We love celebrating the Kentucky Derby, and one critical component has to be enjoying a Mint Julep which is the drink you’ll see everywhere during Derby weekend.

Here’s a great recipe:

Ingredients:
1.5 oz. Bulleit Rye
2 oz. Stirrings Simple Syrup
Fresh mint leaves

Preparation: Muddle mint leaves, Stirrings Simple Syrup and crushed ice in rocks glass. Add Bulleit Rye and fill glass with ice. Pour into cocktail shaker, shake vigorously and serve in rocks glass with fresh mint garnish.

Of course, a big part of Derby weekend is betting on the race, and the folks at Bulleit teamed up with professional handicapper Tony Gold to give us six tips on picking a Derby winner:

1. Peaking performance: The most important rule of all is to find the horse that will peak in the Derby meaning, look for horses who improved with each race with either a strong first, second or third finish after a long layoff, with more room to improve. You can eliminate half the field simply by doing this.
2. Age factor: If the horse is two years old and hasn’t raced, the chances of it winning are slim. These are not fully mature horses and getting to a mile and a quarter requires much conditioning.
3. Time comparison: Log resulting times from each horse’s last prep race with the rest of the board.
4. Prep race outcomes: Look at what prep races historically produce the most winners.
5. Jockey experience: Consider the jockey’s skill set from previous races. The derby is a large field and a good experienced jockey can position a horse well early and avoid trouble, which can make or a break a horse’s chances.
6. Tactical speed: A Derby winner will jump early and can be found somewhere from mid-field to the second or third place by halfway around the course.

Of course, your girlfriend might do better just picking based on a cool name, but that’s what makes this race so much fun. Enjoy!

In 2012, more than half of the adult population wagered on the Super Bowl. From sports books to casual office pools, fans bet an estimated $10 billion on this single game. Rapper Birdman placed $5 million on a Patriot win and lost it all. Losses are inevitable in sports betting, but a few tips can make sure you win more often.

Sports analysts spend a lot of time studying the statistics and numbers throughout the season so that they can accurately predict the outcome of future games. The industry’s top experts rarely meet an accuracy rate of more than 50%. Even computer betting systems fall short of perfection. AccuScore, for instance, is the system that powers many prediction forecasts including ESPN, CBS Sports, and Yahoo Sports and it is one of the most accurate with a success rate of about 55%. Expert picks are great guidelines but you shouldn’t rely completely on an educated guess when you make your wagers.

#1: The Underdog May Come Out on Top

Analysts and handicappers examine player abilities, recent game trends, and similar facts to decide which team has the best odds of winning. Other factors, such as the team’s drive or new play developments, affects the outcome of the game as well. It’s not very likely that the lowest ranked team will beat the team in the number one spot, but with a good point spread, underdog bets have great potential.

#2: Parlay Cards Aren’t the Answer

A reputable Sports Book allows players to wager on sporting events, political campaigns, awards shows, and more. There are also a variety of betting options available for each event. Parlay cards are popular with many sports games because of their attractive payouts. With a parlay card, a better can wager on multiple games with a single bet. If all the selections win, the payout is rather impressive. If just one team loses their game, however, the player wins nothing.

#3: Several Bets Are Better than One

It is tempting to put your entire bankroll on a ‘sure thing’, but there are no definite wins in sports betting. The best way to make sure you walk away with a profit is to place several small bets and not one large one. Payouts on smaller bets are less, but the odds of winning continue to improve with each wager.

Whether you’re new to sports betting or a seasoned sports book player, wagering on your favorite events and matches is fun and exciting. If you pay attention to the secrets above, it can also be profitable.

Out of all of the sports that you can bet on, it would be fair to say that boxing grabs much less attention than others. This could be for a number of reasons – with the biggest probably being that fights between the elite are simply few and far between. Nevertheless, everyone knows that there is a huge amount of money involved in the sport and thus, it’s possible for you to make large sums if you can get your boxing betting offers strategy correct.

We’ll now take a look at some key tips that could help improve your profits from boxing drastically.

Tip #1 Analyze recent form

This is probably the most obvious tip when it comes to boxing betting. Whether you are betting on tennis, football, horse racing or rugby – you need to analyze the form. As boxers partake in few fights every year, you probably only have to look back two or three duals to get a good understanding of the position they’re in. Don’t just look at their win-loss record either – look how they won or lost, and who it was against. You must delve into the details to give you the best possible chance of extracting the most information ahead of the fight.

Tip #2 Look at the boxing style of both men

Some boxers are brutes, others rely on speed and technique. You should have a firm understanding about the styles of both boxers in the fight and then use the form analysis you have just conducted to see how they have fared against similar opponents. If you can see that a boxer such as Nikolay Valuev always struggles against fast opponents, such as David Haye, then make sure you look for some value bets involving a victory for the smaller fighter.

Tip #3 Take the venue into account

It could be argued that the venue in boxing is more significant than in any other sport. If you see that one of the boxers is fighting in their hometown, they have been gifted with a fantastic advantage. Not only will they have their home crowd right behind them, but there is a suggestion that they may receive favourable decisions by the hometown judges. Of course, the bookmakers are fully aware of this situation and this means that you may struggle to extract value whenever you back the “home” choice.

Tip #4 Review what the fight means for both men

This is really something open to your interpretation and again highlights why you must have a good understanding of boxing and its politics if you are serious about making a decent profit. Due to the staggering amounts of money that are involved in sports betting, some fighters will merely arrange encounters just to coin in as much money from PPV views as possible. Some of these may be aiming for one last payday and you may have to analyse a lot of information to see if any of the participants falls into such a category. Look at his age, his recent comments and conclude whether you think he really is interested in succeeding in this fight – or if he is merely looking to turn up and collect his bumper pay cheque.