For over thirty years, the Gambling Sports Guru of OnlineGambling.co.uk heard Jim McKay, host of the renowned television series, “Wide World of Sports,” start each broadcast by exclaiming “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”  The Gambling Sports Guru can attest to the veracity of McKay’s truism, for this week, it never rang more clearly. 

The 2011 Major League Baseball World Series was the perfect setting for the climatic wager of the year for the Guru.  The Gambling Sports Guru is a highly respected Internet sporting and public event handicapper who happens to be having a spectacular year of prognostications.  In April of this year, he picked the Texas Rangers at 15-1 odds to win the World Series.  

As the baseball season unfolded, Texas outlasted the Angels to capture the West Division of the American League.  In the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers eliminated the Tampa Bay Rays in four games, and then outslugged the Detroit Tigers in six to advance to the World Series as American League Champions.  

At this point, the Guru’s online sports betting selection of the Texas Rangers looked like it might be the bet of the year.  Their opponent was National League Champ, St. Louis Cardinals, who came from 10 games out of playoff contention in August to garner the Wild Card playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.  The Cards upset both the Philadelphia Phils and the Milwaukee Brewers to advance to the World Series. 

The Rangers and Cards split the first four games, but the Rangers won the fifth to earn 3 games to 2 lead in the best of 7 series. Game 6 became an all-time classic and a gambler’s lament.  Online sports betting is an emotional experience.  When you wager on a game, your interest in the contest escalates.  The more you have at stake in a contest, the higher is your emotional involvement in the contest. 

As the game progressed, it appeared that the Rangers were going to win their 1^st World Series, and the Gambling Sports Guru was going to celebrate a great year of online sports betting with his greatest victory of the year.  The Rangers had a 2-run lead as the Cards batted in the bottom of the 9^th inning.  With 2 out and 2 runners on base, batter David Freese was down to his final strike when he ripped a pitch off the right field wall, tying the score and sending the contest into extra innings. 

In the top of the 10^th inning, Texas star Josh Hamilton smacked a 2 run home run.  Certainly, the cards had used up all their good fortune.  There is no way we can lose this now, the Guru thought.  Mmmmm – think again.  In the bottom of the 10^th, it was déjà vu all over again.  This time Lance Berkman’s 2-out, 2-strike hit plated the tying run and forced the game into the 11^th inning. 

By this time, the Guru knew it was over, and his online sports betting futures selection of the Texas Rangers was not to be.  Freese homered in the bottom of the 11^th and the Cards easily won the 7^th game the next evening. 

The gambling Sports Guru needed to remind himself that this is the life he chose to lead, the life of an online sports betting gambler, and that while you win some, you must lose some also. This is one that got away – a sports gambler’s lament!