Tolliver cruises to American Century Championship title

Golf Betting Lines

07/18/2010 - Tahoe, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Billy Joe Tolliver, the former NFL quarterback, collected 26 points on Sunday to easily cruise to a record-setting victory at the American Century Championship.

Tolliver finished with 84 points, which is a tournament record in the modified Stableford scoring system. He won by 19 points, which is the largest margin of victory in tournament history.

The victory was his third in this championship and third in three different decades. Tolliver won the title in 1996 and 2005.

In the scoring format, double-eagle gets 10 points, an ace gets eight, an eagle is worth six, a birdie is three and a par gets one. Bogey is worth nothing, but a double-bogey or worse costs you two points.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (25), former MLB pitcher John Smoltz (24), actor Jack Wagner (18) and Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway (20) shared second place with 65 points.

Former quarterback Mark Rypien amassed 23 points on Sunday and finished sixth with 60 points, followed by former hockey great Jeremy Roenick (19), who had 59.

Wwwmsnmusic Golf Betting News

<< A's use home runs to sweep Royals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Rosales, Jack Cust and Kevin Kouzmanoff each homered, as the Oakland Athletics held off the Kansas City Royals, 9-6, to complete a three-game series sweep at Kauffman Stadium. Cliff Penn

<< Yankees overcome Pettitte injury to take series with Rays
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada each drove in two runs, and New York cobbled together 6 2/3 innings from its bullpen to come from behind and down Tampa Bay, 9-5, in the rubber match of a three-g

<< Rangers open second half with series win at Boston
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - C.J. Wilson struck out a career-high 10 in 6 2/3 effective innings, and the Texas Rangers won a four-game series in Boston for the first time in 15 years with a 4-2 victory over the Red Sox. Wilson (8-5) allow

<< Jays complete sweep of O's in grand fashion
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yunel Escobar, in his third game with Toronto, hit his first-career grand slam, as the Blue Jays dominated the Baltimore Orioles, 10-1, to complete a three-game sweep at Camden Yards. Escobar,

<< Maholm blanks Astros as Pirates bang out 19 hits
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Maholm twirled a three-hit shutout to pitch Pittsburgh past Houston, 9-0, and finish off a three-game set at PNC Park. Maholm (6-7) did not walk a batter, struck out one and did not allow a runne

Twins rally for ninth inning comeback win >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Delmon Young's bases loaded run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth inning brought in two with the help of a throwing error by Alex Rios, as the Minnesota Twins scored four runs in the inning

McCann's grand slam helps Braves down Brewers >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian McCann hit his sixth career grand slam and drove in five to lead the Braves in an 11-6 win and split of a four-game series with Milwaukee at Turner Field. Matt Diaz also homered, knocked in three

Joh wins playoff for first Duramed Futures title >>
Bloomfield, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiffany Joh birdied the fourth playoff hole Sunday to defeat Gerina Mendoza and win the ING New England Golf Classic on the Duramed Futures Tour. Joh sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the fourth ext

Astros designate Daigle, bring up Majewski >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have designated pitcher Casey Daigle for assignment and purchased the contract of pitcher Gary Majewski from Triple-A Round Rock. Daigle posted a 1-1 record with an 11.32 ea

Holliday caps Cards' comeback in ninth for sweep of Dodgers >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday's two-out, game-winning RBI single capped a five-run rally in the final two innings, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a four-game sweep 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.