11/16/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers will shoot for the first six-game winning streak in franchise history when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers for tonight's battle at the Wachovia Center.
Atlanta beat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Friday to win five in a row for the fourth time in club history. Johan Hedberg finished with 27 saves as the streaking Thrashers downed the Hurricanes, 3-2, in the Southeast Division battle at Philips Arena.
Marty Reasoner, Eric Perrin and Slava Kozlov each scored a goal for the Thrashers.
Bryan Little, the 12th overall pick in the 2006 draft, added an assist to extend his point-scoring streak to five games. The 21-year-old centerman has three goals and five assists during the run and also leads Atlanta with 16 points this season.
Atlanta winger Ilya Kovalchuk, meanwhile, had a four-game scoring streak snapped.
The Thrashers are just 2-4-2 as the visiting team this year, but have won two straight road tilts.
If Atlanta is to set a club record with a sixth straight win, it will have to do so against a team it has had little success against in recent years. The Flyers have won 11 straight and 14 of the last 15 encounters and destroyed the Thrashers, 7-0, in Atlanta on October 28.
The Thrashers, who have also dropped four straight and eight of nine in Philly, last beat the Flyers on November 18, 2005.
The Flyers had a test in Montreal on Saturday night and earned a close victory. Martin Biron made 24 saves and Philly snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Canadiens with a 2-1 win at the Bell Centre.
Scottie Upshall and Jeff Carter each scored a goal for the Flyers, who last defeated Montreal in the regular season on November 25, 2006. Mike Richards and Simon Gagne had the primary assists for Philadelphia, which had dropped four of five coming into the game.
Richards, the Flyers captain, extended his point streak to eight games and has one goal and eight helpers during the stretch. Richards and Gagne are tied for the team lead with 19 points apiece.
Philadelphia will likely go with Antero Niittymaki in goal tonight, as the Finnish backstop has a perfect 10-0-0 career record against the Thrashers. Niittymaki started the game in Atlanta at the end of October and earned his fourth career shutout in that outing.
<< Kings, Ducks clash in Anaheim
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will try to get back on the winning
track tonight, when they visit the Anaheim Ducks for a battle with their
Pacific Division rivals at the Honda Center.
The Kings had won a season-high four games bef
<< Sharks pay visit to Chicago
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The powerful San Jose Sharks will aim for their ninth
victory in 11 games when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks for this evening's
matchup at the United Center.
The Sharks lead the NHL with 29 points and ended a two-game
<< Blues, Canadiens tangle in St. Louis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will try to post back-to-back victories
for the first time in nearly a month when they host the Montreal Canadiens in
tonight's matchup at Scottrade Center.
The Blues ended a six-game losing streak thei
<< Spartans begin season of hope against visiting Vandals
East Lansing, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Michigan State Spartans
lift the lid on the 2008-09 season this evening, hosting the Idaho Vandals in
a non-conference clash at the Breslin Center.
Idaho won its season opener on Friday ni
Bears' Orton to start vs. Packers >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton will
start Sunday's game against Green Bay, despite an ankle injury that caused him
to miss last week's loss to Tennessee.
Orton missed last Sunday's 21-14 loss to Te
Jeev Milkha Singh rallies to win Singapore Open >>
Singapore (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeev Milkha Singh closed with a two-under 69
Sunday to come from behind and win the Singapore Open.
Singh completed the tournament at seven-under-par 277, one stroke clear of a
pair of major champions.
NFL Inactives (Sunday, November 16, 2008) >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of inactive players
for today's NFL games.
DENVER BRONCOS AT ATLANTA FALCONS, 1:00 P.M. (ET)
Broncos - S Marlon McCree, CB Champ Bailey, RB Selvin Young, RB Alex Haynes, LB
D.J.
Pens deal Sydor to Stars for Boucher >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenseman
Philippe Boucher from the Dallas Stars for veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor on
Sunday.
Boucher has three assists in 16 games with the Stars this season, his si
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. “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).
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.
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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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere.
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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