Blake advances at BNP Paribas Open

Tennis Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former top-five American James Blake was an easy first-round winner Friday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters event.

Blake cruised past Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-2 in a mere 55 minutes on the hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The struggling 30-year- old Blake improved to a pedestrian 6-5 this season.

Additional opening-round wins came for Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, Israeli Dudi Sela, German Simon Greul, Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu and Aussie Marinko Matosevic. Sela dismissed American Jesse Levine 6-2, 6-2, while Greul drove out Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (9-7).

This week's 32 seeds all received byes into the second round. The top seeds are three-time champion Roger Federer, 2008 titlist and 2007 runner-up Novak Djokovic, two-time champion and reigning titlist Rafael Nadal and 2009 Indian Wells runner-up Andy Murray. Nadal beat the U.S. Open runner-up Murray in last year's finale and also titled here in '07.

This week's winner will collect $605,500.

Wmarketwatch Tennis Betting News

<< Redskins bring in RB Johnson
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins signed running back Larry Johnson on Friday. Terms of the deal were not announced, but a report in the Washington Post says the contract is for three years and a total of $12 million

<< Bucs ink LB Alston
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced the signing of linebacker Jon Alston on Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alston spent the last three seasons with Oakland. He recorded 23 tackles in

<< Corliss Williamson takes over at Central Arkansas
Conway, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Central Arkansas has named former college and NBA standout Corliss Williamson as its next men's head basketball coach. Williamson, who enjoyed a fruitful 12-year NBA career, played his

<< UTEP dispatches Tulsa to gain C-USA final
Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Culpepper scored 21 points and Arnett Moultrie added 18 to pace No. 25 UTEP to a 75-61 win over Tulsa in the semifinal round of the Conference USA Tournament at the BOK Center. Christian Polk

<< Tennessee moves on in SEC Tournament
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.P. Prince scored 17 points and Wayne Chism added 16 and 15 rebounds, as No. 15 Tennessee dismissed the Ole Miss Rebels in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament with a 76-65 victory. Cameron Tatum had fou

Chiefs sign veteran center Wiegmann >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs have signed veteran center Casey Wiegmann. The 14-year pro spent the last two seasons with Denver and started in all 32 regular season games. He has gone the last eight

Schalke edges Stuttgart to grab first >>
Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kuranyi scored his 14th goal of the season to lead Schalke to a 2-1 win over Stuttgart on Friday and into first place in Germany's Bundesliga. Schalke moved one point ahead of Bayern Munich

Weather woes remain at Puerto Rico Open >>
Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A new day brought only more weather problems for the PGA Tour's Puerto Rico Open, which still wasn't halfway through the first round when play was suspended Friday because of darkness. Rain c

Oregon QB Masoli suspended for entire 2010 season >>
Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oregon Ducks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was suspended for the entire 2010 season after pleading guilty to charges of second-degree burglary on Friday. Ducks head coach Chip Kelly made the announce

LeBron returns against Sixers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James was in the Cavaliers' starting lineup on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers, returning from a two-game absence. James missed a loss to the Bucks last Saturday and a win over the Spurs o

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.


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.