Choi up to No. 3 in world rankings

Golf Betting Lines

12/26/2011 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Na Yeon Choi inched up to third in this week's world rankings.

Yani Tseng remained comfortably in first, followed by Suzann Pettersen and Choi. Cristie Kerr slipped one to fourth, while Paula Creamer once again completed the top five.

Sun Ju Ahn, Jiyai Shin, I.K. Kim, Ai Miyazato and Stacy Lewis rounded out the top 10. Brittany Lincicome, Amy Yang, Shanshan Feng and Chie Arimura held their places from last week, while Ji-Hee Lee climbed one to 15th.

Morgan Pressel dropped a spot to 16th and Michelle Wie, Karrie Webb, Angela Stanford and Sakura Yokomine rounded out the top 20.

Foxaports Golf Betting News

<< Road-challenged Ducks shoot for win in San Jose
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Exactly half of the Ducks' road wins this season have come versus the Sharks. Anaheim looks to snap a 13-game winless stretch on the road tonight, but in order to do so it will need to snap San Jose's run of five straight

<< Low-scoring Kings welcome Coyotes to LA
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kings still haven't shaken their scoring issues since the firing of Terry Murray, but at least they are finding ways to produce victories. Los Angeles tries to record a point in a fourth straight game this evening as

<< Nugent-Hopkins, Oilers head to Vancouver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While it will be over two weeks until the Oilers next play in Edmonton, at least one skater will feel at home in tonight's road matchup in Vancouver. British Columbia native and NHL rookie scoring leader Ryan Nugent-Hopkin

<< Lowly Blue Jackets visit first-place Blackhawks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jackets showed last time out just how dangerous their power play can be. Now if only they could find a way to win on the road. Columbus tries to avoid a fifth straight defeat this evening as it takes on the NHL-le

<< Weber, Preds host Red Wings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nashville captain Shea Weber's current point streak began with an excellent effort over Detroit 11 days ago. The Predators' leading scorer will look for a repeat effort this evening as his club looks to deal the Red Wings a

Rockets sign C Dalembert to multi-year deal >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets signed veteran center Samuel Dalembert to a multi-year contract on Monday. "Samuel is someone we had great interest in signing as a free agent," said Rockets general manager Daryl

Handing out NFL holiday gifts and grinches >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Guess Rex Ryan really has been naughty this year. The ever-bombastic Jets head coach's Christmas Eve meal consisted one of one mighty big helping of humble pie courtesy of the crosstown rival Giants in Sa

Marchand highlights NHL's 'Three Stars' >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand, New York Rangers sniper Marian Gaborik and Colorado Avalanche goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere have been named the NHL's "Three Stars" for the week ending December 25.

Wild hope to snap slide against streaking Avs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Northwest Division teams heading in opposite directions will meet tonight in St. Paul, as the sliding Wild host the surging Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild have lost their last six games (0-4-2) and ent

Baylor still unanimous No. 1 >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baylor remained a unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll on Monday. The Lady Bears received all 40 first-place votes for a total of 1,000 points from a

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.

Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.