Defending champ Petkovic ousted in Austria

Tennis Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - Bad Gastein, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Andrea Petkovic of Germany was eliminated in the second round of the Gastein Ladies tennis tournament.

France's Alize Cornet took out the top seed, 6-2, 7-5, on Thursday and earned a quarterfinal matchup with Austrian wild card Patricia Mayr, who knocked out seventh-seeded Tathiana Garbin of Italy, 6-3, 6-4.

Also Thursday, Germany's Julia Goerges posted a 6-2, 7-5 win over Mariya Koryttseva of the Ukraine and Austrian Yvonne Meusburger advanced with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic.

In addition to the Cornet/Mayr quarterfinal, Friday's other matchups will pit Goerges against Russia's Anastasia Pivovarova, Meusburger against Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova and second-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland against Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic.

Mysportstracker Tennis Betting News

<< Chicago Bears 2010 Training Camp Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATE: July 30th SITE: Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, IL CAMP OBJECTIVES: Every minute the Bears offense spends on the practice field in advance of their Week 1 date against the Lions is critical. New

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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATE: July 24th SITE: Alamodome, San Antonio, TX/Marriott Residence Inn Oxnard River Bridge, Oxnard, CA CAMP OBJECTIVES: The Cowboys are certain to have some drama at training camp because, well, they're the C

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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATES: July 26th (Rookies), July 29th (Veterans) SITE: Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA CAMP OBJECTIVES: Kevin Kolb might play two series in the Eagles' preseason opener against the Jaguars on Aug. 13th. If he

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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATE: July 29th SITE: Atlanta Falcons Training Facility, Flowery Branch, GA CAMP OBJECTIVES: The Falcons don't have a lot of high-profile position battles as they enter camp, but the look of the team in the tre

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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATE: Aug. 1st SITE: University at Albany, Albany, NY CAMP OBJECTIVES: Though it's offense that sells tickets, the side of the ball that everyone wants to talk about with respect to the Giants is defense. The

Arizona Cardinals 2010 Training Camp Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATE: July 30th SITE: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ CAMP OBJECTIVES: With Kurt Warner having joined an already substantial group of Arizona retirees, much of the training camp focus will be on whet

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2010 Training Camp Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATE: July 30th SITE: One Buccaneer Place, Tampa, FL CAMP OBJECTIVES: With one of the youngest and least certain rosters in football, August will be a critical month for the Buccaneers and head coach Raheem Mo

San Francisco 49ers 2010 Training Camp Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - REPORT DATES: July 30th (Rookies), July 31st (Veterans) SITE: Marie B. DeBartolo Sports Center, Santa Clara, CA CAMP OBJECTIVES: The 49ers' 2010 fortunes lie primarily with the continued development of quarterback Ale

Blue Jays send Rzepczynski back to minors >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays have optioned pitcher Marc Rzepczynski back to Triple-A Las Vegas. Rzepczynski made a start for the Blue Jays on Wednesday against Kansas City and took the loss in a 5-2 setback. He

In the FCS Huddle: NFL travels through Orono, Maine >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - His season over late last fall, University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove enjoyed an opportunity to sit down and watch some NFL action on a Sunday afternoon. Oh, was it ever "must-see TV". First

MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard 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.