Weekend Winners: Details of large payouts from Sky Bet punters and big-priced winners
There's a late Monday entry into this weekend's feature thanks to an inspired football punter while several customers found all seven Cheltenham winners on Saturday.
Monday madness
This is obviously a very late entry into Weekend Winners - perhaps too late if we had to apply strict rules - but you can't help but be stunned by a punter winning over £27,000 from a £5 stake on a quiet Monday afternoon of football!
The lucky Sky Bet customer from Swansea placed a £5 in-running four-fold acca in the 'next team to score markets' for the following big games - Leeds United U23s 1-0 Sheffield United U23s, Jong Emmen 0-0 Jong NEC, PAS Irodotos Nea Alikarnassos 0-1 Panacaiki, UKM FC 0-1 PKNP FC.
In each of those matches he said there wouldn't be any more goals at the point of placing the bet at 5444/1 and, obviously, there weren't.
His total winnings amounted to £27,225 - never has a lack of goal mouth action in four Monday afternoon football matches been so celebrated.
Cheltenham comes early
The Cheltenham Festival is the highlight of the National Hunt season. In fact, for some it's simply the highlight of the sporting calendar, so Trials Day - the January meeting which does exactly what it says on the tin - is always one of the standout fixtures in January.
If Saturday's results are repeated in March, though, there will be some long faces in trading rooms around the country as all seven winners went off well-supported, starting with the gambled-on Fakir D'Oudairies in the opener.
Mr Forbes might not be quite ready for the Forbes Rich List having gone through the card, but for a mere 70 pence - 35p each-way - he's scooped over £32,000 in a remarkable act of punting chutzpah.
He was not alone in finding winners easy to come by. Mr Clifton permed Kildisart (9/2), Siruh Du Lac (6/1), Frodon (5/2) and Birchdale (2/1) in a Lucky 15 and press-up accumulator which returned in the region of £36,000, while Mr Surrey is almost £7,000 better off after an each-way treble involving Paisley Park (9/2), Siruh Du Lac and an 8/1 winner at Uttoxeter.
A Scottish punter meanwhile landed a blow for the small-staker, with an 8p Super Heinz costing a total of £9.60 and returning over £5,000, despite there being a loser to go with six winners ranging from 2/1 to 10/1. That'll put beans on the table.
There's always one
Increasingly, FA Cup weekend proves difficult for punters who have to second-guess team selection unless playing their cards late, at least until the fifth round and beyond as the top teams begin to take it really seriously.
On Saturday, in the fourth round, it was the layers who came out on top - but there really is always one, as a punter landed a massive £18,716 from just a £1 stake.
The bet included two odds-on chances, too, but was made by an audacious 50/1 chance - AFC Wimbledon to win and over 3.5 goals in the game. In the same market, Millwall (16/1) and Nottingham Forest (6/1) were also inspired selections to keep the bookies on their toes.
More golfing glory
Bryson DeChambeau's runaway success in the Dubai Dessert Classic made it two winners and three places in January for golf expert Ben Coley.
Xander Schauffele kicked things off with a 25/1 success in Hawaii, where 33/1 tip Marc Leishman also hit the frame, before Andrew Putnam finished second one week later having been advised at 75/1.
With Louis Oosthuizen keeping things ticking over in Abu Dhabi, it was over to DeChambeau in Dubai with a chunky four points win at 11/1 underlining the confidence our man had in the world number five.
In truth, there was never a moment's doubt, as DeChambeau stalked the leaders over the first 36 holes, edged ahead after 54, and quickly took control over the closing 18 with birdies at one, two and three.
From there, he went on to win by seven in a tournament-record score to earn followers of our golf tips around 80 points' profit for the first month of the year.
Ace in the pack
Tennis expert Tim Clement also delivered from his Australia base, putting up Novak Djokovic prior to the first grand slam of the year and supplementing those profits with a couple of stunners during the event.
Our man advised Djokovic to take the first set against Kei Nishikori 6-1, which he did at odds of 10/1, before suggesting a bet on the Serb to win the first set of Sunday's final 6-3, which came in at 6/1.
All told that helped generate over 20 points' profit for followers and we're well on track to add to a winning December for sportinglife.com.
