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06/11/2010 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kurt Busch edged Jamie McMurray in Friday's qualifying to take the pole position for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Qualifying was delayed briefly due to a shower that moved over two-mile track earlier in the day. The inclement weather halted the last final 15 minutes of Sprint Cup Series practice and canceled the final practice for the Camping World Truck Series, which runs at Michigan on Saturday.
Busch, a two-time race winner at Michigan, turned a lap of 189.984 m.p.h. for his second pole of the season and the 12th of his Sprint Cup Series career. He won here in June 2003 and August 2007.
"The car felt comfortable in that one lap, and we were just looking at weather and looking at tomorrow and thinking we needed to stay in race trim more today, and after that one [qualifying] run, I thought, let's just tweak a few things,' and with the rain and qualifying getting back under way, I saw McMurray running in 37 [seconds], and I said, oh, the track is fast," Busch said.
Juan Pablo Montoya was quickest in today's lone practice, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Busch.
"We freed up the car just a little bit to make sure we weren't on the tight side, and that paid perfect dividends for us," Busch added.
McMurray will start on the front row at Michigan for the first time in 15 races here after qualifying 0.04 seconds behind Busch.
Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, will start third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Jeff Burton.
"It was a great lap there, but I'm not really sure how I could have gotten much faster there," Johnson said. "This [car] was awesome today. I'm very excited for this race. We've had the last two get away from us on fuel, and I hope this doesn't become a fuel-mileage race, because we can handle well and race for it."
Both races at Michigan in 2009 came down to a fuel-mileage battle, with Mark Martin winning the June race and Brian Vickers taking the August event. Jimmie Johnson held the lead in the closing laps but ran out of fuel in each of those two races at Michigan.
Jeff Gordon qualified sixth, while Denny Hamlin, last weekend's winner at Pocono, took the seventh spot. Ryan Newman, David Reutimann and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top-10.
Points leader Kevin Harvick will start 31st. Harvick currently holds a 19- point advantage over Kyle Busch, who will roll off 15th.
Dave Blaney, Michael Waltrip and Johnny Sauter failed to qualify.
Sunday's 400-mile race at Michigan is scheduled to start just after 1:00 p.m. (et).
<< Penguins' Orpik has successful surgery
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks
Orpik underwent successful sports hernia surgery Friday, the club announced.
The procedure was performed in Boston by Dr. David Berger.
General manager Ray Sh
<< Boise State joins Mountain West Conference
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mountain West Conference announced
Friday that Boise State has accepted an invitation to join the conference
beginning July 1, 2011.
Boise State moves on from the Western Athletic Conference a
<< Penguins' Orpik operated on for sports hernia
PITTSBURGH (AP) -Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik has undergone surgery to repair a sports hernia and will require a month to six weeks of rehabilitation.A sports hernia occurs when there is a weakening of the muscles or tendon in the low
<< AP source: Hawks set to hire Larry Drew as coach
ATLANTA (AP) -A person familiar with the situation says that the Atlanta Hawks are poised to hire Larry Drew as their next head coach.The person spoke to The Associated press on condition of anonymity because the team is still working out details of
Cowboys WR Austin signs tender >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin
has reportedly signed his $3.168 million tender for next season.
The Dallas Morning News is reporting the signing of Austin, who set career
highs with 81 rec
Giants sign S Chad Jones >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have signed
safety Chad Jones, their third round selection in the 2010 NFL Draft.
The 6-foot-3, 218-pound Jones played in 40 games over three seasons at LSU,
starting 19 t
Report: Hawks pick Drew as new head coach >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks have reportedly hired Larry
Drew to be the team's next head coach.
Drew, who has been Atlanta's lead assistant for the past six years, will take
the place of Mike Woodson, according to The
GB&I leads after first day of Curtis Cup >>
Manchester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Great Britain & Ireland won two of the three
afternoon four-ball matches Friday to take a 3 1/2 - 2 1/2 lead over the
United States after the first day of the Curtis Cup.
After the teams halved a
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.
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting