12/03/2008 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith, who had missed the previous 12 games due to a high left ankle sprain, returned to action by starting Wednesday's 105-95 win against Memphis.
Smith played just 11 minutes before hurting his ankle in a November 7 win over the Toronto Raptors. He had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists in Wednesday's game, moving his average to 12.4 points and 7.6 rebounds over five contests this season.
Smith has 797 blocks for his career and is poised to become the youngest to reach 800 in a career. Smith turns 23 on December 5. Shaquille O'Neal had 800 blocks when he set the mark at 24 years and 9 days old on March 15, 1996 in a game against Vancouver.
<< Okafor lifts Bobcats to rare win streak, Thunder fall again
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Emeka Okafor had a season-high 25 points to
go with 13 rebounds to lead Charlotte to a 103-97 win over the Oklahoma City
Thunder.
Gerald Wallace added 21 points and Jason Richardson posted 18 points, mo
<< Boston wins 10th straight behind Rondo's triple-double
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rajon Rondo finished with 17 assists, 16 points
and 13 rebounds, as the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers, 114-96, for
their 10th consecutive win.
Rondo's triple-double was the Celtics' first since
<< Zherdev, Rangers top Pens in SO
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nikolai Zherdev netted the game-winner in the
shootout, as the New York Rangers edged Pittsburgh, 3-2, at Madison Square
Garden.
After Markus Naslund scored on the opening shot for New York, Miroslav Sa
<< Quinn undergoes successful surgery on finger
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn
underwent successful surgery on Wednesday to repair his broken right index
finger, an injury he sustained in a November 17 game against Buffalo.
Quinn broke
Ming fuels Rockets past Clippers >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yao Ming scored 24 points and grabbed 10
rebounds, leading the Houston Rockets to a 103-96 victory over the Los Angeles
Clippers at Toyota Center.
Rafer Alston added 21 points, seven assists and ei
Villanueva leads Bucks over Bulls >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charlie Villanueva scored 23 points and
hauled in 10 rebounds to lead the Milwaukee Bucks in a 97-90 victory over the
Chicago Bulls.
Richard Jefferson added 21 points for the Bucks, who snapped a s
Yao fuels Rockets past Clippers >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yao Ming scored 24 points and grabbed 10
rebounds, leading the Houston Rockets to a 103-96 victory over the Los Angeles
Clippers at Toyota Center.
Rafer Alston added 21 points, seven assists and ei
Hansbrough leads No. 1 UNC in rout of Michigan State >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Hansbrough scored 25 points and pulled
down 11 rebounds to pace top-ranked North Carolina to a 98-63 blowout of No.
13 Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
By the way the Tar Heels (8-0) are
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. “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).
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.
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting