Red Sox claim Tigers' Damon; decision pending
Baseball Betting Lines
08/23/2010 - Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox have claimed outfielder Johnny Damon off waivers from the Detroit Tigers, and the veteran has until Wednesday to decide if he will waive his no-trade clause to re-join the club he helped win the 2004 World Series title.
Damon signed a one-year contract with Detroit in the offseason and has hit .270 with seven home runs and 40 RBI in 111 games with the Tigers.
The 36-year-old gained notoriety while playing for the Red Sox between 2002-05, then surprised most by signing a lucrative four-year deal with Boston's rival, the New York Yankees, prior to the 2006 campaign.
In 2,242 career games, Damon has compiled a .288 average with 214 home runs, 1,036 RBI, 1,548 runs scored and 382 stolen bases.
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers announced they have extended their Triple-A minor league player development partnership with the Albuquerque Isotopes through the 2012 season. Albuquerque, which plays in the Pac
<< Nats' Strasburg going back on DL, to have 2nd exam
WASHINGTON (AP) -Stephen Strasburg is headed back to the disabled list, and his prized right arm will undergo yet another examination that will largely determine whether he pitches again this season.The Washington Nationals rookie will have a second
<< Kwame Brown, Michael Jordan reunited again
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is bringing back what's considered his worst move as a basketball executive: Kwame Brown.The Bobcats on Monday agreed on a one-year deal with Brown for the veteran minimum of $1.3 million.
<< Redskins S Moore has knee surgery, out 4-6 weeks
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Redskins safety Kareem Moore
underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday and is likely to miss four to
six weeks worth of action.
Moore was expected to start in Washington's defensive ba
<< Shanahan has private meeting with Haynesworth
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The offseason drama involving Washington
Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth continued Monday, as head coach
Mike Shanahan confirmed that he "had a conversation" with the two-time Pro
Bowl se
WASHINGTON (AP) -A judge assigned to Roger Clemens' perjury case has issued a gag order designed to prohibit public comments that could affect the jury pool for a possible trial.Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lyi
Patchan returns, Nixon out for No. 4 Florida >>
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -Florida's Matt Patchan is back at practice, but the player competing with him at left tackle is out with a knee injury.Coach Urban Meyer says sophomore Xavier Nixon, who started the final five games last season, is having his
Nadal named top seed for U.S. Open >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal will seek his first U.S. Open
title and a career grand slam as the top-seeded player in the tournament, as
the men's seedings for tennis' final major of 2010 were announced on Monday.
Nadal,
Ohlendorf leaves game versus Cardinals >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ross Ohlendorf's season continues to get
worse, as the Pirates starter left Monday's game versus St. Louis with an
apparent shoulder injury.
Ohlendorf had just a 1-10 mark despite a 3.90 earned
Bradford to start for Feeley Thursday >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo
announced Monday that overall No. 1 draft pick Sam Bradford will start
Thursday's preseason game against New England due to a thumb injury to A.J.
Feeley.
Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game
How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.
Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.
The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).
Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.
The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).
Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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.