Cards ink Cora to minor league deal
Baseball Betting Lines
02/06/2012 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have signed infielder Alex Cora to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
Cora appeared in 91 games for Washington last season and batted .224. He's also played for the Dodgers, Indians, Red Sox, Mets and Rangers since breaking into the majors in 1998.
The 36-year-old veteran is a career .243 hitter in 1,273 games. He won a World Series title with the Red Sox in 2007.
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors have waived center Earl Barron and recalled forward Chris Wright from the Dakota Wizards of the NBA Development League. Barron averaged 2.0 points in just two games for the
<< In the FCS Huddle: QB openings not for the faint of heart
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You don't have to be Tim Tebow to be the
most scrutinized quarterback around.
The light in the microscope usually shines brightest on any team's signal-
caller.
Considering big expectations follow the s
<< Sabres coach Ruff suffers injury at practice
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff had to be
helped off the ice during Monday's practice after colliding with Jordan
Leopold, according to the team's Twitter page.
The Sabres had no update on Ruff's s
<< In the FCS Huddle: QB openings not for the feint of heart
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You don't have to be Tim Tebow to be the
most scrutinized quarterback around.
The light in the microscope usually shines brightest on any team's signal-
caller.
Considering big expectations follow the s
<< Cisse's debut offers plenty of hope for Newcastle
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Papiss Cisse's Newcastle debut may have come a bit earlier
than expected, but he sure gave fans on Tyneside something to get excited
about.
The Senegal international was the most expensive signing in a subdued Janua
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs hired Brian Daboll as their new offensive coordinator on Monday. Daboll joins Kansas City after serving as the Miami offensive coordinator in 2011. His team had a 1,000-yard r
Cavs waive Thompson >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers waived guard Mychel
Thompson on Monday.
The rookie played in five games this season and averaged 3.6 points and 1.4
assists in 19 minutes per game.
Baylor again a unanimous top choice in women's hoops >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baylor is once again a unanimous choice as the
No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll.
The undefeated Lady Bears received all 40 first-place votes and a total of
1,000 points f
Pierce, Parker named NBA Players of the Week >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce and San
Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker were named the Eastern and Western Conference
Players of the Week, respectively, for the week ending February 5.
Pierce averag
Super Bowl hangover: Catching you up on college hoops >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Perhaps the AFC needs some new blood.
That was my prevailing thought after last night's highly entertaining Super
Bowl, the New York Giants' second with Eli Manning under center in the last
five seasons. P
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.”
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