Ladd, Boynton in for Game 4

Hockey Betting Lines

06/04/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Blackhawks forward Andrew Ladd and defenseman Nick Boynton are in the lineup for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Ladd had missed the first three games of the series with an upper body injury he suffered during the first period of the series-clinching Western final Game 4 against San Jose.

Ladd had two goals and an assist over 16 playoff games prior to sitting with the injury.

Nick Boynton is playing in this first playoff game this season. Acquired from the Ducks on March 2, he had one assist in seven games after coming to Chicago.

Defenseman Jordan Hendry and right wing Adam Burish will sit out the game to make room for Ladd and Boynton.

Hendry is a minus-four with no points in 15 playoff games, while Burish is minus-one with no points in 15 playoff games.

Chicago leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1.

Betting-express Hockey Betting News

<< Briscoe edges Franchitti for Texas pole
Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Briscoe won Friday's qualifying for the Firestone 500k IZOD IndyCar Series race after beating Dario Franchitti by the slimmest of margins at Texas Motor Speedway. Briscoe from Team Penske earned his s

<< Another blow for Cleveland: Sizemore out for season after surgery
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore underwent surgery on Friday and will miss the rest of the regular season. Sizemore was expected to be sidelined 6-to-8 weeks following the procedu

<< Staten moves in front in College Park
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - B.J. Staten fired a seven-under 64 on Friday to move atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Melwood Prince George's County Open. Staten finished 36 holes at 11-under 131 and is one cl

<< Italy's Pirlo suffers calf injury
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo injured his calf in Thursday's friendly against Mexico and could miss the World Cup. Pirlo could miss up to three weeks with the injury and Italy starts defense of its World Cup t

<< Oakland's Anderson lands back on DL
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics placed left-hander Brett Anderson on the 15-day disabled list for the second time this season Friday. Anderson was previously on the DL from April 25 to May 28 with left elbow inflam

Carcillo out, van Riemsdyk in for Philly for Game 4 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers benched forward Dan Carcillo and replaced him with forward James van Riemsdyk for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Carcillo played the previous two games and was a minus-o

Wooden continues to rest in hospital >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Legendary basketball coach John Wooden is still resting comfortably at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to a release from the UCLA athletics department Friday afternoon. Earlier Friday,

Braves disable Saito >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have placed reliever Takashi Saito on the 15-day disabled list with a left hamstring injury. Saito felt tightness while pitching in the ninth inning of Atlanta's 4-3 win against th

Brewers make numerous roster moves >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers made a number of roster moves on Friday, including reinstating infielder Mat Gamel from the 60-day disabled list. Gamel has not played a game in the majors this season due to an

Flyers have two-goal lead after one period in Game 4 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Goals from Mike Richards, Claude Giroux and Matt Carle were countered by a goal from Patrick Sharp as the Philadelphia Flyers hold a 3-1 lead over the Chicago Blackhawks after 20 minutes of action in Game 4 o

Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup

September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com.  The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans. 

Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to  name a  few.  Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR.  They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.

The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer.  Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.

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

Ryder Cup Odds

Europe
Tie
USA		 4-5
10-1
6-5


Ryder Cup Top US point scorer
Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Chris DiMarco
David Toms
Stewart Cink
Chad Campbell
Scott Verplank
Zach Johnson
Vaughan Taylor
JJ Henry
Brett Wetterich		 9-4
4-1
5-1
7-1
8-1
12-1
15-1
15-1
25-1
30-1
30-1
50-1


Ryder Cup Top European scorer
Sergio Garcia
Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington
Colin Montgomerie
Darren Clarke
David Howell
Lee Westwood
Paul Casey
Henrik Stenson
Jose Maria Olazabal
Paul McGinley
Robert Karlsson		 5-1
5-1
6-1
13-2
8-1
9-1
9-1
11-1
12-1
12-1
20-1
25-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com

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.