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03/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coming off just their second regulation loss in 14 games, the Los Angeles Kings will try to post their first victory over the Montreal Canadiens in seven years tonight in a meeting at Staples Center.
The Kings came out of the Olympic break flying, as they posted a 5-1 win at Dallas on Tuesday. Los Angeles then concluded its mini-trip on Thursday with a 4-2 loss in Nashville to fall to only 11-2-1 in its last 14 games, but also one point behind Phoenix for fourth overall in the Western Conference.
"We were lacking in intensity and hard work," Kings forward Anze Kopitar said. "We took some lazy penalties and gave them the momentum."
Alexander Frolov scored for Los Angeles to give him three goals and nine points over his last seven games and Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings, who have won five of their last six at home. Jonathan Quick gave up three goals on 31 shots in the loss.
Forward Ryan Smyth hit a milestone in the setback, picking up his 700th career point with an assist on Doughty's goal.
The Kings will now try to halt a four-game slide to the Canadiens. Los Angeles dropped a 4-3 test in Montreal on January 31 of last season and hasn't bested the Habs since March 8, 2003.
Quick posted 22 saves in last season's loss, while Dustin Brown, Jarret Stoll and Michael Handzus all scored goals.
Montreal's current win streak over Los Angeles includes a pair of victories at the Staples Center. Goaltender Carey Price posted 29 saves in last year's home win and was solid as well on Thursday versus San Jose. However, he was beaten twice in a 2:33 span in the third period as the Habs dropped a 3-2 contest to the Sharks.
"He kept us in it and gave us a chance. I wish we could have gotten that win for him." Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill said of Price, who finished with 37 saves.
Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who have lost four of their last six and are now tied with Atlanta and the New York Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East, one point back of seventh-seeded Boston.
Montreal fell to 1-1-0 on a four-game road trip and has lost five of its last seven overall on the road. The Canadiens are 15-16-2 as the guest this season.
<< Revamped Coyotes host Ducks in Pacific clash
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will try to record consecutive wins
when they welcome the Anaheim Ducks for tonight's Pacific Division battle at
Jobing.com Arena.
The Coyotes were dealt their third straight loss when they emerged from
<< Thrashers' playoff push resumes in Tampa
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers will shoot for a third straight
victory when they visit the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at St. Pete
Times Forum.
The Thrashers have won two straight since the NHL came back from the Olympic
<< Rangers brace for test from high-powered Caps
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After struggling to keep the opposition off the scoreboard
their most recent time out, the New York Rangers now have to face the NHL's
most potent offense in tonight's showdown with the powerful Washington
Capitals from the V
<< Hurricanes go for eighth straight in visit to Florida
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A fire sale at the trade deadline has yet to slow down the
Carolina Hurricanes, who'll be taking aim at an eighth consecutive victory in
tonight's clash with the Southeast Division-rival Florida Panthers from the
BankAtlantic
Suddenly-slumping Senators to host rival Leafs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators will try to get back in the win column
tonight, when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in a battle between Northeast
Division foes at Scotiabank Place.
The Senators have 76 points and are one back of Bu
Hornaday Jr. claims Atlanta pole >>
Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Hornaday Jr. will start on the pole for
Saturday's E-Z GO 200 Camping World Truck Series race after topping the
qualifying charts at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Hornaday, the defending series champion, secured
Bob Bryan, Isner get U.S. on the board against host Serbs >>
Belgrade, Serbia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A doubles team of Bob Bryan and John Isner
got the United States a much-needed point on Saturday, as the last-minute
pairing bested a Serbian duo of Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic in their
best-of
Croatia moves into Davis Cup quarters >>
Varazdin, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Croatia holds an insurmountable 3-0 lead
over visiting Ecuador in their best-of-five first-round Davis Cup matchup and
has advanced to the quarterfinals in July.
The Croats officially eliminated Ecuador
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.”
To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting