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Interesting to see the All Blacks sub 1.10 again for this week's international. Probably a fair price, but not a true reflection perhaps of the ability of the Irish. Sometimes with such a strong odds-on favourite in a game you expect them to win but not by as much as other people may think, the usual tactic is to lay the favourite pre-game with a view to backing them at some point during the game, something I'll consider.

It doesn't cost much to lay a strong odds-on favourite, but you do have to pick and choose. Across the ditch, Australia are about 1.14 to beat England again, and it's one game I'll leave alone betting-wise.

State Of Origin II is on tonight; Queensland over 2.20 and NSW around 1.80. As much as I'm telling myself to stick to the knitting, it is tempting to have a wee speculator on the Cane Toads.

One of the problems betting on a UK-based site is time zones. I still haven't got myself sorted out post-wedding so staying up at night for cricket tests is currently off the agenda. Which is unfortunate as Day 4 of the cricket test between West Indies and India was washed out without a ball being bowled and India's price has shot out from 1.20 to 2.60. Such price movements are a licence to print money if you are aware of weather forecasts (which any serious cricket punter should spend a fair bit of time sourcing).

And apparently there is some sort of World Cup going on. There will be far more qualified people than me to talk about soccer - sorry, football, but there are a couple of things I can't work out. After the group stages, it is a knockout format so the draw (as in who plays who) becomes important. Currently on Betfair, Brazil are obviously favourites at 4.00 while England are second favourites at 8.20. Yet if both these teams win their group (which is more likely given Sweden only drew with Trinidad), they will meet in the semi-final. Yes, Brazil could lose before then but so could England. And if Sweden do beat England and finish top of Group B, the market will probably react by allowing England to drift (when they should probably shorten).

However, there is also a market for reaching the final where Brazil are favourites at 2.44 and England are again second favourites at 4.50. That is the price I really can't understand, and one I may play around with.

While on the subject of Brazil, one of my learned friends feels their price is too short in a 32-team competition. He may be right, but I would rather go against England at 8.20 than Brazil at 4.00. I'm sure there were plenty who thought the Crusaders at around 3.00 was too short prior to this year's Super 14 as well, but that ended up the best price for them. Generally you do make money taking on favourites rather than backing them, but being selective is the key. At 4.00, I'll leave Brazil alone; I'll look to selectively back other teams who I think will be in the other side of the knockout draw - where if I get one of them into the final I'm in with a running chance; the real pay-day being of course if Brazil get knocked out before the final.