Cardinals sign TE Becht, two others to one-year deals

Football Betting Lines

03/10/2010 - Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals inked tight ends Anthony Becht, Stephen Spach and defensive end Jeremy Clark to one-year contracts on Wednesday.

Becht played in all 16 games for the Cards last season, including 10 starts, and caught seven passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. In 10 seasons and 158 games with the Jets, Bucs, Rams and Cardinals, Becht has caught 185 passes for 1,511 yards and 21 scores.

Spach caught four passes for 38 yards in limited action for Arizona last season.

Clark signed an exclusive rights contract with the team, as he has not yet accrued two years of service in the NFL; therefore, he had no negotiating rights with the club.

Wdogpile Football Betting News

<< Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Recaps
Shreveport, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Allen Smith scored 16 points as the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions took down the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils, 69-66 in the first round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournam

<< T'Wolves C Hollins suspended
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Timberwolves center Ryan Hollins has been suspended by the NBA for two games without pay after an incident on Monday. The third-year pro punched Dallas' DeShawn Stevenson and struck Dirk Nowitzki

<< Hurricanes agree to terms with Lawson
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -The Carolina Hurricanes have agreed to terms with former Notre Dame defenseman Kyle Lawson on a two-year, entry-level deal.Lawson, selected in the seventh round of the 2005 draft, recently completed his senior season for the Iris

<< Warriors C Andris Biedrins undergoes surgery
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -The Golden State Warriors say center Andris Biedrins has undergone surgery to repair a small tear of an abdominal muscle.Biedrins had the surgery Wednesday in Philadelphia. The team says it will be four to six weeks until Biedr

<< Oregon QB Masoli to face burglary count
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli faces a burglary charge in connection with a theft at a campus fraternity house in late January.The Lane Country District Attorney's office says Masoli and former Oregon receiver Garrett Embry ha

This Week in Auto Racing March 12 - 14 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While all three of NASCAR's national touring series take a break, the IZOD IndyCar Series and Formula One kick off their 2010 seasons this weekend. IndyCar will run on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil for the

Great West Conference Tournament Recaps >>
Orem, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Weiermiller scored 18 points and dished out four assists to lead Texas-Pan American to a 56-53 victory over Utah Valley in the quarterfinals of the inaugural Great West Conference Tournament. Jared Maree ha

Islanders C Schremp out for season >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders announced that center Rob Schremp will miss the remainder of the season. The forward injured his right knee during Tuesday's game against Philadelphia. The diagnosis is a torn m

Dampier, Haywood back for Mavs; Barea out >>
DALLAS (AP) -Centers Erick Dampier and Brendan Haywood returned to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night against the New Jersey Nets.Dampier missed the previous 12 games with a dislocated right middle finger. Haywood sat out two games with lower b

Mountain West Conference Tournament Recaps >>
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Grant Parker scored 15 points and Michael Lyons added 11 to help Air Force defeat Wyoming, 59-40, in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament. Lyons also grabbed five rebounds and han

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.

Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship

(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.

MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.