"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away and know when to run
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealing's done" - Bill Shankley - Willie Nelson

Sitting at the card table are the usual faces.

Sydney is still telling the story of how they bluffed Melbourne Victory twice and took all the winnings while Wellington had a lucky streak but wonder if it will continue.

Newcastle sit smugly as the perennial underdogs that seem to always over achieve. Clive Palmer who represents the Gold Coast is grumbling that North Queensland seem to have a direct line of credit from the FFA while as usual Frank Lowy holds all the cards. At the door is Melbourne Heart - a young looking fellow with an outstanding upbringing.

Finally the silence is shattered as Brisbane's Ange Postecoglue yells "GO FISH" and slaps down a pair of threes. Perth Glory screams at him "BRISBANE! We're playing poker" The rest of the members don't seem surprised that Ange is playing the wrong game.

Basically it's all a big gamble. FFA gambles on winning a World Cup bid over promoting its new born league. They also gambled on expansion with Gold Coast, Fury and new Heart and Rovers to follow. These teams in turn gamble on their own fans and futures.

Gold Coast looked like a safe bet with a wealthy backer, largish population and a sporting public supporting a national league team. But nothing is a safe bet when you gamble. For many reasons the club didn't get the payout it thought from its wager. Fans were there but the numbers were about 4000 short of what they had hoped, reasons were many from kick-off times down to the infamous crowd cap for why they turned away.

Now Gold Coast is gambling that the family friendly Sunday afternoon time slot will reap them better crowd figures. I for one welcome it as I love to bring my young son to games.

Shane Smeltz had his own personal gamble on his career. He laid down his cards on a move to China to play in a league not unlike our own for quality - but BIG on finance. The sad reality is the Australian lifestyle is worth a lot more than the one China can offer and as I write this he is in talks with United about continuing his still standing contract with them. This may not be the final twist on the Smeltz wager as by the time you read this he may be off to the next country his wife will hate.

Well the Gold Coast won their bet with me; I am a foundation member and renewed member for this season. My highlight from season one (besides destroying the Raw) was watching all the players Miron gambled on play so magnificently. Thwaite was inspirational, Zenon was a revelation and even Kristian Rees was impressive when called into the back four.

Finally it's time to look forward to this season. Jason Culina is on board and all indications are our Golden Boot will be too. Miron has identified our team's largest weakness was defence and has brought in a member of Manchester United's famous treble winning squad of 1998/99 in John Curtis. Again this is a gamble but on Miron's current form I would back him on this one. The final point - as always - is put forward to us in Clive Palmer's usual bravado and bluster, the cheque book's out and he's gunning for a big international marquee.

So in the spirit of gambling I'm heading down to the TAB and putting a pineapple on Gold Coast to win the Premiership - trust me, it's a safe bet.