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01/28/2012 - Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A goal in each half from Steven Davis propelled Rangers to a 4-0 win over Hibernian at the Ibrox Stadium on Saturday, moving the club to within a point of leaders Celtic.
Davis scored the lone goal of the first half when he was played in behind the defense by Sone Aluko and fired his shot past goalkeeper Mark Brown.
The lead was doubled 10 minutes after the break when David Healy tracked down a long ball from Sasa Papac and beat Brown with the 'keeper out of position, while Hibs was reduced to 10 men in the 71st minute as James McPake picked up a second yellow card.
Aluko scored on the ensuing free kick to make it 3-0, and Davis added to the misery for the visitors by capping the scoring in stoppage time with his second goal of the contest.
Hibernian has lost three of its last four games and sits just one point off the bottom of the league.
Aberdeen 1, Dunfermline 0
Aberdeen, Scotland - Scott Vernon's first-half goal was enough for Aberdeen to extend its unbeaten streak to five games as the Dons secured a 1-0 win over Dunfermline at Pittodrie Stadium on Saturday.
The goal arrived in the 24th minute when Dunfermline goalkeeper Iain Turner came racing off his line to intercept a pass from Mark Reynolds. However, Vernon arrived at the ball first and headed it over the 'keeper for the game's lone goal.
Aberdeen moves into the top half of the table with the win, while Dunfermline has dropped seven of its last eight games and remains on the bottom of the league.
Inverness 0, St. Mirren 0
Inverness, Scotland - Inverness and St Mirren each moved a point further from the bottom as the two sides played to a 0-0 draw at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium on Saturday.
Inverness put some distance between itself and the bottom with a run of three wins and a draw in its last four games, while the Saints entered Saturday's match on a three-game losing streak.
The closest that either side came to breaking the deadlock arrived shortly after substitute Claude Gnakpa entered the match for Inverness in the 64th minute.
He sent a low shot whistling past goalkeeper Craig Samson but saw his effort strike the inside of the post and carom back into play.
Motherwell 3, St. Johnstone 2
Motherwell, Scotland - Motherwell strengthened its hold on third place on Saturday as Henrik Ojamaa scored a pair of goals in a 3-2 win over St Johnstone at Fir Park Stadium.
The two teams traded goals in the first half with Ojamaa putting Motherwell in front in the 22nd minute, only for Jody Morris to equalize for St Johnstone just before halftime.
Ojamaa found the net again in the 65th minute for the hosts and Keith Lasley stretched the lead to 3-1 15 minutes from time before Francisco Sandaza pulled a goal back for the visitors from the penalty spot with nine minutes to play.
Motherwell moves six points clear of fourth-place Hearts following the win, while St Johnstone fails to claim fourth place after sustaining its second loss in three matches.
<< Columbus to host 2013 NHL All-Star game
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Columbus and the Blue Jackets will host the
NHL's All-Star festivities in 2013, the league announced Saturday.
The showcase, which includes the skills competition and All-Star game, will
take place on th
<< Cavs and Pack square off Raleigh
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams continuing to jockey for position
within the ACC meet in Raleigh tonight, as the 19th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers
take on the NC State Wolfpack.
Virginia is an impressive 16-3 this season, but the team
<< No.2 Tigers tangle with Red Raiders
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Missouri Tigers set their
sights on getting back on track, as they welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders to
Columbia this afternoon, for a Big 12 matchup at Mizzou Arena.
Frank Haith's Tigers ar
<< Sixth-ranked Bears welcome Longhorns to Waco
Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Baylor Bears continue their quest
towards the top spot in the Big 12, as they welcome the Texas Longhorns to
Waco for a conference showdown at the Ferrell Center.
Scott Drew's Bears are 5-2 in-con
Kagawa fires Dortmund past Hoffenheim >>
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shinji Kagawa netted a pair of goals to
lead Borussia Dortmund to a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday at Signal-
Iduna-Park, extending Dortmund's unbeaten run to 13 games.
Goals from Kagawa and Ke
Duke hangs on to defeat St. John's >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mason Plumlee finished with 15 points and 17
rebounds, and No. 8 Duke held on for an 83-76 victory over St. John's on
Saturday.
Ryan Kelly scored 16 points and grabbed nine boards for the Blue D
Marquette overcomes slow start, edges Villanova >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darius Johnson-Odom scored a game-high 26
points and added six rebounds as No. 17 Marquette came back from 18 down to
defeat Villanova, 82-78, at Wells Fargo Center.
Jae Crowder had 20 points and 12 bo
Syracuse holds off West Virginia in controversial finish >>
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-ranked Syracuse Orange snuck past
the West Virginia Mountaineers, 63-61, in a controversial finish at the
Carrier Dome.
With West Virginia down by two, Darryl Bryant missed a three-pointe
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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