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07/12/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Following a one week break from voting in the NTRA National Poll, the same two horses remain on top of the tabulation. Champion mare Zenyatta holds a narrow lead over four-year-old colt Quality Road.
With both thoroughbreds perfect this year in three starts, Zenyatta has a four point lead on Quality Road, despite receiving seven more first-place votes.
Zenyatta, undefeated in 17 career starts, has 13 first-place votes and 178 points, one less point than two weeks ago. The six-year-old champion is expected to make her next start on August 7 at Del Mar in the Clement L. Hirsch, a race she has won the last two years.
Quality Road is steady with six first-place votes and 174 points. The winner of the Met Mile will also make his next start on August 7, but in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.
The next three spots are unchanged from the last poll: Blame (120), Rachel Alexandra (111) and Lookin At Lucky (101).
Double Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti returns to the top 10 in sixth-place following Saturday's victory in the Man o'War Stakes at Belmont Park, his initial win of the year. Last year's Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up has 58 points with Kentucky Derby champ Super Saver in seventh with 45 points.
Rail Trip, who was edged in Saturday's Hollywood Gold Cup, dropped two rungs to eighth with 42 points. Blind Luck won Saturday's Delaware Oaks and moves up one spot to ninth with 39 points.
Tuscan Evening completes the top 10 with 33 points.
<< Creamer up to No. 7 in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer finally earned her first
major championship on Sunday at the U.S. Women's Open and the victory moved
her back into the top 10 of the world rankings.
Creamer vaulted up six places to se
<< Jimenez, Price named starters for All-Star Game
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez
and Tampa Bay Rays lefty David Price have been selected as the starting
pitchers for the 2010 All-Star Game at Angel Stadium.
National League manager Cha
<< Seven finalists return to Walter Payton Award Watch List
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The race for the 2010 Walter Payton Award,
sponsored by Fathead.com, kicked off Monday with The Sportsbook Betting Lines's
announcement that seven finalists from last season are part of a stellar 20-
player Watch List
<< Blackhawks re-sign assistant coach Haviland; add Kitchen to staff
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blackhawks on Monday re-signed assistant
coach Mike Haviland and named Mike Kitchen an assistant coach.
"Adding Mike Kitchen and bringing back Mike Haviland bolster what is already a
tremendous coaching
Duquesne names two coordinators >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Saint Francis (Pa.) football coach
Dave Opfar was named Duquesne's new defensive coordinator and Niel Loebig was
elevated from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, Dukes coach Jerry
Schmitt annou
Edoardo Molinari in top 20 of world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edoardo Molinari collected his first
European Tour win Sunday at the Scottish Open and in the process, moved inside
the top 20 of the world rankings.
Molinari moved up 22 places to 19th this week.
Serra exits Bastad >>
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eighth-seeded Frenchman Florent Serra was a
first-round upset victim Monday at the Swedish Open.
Italian Potito Starace stifled Serra 6-2. 6-2 on the red clay at Bastad Tennis
Stadium.
In other first-ro
Hanescu ousted in Stuttgart >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eighth seed and 2009 runner-up Victor
Hanescu was an opening-round upset victim Monday at the Mercedes Cup tennis
event.
The Romanian Hanescu was knocked out by Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (7-4), 6
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.
Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.
Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.
If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.
Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.
By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.
In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.
So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.
While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.
There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.
In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:
SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.
XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.
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