Fish swims into Newport semis

Tennis Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - Newport, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded Mardy Fish was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner Friday at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

The American Fish came from behind to dismiss Canada's Frank Dancevic 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4 on the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Fish prevailed in 2 hours, 13 minutes on Day 5.

The Minnesota native Fish, a grass-court runner-up at The Queen's Club in London four weeks ago, will meet the Ryan Harrison-Richard Bloomfield victor in Saturday's semifinals.

The other semifinal was established here on Thursday, as fourth-seeded 5- foot-5 Belgian Olivier Rochus will face 5-foot-7 Argentine Brian Dabul.

The winner of this $500,000 event will collect $75,700.

Footballl365 Tennis Betting News

<< New York hosts D.C. in Eastern tilt
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York hopes to inch closer to the top of the Eastern Conference table when it hosts D.C. United in Major League Soccer action at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night. The home side is coming off a 1-

<< France leads reigning two-time champ Spain 2-0
Clermont-Ferrand, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A quality French team, led by Gael Monfils, has a 2-0 lead against reigning two-time champion Spain in their best-of-five Davis Cup quarterfinal in France. The world No. 17 Monfils outlasted g

<< Germany's Klose targets record against Uruguay
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miroslav Klose can become the all-time leading scorer in FIFA World Cup history Saturday when Germany plays Uruguay in the third-place match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Klose scored five

<< Tennessee football players involved in bar brawl
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Tennessee football program had six players reportedly involved in a fight at a Knoxville bar early Friday morning. Two of the six have been arrested thus far, according to the Knoxville

<< Clarke pushes lead to three in Scotland
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darren Clarke carded a four-under 67 in steady rain Friday to extend his lead to three strokes after two rounds of the Scottish Open. Clarke, who led by one after the first round, completed 36 holes at

Hawks sign rookie G Crawford >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks have signed rookie guard Jordan Crawford. The Hawks acquired Crawford in a draft night trade from New Jersey last month. The Nets took the Xavier product with the 27th pick. Crawford

Giants place reliever Runzler on DL, recall Martinez >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants placed reliever Dan Runzler on the 15-day disabled list on Friday with a dislocated left kneecap The 25-year-old left-hander suffered the injury in Thursday's win over the Milwau

Panthers sign third-rounder Edwards >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Panthers have signed third-round draft pick Armanti Edwards. Edwards was taken 89th overall in April's draft after a successful four-year run as quarterback at Appalachian State. The Panthers

Chargers sign two draft picks >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers announced the signings of third-round draft pick Donald Butler and fifth-rounder Cam Thomas to four-year contracts Friday. Butler starred at Washington as an inside linebacke

TFC tries to keep unblemished home record against Rapids >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC puts its home unbeaten streak on the line on Saturday when they welcome the Colorado Rapids to BMO Field. TFC has yet to taste defeat at home this season after Dan Gargan rescued a point for the

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.