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02/11/2012 - Boca Raton, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peter Senior birdied the final hole Saturday to join Corey Pavin atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the Allianz Championship.
Senior carded a four-under 68 in round two, while Pavin managed a two-under 70. They finished 36 holes at 10-under-par 134. The duo will both go for their first tour title on Sunday.
Mark Calcavecchia dropped three strokes in the first three holes, but rallied for a four-under 68. He was joined in third place at minus-nine by 2010 champion Bernhard Langer, who shot three-under 69 on The Old Course at Broken Sound Club.
Peter Jacobsen had the low round of the day as he fired a seven-under 65 to jump into a tie for fifth at seven-under-par 137. He stands alongside J.L. Lewis (67), Joey Sindelar (69) and Michael Allen (67).
MORE TO FOLLOW.
<< Milan rallies to down Udinese
Udine, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan scored twice in the final 15 minutes
to claim a 2-1 comeback win at Udinese on Saturday, moving the Rossoneri two
points clear of Juventus at the top of Serie A.
Antonio Di Natale fired Udinese i
<< Martens lifts AZ to top of Eredivisie
Alkmaar, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A second-half brace from Maarten
Martens handed AZ Alkmaar a 2-0 win over Excelsior on Saturday, lifting AZ
into the top spot in the Eredivisie table.
A 6-0 win in midweek moved AZ level wit
<< Malkin's five-point game helps Penguins down Jets
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evgeni Malkin had a goal and four assists,
as the Penguins downed the Jets, 8-5, on Saturday.
Kris Letang added two goals and an assist and Jordan Staal scored in his
first game back from a knee in
<< Varejao out indefinitely with wrist fracture
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao
is out indefinitely after an MRI on Saturday showed a non-displaced fracture
of the right wrist.
A timeline for his return to action will be established next we
Marquette handles Cincinnati >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darius Johnson-Odom and Jae Crowder each
scored 23 points, as the 18th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles dominated the
Cincinnati Bearcats, 95-78.
Jamil Wilson and Vander Blue added 15 and 14 points
Lekic, Osasuna sink Barcelona >>
Navarra, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona's title ambitions took a massive
hit on Saturday as Dejan Lekic scored a first-half brace to help Osasuna stun
the defending champions, 3-2, at the Estadio El Sadar.
Lekic provided an early b
No. 7 Kansas dominates Oklahoma State >>
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thomas Robinson had 26 points and 14 rebounds,
helping the seventh-ranked Kansas Jayhawks dominate the Oklahoma State
Cowboys, 81-66.
Jeff Withey also had a double-double with 18 points and 19 boa
Thunder Moccasin strikes in Hutcheson Stakes >>
Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Odds-on favorite Thunder Moccasin had
a successful three-year-old debut Saturday in the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes at
Gulfstream Park. The colt covered the seven-furlongs in 1:24.16 on a track
listed
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.
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