Thomas and Liu in finals of U.S. Junior

Golf Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - Ada, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Thomas and Jim Liu both won twice on Friday to advance to Saturday's 36-hole final of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.

Thomas, 17, earned a 2 & 1 victory over Scott Wolfes in Friday's quarterfinals, then needed one extra hole to get by Denny McCarthy in the afternoon's semifinals.

Liu pulled out a 1-up win over Gavin Hill Friday morning and toppled Robby Shelton, 3 & 2 in the semifinals.

Thomas fell 1-down to Wolfes with a loss at the fourth hole, but rebounded with wins at six and seven. Thomas' lead stayed at 1-up until he won the par- five 13th with an eagle.

Wolfes hung in and won the 15th with a birdie to go 1-down. He made bogey at the par-five 17th at Egypt Valley Country and that was enough to give Thomas a 2 & 1 victory.

Later Friday, Thomas never led over McCarthy until the first extra hole. He was 1-down after a bogey at nine and the score stayed at 1-down until Thomas won 15 with a par.

The match was all-square briefly. McCarthy took the par-three 16th with a par, but a Thomas par at 17 drew him even. The pair halved the 18th with birdie and were back to the first to find out who made the final.

Thomas only needed a par at No. 1 for the win and berth in Saturday's final.

Liu, 14, was ahead early in his quarterfinal, but losses at seven and 10 left his match against Hall all-square. Hall moved 1-up thanks to a par at the 14th, but Liu clawed back to even with a birdie at 16.

Liu made a birdie at the 17th to go 1-up and hung on with a par at the last to move on to the semifinals.

Against Shelton, Liu was 1-down after seven holes, but got to all-square after a birdie at the par-three eighth. Shelton captured the 10th and 11th holes to move 2-up on the back nine.

Liu never panicked and won 12 with a par and 13 with a birdie. Those two victories gave Liu some momentum. He won the next three holes with two birdies and a par to close out the match with five straight winning holes.

Roultette Golf Betting News

<< Coaches: Players also responsible for agent probe
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) -Tennessee coach Derek Dooley and Auburn's Gene Chizik both say the onus isn't just on agents to follow the rules, college athletes know the difference between right and wrong.``A lot of this has got to go back to the young guy,''

<< Orioles' Wigginton suspended, will appeal
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Orioles infielder Ty Wigginton has been suspended by Major League Baseball for three games for his on-field argument and subsequent volatile reaction with an umpire in Thursday's game against

<< Chen and Dambaugh in U.S. Girls' Junior final
Village of Pinehurst, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doris Chen and Katelyn Dambaugh won both of their matches on Friday to advance to the final of the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. Chen first knocked off stroke-play medalist Danielle Ka

<< Chakvetadze reaches semifinals in Slovenia
Portoroz, Slovenia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anna Chakvetadze overcame a dropped set and saved two match points to beat fellow Russian Vera Dushevina on Friday in the quarterfinals at the Slovenia Open. The sixth-seeded Dushevina had a 5-3 le

<< Seattle tries to build momentum against Rapids
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Following a successful first season in Major League Soccer, Seattle Sounders FC has fallen on hard times as they enter Sunday's contest with the Colorado Rapids at Qwest Field in seventh place in the Wes

Dodgers designate Miller, recall Jansen >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers have designated pitcher Justin Miller for assignment and recalled pitcher Kenley Jansen. The right-hander posted a 4.44 earned run average and no record in 19 rel

Oakland locks up C Suzuki with extension >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics and catcher Kurt Suzuki have agreed to a contract extension through the 2014 season with a vesting option for 2015. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that the deal is

Swisher out of Yanks lineup with sore heel >>
NEW YORK (AP) -Right fielder Nick Swisher was a late scratch from the New York Yankees' lineup because he woke up with a sore left Achilles' heel.Swisher was initially set to bat second Friday, but when he arrived at Yankee Stadium before the game a

Athletics sign Suzuki to new 4-year contract >>
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -The Oakland Athletics have signed catcher Kurt Suzuki to a new four-year contract that keeps him locked up through his arbitration years.The deal announced Friday supersedes his previous 2010 contract and includes a club option

Bolts sign C Pouliot; add Fleming to coaching staff >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday signed center Marc-Antoine Pouliot to a one-year, two-way contract. The 25-year-old Pouliot registered seven goals and 14 points in 35 games with Edmonton last season. "He

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.

MySportsbook.com is one of the most efficient and professional online sportsbook today. While some sportsbooks only excel during the busiest seasons, MySportsbook is an excellent choice for the player who wants year-round quality. From their baseball true dime line to their interactive wagering, MySportsbook makes sure their clients would miss them if they went elsewhere.

Players won’t find any novelties at this sportsbook. The site is clean and simple and most importantly, fast. Customer Service handles matters in an expedient manner and accounting does everything possible to assure players that they have full control of their funds. The online banking center is open 24/7 in which time Neteller payouts are processed.

Management’s background and understanding of sports gambling has helped make them pioneers in the online betting market. MySportsbook was the first betting site to offer sports wagering in the best form. Interactive wagering was first offered in 1997. Players who don’t stop wagering when the game begins consider this sportsbook a true asset.

Players who are looking for outstanding value, extensive wagering options and inexpensive payouts will appreciate what MySportsbook.com offers. Those who are looking for perks and high bonuses would be best suited in a sportsbook geared towards the regular player.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs.