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09/04/2010 - Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denny Hamlin earned his first pole of the season by topping Ryan Newman in Saturday's qualifying for the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Hamlin turned in a lap of 187.380 m.p.h. around the fast 1.54-mile oval for his eight career Sprint Cup Series pole, but his first since last October at Fontana, CA. He also gave Joe Gibbs Racing its 50th pole in the series.
"I was very optimistic, no matter what happened in qualifying, said Hamlin, who notched his first pole in 11 races at Atlanta. "I told myself, 'I knew I had a race-winning car come [Sunday] night.' So this is just a huge bonus for us, because I typically am very bad in qualifying. For us to be anywhere near the front is very uplifting for this team."
Hamlin, currently fifth in points, is tied with Jimmie Johnson for most victories in the series so far with five each. Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, presently sits ninth in points. Just two races remain in the regular season before the championship Chase begins later this month at New Hampshire.
Newman qualified 0.05 seconds behind Hamlin to capture the outside pole. Newman shares the record with Buddy Baker for most poles at Atlanta with seven each.
Kyle Busch captured the third spot, followed by Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.
Martin Truex Jr., Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Ragan and Kasey Kahne completed the top-10. Kahne is the defending race winner. He also won the pole for the Nationwide race here earlier in the day.
Clint Bowyer, who currently holds the 12th and final spot for the Chase, qualified 14th. Jamie McMurray, who trails Bowyer by 100 points, will start 12th.
Points leader Kevin Harvick will roll off 29th.
Jason Leffler, Landon Cassill, Scott Riggs and Todd Bodine failed to qualify.
Sunday's 500-mile race at Atlanta is scheduled to start shortly after 7:30 p.m. (et).
<< L.A. escapes Chicago with dramatic draw
Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Omar Gonzalez scored in stoppage time and
the Los Angeles Galaxy escaped Toyota Park with a 1-1 draw against the 10-man
Chicago Fire on Saturday, despite a missed penalty from Landon Donovan and a
late go
<< Quality Road rebounds to win Woodward Stakes
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Odds-on favorite Quality Road shook
loose at the head of stretch Saturday to win the $750,000 Woodward Stakes at
Saratoga Race Course. It was the colt's fourth win in five starts this year.
The c
<< Bengals chop 22, including WR Jones, K Rayner
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wide receiver Matt Jones and kicker Dave
Rayner were among the players released by the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday,
as the team reduced its roster to the 53-man NFL limit.
Jones, a former first-round pick
<< Snedeker joins Day in Deutsche Bank lead
Norton, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandt Snedeker fired a seven-under 64 Saturday
to join Jason Day in the lead after 36 holes of the Deutsche Bank
Championship, the second of four FedExCup series playoff events.
Day, who shared the first-round
25th-ranked West Virginia opens by blanking Coastal Carolina >>
Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Geno Smith completed 20-of-27 passes for a
career-high 216 yards and two touchdowns in his first collegiate start and
Noel Devine ran for 111 yards and a score to lead West Virginia to a 31-0
drubbin
Giants make cuts, QB Bomar among them >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quarterback Rhett Bomar was among the
players released by the New York Giants on Saturday, as the team reduced its
roster to the 53-player maximum.
Bomar, a fifth-round 2009 draft choice out of Sam Hous
Thome passes Big Mac on HR list as Twins rout Rangers >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jim Thome hit two homers to pass Mark
McGwire for ninth place on the all-time home run list, and the Minnesota Twins
pummeled the Texas Rangers, 12-4, at Target Field.
Thome now has 584 career home
Vikings Release WR Walker, 19 others >>
Eden Prairie, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran wide receiver Javon Walker was
among the players released by the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday, as the team
reduced its roster to the 53-player NFL maximum.
Walker, who was signed in August after a
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.
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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