Boston's Lester named AL Pitcher of the Month

Baseball Betting Lines

06/02/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for May.

Lester was a perfect 5-0 in six outings during May. He allowed just 24 hits over 44 innings and led the majors with 45 strikeouts. His 1.84 earned run average during the month was the lowest of any AL pitcher with more than 27 innings pitched.

It was the third monthly award for Lester and first since September of 2008.

Toronto righty Shaun Marcum was the runner-up for the honor after going 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA.

Imustlottto Baseball Betting News

<< Boston's Ortiz named AL Player of the Month
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz earned American League Player of the Month honors for May. After a slow April, Ortiz erupted with a .363 average and 10 home runs in 23 games in the season's

<< Bynum's knee refills with fluid after procedure
LOS ANGELES (AP) -Four years into his NBA career, Andrew Bynum is still trying to make it through his first full postseason.The oft-injured Los Angeles Lakers center went through a limited practice Wednesday for the first time since having his balky

<< Carlesimo joins Raptors staff
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors added former NBA and college head coach P.J. Carlesimo as an assistant on Wednesday. Carlesimo was last seen on NBA sidelines for the Seattle/Oklahoma City franchise before be

<< Altintop extends Bayern deal
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop signed a one-year extension to his contract on Wednesday that will keep him with the Champions League finalists until 2011. Altintop made 15 appearances in le

<< Mine That Bird puts in work for Lukas
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas had 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird workout Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs. The four-year-old gelding worked a half-mile in 48 seconds with his regular

Braves' Glaus named NL Player of the Month >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Braves first baseman Troy Glaus has been named the National League Player of the Month for May. Over 28 games during the month, Glaus drove in an NL-best 28 runs with six homers and scored 17 ti

Rockies' Jimenez voted NL Pitcher of the Month again >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies' Ubaldo Jimenez has been named the National League Pitcher of the Month for May, the second straight month the right-hander has been awarded with the honor. In six May starts, Jimenez

Padres activate Scott Hairston from DL >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres activated outfielder Scott Hairston from the 15-day disabled list Wednesday. He had been on the DL since May 16 with a strained left hamstring. Hairston suffered the injury in a

Yankees activate Jorge Posada >>
NEW YORK (AP) -Jorge Posada has been activated from the 15-day disabled list and inserted into the New York Yankees lineup as the designated hitter for their game against the Baltimore Orioles.The 38-year-old catcher has not played since May 16 beca

Kobe plays, while all LeBron can do is talk >>
It's June again, and by now the script is getting awfully familiar. Kobe Bryant is in another NBA finals, providing the kind of star power the league relies on to make this must-see TV.LeBron James? He'll be on TV, too, pouring his heart out to the

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.

Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament odds  
As of February 9, MySportsbook.com has released its coveted 2007 Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament betting odds. “March Madness betting ” only a month away, the top ranked Florida Gators are favorite at 7-2 to win it all. The defending champs have not disappointed at all this season and currently have a 22-2 record and are undefeated (9-0) in SEC play. The Gators’ thrive off of their extremely balanced, experienced and versatile attack. All five starters started in last seasons National Championship game. What is most impressive with this group is their balance; the five starters all average between 10.7 and 13.6 PPG. The Gators have been on an absolute roll having won 15 straight by an average of 16.4 PPG.

Right behind the Gators are the 5th ranked UNC Tar Heels at 9-2. The Heels (21-3, 7-2) are absolutely loaded with top notch talent and are as deep as any team in the country. A concern for the Tar Heels might be inexperience. Of their top four scorers/ minute earners, three are freshmen and the other is a sophomore. The rest of the regular season, the Tar Heels play only one team that is currently ranked (Duke). Their remaining opponents do combine for an impressive 107-58 record though.

Other teams that the MySportsbook.com members seem to believe will win it all include the west coasts’ top team #2 UCLA (6-1), #3 OSU behind man-child Greg Oden (8-1), and #4 Wisconsin (10-1) behind their defense which has given up 70+ points only three times all season.

Below is a list of some of the favorites to win the 2007 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship lines. For the full list of teams and March Madness odds be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com. If you want to use your credit card to bet on college hoops or any other event, MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.

Arizona 20-1

Butler 20-1

Duke 30-1

Florida 7-2

Georgetown 30-1

Indiana 35-1

Kansas 15-1

Marquette 25-1

Maryland 40-1

Memphis 50-1

Nevada 50-1

UNC 9-2

OSU 8-1

Oregon 30-1

Pittsburgh 15-1

Texas 30-1

Texas A&M 18-1

UCLA 6-1

Wisconsin 10-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook betting needs.