TipCon
Betting smarter!

Sat, 09 Jun 2012UEFA EURO 2012

Although TipCon's season now is on hold, some members are now engaged in an auxiliary activity: predicting the European Championship.

Sat, 28 Apr 2012Management under scrutiny

This round stood out, not for the quality of the betting (few rounds actually do), but rather managements mix-up with Lillestrøm-Strømsgodset. The game was to everyone's surprise played at Lillestrøm, not in Drammen as management had originally announced. One hour before kick-off did the alarm bells rang at TipCon HQ and phone-conference was hastily arranged. Members FHP and SBT re-adjusted their bets, whilst team ARK/VBE were out of range. As it happened, the changes had no influence on the outcome, but the episode will surely be a theme at next weeks general assembly in Barcelona, and management will be expected to provide a report on this worrying case. The expected outcome is a finding with a resulting overhaul of TipCon's Quality Management System. The enquiry will also note that none of TipCon's betting members discovered the mistake.

Sat, 21 Apr 2012Stemming the tide

Finally a net gain, and some good betting. Newcastle three goals were well covered on the coupons that mattered.

Sat, 14 Apr 2012Lukke og ulukke

"Ei ulukke kjem aldri åleine", sa Smørbukk. I dette høvet fekk TipCon tre på rad. At det vart mållaust i ein kamp der Wolves er involvert har ikkje skjedd i manns minne, og at Blackburn ikkje lagar mål er sjeldsynt. Dermed spøkjer det for TipCon si finasielle berekraft. Veddedirektøren, sosialødirekøren og teknologidirektøren har ikkje heva utbyte på lengre tid, og har no ikkje anna å leva på enn havregryn. Om dessutan nokon skulle tykkja at målføret er uvant, kan eg berre forvissa dykk om at engelsk ikkje lenger er offisielt språk i TipCon. Dette har kultur-rådet til TipCon einstemmig vedteke.

Tue, 10 Apr 2012Three banana skins

Round 32 offers three slimy banana skins. Three matches between mid-table home sides and three teams desperately scrapping for points. Wolverhampton seems a lost cause, but Blackburn and QPR are both capable of springing a surprise. TipCon's betting task is unenviable but not impossible …

Sat, 07 Apr 2012Scraping through

On a day with no surprises, our once-in-a-lifetime Easter coupon just about saved our blushes. Late goals from Liverpool and Chelsea prevented another embarrassing blank. But we are still loosing money, and the investors' expectations are on an all-time low …

Tue, 03 Apr 2012TipCon SmartRF Scoreboard prototype deployed

TipCon Development has today deployed the first working prototype of their new product, the Tipcon SmartRF Scoreboard. The delivery was on time and within budget. The customer, TipCon Ltd, has expressed great satisfaction with the product and is excited about the prospect of a future expansion of the RF protocol and platform base. The prototype demo runs on SmartRF05EB/CC2530 but a working prototype also for SmartRF06EB/CC2538 is expected within hours.

Tue, 03 Apr 2012TipCon Development awarded RF contract

TipCon Development has today signed a contract with TipCon Ltd to develop a prototype for a family of RF based display for football score live updates. The product will be based on the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol and use radios from Texas Instruments, and will support SmartRF04EB, SmartRF05EB and SmartRF06EB. The scalable design permits addition of further protocols and RF modules at very little extra cost.

Tue, 03 Apr 2012TipCon launches subsidiary

The board of TipCon Ltd has unanimously decided to split off the development activities into a separate legal and commercial entity. The new company is called TipCon Development and remains a fully owned subsidiary with emphasis on providing Tipcon with high quality IT solutions in a rapidly changing technical and fiscal environment. The organisational change is intended to reduce commercial risks and also allows TipCon Development to take on external projects in order to improve the parent company's precarious balance sheet. TipCon Development will from this date take over responsibility for TipCon's web site and analysts also expect the company to launch a new product some time in April.

Sat, 31 Mar 2012Outrageous but fun

Although TipCon posesses considerable football knowledge, todays results were so outrageous that only an insane pundit would have got it right. On a day when both Fernando Torres and Adel Taarabt score anything can happen. In other words, TipCon can again record a blank without ever have been near it.

Sat, 24 Mar 2012Near miss

For the second time this season the Liverpool-Wigan fixture deprived us of a decent return. On the other hand there was some good betting, few would have predicted the Swansea-Everton score. But nothing can hide the fact we are betting ourselves deeper and deeper into the pit.

Sat, 17 Mar 2012Trouble by the Thames

Swansea caught us out with an unusually solid away-performance, and it is the first time this season that one match has destroyed all three coupons! Fulham's inconsistency has already cost us a lot of money. The other two scores were of the expected kind, and there was no slip-up

Sat, 10 Mar 2012Safety first

Another coupon with low scores and no surprises and only one of the nine bets failed. The betting was this time extremely cautious, but at least we nearly broke even.

Sat, 03 Mar 2012An uneventful day

Although the scores were "normal", we could have done with a few more goals in Manchester and the West Midlands. That would have increased the meagre payout and perhaps given us more than the single correct coupon. At least it was an improvement on the recent lean spell (although Tipcon still lost money).

Sat, 25 Feb 2012Football is football

Football is not an exact science, proved by Wolves (and more often than not by TipCon as well).

Sat, 18 Feb 2012Backwards into the hole

Four goals in the first ten minutes led us onto the green paths. All was not risy as well into the second half, David Nugent's strike for Leicester pierced the balloon. We then had to hope for a third Leicester goal that never came. The payout would have been meagre anyway, as the all-green coupon would only just about have covered our expences.

Sat, 11 Feb 2012Everton again

Everton's surprisingly convincing victory against Chelsea put pay to any hopes of a reward. This was the only mild surprise on a coupon without clear favourites. It is the second time this season that a late Everton goal has ruined TWO coupons.

Sat, 04 Feb 2012Red cards and green rewards

Two red cards dictated the outcome of two of our games, but in the end we just about nicked it with a solid coupon two. The no-frills betting of recent weeks seems to pay off.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012Round 22 preview

A coupon without the big names this time, and none of the games have any clear favourites. If anyone should be picked it would be a strengthened QPR (five new players in January) against a Wolves team who left the pitch to the chants of "what a load of rubbish" on Tuesday. Wolves have not won in the league for two months. Everton should also edge it against a Wigan side which is rooted to the bottom of the table, but don't expect many goals in this game. The Stoke v Sunderland encounter is wide open. Both clubs are safely placed in mid-table but note that Sunderland is in impressive form at the moment.

Sat, 28 Jan 2012First green sheet

TipCon made history; for the first time this season all nine predictions were correct. Not that we became much richer, the odds were low as the score-lines were much as expected. Positive still, and we've stopped squandering money by missing on predictable scores.

Sat, 21 Jan 2012Massive misery

It looked ominous already in the first half when Wolverhampton had punctured two coupons, and worse was to come: an incredible second half goal-spree from Fulham made short shrift of whatever hope there was left. On the positive side: all coupons managed to "predict the predictable" in the Everton-Blackburn game. It should also be noted that there was not a single winner on Oddsbomben this time.

Wed, 18 Jan 2012Round 20 preview

A difficult coupon this with no clear favourites. Wolves v Aston Villa has the smell of a dour encounter with few goals. Fulham and Newcastle are both unpredictable, but the away team are weakened up front and in central midfield due to the Africa Nations Cup and injuries. Games where Everton feature normally see few goals, Blackburn excactly the opposite. Blackburn's top scorer Yakubu is suspended for this match and there is also uncertainty regarding want-away central defender Chris Samba. If any favourite can be found on this coupon it must be Everton.

Sat, 14 Jan 2012Safe and simple

TipCon got back to winning ways with two correct coupons but the payout was meagre due to the predictability of the scores. None of the away teams managed a goal between them! One TipCon team scuppered a green sheet with gambling on Chelsea NOT scoring exactly one goal (which they duly did).

Thu, 12 Jan 2012Round 19 preview

The first coupon of the new year provides three seemingly clear home favourites.

Manchester United are clear favourites gainst a notoriously leaky and unpredictable Bolton. We should not expect a repeat of the recent debacle against Blackburn. The home side is ravaged by injuries but can always be realied upon to score. This game could see many goals, and even Bolton may nick one.

Liverpool have failed to convert their chances against weaker teams so far. The defense is solid and has conceded at most one goal per home game this season. Stoke are unpredictable, but it would be a surprise if they score more than once here. A narrow home win is one the cards, although Stoke has had a few spectacular collapses this season.

Wed, 21 Dec 2011Charlie Adam

.. how could you?

Tue, 20 Dec 2011Round 18 preview

TipCon is going for more glory after and encouraging final weekend. This time 3 of the 6 top teams are in action away from home against inferior opposition, and seemingly clear favourites. Liverpool and Manchester United had easy away wins at the weekend and Arsenal did themselves credit in Manchester despite going down by a single goal. Manchester United has the toughest opponent against a Fulham side that is hard to break down and have done well against the top teams this season. On paper Liverpool should be far too good for Wigan, but the latter have caused them problems in recent years and Liverpool's knack of hitting the woodwork doesn't inspire confidence. Arsenal seems the clearest favourite; Aston Villa put on an embarrassingly feeble display on Sunday.

Sat, 17 Dec 2011Merry Christmas

A very good end to the year, only one of nine bets was wrong.It was an encouraging end to a bad half-season for TipCon. So we just have build on this, grind our teeth, lick our wounds and get on with it in 2012.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of TipCon's dedicated members!

Fri, 16 Dec 2011Round 17 preview

TipCon's betting is markedly more guarded after several embarrassing mishits recently. The only thing that catches the eye is a general belief in Swansea away to Newcastle. Swansea has premier league's worst away record, and Newcastle have been solid at home apart from the game against Chelsea. Fulham is favourite at home to Bolton, and this is reflected in our betting. Wolves v Stoke is very tricky and the bets vary accordingly.

Sat, 10 Dec 2011Murphys law or ineptitude?

Norwich surprised with four goals against frugal Newcastle, but TWO mishits with regards to goal-shy QPR can't be explained as just "bad luck". To put it bluntly, this is just poor betting. Arsenal v Everton also had a predictable outcome, although most would have expected more goals for Arsenal.

Sat, 03 Dec 2011Overpowered by predictability

All the favourites delivered, they delivered indeed too much for for ailing TipCon. An air of despondency looms over the Gaustadalleen premises.

Sat, 26 Nov 2011Catch 22

A day where we had two coupons, albeit with totally predictable results. The odds were so low that even if the third coupon (saltomortale) had hit, we would have lost.

Sat, 19 Nov 2011Beset by bad luck

Again TipCon landed hard on hard on their arses between all possible chairs. We were mainly undone by QPR's three goals and management's failure to predict that Manchester City were to put excactly three in Newcastle's net.

Sat, 05 Nov 2011In the pit

TipCon has hit a new low, failing to anticipate the sudden goal-shyness of the top teams. We were really never in it, and dark clouds loom in the corridors at TipCon HQ.

Sat, 29 Oct 2011Drowned in a goal avalanche

No luck this time either. After a first half with only one goal, our six teams went bananas and put a further thirteen goals in the back of the net. Too many for us unfortunately, and we missed out on a handy NOK 24,000.

Sat, 22 Oct 2011Hit and miss

A late goal from Sunderland's Nicklas Bendtner ruined an unlikely mini-party for TipCon. Few goals combined with West Bromwich's mildly surprising win at Villa Park put pay to our chances this time. TipCon is now in financial dire straits and may soon need a rescue packet.

Sat, 15 Oct 2011Never in it

Despite unremarkable scores: we were never in it this time. Not at single moment during the games did we have any correct coupon. Worryingly: no-one predicted Fulham's continued goal-draught away from home, and we failed to notice that QPR hasn't score more than once at Loftus Road since Jesus walked on the water.

Sat, 08 Oct 2011Scorelines from hell

Trundling through the jungle of the EURO 2012 qualifiers, TipCon and other punters got every bit as lost as Dr Livingstone did in Africa a few years back. The point of no return was reached at the end of an eventful first half in the Cyprus v Denmark game (1-4). The goals scored from then on was therefore only of academic intereset, but the goal-spree in the Portugal-Iceland (5-3) further emphasised TipCon's predicament. In fact only one of the nine bets were correct, an all-time low. That said, the results were out of the ordinary; there were 17 goals scored in the three qualifiers. And if it is any consolation; few others seem to have got it right, Norsk Tipping has yet to issue any odds …

Wed, 05 Oct 2011TipCon news as RSS

TipCon news is now available as RSS, making updates available to RSS readers and aggregators. Most browsers have RSS readers built in (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera). Google Chrome relies on extensions to display RSS, e.g. Slick RSS. Mail clients like MS Outlook and Windows Live Mail can alternatively be uses. Dedicated RSS readers exist in numbers, FeedDemon being one of them. A popular web-based aggregator is Google Reader.

Sat, 01 Oct 2011The good days return

TipCon made huge strides towards a healthy balance sheet after todays round. Inspired second-half performances by the Manchester clubs and a flukey win by Newcastle saved the day. Two coupons were winners, netting us NOK 3006.

This was also the first ever TipCon Annual Pub Crawl, celebrated at Dubliners with a few pints of Guinness and stodgy British food. A better start could not be wished for. Participants were AGN, EGA, ESS, FHP, JAC, JOM, KRS, ROJ, SVV and TAA.

Sat, 01 Oct 2011LUS relaunched

TipCon Live Update Service (LUS) has finally been released to market after further refinements and a forced switch to another (unwitting) data provider, Soccerway.com.

Sat, 24 Sep 2011Another mis-hit

We were one game off on all three coupons, despite a round where all three home favourites won. A consolation goal by Swansea's Ashley Williams put pay to at least a minimal reward. The rest must be blamed squarely on poor betting as none of the scorelines were exactly surprising (reflected in the low odds).

Thu, 22 Sep 2011A modern motto

CBO and CFO at TipCon today put their heads together and decided to replace our outdated slogan and step into the modern world.

Other news: auxiliary members are now listed in the Members sections and the World Tour page has been brushed up. The Live (BETA) page has been relaunched with data from Soccerway.com.

Mon, 19 Sep 2011Kicked in the balls by Norsk Tipping

The Web master at TipCon today suffered a crushing blow. Without notice Norsk Tipping changed the format of the page TipCon spoofed on to extract live scores. This puts our Live Update Service back at Ground Zero where it is likely to remain for the foreseeable future. Weeks of development effort and testing has been wasted. TipCon will now have to look for other sportsdata providers to rip football scores from.

Sat, 17 Sep 2011Injury time disaster

An injury time goal by Everton's Royston Drenthe spoiled the party for TipCon. Until that fateful moment we had two correct coupons and CTO had solemny opened a beer and was ready to pronounce TipCon the Mother of All Betting Societies. The gain we missed was relatively small though; it would not even have covered our expenses…

Sat, 10 Sep 2011Last gasp salvation

A stoppage time consolation goal by Sunderland's Dong-Won Ji was more than just a consolation for TipCon: it brought in one coupon which realistically had looked out of reach all afternoon. Still we made a net loss and our betting balance is now a meagre NOK 22,- ...

Fri, 09 Sep 2011TipCon Live (BETA)

In the early hours of this morning TipCon's Technical Committee proudly launched the long awaited Live Update Service (LUS) which is designed to provide members with continuous updates when matches are under way. TipCon LUS is based on data extracted from Norsk Tipping. Simultaneously a World Wide Score RSS is displayed for instant live updates from around the world. The data is delivered by ScoresPro.com. Both services are expected to undergo further testing and refinement before a final release. The RTM date has yet to be agreed upon. Please note that LUS will not work with IE6 and other old browsers.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011World Tour news

An internal poll has concluded that the 2012 TipCon World Tour will go to Barcelona. The match is the local derby Barcelona - Espanyol which is scheduled for May 6. Barcelona got nine votes, Munich five and EURO 2012 one. Six members either abstained or showed no preferences.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011TipCon hires

After a positive assessment of betting revenue prospects, TipCon has suspended the hire freeze although the wage freeze remains in place. CTO yesterday announced that betting member SBT has been employed to assist in Web Development. SBT has previous experience from PHP programming, and TipCon management expects the new hire to make a major contribution in our drive towards streamlined and flexible web services, leading to increased membership satisfaction.

Sat, 03 Sep 2011TipCon Web 1.0

The TipCon Web site has been officially launched. All basic functionality has been implemented, although additional features will be added if members of the TipCon community can put forward a good case.

Fri, 02 Sep 2011Pyrrhic victory

Despite two correct coupons we made a narrow loss due to the predictability of the scores and the poor odds.

Tue, 30 Aug 2011System change

After last weekend's miserable hit-rate, serious questions were posed. Members have voted to return to a system with three coupons ( 6 x 6 x 12). The outcome of the vote was 9 : 1. Seven members abstained and two were indecisive.

Sat, 27 Aug 2011Lacklustre betting

TipCon managed to miss the boat despite predictable scores. Human imperfection surely has played a major part, but pertinent questions about the system still need to be asked. Management will also come under scrutiny.

Sat, 27 Aug 2011TipCon member profiles added

Personal profiles of TipCon members are now made available for preview and feeback.

Thu, 25 Aug 2011TipCon Web BETA

The TipCon web (BETA) has been launched. It contains nearly all the functionality that was present in the previous Excel-based information system. The official RTM is planned for Friday September 2 and will include bug fixes and further enhancements.

Sat, 20 Aug 2011Flying start

Fortunately one of our coupons covered the unexpexted QPR victory at Goodison Park. Aston Villa predictably beat Blackburn and the draw between relegation candidates Swansea and Wigan was no great surprise either.