Avs resume homestand with visit from Blues
Hockey Betting Lines
02/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche will try to forge a tie atop the Northwest Division standings tonight, when they welcome the St. Louis Blues for a battle at Pepsi Center.
The Avalanche have 70 points and are two behind idle Vancouver for the top spot in the Northwest. Colorado has won two of its last three games after ending January with three straight regulation losses.
Colorado notched a win over lowly Edmonton on Saturday, as Craig Anderson needed to make only 20 stops to record his sixth shutout of the season in the 3-0 home victory.
Of Anderson's six shutouts this season, three have come against the Oilers. It was quite the turnaround from Anderson's previous start, when he yielded five goals on 36 shots in Thursday's loss at Nashville.
"I think it was just a great group effort tonight," Anderson said. "You need a little bit of luck to get some shutouts, and we're playing really well defensively against this team."
Wojtek Wolski, Ryan Wilson and Brandon Yip each scored for the Avalanche, who are playing the second test of a four-game homestand tonight. Colorado is 17-8-2 as the host this year and has won six of its last eight in Denver.
Avs rookie forward Ryan O'Reilly suffered a bruised foot in Saturday's game and is questionable for tonight. O'Reilly has seven goals and 20 points in 57 games this season.
The Blues, meanwhile, come into tonight with 59 points on the season. They are 13th in the Western Conference and seven points out of a playoff spot.
St. Louis, which has lost two straight and three of its last four games, is coming off Saturday's close regulation loss against visiting Chicago. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp scored first-period goals as the Blackhawks held on to take the 2-1 win at Scottrade Center.
Alexander Steen scored on a 5-on-3 advantage in the final two minutes for the Blues. Chris Mason let in both goals on 30 shots.
"(Scoring) can be tough -- it's like not being able to get a clutch hit; it's like not being able to punch it in in the red zone," said Blues head coach Davis Payne. "It's the part of the game that you need to execute in order to win."
The Blues have been much better on the road than at home this year, posting a 16-8-4 mark as the guest compared to a 9-16-5 record in the Gateway City. St. Louis, which will begin a three-game homestand tomorrow against Detroit, has won three of its last four on the road.
Colorado won its only meeting this season against the Blues, posting a 4-0 win in St. Louis on December 7. The Blues have still won four of the last six matchups in the series, and they have also taken three of the past five encounters between these teams held in Denver.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The new-look Toronto Maple Leafs will test themselves tonight against the top team in the Western Conference, as they host the San Jose Sharks at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs ended January on a six-game losing streak
<< Ramblers try to cool off red-hot Bulldogs
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot Butler Bulldogs continue their
run at a perfect Horizon League campaign tonight, as they host the Loyola
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The Bulldogs are enjoying another terrific season
<< Jayhawks and Longhorns duke it out in Austin
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Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Panthers take a break from
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ilya Kovalchuk will seek his first goal in a New Jersey Devils uniform when his new team visits the rival Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Wachovia Center for the opener of a home-and-home series between Atlantic Division foes.
Streaking Kings try to continue mastery of rival Ducks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will be aiming to extend a franchise-
record winning streak tonight. If recent history is any indication, the
Anaheim Ducks may not be posing much of a problem towards achieving that feat.
The Kings s
Coyotes hope to rebound against visiting Oilers >>
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Coyotes will be seeking a bounce-back performance when they return to
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setting a franchise
Bolton's Cahill could miss remainder of season >>
Bolton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bolton central defender Gary Cahill is set
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Stoke's Fuller arrested >>
Stoke-on-Trent, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stoke City have confirmed that
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Sportsbooks to bet on football
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.