Tips 29-10-05

I hope everyone made it through last weekend okay… There were certainly a couple surprising results. Clearly, this week I’ll have to redeem myself by predicting all of the weekend’s matches.

SK Aarhus vs. HIK – This was a much better bet last night when the odds were higher. At present HIK is listed at 1.55; still pretty decent money with no handicap involved but not exactly a sure bet. HIK’s record isn’t as good but they have had a much harder schedule. Both of their losses in the regular tournament have been 3-2 so it is hard to say that they aren’t better than 2-2. Aalborg definitely has the talent advantage on paper and they are still an excellent blocking team, especially when they can create situations where they are setup on the outside. If Aarhus doesn’t pass well enough to keep Makoto in system then this one could get out of hand pretty quickly. Continued strong serving from HIK against unproven passing for SK means that my money has to be in Aalborg for this one.

Gentofte vs. Hvidovre (2.50H) – Gentofte is clearly a top team. They proved that they have depth last weekend in Aarhus, playing without Peter Halling or Kristian Bech. Hvidovre still hasn’t shown that they can challenge any of the top teams this year. Without Søren Bruncke it looks like they are going to have an even harder test. Too much talent on the other side of the net, I don’t think they pass the test. With odds 1.20 and a handicap of 2.50 though, there isn’t really any value in this bet.

Holte IF vs. DHG (1.50H) – Huge match for both teams. If they have any plans at all to make the slutspil DHG has to start winning matches, especially against other so-called “mid-level” teams. Their problem continues to be that they just don’t have enough depth to keep blockers away from Martin and Anders. Holte, on the other hand, has proven that they can win and that they have solid players at most of the positions on the court. There is no one on their team that can take over a match and carry the team by himself, but as long as they aren’t pressured too much they will play a consistent match. I think their experience, consistency and ability to spread the court will be important here. Holte takes this one in a tight match.

PVC (2.50H) vs. Marienlyst – Marienlyst? Yeah. (nodding head confidently).