Hoffman picks up 600th save as Brewers hold off Cards
Baseball Betting Lines
09/07/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey McGehee's two-run single in the fifth inning proved to be the difference, as the Milwaukee Brewers held off the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2, on a night that saw all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman record the 600th save of his career.
McGehee had three hits and drove in a total of three runs for the Brewers, who had lost six of seven coming in. Prince Fielder knocked in the other run.
Chris Narveson (11-7) was solid in seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits to pick up the win. The Left-hander also struck out nine and walked three.
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Bourn finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and fell a home run shy of the cycle as Houston downed Chicago, 7-3, in the middle test of a three-game set from Wrigley Field. Jeff Keppinger had a pair of
<< Twins blast Royals, expand lead in AL Central
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Francisco Liriano pitched seven solid
innings and Delmon Young drove in four runs, as the Minnesota Twins cruised to
a 10-3 win over the Kansas City Royals in the middle contest of a three-game
series.
<< Back in first: Phillies edge Marlins to grab top spot in NL East
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Placido Polanco's eighth-inning two-out
RBI single was the difference, as Philadelphia nipped Florida, 8-7, in the
third installment of a four-game series.
The victory, coupled with Atlanta's los
<< Pirates blank Braves, who fall out of division lead
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Delwyn Young capped a five-run seventh with
a two-run homer and James McDonald tossed seven scoreless innings, as the
Pittsburgh Pirates shut down the Atlanta Braves, 5-0, in the second test of a
three-g
<< Rays use five HRs to crush BoSox, climb AL East standings
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria
each homered and finished with three RBI, as Tampa Bay blasted Boston, 14-5,
to gain ground on first place in the AL East.
Carl Crawford went 4-for-4 with thr
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champions Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open Tuesday night. The two will face off against one another on Friday. Clijsters, the 2005 and 2009
Broncos RB White has Achilles surgery >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Broncos running back LenDale White
underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
The Denver Post reported Tuesday that White had the procedure done as the
Steadman-Hawkins Clinic in Col
Verdasco rallies from two-set deficit to shock Ferrer >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fernando Verdasco came back from a
two-set deficit to stun fellow Spaniard David Ferrer and reach the
quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.
The eighth-seeded Verdasco reached the quarterfinals here for a sec
Gonzalez continues torrid pace as Rockies down Reds >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Gonzalez, arguably the league's hottest
hitter, blasted an early three-run homer to help lift the streaking Colorado
Rockies to a 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Gonzalez extended his hit streak
Giants use three HRs, Lincecum's pitching to down D'Backs >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum pitched solidly into the seventh
inning and the San Francisco Giants used three home runs to defeat the Arizona
Diamondbacks, 6-3, at Chase Field.
Lincecum (13-9) allowed three runs on five hi
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.”
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