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04/25/2009 - Valencia, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thierry Henry's goal with five minutes to play allowed Barcelona to earn a 2-2 draw with Valencia at the Mestalla on Saturday.
Barca took the lead 24 minutes into the match through Lionel Messi, but Valencia scored twice in the final three minutes of the first half to claim a 2-1 lead at the break.
However, Henry picked up a loose ball inside the box after a failed clearance attempt by Valencia goalkeeper Cesar, and his deflected effort made its way across the goal line.
The result leaves Barca seven points clear of second-placed Real Madrid, but a Real win over Sevilla on Sunday would close the gap to four points, with the two Spanish giants set to meet on May 3.
Valencia remains in fourth place, one point behind third-placed Sevilla.
Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes was the first to be called into action in the 18th minute when he was forced to get down and stop David Villa's free kick, but it was Cesar that was first to pick the ball out of his own goal.
Messi exchanged passes with Andres Iniesta inside the area, and after Cesar came off his line to challenge Iniesta, he slipped the ball back to Messi to slam into the empty net.
It was a neat piece of play from Barca's talented duo, but the rest of the half belonged to the home side, who had a penalty appeal turned down five minutes after Messi's goal.
Valencia looked increasingly threatening as the first half wore on, and they nearly leveled the match when Carlos Marchena floated a long ball over the top for David Silva, whose looping header forced Valdes to tip the ball over the crossbar.
It was a good save from the Barca keeper, but it was his mistake on the ensuing corner kick that handed Valencia the equalizer.
The ball was whipped into the six-yard box and Valdes attempted to claim it, but he collided with defender Carles Puyol, allowing the ball to slip through and hit off of Hedwiges Maduro and roll into the back of the net.
There was nothing Valdes could do two minutes later as Pablo and Mata worked a nice one-two outside the box, with Pablo pushing the ball between two Barca defenders and firing into the bottom right corner.
The hosts took the momentum into halftime, but the pace of the match slowed considerably in the second half.
Henry was able to get a few shots on goal, but nothing that seriously threatened the Valencia net.
The home side didn't get a good look at goal in the second half until the 74th minute, when Mata fired wide of the near post from inside the box.
However, a free kick with five minutes to play handed the visitors another chance and they made the most of it.
The ball was played into the middle of the box for Sergi Busquets and Cesar came off his line to punch it clear. The keeper nearly collided with the Barca player and didn't get enough on his clearance, and the ball ended up on the foot of Henry, whose deflected effort ended up in the back of the net.
Almeria kept Numancia on the bottom of the table with a 2-1 win while Malaga could have jumped into the top five but had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Deportivo.
Albert Luque put Malaga in front in the 33rd minute but his opener was canceled out by Sergio.
Malaga was then given a penalty kick with two minutes to play, but goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia saved Apono's spot kick.
<< Penguins rally from three goals down to eliminate Flyers
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sidney Crosby picked up a pair of goals
and Sergei Gonchar netted the deciding score early in the third period, as the
Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from a three-goal deficit to down the Philadelphia
F
<< Janssen salvages draw for Twente
Heerenveen, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Theo Janssen scored in stoppage
time as Twente was able to come away with a 1-1 draw against Heerenveen at Abe
Lenstra Stadion on Saturday.
The home side went in front in the 77th minute wi
<< Jets trade up to take Sanchez at No. 5
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets acquired the No. 5 pick in
Saturday's NFL Draft from Cleveland in order to select USC quarterback Mark
Sanchez.
In exchange for getting the fifth pick, the Jets gave the Browns t
<< NFL Draft Update
(The Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers have the 9th pick, which is the 9th
Round One:
1. Detroit Lions - Matthew Stafford (QB, Georgia); 2. St. Louis Rams - Jason
Smith (OT, Baylor); 3. Kansas City Chiefs - Tyson Jackson (DE, L-S-U)
Browns move down again, Eagles take Maclin at No. 19 >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns moved down again in
Saturday's NFL Draft, trading the No. 19 selection to Philadelphia.
In exchange for the pick, the Eagles gave the Browns their No. 21 selection
and a sixth-ro
Kelly extends lead in New Orleans >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jerry Kelly posted a three-under 69 on
Saturday to extend his lead to three shots after the third round of the Zurich
Classic of New Orleans.
Kelly, the overnight leader by one, finished 54 holes at
Ravens move up to No. 23, select OL Oher >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens acquired the 23rd
overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft from the New England Patriots and selected
Ole Miss offensive tackle Michael Oher.
The Ravens sent their original first-rou
Garciaparra helps A's top Rays >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nomar Garciaparra's three-run double in the
fourth and a strong start from Dallas Braden helped the Oakland Athletics to a
5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Garciaparra finished the game 2-for-4, as the A
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.
Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup
September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com. The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans.
Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to name a few. Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR. They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.
The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer. Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.
Ryder Cup Odds| Europe Tie USA |
4-5 10-1 6-5 |
| Tiger Woods Jim Furyk Phil Mickelson Chris DiMarco David Toms Stewart Cink Chad Campbell Scott Verplank Zach Johnson Vaughan Taylor JJ Henry Brett Wetterich |
9-4 4-1 5-1 7-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 |
| Sergio Garcia Luke Donald Padraig Harrington Colin Montgomerie Darren Clarke David Howell Lee Westwood Paul Casey Henrik Stenson Jose Maria Olazabal Paul McGinley Robert Karlsson |
5-1 5-1 6-1 13-2 8-1 9-1 9-1 11-1 12-1 12-1 20-1 25-1 |
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com
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