Benschop helps AZ join PSV at the top of the league
Soccer Betting Lines
02/08/2012 - The Hague, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A hat trick from Charlison Benschop helped AZ Alkmaar on its way to a 6-0 triumph at Den Haag on Wednesday, allowing the club to join PSV Eindhoven at the top of the Eredivisie table.
AZ slipped behind PSV after a run of just one point from its last three games, but responded in a big way as Benschop netted his first goal after 33 minutes and added to his tally in the 47th and 69th.
Den Haag had no way back and suffered only further punishment in the final 20 minutes as Maarten Martens made it 4-0 before American Jozy Altidore bagged a pair of goals in the final five minutes to cap the scoring.
AZ joins PSV on 42 points and trails only on goal difference, with Den Haag remaining eight points clear of the drop zone.
Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A field of six three-year-olds have been entered for Saturday's $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The seven-furlong contest is an early prep for next month's $1 million Florida Derby.
<< Catania, Roma finish all square in resumed match
Catania, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The final 25 minutes of Roma's match at
Catania concluded on Wednesday with neither side able to break the 1-1
deadlock they started the day with.
The match was suspended after 65 minutes bec
<< Panthers sign long snapper to 4-year deal
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Panthers signed long snapper
J.J. Jansen to a four-year contract on Wednesday.
Jansen, 26, has played all 48 games in his three NFL seasons with the Panthers
and went without a mistake this p
<< Capello leaves England no better than he found it
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The appointment of Fabio Capello as manager of England's
national team in December 2007 was supposed to be a step in the right
direction following the disappointing 18-months that Steve McClaren spent at
the hel
<< Reds, Ludwick complete 1-year deal
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds and outfielder Ryan
Ludwick have finalized a one-year contract.
The deal, reported last month but not announced until Wednesday, includes a
mutual option for the 2013 season.
T
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames signed defenseman Derek Smith to a two-year contract worth $1.55 million on Wednesday. "Derek came to training camp this year on a two-way contract and played his way into our startin
Celtic topples Hearts to extend SPL lead >>
Edinburgh, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic moved four points clear of
second-place Rangers on Wednesday after securing a 4-0 win over Hearts at
Tynecastle Stadium.
The Hoops charged out to a three-goal lead in the first 30 min
Air Force fires basketball coach Reynolds >>
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Air Force men's basketball coach Jeff
Reynolds was fired Wednesday with the team in the midst of a six-game losing
streak.
Athletic director Dr. Hans Mueh made the announcement. Associate head co
Sharapova, Goerges reach QFs in Paris >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova and six-
seed Julia Goerges of Germany were second-round winners Wednesday at the Open
GDF Suez.
Sharapova, who withdrew from this event last year due to illness, advanc
Yankees sign veteran INF Branyan >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees signed veteran infielder
Russell Branyan on Wednesday.
The minor league deal includes an invitation to spring training.
Branyan, 36, has played for 11 teams since appearing in his first
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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