Blue Devils in the Big Apple to take on Red Storm

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/25/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 18th-ranked Duke Blue Devils are playing with a tremendous amount of confidence, and they will take on the St. John's Red Storm this afternoon in non-conference action from New York's famed Madison Square Garden.

Duke has won its last three games to move to 21-7 overall and 8-6 in league play. On Thursday, the Blue Devils recorded a 71-66 decision over Clemson to move one game above .500 in league play. After today's clash, Duke will close out the regular season against Maryland and North Carolina.

St. John's has lost its last two games to fall to 6-9 in Big East Conference action, overshadowing a more positive 15-13 overall record. The Red Storm were completely manhandled on Wednesday, as they dropped a 72-48 decision to Louisville on the road.

Duke holds a 10-5 lead in the all-time series with St. John's.

Four of the five Duke starters scored in double figures in Thursday's victory over Clemson. Jon Scheyer scored 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from behind the arc. DeMarcus Nelson posted 16 points in the clash, and Greg Paulus finished with 14 points and six assists. On a down note, Paulus committed a staggering total of nine turnovers. The forth and final double-digit scorer was Josh McRoberts with 10 points. The Blue Devils shot 52.2 percent from the floor, including 7-of-14 from three-point range, and they outscored the Tigers 16-9 from the foul line. Nelson leads the team in scoring with 14.1 ppg, and McRoberts checks in with 13.0 ppg. Scheyer, just a freshman, adds 12.5 ppg to the mix, and Paulus rounds out the group with 10.2 ppg. A couple of weeks ago, some fans and analysts were talking about the possibility of Duke missing the NCAA Tournament. Clearly, all that speculation has ceased.

Nothing seemed to go right for St. John's in the ugly loss to Louisville the last time out. The Red Storm shot 26.3 percent from the floor in the contest, including 7-of-28 from three-point range. They also turned the ball over 16 times and played shaky defense. Anthony Mason led St. John's with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Lamont Hamilton pitched in 12 points and nine rebounds. Hamilton leads the team with 13.5 ppg and 6.8 rpg, and Mason checks in with 11.5 ppg. The third and final double-digit scorer in the lineup is Avery Patterson with 10.9 ppg. St. John's is netting only 63.8 ppg on 41 percent shooting from the field, and poor offensive production has played a major role in the team's struggles.

Www1luckygambler NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.