Turkey and Slovenia win to reach quarterfinals
Basketball Betting Lines
09/05/2010 -
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points and
Sinan Guler added 18 as Turkey subdued France, 95-77, to advance the
quarterfinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championships.
Turkoglu connected on 6-of-10 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from three-
point territory, for the Turkish squad that shot an impressive 63.6-percent
from the floor to remain undefeated in six games in the tournament.
Oguz Savas and Ersan Ilyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks each added nine points
for the victors, who went on a 10-0 run to start the second half to push their
lead to an insurmountable 25.
Boris Diaw, who plays for the Charlotte Bobcats, paced France with 21 points
on 8-of-14 shooting, including knocking down 5-of-8 from long distance. Nando
De Colo chipped in with 15 points and Nicolas Batum of the Portland Trail Blazers added 11 in defeat.
Turkey will next face Slovenia, an easy 87-58 winner over Australia earlier in
the day, on Wednesday.
Jaka Lakovic made five three-point shots and scored 19 points to lead
Slovenia, while Primoz Brezec added 12 points in the win. The victors made
16-of-33 from beyond the arc and shot 50-percent from the floor overall for
the game.
Patrick Mills and Joseph Ingles each scored 13 points for Australia, which was
3-2 in group play. Matthew Nielsen added 12 points in a losing cause.
The Aussies shot just 31-percent from the floor and made only 2-of-19 shots
from three-point territory.
<< Dolphins add four, cut three
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins were awarded four players on
waiver claims Sunday and also cut three players.
Awarded to the team were defensive ends Clifton Geathers and Robert Rose and
offensive linemen Jeremy Parnell a
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Canonsburg, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kisner shot a four-under 67 to capture
his first Nationwide Tour win Sunday at the Mylan Classic.
A former All-American at the University of Georgia, Kisner finished four
rounds on the Southpointe cour
<< Cousins' hit lifts Marlins over Braves in extras
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Cousins' pinch-hit single -- his first big
league hit -- in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Emilio Bonifacio, as the
Florida Marlins got by the Atlanta Braves, 7-6, in the rubber match of a
three-g
<< Nats recall P Balester
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals recalled right-
hander Collin Balester from Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday.
It's the third callup this season for Balester, and over six appearances in
the 2010 campaign, he is 0
<< Frogs overcome Fiesta flashback to beat Oregon St.
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Southern wins MEAC/SWAC Challenge >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stump Mitchell won his coaching debut at
Southern University as the Jaguars rallied past Delaware State, 37-27, Sunday
afternoon in the sixth annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge at the Citrus Bowl.
Corey Cushing
Holliday, Cards take series finale over NL Central-leading Reds >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday belted the game-changing three-
run home run in the sixth inning to lead St. Louis to a much-needed 4-2 win
over Cincinnati in the last of a three-game series.
Holliday finished 2-for-4 whi
Fielder, Wolf help Brewers down Phils >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Prince Fielder's three-run homer in the
first inning proved to be all Milwaukee needed, as the Brewers held off the
Phillies, 6-2, to avoid a three-game sweep at Citizens Bank Park.
Rickie Weeks had
Zimmerman, Nats beat up Pirates >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Zimmerman went 2-for-5 and drove in
four runs, as the Washington Nationals handled the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-1, in
the rubber match of a three-game set at PNC Park.
Adam Dunn added a solo homer and
Gordon's homer lifts Royals past Tigers >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Gordon hit a go-ahead home run leading
off the sixth inning, and the Kansas City Royals posted a 2-1 victory over
Detroit to salvage the finale of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
The blas
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.
The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.
While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.
For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.
1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.
2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.
How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.
Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.
Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.
How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).
Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.
Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.
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