Done trickster, i'm on
Joey @ 5/7 too. Might as well use the $50 Bodog limit @ 1.77 too I suppose
For Kobayashi to win, he needs two things...a) to be in the shape and form of his life, freshly motivated and training like a demon, and b) Chestnut to stay the same or perhaps drop from last years level.
On a) - there's nothing but fanciful newspaper stories to suggest he is up for it - his interviews mention 'try my best' and thats about it. Evidence against is the wildcard - why wouldn't he come over and qualify, given that he would do so wiith ease? I'd suggest that he's not in great shape, and so as to avoid a situation where Kobayashi qualifies in underwhelming style and therefore make the main event almost a foregone conclusion, the wildcard allows the organisers to build it up as a titanic head to head. Either that or he didn't fancy it this year, and so the organisers put out a package to him, involving wildcard plus money plus whatever he wants, to avoid a one man tournament that wouldnt be any sort of spectacle.
On b) - Chestnut is still setting records, still showing he's the man to beat, and 5/7 against someone who's disappeared for 9 months looks way too generous.
I hope Kobayashi hasn't turned into a fat has been(or would a has been not turn thin in this event???) and does make it a good contest(obv losing in the end tho.)