That's it, folks. It's the round of 8, and all of the teams whose flag I could be waving have been eliminated. That means, this world cup has become much less interesting for me, if it weren't for the gambling aspect, I discussed previously. So how did it actually turn out? Did I manage to gamble away my entire Polymarket portfolio, as I intended? Or did I inadvertently score a big win, just by betting on countries I had something to do with?
But let's look at it one by one: My first bet on Canada beating South Africa turned out to be right, which scored me 68 cents (Whoo-hoo!). But then both Germany and the Netherlands lost against their respective opponents Paraguay and Morocco making me lose with them. Norway's win against Cote D'Ivoire actually got me a good hard dollar, but the big win was Mexico beating Ecuador, not just for sentimental reasons. Betting my usual dollar got me an additional $1.31.
Sweden winning against France was a wild shot that I expected to lose, just like Bosnia against the US. But then Senegal against Belgium was an almost win... Almost, but not quite. England beating the Congo was to be expected, so I won no more than 28 cents with it. And Egypt did not manage to score a clear win against Australia. Though they won in the penalties, for Polymarket it was considered a draw, so I lost my bet.
Colombia winning against Ghana was not a huge accomplishment, and it also just won me 51 cents. My Mexico losing against England did not help much either. My most successful bet was Belgium beating the US, scoring me $1.67. That win was celebrated on so many levels! Just in case my American friends are wondering: I support the US by betting against them! (Not just in sports.) Finally, in yesterday's game Colombia disappointed by losing against Switzerland.
In the end, my $8.23 turned into $5.47 after winning six bets and losing eight. Honestly, this comes very close to a coin toss. Hi-lo. I kinda remember there used to be these games in the cryptosphere, where you could bet a speck of a coin on a +/- chance, and then win or lose some. I very quickly got tired of them. They did not offer any more excitement than the "faucet" where you just had to press a button to get a some satoshis... I still can't see how gambling can be addictive, but I guess it's probably better this way.
Okay, so let's see what options the next round of games bring: France is bound to win against Morocco, just like Argentina is certain to beat Switzerland. I could bet on the underdog, and that way I could get rid of my portfolio right away, but I want to make this as interesting as I can... So while betting on these two near certainties, in the other two games I will bet against the favorites. Can Norway score a win against England? They did to Brazil, so why not? And Belgium against Spain? That one's a much harder one, but hey, let's be a bit crazy here.
Should I lose all four of these bets, I will still have one last dollar left, with a number of cents that I'm too lazy to calculate now. That one I'll keep for the final game. But let burn that bridge when I'm standing on it...
