Kings try to halt skid in test versus Stars

Hockey Betting Lines

01/17/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will try to avoid a fourth consecutive loss when they visit the rival Dallas Stars for this afternoon's Pacific Division battle at American Airlines Center.

The Kings dropped the final three tests on a four-game homestand that began with a win over Anaheim on January 8. All three setbacks came in regulation and Los Angeles was outscored by a combined 12-2 margin in those defeats.

The most recent defeat came Thursday against the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper each had a goal and an assist, as visiting Detroit blanked the Kings, 4-0, at Staples Center.

Jonathan Quick allowed four goals on 31 shots to take the loss for the Kings, who have also lost four of their last five outings.

LA is currently last in the Pacific with 40 points, but Dallas is just three points ahead in fourth place.

Today marks the start of a three-game road trip for the Kings, who are just 5-9-0 as the visiting team and have lost five of their last seven road tilts.

LA will visit Minnesota on Tuesday before capping the swing Wednesday night in Colorado. The Kings are actually playing eight of their next nine games on the road, beginning with this afternoon's test.

The Stars have lost three of their last four games, but have managed to record a point in three straight contests (1-0-2). Dallas has gone past regulation in three straight games and picked up its only win in that stretch with Monday's 5-4 decision against Detroit.

Dallas hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and was handed a close loss, as Jason Pominville tallied in the sixth round of the shootout to lift the Sabres to the 5-4 road victory at American Airlines Arena.

Matt Niskanen, Brad Richards, Trevor Daley and Steve Ott scored for the Stars. Marty Turco stopped 31-of-35 shots while picking up an assist.

The Stars, who are completing a three-game homestand today, are 10-6-4 as the host this season and have won six of their last eight in Dallas. The club will play its next two games in Florida, visiting Tampa Bay on Monday before battling the Panthers in Sunrise two days later.

The Kings are 2-0 against Dallas this year, posting a home shootout victory on November 11 before beating the Stars in Texas just two days later. Both wins came by a 3-2 score.

LA has taken four of five and six of nine from the Stars in this series. The Kings have also won two straight in Dallas, but had lost their previous seven stops in Big D.

Actionwager Hockey Betting News

<< Kiefer withdraws from Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicolas Kiefer of Germany has withdrawn from the Australian Open because of a left ankle injury. Kiefer was hurt last week during the Hopman Cup. His best finish in 10 previous Austral

<< Casey takes four-shot lead with stellar 63
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Casey fired a bogey- free, nine-under 63 Saturday to take a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the Abu Dhabi Championship. Casey completed 54 holes at 19-under-par 197. His t

<< Nalbandian outlasts Nieminen for Sydney crown
Sydney, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Nalbandian of Argentina gutted out a three-set victory over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen to capture the Medibank International title on Saturday. The fourth-seeded Nalbandian posted a 6-3, 6-7

<< Bucs dismiss Gruden and Allen; Morris reportedly in as coach
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dismissed head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen on Friday. Gruden was named the seventh head coach in Buccaneers history in February of 2002 and led the

<< Magic Trick: Nelson, Howard power Orlando past Lakers
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jameer Nelson poured in 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, including a trio of three-pointers, as the Orlando Magic pulled off an unprecedented season sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers behind

'Canes hope to avoid longest losing streak of season vs Sabres >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they visit the Buffalo Sabres for tonight's encounter at HSBC Arena. The Hurricanes have lost four straight contests and are in danger

Devils resume road trip against Islanders >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils continue their six-game road trip tonight in an Atlantic Division contest with the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. New Jersey has won two straight and three of the four contests it has played

Celtics visit Nets at Meadowlands >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics seem to be back on track since their season-high four-game winning streak and will shoot for their fourth straight win Saturday against the Atlantic Division-rival New Jersey Nets on the road. Boston has

Clippers host Bucks in hopes of avoiding 13th straight loss >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers hope to avoid their 13th consecutive loss Saturday when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks at Staples Center. The Clips fell to 0-2 on a six-game homestand Wednesday when Atlanta's Josh Smith totale

Orlando hopes to continue Magic road trip in Denver >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic hope to conclude a tough four-game road trip in perfect fashion Saturday when they invade the Rocky Mountains to take on the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center. The Magic passed another tough road test on Fri

FOOTBALL BETTING : Cassel Signs Contract

Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.

NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."

NFL Betting Lines

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.

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.