Wall, Kentucky withstand tough test from Alabama

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Wall had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists in his first taste of tournament basketball, as second-ranked Kentucky moved into the semifinals of the SEC Tournament with a 73-67 triumph over Alabama.

Patrick Patterson recorded 20 points and Eric Bledsoe added 10 for the Wildcats (30-2), who own 25 SEC Tournament titles and have an astounding 112-22 record in tournament play.

Kentucky will entertain the winner of Friday's quarterfinal between Ole Miss and Tennessee.

Mikhail Torrance produced 20 points and JaMychal Green posted 14 and 11 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Crimson Tide (17-15), who posted a narrow 68-63 win over South Carolina in the first round but led by five at halftime Friday and were still ahead six minutes into the second half.

Gambbling NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Berkman to have surgery on knee, out up to a month
Kissimmee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee within the next few days and will miss two to four weeks of action. Berkman said he felt discomfort in the k

<< Bulls' Rose to miss at least one game with sprained wrist
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bulls All-Star point guard Derrick Rose will miss Friday's game at Miami and is listed as day-to-day after an MRI confirmed he has a sprained left wrist. During Thursday's loss to the Magic, Ros

<< Turner's heave beats buzzer as Buckeyes survive Michigan
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ohio State star Evan Turner buried a desperation three-pointer with no time on the clock to lift the fifth-ranked Buckeyes to a thrilling 69-68 victory over rival Michigan in the quarter

<< Duke uses late surge to fend off Virginia in ACC quarters
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Singler scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, as fourth-ranked Duke pulled away late to earn a 57-46 victory over Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum. Jon Sc

<< Owls top Bonnies to start quest for A-10 three-peat
Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Fernandez scored 17 points and doled out seven assists, as No. 17 Temple advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a solid 69-51 victory against St. Bonaventure at Boardwalk Hall.

Heat suspend Wright for two games after DUI arrest >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat suspended forward Dorell Wright for the next two games after he was charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license on Thursday. "This is out of character for D

Pats re-sign CB Bodden, add LB Murrell >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots on Friday re-signed cornerback Leigh Bodden and inked linebacker Marques Murrell to an undisclosed contract. Bodden started in 14 of the 15 games he played in for the Patriots last s

Titans re-sign CB Hood >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms on a contract with veteran cornerback Rod Hood on Friday. Hood, who was an unrestricted free agent, appeared in five games (four starts) for the Titans last season, re

Kings activate Williams from IR >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings activated forward Justin Williams from injured reserve on Friday. Williams suffered a broken right leg in a game against the Coyotes on December 26 and missed the last 28 games.

Boise State's Greg Graham out as head coach >>
Boise, ID (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boise State University announced Friday it has relieved men's head basketball coach Greg Graham of his duties. The Broncos' season came to an end Thursday with an 84-60 loss to Utah State in the opening

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.