Jeter still leads AL All-Star balloting
Baseball Betting Lines
06/30/2009 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter remained the overall leader among American League players in fan balloting for the 2009 All-Star Game.
Jeter, who surpassed Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria for the top spot last week, has received 3,046,813 votes. Longoria remains a close second with 2,988,363 votes and both are comfortably ahead at their respective positions.
A likely lock for his fourth straight All-Star start, Jeter has a lead of 1,627,314 votes over Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett with just three days remaining in the balloting.
Longoria, a reserve All-Star as a rookie last year, is almost a certainty to make his first start in the Mid-Summer Classic. He has a lead of 1,634,044 votes over perennial All-Star Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees at the hot corner.
The tightest races remain on the right side of the infield at first base and second base.
Boston's Kevin Youkilis has again moved in front of New York's Mark Teixeira at first. Teixeira had vaulted Youkilis last week, but the Red Sox slugger, who is now playing third base in Mike Lowell's absence, has 1,915,303 votes and leads Teixeira by just 40,047.
Texas' Ian Kinsler has a narrow lead over reigning AL MVP Dustin Pedroia of Boston at second. Kinsler's margin has been trimmed to a slim 6,830 votes after it was fewer than 59,000 last week.
Minnesota's Joe Mauer is still well ahead of Boston's Jason Varitek at catcher. Mauer has 2,851,819 votes to Varitek's 1,399,946.
The three starting outfield slots are held by Boston's Jason Bay, Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki and Texas' Josh Hamilton. The Angels' Torii Hunter is fourth and trails Hamilton by 144,981 votes for the final starting spot.
All-Star squads for both leagues will be announced on Sunday, July 5.
The 80th All-Star Game will be played July 14 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-ranked Dinara Safina, two-time champion Serena Williams and five-time titlist Venus Williams were quarterfinal winners Tuesday at Wimbledon. Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva also won on Tuesday, a
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the New
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Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
TORONTO ARGONAUTS (0-0) AT HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (0-0)
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, July 1, 7:00 p.m. (et)
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St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues have extended qualifying offers to six players, including forward B.J. Crombeen. Crombeen, claimed off waivers by St. Louis from Dallas last November, played in 81 games last season, h
Pistons fire Curry >>
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"This was a difficult decision to make," Dumars said in a statement releas
Finley to play next season for Spurs >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs announced on Tuesday
that guard/forward Michael Finley stated he will return to the team for the
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Last season with San Antonio, he appeared in 81 games and averaged
Revs acquire international spot from Wizards >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution acquired an
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for a third-round selection in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft.
New England will retain
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Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has
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Sportsbooks to bet on football
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.