11/23/2008 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryane Clowe scored twice, Rob Blake recorded four assists and Brian Boucher was once again solid in net with 19 saves as the San Jose Sharks dominated Washington, 7-2.
Patrick Marleau, Devin Setoguchi, Joe Thornton and Marc-Edouard Vlasic each lit the lamp and had a helper for San Jose, which moved to 11-0-1 at home this season and has beaten Washington 11 straight times.
Tom Poti and Tomas Fleischmann recorded the Capitals' goals, and Brent Johnson allowed all seven goals on 28 shots in the club's third loss in four games.
Three goals in the span of 6:32 of the first period gave the Sharks a nice cushion. Marleau tallied at the 9:13 mark -- his 10th of the season -- and Clowe followed roughly 3 1/2 minutes later with his 10th. Setoguchi finished the rally on his 12th goal.
"I don't know if the wheels fell off after the first goal, I thought despite being down 3-0, we played pretty well in the first period," Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They had three goals on five shots, and I think those shots were extremely well placed."
Poti's goal at the 7:56 mark of the second got Washington on the board, but Thornton's power-play tally and Vlasic's goal with 33 ticks left in the frame pushed the Sharks ahead, 5-1.
Again the Caps needed a power play to get one past Boucher with Fleischmann netting his eighth of the year at the 2:19 mark, but Clowe's second of the game shortly thereafter ended any slim possibility of a comeback.
Mike Grier put the finishing touches on the blowout win with his third goal of the season in the final minute of play.
"The reward at the end of the night for not the coach but the players themselves is the fact that they had a 7-2 win," Sharks head coach Todd McLellen said.
Game Notes
Boucher started in place of Evgeni Nabokov, who has now missed seven games due to a lower-body injury...Washington hasn't posted a win over the Sharks since February 20, 1999 and hasn't won in San Jose since October 30, 1993...Dan Boyle recorded three assists for San Jose.
<< Late push carries Red Wings over Flames
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jiri Hudler notched the game-winning goal late
in the third period and assisted on another score as Detroit put away Calgary,
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Pavel Datsyuk also had a goal and an
<< CFL Previews - Grey Cup Championship (November 23rd)
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's only fitting that the best team in the
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'08 Grey Cup champion.
Montreal finished first in the East, then defeated the Edmo
<< Bolland completes comeback as Chicago downs Toronto in OT
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dave Bolland netted the game-winner 49 seconds
into overtime to lift the Chicago Blackhawks over the Toronto Maple Leafs,
5-4, at Air Canada Centre.
Patrick Sharp tallied two goals while Duncan Keith and
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Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado's Adam Foote left Saturday's
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FSU pounds No. 22 Maryland in College Park >>
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida State's Chris Ponder ran 14 times
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Seminoles to a 37-3 road win over No. 22 Maryland at CCB Field at Byrd
Stadium
Cavs have no trouble handling Hawks >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James finished with 24 points, eight
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over the Atlanta Hawks.
Mo Williams added 23 points, five boards and four assists
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Hong Kong (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lin Wen-tang prevailed in a thrilling three-way
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The 34-year-old from Chinese Taipei tapped in a one-foot birdie putt on the
secon
JMU finishes regular season at No. 1 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - James Madison closed out the regular
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over Towson and stayed on top of The Sportsbook Betting Lines FCS top-25 poll.
The Dukes (1
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 sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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