Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
02/10/2012 - Pebble Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charlie Wi carded a three-under 69 on Friday at Pebble Beach to take a three-stroke lead after two rounds of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Wi, who was one of three first-round leaders, finished 36 holes at 12-under- par 130. Having played Monterey Peninsula and Pebble Beach in the first two rounds, Wi will move to Spyglass Hill for round three.
With the pro-am format, the entire field rotates through the three courses for the first three days, then will shift to Pebble Beach for the final round.
Two-time winner Dustin Johnson, who shared the first-round lead with Wi and Danny Lee, managed an even-par 72 at Spyglass to fall into second place at minus-nine.
Vijay Singh, the 2004 champion, posted his second straight four-under 68 on Friday to move into a tie for third place at minus-eight. He was joined there by Padraig Harrington (66), Lee (73), Brian Gay (65) and Brendon Todd (69).
Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner of this event, shot five-under 65 at Monterey and headlines a group of nine players tied for eighth at minus-seven.
Tiger Woods, who is playing this event for the first time since 2002, managed a two-under 68 at Monterey to finish two rounds at minus-six. He is tied for 17th with Ryan Moore, Ricky Barnes and Richard H. Lee.
Woods got off to a quick start with a birdie on the first. However, he gave that stroke back with a bogey on the par-four fourth. Woods two-putted for birdie on the par-five sixth and followed with an 18-foot birdie effort on the seventh.
After four straight pars around the turn, Woods stuffed his third shot within two feet at the 12th. He kicked that in for birdie to move to seven-under, where he was five behind Wi.
Woods saved par from eight feet out on the 15th, but was unable to save par on 16. He parred the last two holes to finish at six-under.
"It was decent. I drove it good again today, unfortunately I just didn't make enough birdies," Woods said in a televised interview. "I was hitting the ball in the wrong spots, leaving myself sliders. I had to leave myself in better spots and didn't."
Wi started on the back nine Friday and stumbled to a bogey on the 12th. He quickly erased that error with a hole-out eagle on the par-four 13th. Wi moved to 11-under with a birdie on the 15th.
At the 17th, Wi faltered to another bogey, but atoned for that mistake with a birdie at 18 to claim a share of the lead.
Around the turn, Wi parred the first three holes before taking a one-shot lead over Johnson with a birdie on the fourth. Wi dropped another shot on the fifth when he failed to get up and down.
The 40-year-old Wi again bounced back with a two-putt birdie on the par-five sixth to move two clear of Johnson and Ken Duke, who bogeyed three straight holes after getting to minus-10.
Wi rolled in a five-footer for birdie on the eighth, but faltered to a closing bogey on the par-four ninth.
"I was very fortunate to make a two on 13 today. It got me off to a good start," Wi said. "The conditions were really tough with the greens being pretty firm, which we're not used to here at Pebble. The last four or five holes the fog rolled in and they played pretty long."
Johnson started with four straight pars from the 10th at Spyglass. After a birdie on 14, he bogeyed the 15th. Johnson converted birdie efforts on 17 and 18 to make the turn at 11-under.
The 2009 and 2010 champion dropped strokes on three and five. Johnson came back with a birdie on the seventh, but ended his round with another bogey on the ninth.
NOTES: Wi is winless on the PGA Tour, but does have four second-place finishes...Steve Elkington and Sunghoon Kang both withdrew on Friday...The cut will be made after the third round and will likely fall at one- or two-under par.
<< Berdych, Stepanek give Czechs 2-0 lead
Ostrava, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 7 Tomas Berdych and
countryman Radek Stepanek gave the Czech Republic a 2-0 lead in Friday's
opening singles rubbers against visiting Italy.
Bolstered by a 90 percent first-
<< Cardinals sign P Linebrink
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have signed pitcher
Scott Linebrink to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring
training.
Linebrink pitched for Atlanta last season and went 4-4 with a 3.64 earne
<< Barcelona hopes to heap pressure on Madrid
Navarra, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona, by its high standards, is sailing
in chartered La Liga territory this season.
The Catalans have exhibited a certain level of dominance in Spain's top flight
over the past few seasons, claiming thr
<< Pavin grabs early lead in Boca Raton
Boca Raton, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Corey Pavin fired an eight-under 64 Friday
to grab a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the Allianz Championship.
Pavin, the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, is in his third season on the
Champions Tour,
Hawaii reinstates Wiseman >>
Honolulu, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Hawaii announced on Friday
that sophomore forward Trevor Wiseman has been reinstated to the team.
Wiseman was suspended indefinitely by the team on Monday and missed the
Rainbow Warr
No. 25 Harvard holds off Penn >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Casey and reserve Corbin Miller
scored 17 points apiece to help No. 25 Harvard stay undefeated in Ivy League
play with a 56-50 victory over Penn at The Palestra.
Oliver McNally had eight poi
DeRozan, Raptors down Celtics >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeMar DeRozan continued his hot steak,
following up his 25 point performance on Wednesday night with 21 points, and
the Raptors lead wire-to-wire as they defeated the Celtics, 86-74, at Air
Canada
Paul lifts Clippers over Sixers in final seconds >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Paul hit the game-winning shot with
3.2 seconds remaining as the Clippers downed the 76ers, 78-77, on Friday.
A pair of Lou Williams free throws had Philadelphia up, 77-76, with 18 seconds
left, bu
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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. “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).
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.
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting