Allen leads Senior PGA by one

Golf Betting Lines

05/23/2009 - Beachwood, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Allen, who is making his first Champions Tour start, carded a three-under 67 Saturday to grab a one-shot lead after three rounds of the 70th Senior PGA Championship.

Allen, a PGA Tour regular who hasn't won since 1998 on the Nationwide Tour, completed 54 holes at three-under-par 207.

Tom Kite and Jeff Sluman both owned a piece of the lead during the third round, but stumbled late. Kite shot a one-under 69, while Sluman managed an even-par 70 as they share second place at minus-two.

Former Masters champion Larry Mize was also in the mix, but was derailed by three bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine. Mize carded a one-over 71 as he was joined in fourth place at one-under-par 209 by Gil Morgan (70) and Tim Simpson (68).

Second-round leader Ross Drummond faltered to a six-over 76 that dropped him into a share of 16th at plus-two at Canterbury Golf Club.

Allen had a very steady round until catching fire on the back nine. He birdied the second from just over 15 feet out to move to minus-one, but gave that shot back as he bogeyed the ninth after parring six in a row from the third.

The 50-year-old parred the first four holes of the back nine as well. He was four shots back on the 14th, but started to make his move with a seven-foot birdie putt there.

Allen chipped his third to the par-five 15th within two feet and he kicked that in for birdie. He followed with another up-and-down birdie on the par- five 16th to get to three-under.

He parred the final two holes to get into the clubhouse at minus-three and it was good for the 54-hole lead as Sluman, Mize and Kite all stumbled late in their rounds.

"I seem like I'm playing really well on the front nine, but I just can't get any birdies out of it. All the putts seem to lip out," admitted Allen. "My expectations coming in were definitely to be competitive and to win. These guys are great players and they have beat me for a long time, but maybe it is my turn now. I don't know if I'm going to win or not, but I felt like I should definitely be competitive here."

Kite, whose first of 10 Champions Tour wins was a major (the 2000 Tradition), birdied the third and ninth to climb to minus-three and a share of the lead.

The 59-year-old parred the first five holes of the back nine. He moved into the lead at four-under with a two-putt birdie on the par-five 15th. After a par on 16, he missed the par-three 17th well right.

Kite dumped his chip into a bunker, but got up and down for bogey. He also bogeyed the last to end one back.

"I'll tell you what, it's a hard golf course and those last couple of holes are really hard," Kite admitted. "It is a pretty sadistic finish those last couple of holes. But all in all, I really feel like I'm playing well. I really like the way I'm striking the ball and I'm hitting a lot of greens in regulation."

Sluman, the 1988 PGA champion, birdied the second, but faltered to a bogey on the par-four fourth to dip to minus-two. He birdied the ninth to gain a share of the lead at minus-three.

After Kite pushed the lead to four-under, Sluman matched him there with a birdie on the 14th. However, he bogeyed 16 and 18 to drop into a share of second.

"I just have to drive it better. I kind of said the last two days I honestly don't know where it's going off the tee," stated Sluman. "The golf course is in wonderful condition, the type of golf course that if you're driving it well, you love to play, kind of right up my alley. But it's not up anybody's alley when you're kind of wild off the tee."

Joey Sindelar and Bruce Fleisher both posted one-under 69s to move into a share of seventh at even-par 210. They were joined there by Jay Don Blake (71). Fred Funk, Bernhard Langer, Joe Ozaki, Don Pooley, Mark McNulty and Chris Starkjohann are one shot back at plus-one.

Casinobaccarat Golf Betting News

<< Marseille downs Nancy to keep title hopes alive
Nancy, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marseille kept its slim title hopes alive on Saturday as they earned a 2-1 win over Nancy at Stade Marcel Picot. The club entered the day trailing leaders Bordeaux by three points, meaning that anything l

<< Edwards bumps Busch for Nationwide pole at Lowe's
Concord, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Edwards will start on the pole for Saturday night's Carquest Auto Parts 300 after topping the charts in qualifying at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Edwards knocked Kyle Busch off the pole after

<< Miyazato, Kang share Corning lead
Corning, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mika Miyazato went as low as anyone on Saturday as she fired a 10-under 62 to jump into a share of the lead after three rounds of the LPGA Corning Classic. Miyazato's 62 tied the course record that Juli Inkster

<< Sabbatini and Mallinger still on top at Byron Nelson
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rory Sabbatini and John Mallinger both fired 65s on Saturday to stay atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Byron Nelson Championship. The overnight co-leaders finished 54 holes at 13-under 197 a

<< Kentucky DE Jarmon ruled ineligible
Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Senior defensive end Jeremy Jarmon tested positive for a banned substance back in February and had his appeal for reinstatement denied by the NCAA on Thursday, effectively ending his career with th

Forlan's hat trick leads Atletico over Bilbao >>
Bilbao, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Diego Forlan scored a hat trick in a 14-minute stretch of the second half, taking over the La Liga scoring lead with 31 goals and leading Atletico Madrid to a 4-1 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. Atleti

Yankees rally in ninth to upend Phillies >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melky Cabrera recorded his third game-winning hit this season, singling in Robinson Cano in the ninth inning as the Yankees scored three in the frame to upend the Phillies, 5-4, in the middle test of a three-g

Cruz helps Rangers slide past Astros >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nelson Cruz belted two homers and drove in four runs, as the Texas Rangers defeated the Houston Astros, 6-3, in the middle installment of a three-game interleague series at Minute Maid Park. Scott Feldman

Guevara leads Toronto over New England >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Amado Guevara had two goals, Dwayne De Rosario chipped in one and Danny Dichio had a pair of assists as Toronto FC overcame an early goal by the New England Revolution for a 3-1 win Saturday at BMO Field. New

Sawyers indefinitely suspended as Sky Blue FC boss >>
Somerset, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sky Blue FC announced that Ian Sawyers has been indefinitely suspended from his duties as General Manager and coach of the Women's Professional Soccer team. "Differences have arisen between Ian and th

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.

SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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