There is a very easy way to get better odds when you are betting on a soccer team to win a league or a tournament. If you turn it into a double with the next game, which logically if you are right they have to win, then your margin goes up disproprtionatlky. Liverpool for example today are quoted as 14/1 to win the Champions League. So that would pay £140 for £10. But if you double it with a victory on Wednesday against Standard Liege suddenly the pay out leaps to £222. A note of caution, you may need to use two bookmakers to take the bets serperately.

The great man is lounging on a sofa in the Savoy lounge. He is wearing a gold waistcoat and looks propsoperous in the way of a Cuban cigar magnate. There is a gold ring on his third finger. The watch is Cartier. The suit is Lanvin. The drink is Chateau Lafite 1989.

“Betting for me is different,” he explains. “I am a rich man. The rules for rich men’s betting are different to those of other people. A rich man bets a lot on small odds. A poor man has to bet a lot on longer odds.”

How often do you bet?

“Not a lot in reality. I talk about it a lot. But a rich man has to be right three times out of four. So I am careful in my choices. I don’t like to lose, you see.

“I like the mathematics. I like to prove a system to myself before I put any money down. It is just like business really. You are always trying to minimise the risk and massage the upside.”

When did you start gambling?

“When I started winning. I am like a Deep Stack poker player. I bide my time and wait for the right cards. Two aces suits me fine. I don’t like walking back to Houston”

What do you bet on?

“Soccer for choice. That is my discipline. I am intererested in tennis too, more and more.”

Horses?

“I cannot say I like the horses. Too much history there. Too much intangible. With football there is no corruption or very little and very occassional and even then not really likely to interfere with my approach. With horses I never feel you can get that sound baseline.”

Does your wife approve of your gambling?

“She has six children. I pay the bills. She goes shopping. Why should she complain? It does not get in our way as a family. She would rather I am online for a few minutes with my football betting than on some dating site.”

Would you bet if you did not have the money?

“No. I set a budget. I stick to it. But that was a while ago. I start over again each season and tally up”

How much have you really made out of gambling?

“That is not a fair question. I work on a 60:40 ratio. But I can afford to put £10k on Manchester United to win because that is still £4,000 profit which is cute for a little attention to detail. But if I could not afford to wager that much I would be looking for accumulators and my particular interest of the moment which is a double on two teams to get the same scoreline, say 2-0. That pays big time, if you can get it right.”

Your tip for the weekend?

“Don’t bet. It is all too volatile and too unpredictable. I am keeping my money for the opening of the Premier League. Even then I may wait a couple of weeks to see who is playing well. But I have a good feeling about Chelsea under Luis Felipe Scolari. Last year under Avram Grant they were a nightmare because although they were unbeaten at home and theoretically a banker, they actually drew too many games.”

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Bracewell’s soccer betting laws 2 - how much to bet?

Money is relative. If you have a £1,000,000 going spare then putting it on Manchester United to beat Portsmouth in the Community Shield at the resplendent new Wembley might seem like a surefire bet. You could trouser £600,000 which is good money in most people’s language. But if you pop £1 on it £1.60 seems a bit like slim pickings.

How much to bet is firstly about how much can you afford to play with? This is a decision best taken for the long term. Set a budget and stick to it. Apart from anything else it allows us to construct realistic strategies and analyse them. If you keep popping bets on here and there in the heat of the moment, then you may never know whether it was luck, judgement or chance. With a budget we can mix up hisk high odds bets against bankers at low risk and manage our portfolio just like they are stocks and shares.

Poker players talk about have a stash which they can build up over a period of months for big games. That makes sense, except in soccer betting there is no need to keep doubling up the ante. You are probably not going to win millions unless you bet millions. Be realistic.

Let us set a budget of £10 a week, £100 if you could afford it and if you are flush then £1000. So we are all talking the same percentages. Let us work to turn that £10/£100/£1000 firstly into £25/£250/£2500. It may sound modestly ambitious, but even if we hit the big odds pay days, let’s treat them like they are as sunny days in February

A tip for the weekend - a treble on Arsenal, Milan and Real Madrid all to win is 7.20, so £10 = £72.

Open an account at BetClick and as a new member your first £10 bet is free - if it does not come off, you don’t lose anything. Give it a try, you could be holding folding Sunday night

Charlie ‘Big Bets’ Bracewell is a bond trader. He works in Canary Wharf. His a mathematical genius who has and is developing strategies for soccer betting online.

“Well, that is very kind of you old boy, though genius is perhaps a little far fetched…I just like to test the probabilities and see if we can’t win a few bob”

Do you make more out of bonds or gambling? “It is not gambling old chap, it is just a bit of fun. So are the bonds.”

Who do you support? “Well nobody really, not unless they win me money!”

Favourite song? “I Did It My Way - the Frank Sinatra version”

Favourite TV programme? “Match of the Day”

Favourite Movie: “Pulp Fiction”

Favourite Book: Luke Reinhardt’s The Diceman

Favourite Quote: “Money won is twice as sweet as money earned - from the Colour of Money film”

Favourite vice: “A good malt whisky”!

And? “Shhhhhhhh”.

Best bet ever? “Spurs 4 Chelsea 4. A complete fluke really. I only did it as an experiment with eight unexpected bets because I felt something unusual would happen. It paid 125/1″

Any other gambling interests? “Tennis is getting interesting but thye mathematics are different. A little poker, if anyone is brave enough to play with me these days?”