08/14/2008 - Bend, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Haas and defending champion Mark McNulty were among seven players to shoot five-under 67 on Thursday and share the first- round lead of The Tradition.
Craig Stadler, Gene Jones, Mark Wiebe, Tim Simpson and David Eger also sat atop the leaderboard at the Champions Tour's fourth major of the year at Crosswater Golf Club at Sunriver Resort.
Forty-six of the 67 players who teed it up on Thursday shot par or better.
Haas, second on the Champions Tour money list and the winner of this year's Senior PGA Championship, started with a birdie at the first. He collected back-to-back birdies from the fifth, then parred his next four around the turn.
Haas, who has battled hamstring issues lately, rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt at the 11th to get to four-under. He tied for the lead after a nine-footer for birdie at 12.
The reigning Champions Tour Player of the Year parred his remaining holes for his share of first.
"Last year, I didn't play very well here," said Haas. "I felt like this year I needed to come out and fire away and not play too conservatively. I'm hitting the ball pretty well. Five-under, I'm pretty happy with that."
McNulty was only one-under when he made the turn thanks to a pair of birdies and a bogey at the eighth. The defending champion birdied two in a row from the 12th and added another birdie at 15 to get to four-under par for the championship.
At the closing hole, McNulty hit a good approach 25 feet from the stick. He drained the putt to get into the logjam atop the leaderboard.
"I played nice and steady," said McNulty. "I drove the ball well. Hit some nice, quality iron shots. I'm pretty much on track with what my game's like. I balanced it all out."
Stadler, who accumulated eight wins in 2003-04, but has not visited the winner's circle since, was the only player in the field to reach seven-under par.
He tallied seven birdies over 17 holes, including a short one at the par-three 17th. At the last, Stadler's second landed in a greenside bunker. He blasted out to 50 feet and three-putted from there for a double-bogey six.
Jones also made the turn at one-under, then ran off four straight birdies from the 10th. He birdied the par-four 15th to get to six-under par.
Jones, who has three top-fives in his last four starts, missed a six-footer for par at the last to fall into a tie for the lead.
Wiebe did all of his damage on the front side. He birdied the first and picked up four in a row from the fourth. Wiebe parred his last 11 holes to hang on to a piece of first.
Simpson birdied the last for first and Eger netted five birdies on the back nine for his share of the lead.
Hale Irwin, Joe Ozaki, Massy Kuramoto, Mike Goodes, D.A. Weibring, R.W. Eaks and the Champions Tour's leading money winner Bernhard Langer share eighth place at four-under 68.
Irwin can join Jack Nicklaus in exclusive company with a win this week. Irwin would match Nicklaus in the all-time lead in Champions Tour majors with eight and the two would be the only two players to win four different majors on the elder circuit.
Bruce Vaughan, the Senior British Open champion, shot a one-under 71 and is tied for 27th place.
Eduardo Romero, who captured the U.S. Senior Open two weeks ago, struggled to a two-over 74 on Thursday and is part of a group tied for 52nd place.
<< Owners approve change at top for Giants
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Baseball owners unanimously
voted on Thursday to approve Bill Neukom as the new majority owner for the San
Francisco Giants.
Giants managing general partner Peter Magowan announced his p
<< Cubs' Ramirez leaves game
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez
left Thursday's game against the Atlanta Braves with a left hip contusion.
Ramirez scored from second on a double by Geovany Soto in the fifth inning and
grimaced
<< Rays take series in Oakland
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Pena hit the go-ahead solo home run in
the 12th and Dioner Navarro wound up with the eventual game-winning RBI
single, as the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Oakland Athletics 7-6, in the rubber
match of a thr
<< May leads Xerox Classic
Rochester, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bob May, who lost the 2000 PGA Championship
in a playoff to Tiger Woods, posted a six-under 64 on Thursday to take the
first-round lead of the Xerox Classic.
Dave Schultz is alone in second place at fi
Cubs' Ramirez day-to-day with bruised hip >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez
left Thursday's victory against the Atlanta Braves with a left hip bruise. His
status is day-to-day.
Ramirez scored from second on a double by Geovany Soto in the
Schneider's blast leads Mets to sweep of Nationals >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Schneider hit a two-run homer and
Oliver Perez pitched effectively into the seventh frame, leading the New York
Mets to a 9-3 victory over the Washington Nationals to sweep the series in
Washing
Reds edge Pirates >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johnny Cueto scattered four hits and one run
over five innings and the Cincinnati bullpen made a one-run lead hold up in a
3-1 victory over Pittsburgh in the rubber match of a three-game series from
PNC Par
Wellemeyer, Cardinals baffle Fish >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Todd Wellemeyer and three Cardinals relievers
combined on a four-hit shutout, and Ryan Ludwick provided all the offense in
St. Louis' 3-0 win over the Florida Marlins in the finale of a four-game
series.
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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 sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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