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Djokovic rallies past Murray to reach Aussie Open final

Tennis Betting Lines

01/27/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic will play for a second straight Australian Open title after rallying for a thrilling five-set semifinal win over Andy Murray in a rematch of last year's final.

Djokovic blitzed Murray in straight sets last year to win his second Aussie Open crown on the way to a dominant season that included two more Grand Slam titles and his ascension to the No. 1 ranking in the world.

It was a much different story on Friday in Melbourne, as Djokovic regrouped after dropping a third-set tiebreaker. He then dominated the fourth set before gutting out the last and claimed a 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 7-5 triumph in a match that lasted nearly five hours.

Djokovic, who first won this title in 2008, will take on 2009 winner Rafael Nadal for the championship on Sunday. The super Spaniard topped Roger Federer in four sets on Thursday to earn his spot in the final.


<< Despite defections, plenty of talent still on hand for Pro Bowl
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A select number of the NFL's best players will be making a trip to Hawaii to participate in this Sunday's AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, though the league's annual all-star game will be lacking some of its star power once again due to a v

<< Kuznetsova-Zvonareva win Aussie doubles title
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva bested Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci to win the Australian Open women's doubles title on Friday. The unseeded Russian duo of Kuznetsova and Zvonareva ea

<< Clippers slip past Grizzlies
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blake Griffin finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, leading the Clippers to a 98-91 victory over the Grizzlies at Staples Center. Chris Paul and Mo Williams each scored 18 points, whil

<< Holt leads No. 21 Saint Mary's past Loyola Marymount
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Holt had 19 points and six rebounds to lift No. 21 Saint Mary's to a 71-64 win over Loyola Marymount. Matthew Dellavedova totaled 13 points and seven assists while Rob Jones added 11 points and 1

<< No. 7 Tennessee cruises past Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shekinna Stricklen led a balanced attack with 14 points, as No. 7 Tennessee cruised to an 86-56 win over Alabama on Thursday. Glory Johnson added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Lady Vols (15-5, 6-

Tiger two behind Olesen in Abu Dhabi >>
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods posted a three- under 69 Friday to move within two strokes of the lead after two rounds of the Abu Dhabi Championship. Woods, who is playing this event for the first time, had f

Villanova promotes Crocker to defensive coordinator >>
Villanova, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Villanova head football coach Andy Talley announced Friday the promotion of Billy Crocker from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator. Talley also announced the hiring of Roc Bellantoni as defensive line

Hawks resume road trip in Detroit >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks hope to bounce back from a miserable showing their last time out tonight when they continue a five-game road trip against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace in Auburn Hills. Atlanta seemed lost at times on

Wizards try to pick up road victory in Houston >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards have had trouble the past two seasons playing well on the road and look to avoid an 0-8 start as the guest tonight against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center. The Wizards will play two straight

Magic try to rebound against Hornets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For three quarters last night it appeared the Orlando Magic had erased all the memories of their worst shooting performance in franchise history in a rematch with the Boston Celtics. But a lousy final period sent the Magic

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.”

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