9) buckeyez33 — $3,500
10) BEATBOXED — $2,000

Full Tilt’s getting ready for the 10th installment of its online poker series FTOPS X. Find out more about it by going to FTP now!

Anyone who witnessed the Welsh struggling to a 1-0 win over Azerbaijan last month might be thinking twice about backing them to beat the group’s supposed whipping boys, especially at a best price of 1/6 (Boylesports). Yes, you can argue that Liechtenstein are extremely limited and received a 6-0 hammering at home to Germany. However, they improved when drawing 0-0 in Baku, and it’s 13/2 (Paddy Power) that they pinch a point in Cardiff.

However, John Toshack’s men should really prove too strong over the 90 minutes, especially when you consider they came close to landing what would have been a well-deserved draw in Russia a few weeks ago. The young Welsh team gave a tremendous account of themselves when losing 2-1 to the Euro 2008 semi-finalists, and they’re 4/7 (Paddy Power) to be winning at half-time and full-time on Saturday. They’ll have to do without the services of Joe Ledley, although Jason Koumas often reserves his best performances for the international stage, and he’s a 6/1 chance (Ladbrokes) to score first.

I’d be looking to back the Dragons to win this game 2-0 (11/2 Ladbrokes), with the visitors struggling to threaten the Welsh goal, but the home team hardly blessed with quality firepower. A similar scoreline (15/2 Sportingbet) can be expected in Dortmund on Saturday evening, where Germany take on Russia in a match which will go a long way to determining who wins Group 4.

As mentioned, Joachim Low’s men demonstrated their prowess when winning 6-0 in Liechtenstein, and can be backed with a fair degree of confidence (4/5 Boylesports) to beat their main rivals in the section. After all, Russia struggled to beat Wales in their last match, and will be missing Roman Pavlyuchenko for this game, a striker who scored three for Guus Hiddink’s men during Euro 2008. We all know that the visitors can play attractive, flowing football, although this may be snuffed out by the imposing style of the Germans. Miroslav Klose is 9/2 (bet365) to find the net first, while Lukas Podolski is a 5/1 chance (Blue Square).

The European Tour enters the finishing straight for 2008 with the first of four tournaments held on the Iberian peninsular.

The Course: Club de CampoVilla de Madrid, Spain (par-71, 6,970 yards)
Traditional in-land course 2,500 feet above sea level, which hosted the Madrid Open between 2001 and 2005. The fairways are sloping and tree-lined, placing an emphasis on accuracy. Greens are well-protected an undulating. There are only three par-5's - the 4th, 7th (the longest at 540 yards) and 14th.

Ross' Tip: Raphael Jacquelin @ 22/1 Blue Square
The Frenchman has a great record at Club de Campo. After finishing tied-4th in 2004, he returned to the course the following year to land his debut Tour win in stunning style, reeling off a trio of 64s before sealing the deal with a closing 69. His current game is solid enough (tied-24th at the Dunhill Links Championship), so the 22/1 looks a tad generous.

Next Best: Charl Schwartzel @ 20/1 bet365
The talented South African has been playing some good golf of late - 13th in Scotland and fifth at the Belfy - and he was a winner on Spanish soil last year when capturing the Open de Espana, so it would be no surprise to see him clinch his third European Tour win this week.

Outsider: Jose-Filipe Lima @ 66/1 William Hill
The swashbuckling Portuguese pro is hard to catch right but he can occasionally pop up at big odds, as he did when shooting a final round 68 to tie for fifth last week. That piece of form was out of nowhere, but there are grounds for thinking he can go well again this week. When the tournament was played here in 2005, the winning score was 23 under par and Lima, a former Challenge Tour winner in Spain, finished sixth.

Tournament Lay (Betfair): Miguel Angel Jimenez
His golf has been pretty ragged since the Ryder Cup and, besides, his form at Club de Campo is nothing special. Worth taking on in the outrights and in match bets.

Ross' Match Bet: Angel Cabrera to beat Miguel Angel Jimenez @ Evens sportingbet

Recommended Bets:
Raphael Jacquelin 1pt each way @ 22/1 Blue Square
Charl Schwartzel 1pt each way @ 20/1 bet365
Jose-Filipe Lima 1/2pt each way @ 66/1 William Hill