The second legs of the Europa League are in action on Thursday night and with four English teams in action, will Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City all qualify?

One of the most recent English teams to win the UEFA Europa League was, of course, Manchester united, who took the title four years ago.

Can anyone emulate the Red Devils this year? Let’s look into our crystal ball and find out!

Arsenal vs. Benfica (Agg 1-1) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Last week’s first leg between these two sides was a frustrating one for both teams. Benfica will feel disappointed not to have taken advantage of Arsenal’s wasteful nature in front of goal, while The Gunners will be kicking themselves not to have sealed the tie at the first time of asking.

The away goal for the North London side will no doubt have pleased boss Mikel Arteta, but in recent weeks, his side have once again slipped down into the bottom half of the Premier League and that will not have bought him any favour with the former Invincibles’ increasingly frustrated fanbase.

We think Arsenal will have enough to progress, but they might need to get a late goal in order to progress. Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette is very reliable from those half chances that could win the tie.

Our tip: Alexandre Lacazette to score and Arsenal to win (17/10)

Leicester City vs. Slavia Prague (Agg 0-0) (8pm GMT kick-off)

Even more finely balanced is this last 32 clash between the surprise package of this season’s Premier League and a side who crashed out of the Champions League at the Qualifying Round stage, losing 4-1 to Midtjylland. That came after a 0-0 first leg result back in Prague and having lost  Tomáš Sou?ek and Vladimír Coufal to West Ham in 2020, Slavia look a shadow of their former selves.

The action from the first leg was not the most sparkling that either side have produced during the season but hinted at the areas Leicester can exploit back at the King Power Stadium.

When it comes to attacking, free-flowing football, The Foxes are right up there and will surely produce a champagne performance. One player who has quietly been one of the Midlands side’s best performers this season is Belgian midfield magician Youri Tielemans, and at 4/1, he’s a great bet to help his side to an entertaining victory.

Our tip: Youri Tielemans to score and Leicester to win (4/1)

Europa League Round of 32 Fixtures (Second Legs)

Wednesday 24th February

Tottenham Hotspur vs. RZ Pellets WAC (Agg 4-1) (5pm GMT kick-off)

Thursday 25th February

Ajax vs. Lille (Agg 2-1) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Arsenal vs. Benfica (Agg 1-1) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Napoli vs. Granada (Agg 0-2) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Rangers vs. Royal Antwerp (Agg 4-3) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Agg 2-0) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Hoffenheim vs. Molde (Agg 3-3) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Villarreal vs. Red Bull Salzburg (Agg 2-0) (5.55pm GMT kick-off)

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Young Boys (Agg 3-4) (8pm GMT kick-off)

Club Bruges vs. Dynamo Kyiv (Agg 1-1) (8pm GMT kick-off)

Dinamo Zagreb vs. FK Krasnodar (Agg 3-2) (8pm GMT kick-off)

Leicester City vs. Slavia Prague (Agg 0-0) (8pm GMT kick-off)

Manchester United vs. Real Sociedad (Agg 4-0) (8pm GMT kick-off)

AC Milan vs. Red Star Belgrade (Agg 2-2) (8pm GMT kick-off)

PSV Eindhoven vs. Olympiakos (Agg 2-4) (8pm GMT kick-off)

Roma vs. Sporting Braga (Agg 2-0) (8pm GMT kick-off)

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The latest Super MILLION$ final table promises some terrific action, featuring as it does some of the best poker players on the planet.

The action will kick off with New Zealand’s David Yan in the lead, sitting as he does with 5.3 million chips, a good chunk more than his closest challengers Yuri Dzivielvski (3 million) and Niklas Astedt (2.6 million). Of those two, it is perhaps the Swede Astedt who will fancy their chances more than anyone, desperate to seal the deal having accumulated almost $2 million in winnings in the tournament series but never having closed one out to take the outright win.

Elsewhere, there are some superstars of the game who are taking their places lined up behind the leaders in pursuit of poker profit. Canadian poker legend Sam Greenwood comes into the final a little short-stack with 1.9 million chips, but he’s immediately followed by another luminary of the game in Mikita Badziakowski. The Belarussian only has 1.4 million but will be doing everything he can to get over the line. The final table betting prices are slightly different to the order in which the players find themselves in the chipcounts:

As you can see, David Yan has enjoyed the most money being places on him and goes into play as the 4.12 odds favourite. He may have the most money placed on him, but almost double the number of bettors rate the Swedish pro Astedt as a good shot to see out the win for the first time. Sam Greenwood is tempting plenty of punters at odds of 10 and 103 people have invested in the Canadian to upset the chipcounts.

With a massive $452,885 up for grabs to the winner and $349,222 for the runner-up, 9th place will win just $56,610 so expect the competition to be fierce and the action to be fast in the latest GGPoker Super MILLION$ final table.

GGPoker Super MILLION$ Final Table February 23rd 2021 Chipcounts:

Watch the GGPoker Super MILLION$ final as it plays out or catch up if you miss it live by heading right here:

The post David Yan leads latest Super MILLION$ final table with Astedt Chasing Glory appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

After 11+ years working for Calvin and CalvinAyre.com, it’s hard to say goodbye. I’ve left this to the last couple of hours and imbibed a few Bombay Sapphires to ease me through it. Still, I’ve written and deleted and wrote again, but the best I can say right now is that it’s been an incredible ride.

Before I sign off, to the staff writers, past and present; Steven Stradbroke, Peter Amsel, Jamie Hinks, John Blaise, Erik Gibbs, Lee Davy, Kirby Garlitos, Jasmine Solana, Leonard Postrado, Paul Seaton, Dan Taylor, Derek Tonin, Criz Hombrebueno, Ed Drake, Lee Bell, Rafi Farber, Daniel Gardner, Paul How, Admir Aljic, Anton Fabico, Mike O’Donnell, Jason Kirk, and Vince Martin, and our on-camera hosts Becky Liggero-Fontana, Dana Workman, Angelia Ong, Ed Pownall, Stephanie Tower and Tatjana Pasalic, to our excellent productions team Patrick Visenio, Jerome Guidotti, Rob Peacock, Ian Matteo, Glenn Ala, Chris Roxas, Geoff Salorio, Yancy Uy, Carol Tan, Evette Borromeo, Jeks Inanuran, Janus Martinez, Giselle Ordinario, Joseph Cataan, Sandy Ventosa, Carlos Dittborn, Mani Singh, Roland Naidoo.

And to all of the people behind the scenes Giron Perez, Joey Bote, Sid Isidro, Roger Castro, Tristan Villagracia, Jeremy Beltran, Ednelyn Agulto-Manalo, Jeh Almazan, Ian Ignacio, Red Bargan, Kimmy Maclang, Xeirus Sta. Ana, Lea Nicolle Luat, Catherine Resurreccion, Alexandre Esguerra, Jayson Pimentel, Samori Joseph, Cindy Padilla, Amanda Lopez, Rogelio Gabiano, Aries Hegina, Fawn Labrie, Anthony Dohm, Adrian Eden, Paolo Ramos, Emily Haruko Leeb, Mani Chagtai, Brad Lancaster, Carl Rivera, Alfredo Abaroa, Shannon M, Aphol Angeles, Vine and Zen Alvarez, Frey Sotelo, Daves Biag, Idn Aguliar, Angela Alano, Jeremy Yap and George F.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoyed it as much I enjoyed working with you.

I’ll be behind the scenes helping tie up the loose ends, and then I’ll be taking a much-needed vacation staycation while I contemplate the next chapter.

Feel free to reach out. You can find my detail at http://billbeatty.net.

The post So long, farewell, Alvita Zane, Goodbye or until next time. appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

Well, I may as well go out guns blazing. Locked and loaded. You want to know what I really think about stuff? You probably guessed already, but here it is then, uninhibited this time. I can’t exactly say sit back and relax. Lean forward and focus. This ship is going down. When it finally sinks, my feeling is later this year, you better have a lifeboat.

I’ll start with a story. Once I had a job I didn’t like. I was an affiliate manager at some jewelry company. I’m not a marketer. I’m a thinker, trader, investor, writer. I was there for two years, marketing. After two years I decided I had to move on because I hated marketing. I wanted to go into finance. So I submitted a financial article somewhere and it was accepted. Then on my birthday in 2012, I decided with my wife I was going to quit and focus on finance. That morning, we went out for a birthday breakfast. We share the same birthday. It makes things easier, more convenient. I was going to show up late to work after breakfast and then announce I would be leaving.

After breakfast, before I got in the office, I get a call from my manager. He tells me the company decided to close up shop suddenly so there is no need for me to show up. Well, that’s convenient. I showed up anyway, said goodbye to my friends there, and I went off home, a burden lifted from my shoulders.

Two years later, I see a post from my friend Robbie Strazynksi of CardPlayerLifestyle, about this guy Bill Beatty looking for a new financial writer for some gambling website called CalvinAyre.com. I said I was interested, didn’t know much about gambling, but I know about finance. I could swing it. Bill gave me a shot, trusted me, and in March 2014, I wrote my first article. Macau stocks were at all time highs, and I wrote that they were about to implode. They did, for the next two years. But not for the reason I thought.

Then my life went into a sort of holding pattern for the next few years. I was getting tired of freelancing. It was too limiting, and I wanted to start my own thing. So in February of 2020, I started to set up the groundwork for going out on my own. It is now up and running at The End Game Investor (EGI). The theme is precious metals investing and trading in the context of the End Game, the end of the financial system as we have known it since 1971, taken from an Austrian Economics perspective.

Then, one month later, the end of the world as we know it actually happened. The Coronombie Apocalypse, everyone masked up and the Fed printed a skrillion dollars and I lost most of my other freelance arrangements as everyone went into hiding and confusion and pandemonium.

But the groundwork for my own thing had already been laid, as did the actual global backdrop for speeding up what I was already predicting was going to happen anyway. So I focused up and got it started. I still wrote for CalvinAyre.com though, which actually hung on, to my pleasant surprise.

Meanwhile, EGI continued to grow and a year later, meaning now, it’s taking off. I’m thinking at this point I really have to put all my focus on EGI and probably let go of my column, but I liked it too much because Bill allows freedom of expression, not to be taken for granted, especially not in this censorific world.

So just around the time my subscription base is starting to take off and I’m wondering whether I should focus on my own stuff entirely and drop everything else, knowing the End is Near anyway, I get a call from Bill, saying that CalvinAyre.com (will no longer publish gambling news).

Same thing that happened in 2012. I’m sad, but once again, I’m just beaten to the punch. My whole adult life has been that way and I can’t really explain how or why other than to say it I’m constantly being pushed in the direction I’m already going in.

So here’s what happens from here, in my view. In a few months, food price increases are going to start to become very glaringly obvious. Price inflation will not be able to be hidden anymore. You can tinker with the inflation statistics only so much, but once it gets to food prices, it’s game over. It’s already happening. Food bills are rising and are about to rise much faster.

That inflation is going to be priced into bond yields very quickly and the balance sheets of all the banks with worthless bonds squirting out of their eyeballs are all going to collapse. All at the same time. The whole process once it starts will take no more than weeks. The Fed will embark on one last round of printing to try to save the system one more time, but it will not work. Not this time. This time, the dollar, the reserve currency of the world, will be completely destroyed, and with it all other fiat currencies and the entire global financial system. Done, finished, the end. That means everything running on the assumption that dollars have any value, including the electricity grids that mine cryptocurrencies mind you, will freeze up.

The prices of gold and silver will become undefined in dollar terms, and the only way you will be able to buy anything at all will be through barter. It’s easiest to barter with gold and silver, which is why they have always been used as money throughout civilization. That’s how money developed, until FDR stole the gold supply in 1934, gave everyone paper in its place, and the United States embarked on the world’s most dangerous financial experiment in human history that is about to blow up 87 years later. Best have some monetary metals physically with you or you’re going to have some serious problems.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Big Short,” there’s a part where the misfits that figured out what was going just prior to the crash of 2008 were screaming about the end of the world. Yeah, well this time it’s for real. There will be no saving it this time.

Meanwhile, governments have all gone completely nuts. Countries have locked down entire populations without thinking of even the most obvious, simple basic consequences, like how is the next generation, now locked in their homes in the U.K. and other countries for instance, going to learn the skills necessary to take the reins of the global economy?

How are people going to fall in love and get married and have children if they have to wear masks all the time and never see a human face?

How are people going to excel at being human like this? To become truly great at something? Art, dancing, engineering, medicine, business, anything, while being locked up like rats?

How do you train new doctors like this?

How does anyone learn anything like this?

What is the point of life if you’re not allowed to live?

How is this insanity even happening?

The good news is that the only way lockdowns can continue is if they can be funded through more debt. And that is about to end. What happens then, is a different world. A new world.

Hopefully it will be a better one. It’s up to each and every one of us to make it better, once all this mess is cleared out for good, along with all the considerable collateral damage.

If you want to check out my financial guidance for what will probably historically be seen as the craziest period of human history ever, join me at The End Game Investor. You get a two week free trial. Hope to see you there.

And thanks to Calvin for being one of the moral billionaires who (believe it or not) isn’t maniacally obsessed with the idea of world domination. It’s refreshing. Good luck to him, and to all of you. See you at EGI!

The post You want to know what I really think about stuff? appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

I have to admit it’s a strange feeling knowing that it’s all coming to an end. I never actually thought that I would be here when they flipped the switch and turned off the lights at Calvinayre.com. I wouldn’t trade my time at Calivnayre.com for anything else in my professional career, it’s been an amazing ride. My pitch to get my foot in the door was simple, I wanted to work for the Rolling Stone of the casino world and without a doubt, it’s been the greatest education in my writing career.

My motivation for working at Calvinayre.com was having the privilege to work with some of the best creative minds in the gambling industry.

I want to thank Calvin for creating a platform that speaks to the gambling industry in a unique voice. He’s a guy who is not afraid to back his creative team, even in the face of a tough industry story. While Calivinayre.com is evolving, I will be following how he brings the same passion for business to the world of Bitcoin SV.

Calvinayre.com Editor-in-Chief, Bill Beatty – the Michael Kinsley of the gambling world. Bill just possesses that same rare gift of creating great writers. You won’t meet a more genuine guy that Bill, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities to learn so much about the casino business, writing and how I see the world.

Lead reporter Rebecca Liggero Fontana for taking me under her wing. You won’t meet a more generous soul than Becky. She shares this unbridled passion for the casino and tech space, that is just contagious and I’m glad I got to experience that unabashed joy for the gambling industry.

I want to thank Derek Tonin, my editor who I would speak with every day I worked at Calvinayre.com. I’m grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with Derek. He’s an editor who doesn’t shy away from the blunt criticism and its inspiring being on the other end of the call. He’s a guy you would want in the foxhole right next to you, someone who isn’t afraid to give the blunt truth and also celebrate the wins with you.

There’s a huge team of writers, video editors and IT developers who have made Calvinayre.com this huge success. Raise a glass to them, they have helped turn this site into the success that it is.

Personally, the journey at Calvinayre.com has been about the great people I’ve been lucky enough to work with. It’s a rare thing in the world to be able to find great people to work with. I want to thank two former bosses who encouraged me to chase my passions in this industry. AD, a former Calvinayre.com editor and T2 who took a chance on me as well.

I don’t know what I’m going to be doing next, but I know I want to stay in the casino industry. It’s an industry I always come back to and love.

Reach out anytime for a laugh, talk shop or share ideas. I can be found on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Muckrack.

The post The End of the Series appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.