Jordan joins Wade, Anthony, Paul for Harlem clinic
Basketball Betting Lines
08/13/2010 - NEW YORK (AP) -First, Dwyane Wade blocked shots from elementary school kids. Then Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul swatted away questions about their NBA futures. The three NBA stars were at Harlem's famed Rucker Park on Friday for a basketball clinic put on by Michael Jordan's shoe company. His Airness himself showed up, too, talking to kids about the importance of extra effort. Wade is set with the Miami Heat, united with LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Anthony and Paul become free agents next year, but questions from reporters about their plans met the same fate as so many shots at Rucker Park - rejected!Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Giants add Guillen in trade with Royals
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants added depth for
their stretch run by acquiring outfielder Jose Guillen from the Kansas City
Royals for a player to be named later.
Guillen's three-year, $36 million contract
<< Report: Bush apologizes to Haden
McLean, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Southern California star running back
Reggie Bush has reportedly apologized to new school athletic director Pat
Haden for his role in the NCAA violations that landed the Trojan football
program
<< Washington Redskins 2010 Season Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's two things that can be counted on what it comes to
the Washington Redskins. Change is an endless constant, and controversy seems
to never go away.
The Redskins had plenty of both following a dreadful 4-12 season th
<< Kansas City signs Mexican striker Bravo as DP
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Wizards signed Mexico
international striker Omar Bravo as a designated player, the Major League
Soccer club announced on Friday.
Bravo will join the Wizards prior to the 2011 sea
<< PGA Championship back after another fog delay
Kohler, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first round of the PGA Championship resumed
Friday morning following another fog delay and Matt Kuchar seized a one-shot
lead.
Kuchar birdied No. 6 at Whistling Straits -- his 15th hole -- after pla
Merriman: Signs tender with Chargers >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shawne Merriman is finally with the Chargers
in training camp after signing his one-year tender contract.
Merriman, 26, was made a restricted free agent when the Chargers offered him
the tender in the o
Revs host Houston in battle of downtrodden clubs >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two Major League Soccer clubs that normally
are in the thick of the title race square off on Saturday at Gillette Stadium
in desperate need of points.
The Houston Dynamo are winless since May 22 and sit s
Dodgers should close door on Broxton >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre
didn't mention whether Jonathan Broxton would remain his closer after
Thursday's heartbreaking loss in south Philadelphia.
Maybe it's too early to speculate, but if th
City acquires Balotelli from Inter >>
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City signed striker Mario
Balotelli from Inter Milan on Friday, one day before the start of the English
Premier League season.
City acquired Balotelli for an undisclosed transfer free rep
AL Central: White Sox well equipped in arms race >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the Chicago White Sox front office targeted former Cy
Young winner Jake Peavy to headline the rotation, the hope was that they'd
finally have enough starting pitching to get back to the postseason and make a
World Series
Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “
What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?
There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).
Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
How the Opening Line Is Made
The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.
Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.
A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)
The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.
For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."
“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.
Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup
September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com. The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans.
Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to name a few. Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR. They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.
The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer. Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.
Ryder Cup Odds
Europe
Tie
USA |
4-5
10-1
6-5 |
Ryder Cup Top US point scorer
Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Chris DiMarco
David Toms
Stewart Cink
Chad Campbell
Scott Verplank
Zach Johnson
Vaughan Taylor
JJ Henry
Brett Wetterich |
9-4
4-1
5-1
7-1
8-1
12-1
15-1
15-1
25-1
30-1
30-1
50-1 |
Ryder Cup Top European scorer
Sergio Garcia
Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington
Colin Montgomerie
Darren Clarke
David Howell
Lee Westwood
Paul Casey
Henrik Stenson
Jose Maria Olazabal
Paul McGinley
Robert Karlsson |
5-1
5-1
6-1
13-2
8-1
9-1
9-1
11-1
12-1
12-1
20-1
25-1 |
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com
|