Pens extend Vitale's contract
Hockey Betting Lines
02/03/2012 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward Joe Vitale to a two-year contract extension.
The deal, which keeps Vitale in Pittsburgh through the 2013-14 season, is worth an average value of $550,000 per year.
Vitale, 26, has recorded three goals and 10 points in 44 games in 2011-12, his first full season in the NHL.
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three of the eight three-year-olds entered in Saturday's $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park are trained by a pair of Hall of Fame conditioners with Kentucky Derby aspirations. The 1 1/16-mi
<< Sato signs with Rahal Letterman Lanigan for 2012 season
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing revealed on
Friday that Japanese driver Takuma Sato has joined the team for the 2012 IZOD
IndyCar Series season. Sato will drive the team's No.15 Honda entry.
RLL is runnin
<< Sharapova will lead-off for Russia against Spain
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2012 Fed Cup quarterfinal between host
Russia and Spain will commence Saturday with a singles match between
Australian Open runner-up Maria Sharapova and Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa.
"I'm
<< Lowly Blue Jackets visit Ducks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets' disappointing season may have
hit a new low point on Wednesday. They hope the return of sniper Jeff Carter
can help turn things around this evening in the finale of a six-game road trip
against the
<< Sixers try to solve Heat in Philly
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers may not possess the star power that
Miami Heat bring to the court, but they have been every bit as good as their
much-hyped counterparts in the early going this season.
Tonight, the Sixers eye a fift
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea and England defender John Terry was stripped of the England captaincy on Friday amid allegations that he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. Terry was originally named captain of the
Alpha looms large in Withers >>
Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Local stakes winner Alpha has been made the
even-money favorite in a field of seven for Saturday's $200,000 Withers Stakes
at Aqueduct. After a year's absence the Withers returns as a prep event for
three-y
Abidal inks new Barca deal >>
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona defender Eric Abidal put pen to
paper on a new contract with the club on Friday, signing a deal that keeps him
at the Nou Camp through at least next season.
It was announced last month that the
Luxemburgo sacked by Flamengo >>
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Flamengo confirmed on Friday that
the club has sacked manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo.
The 59-year-old was the subject of numerous reports out of Brazil earlier this
week which stated that he was
Rockies extend Belisle >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies extended the contract of
veteran relief pitcher Matt Belisle on Friday.
The deal keeps Belisle in Denver through at least the 2013 season, with a
mutual option for 2014. Financial te
Sportsbook Betting Lines
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.
Why Sports Betting Lines Change
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.
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.