Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
03/16/2010 - Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Recchi was one of three Bruins to record a goal and an assist, and Boston boosted its playoff chances with a key 5-2 road victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
David Krejci and Michael Ryder also added a goal and a helper, while Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk both scored for the Bruins, who moved three points ahead of the Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East. New York was defeated by Montreal, 3-1, at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Tuukka Rask made 30 saves in the victory for Boston, which had lost four of five and finished a seven-game road trip with a 3-3-1 mark.
Eric Cole scored both goals for the Hurricanes, who stand 10 points behind the Bruins after dropping three of four. Manny Legace allowed all five goals on 37 shots in the loss.
Boston needed just 23 seconds to take a 1-0 lead on Bergeron's redirection of a Dennis Seidenberg slap shot from the point.
About 8 1/2 minutes into the second period, the Bruins went up by two on Boychuk's tally. Matt Hunwick split a pair of defenders with a perfect pass to Boychuk, giving him a clear path to the net. Boychuk skated toward the crease and slid it in between Legace's pads.
Carolina cut its deficit in half with 6:07 left in the second on a power-play goal. Jamie McBain, who notched his first NHL point in his first game with an assist on the sequence, fired a slap shot from the centerpoint and the puck bounced out to Cole, who chipped it into the wide open net.
Boston restored its two-goal cushion on Recchi's tally 45 seconds into the third, but Cole answered with his second of the game 1:08 later to keep the Hurricanes within 3-2.
The Bruins then struck for two goals in less than a three-minute span to seal the victory. Ryder gave the visitors a 4-2 advantage on a quick wrister from the slot that cleanly beat Legace with 10:12 to play, and Krejci's goal with 7:33 remaining extended the lead to three.
Game Notes
Boston leads the season series, 2-1, and has won seven of the last eight regular season meetings with the Hurricanes...Carolina fell to 18-14-3 at home, while the Bruins improved to 17-13-6 on the road...Krejci recorded a plus-four rating for the game...This was Paul Maurice's 800th game coaching the Hurricanes franchise...Carolina defenseman Joni Pitkanen played in his 400th game.
<< Granger and Pacers snap Charlotte's streak
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Granger put in a game-high 26 points
and secured eight rebounds, as Indiana logged a 99-94 win over Charlotte to
halt the Bobcats' win streak at six games.
Troy Murphy recorded 16 points and 13
<< Wizards F Howard out at least six months following surgery
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Wizards forward Josh Howard
underwent successful surgery to repair a torn left ACL, the club announced on
Tuesday.
Howard, who sustained the injury in a game against the Bulls on February
<< Flyers goaltender Leighton injured against Nashville
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Michael
Leighton left Tuesday's game against the Nashville Predators with a high ankle
sprain.
The 28-year-old Leighton is considered day-to-day.
During the first peri
<< Argonauts sign QB Brannagan
Mississauga, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Argonauts signed quarterback
Danny Brannagan to a three-year contract on Tuesday.
Brannagan, a native of Burlington, Ontario, played at Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario, where last
Caps cruise without Ovechkin, beat Panthers >>
Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brooks Laich had two goals and an assist as
Washington took a 7-3 win over Florida as Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin
served the first of a two-game suspension.
The NHL's best offense didn't seem to
Maple Leafs rout sliding Senators >>
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jonas Gustavsson made 30 saves to help the
Toronto Maple Leafs take down the Ottawa Senators, 4-1, in a battle between
two Northeast Division foes at Scotiabank Place.
Phil Kessel, John Mitchell, Mikh
Bryzgalov, Coyotes stifle Lightning >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 27-of-28 shots to continue
his recent stellar play, and the Phoenix Coyotes won their sixth straight game
with a 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay.
With the win, the Coyotes set a new franchise
Habs stay hot in win over Blueshirts >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sergei Kostitsyn's goal in the third period
gave Montreal the lead for good, as the Canadiens edged the New York Rangers,
3-1, at the Garden.
Glen Metropolit also scored for the streaking Canadiens, who
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting