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04/24/2009 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays have added pitchers Brian Burres and Bryan Bullington to the major league roster after B.J. Ryan and Ricky Romero were recently placed on the disabled list.
Ryan, the team's closer, is on the disabled list with tightness in his right trapezius, which is a muscle in the upper back. He is out indefinitely after struggling to a 11.12 earned run average over 5 2/3 innings this season.
Romero was placed on the disabled list Thursday, retroactive to Monday, with a strained oblique. The Blue Jays' website says Romero may return by the middle of May. The rookie pitcher has been throwing well to start 2009, compiling a 2-0 record with a 1.71 ERA in three starts.
Burres hasn't appeared in a major league game for Toronto this season after spending the last three seasons in Baltimore. In 79 career games -- 39 starts -- he is 13-18 with a 5.88 ERA.
Bullington, the first overall selection in the 2002 draft, has yet to win a game in his brief major league career. In parts of three major league seasons with Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the 28-year-old is 0-5 with a 5.45 ERA in nine games -- five starts.
<< Newman tops in qualifying for Talladega Nationwide race
Talladega, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Newman won the pole for Saturday's
Aaron's 312 Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Newman turned in the best lap around the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval at
185.877 m.p.h. in
<< Chivas aims to rebound from midweek loss vs. FCD
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA and FC Dallas square off in a Major
League Soccer Western Conference tilt on Saturday at The Home Depot Center.
Chivas USA is coming off a midweek loss at Toronto, its first loss of the
season,
<< Breaking Down the Kentucky Derby - Part I
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 135th Kentucky Derby is approximately
one week away, and almost all the participants are settled in the Bluegrass
State. The only three unaccounted for are Mr. Hot Stuff, Colonel John's full
brother, and
<< Fiorentina faces crucial Roma test
Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The race for fourth place continues to heat
up in Serie A on Saturday as fifth-placed Fiorentina hosts sixth-placed Roma
in a match that will go a long way towards determining the fates of the two
teams.
Langer and Lehman team for share of Legends lead >>
Savannah, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Lehman, playing in his first Champions
Tour event, and Bernhard Langer teamed for an 11-under 61 on Friday to share
first with Fuzzy Zoeller and John Jacobs after the first round of the Legends
of Golf
'Determined' Bayern set for Schalke clash >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich has not led the Bundesliga at
all this season and, with six matches remaining, realize "it's all or nothing,"
striker Luca Toni said this week.
Bayern hosts Schalke at the Allianz Arena on S
Eskimos sign pair of RB's, release one >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Eskimos signed running backs
Ciatrick Fason and Arkee Whitlock and released A.J. Harris on Friday.
Fason was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Minnesota
Vikings and
NAC must produce response >>
Nijmegen, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NAC manager Robert Maaskant is
desperate for his side to produce a good performance on Saturday when they
travel to NEC.
Maaskant has watched his team lose its last five games in all com
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.
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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