Warriors sign undrafted free agent Jeremy Lin
Basketball Betting Lines
07/21/2010 - OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -The Golden State Warriors have signed undrafted free agent guard Jeremy Lin. The team announced the deal with the former Harvard star and Bay Area native on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.5 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game as a senior at Harvard. The season was highlighted by a 30-point, nine-rebound performance against Connecticut. Lin is from nearby Palo Alto. He led Palo Alto High School to a state championship in 2006.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 The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< 76ers sign free agent Battie
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -The Philadelphia 76ers have signed free-agent center Tony Battie.Team president Ed Stafanski said Wednesday that the 76ers want Battie to provide frontcourt depth and a ``veteran presence'' for younger players.Terms of his contrac
<< Nolan Ryan lobbies for auction of Texas Rangers
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -Nolan Ryan is urging a bankruptcy judge to auction off the Texas Rangers on Aug. 4 as planned, saying a delay could hurt the team and maybe even cost them slugger Josh Hamilton.The Hall of Fame pitcher testified Wednesday in
<< NL Central: All eyes now on Oswalt
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a 38-56 record and a 14-game deficit to make up in the
National League Central standings, it's safe to say the Houston Astros aren't
going anywhere this season. But will Roy Oswalt?
With the Seattle Mariners having sh
<< Sabres sign Kaleta, avoid arbitration
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres have agreed to terms
with winger Patrick Kaleta on a two-year contract.
Kaleta had been scheduled for an arbitration hearing later this month.
The 24-year-old scored a career-high
<< Blues re-sign Perron
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues have re-signed
forward David Perron to a two-year contract.
The 22-year-old netted a career-high 20 goals last season and added 27 assists
while playing in all 82 games.
Duri
Spurs officially re-sign F Jefferson >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs officially re-signed
Richard Jefferson on Wednesday, reportedly to a contract at least three-years
in length according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Jefferson opted out of the f
Reds option Owings, recall Fisher >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds optioned Micah Owings to
Triple-A Louisville on Wednesday and recalled pitcher Carlos Fisher from the
same club.
Owings, in his second season with the Reds, is 3-2 with a 5.40 earn
Tigers bring up Sizemore >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers recalled infielder Scott
Sizemore from Triple-A Toledo and optioned pitcher Casey Fien to the Mud Hens.
Sizemore was batting .329 with six homers, 13 doubles and 19 RBI in 41 games
with
Rachel to face six in Lady's Secret >>
Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year,
will take on six challengers in Saturday's $400,000 Lady's Secret Stakes at
Monmouth Park. The 1 1/8-mile race will be the champion filly's second career
start a
Blazers officially sign G Matthews >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers have
officially signed restricted free-agent guard Wesley Matthews.
As per club policy, no terms of the deal were announced. However, a report in
the Oregonian last
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
|