Palermo hopes to close out solid 2006 run with a win

Soccer Betting Lines

12/22/2006 - Siena, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a strong 2006 campaign, Palermo looks to close out the year on Saturday against a Siena team that has not seen a win in eight Serie A games.

"We have to make the last effort in order to try to close this year in the best way ever although we know that it won't be easy in Siena," goalkeeper Alberto Fontana told the club's website.

The Palermo club has spent the majority of the last 30 years in lower divisions, but will travel to Siena standing third on the Serie A table, trailing leader Internazionale by 11, remaining the same amount of points clear of the relegation zone with 34 to its name.

The hosts have gone the opposite of Palermo as of late, starting out solidly in league play, but have not seen three points since October 29, including the club's latest defeat to Empoli on Wednesday of this week, while Palermo comes off a 4-0 demolition of Ascoli.

The visitors will be without striker Andrea Carraciolo due to a fractured toe suffered while slipping as he got out of the bath, sidelining the forward for up to three weeks, thankfully for Carraciolo this recovery time will be during the winter break.

Siena will welcome back Daniele Portanova from suspension, while Erjon Bogdani, Francesco Cozza and Alberto will all be available after overcoming injuries, as Roberto D'Aversa will be probable after not being able to train normally because of muscle issues.

In other Serie A fixtures this weekend, Ascoli looks for its first win of the campaign against a visiting Chievo Verona, while Livorno looks to rebound from its 4-1 whipping handed out by Sampdoria, who travels to Catania Calcio in a battle of four versus six.

Parma defender Fernando Couto takes on his former team on Saturday when Lazio travels to the Stadio Ennio Tardini, while Udinese welcomes in AC Milan to the Stadio Friuli and a pair of 15-point squads meet up when Messina travels to Fiorentina.

Reggina will continue its battle to stay out of the relegation zone when Empoli arrives at the Stadio Oreste Granillo, while unbeaten Inter looks to tie the Serie A record of 11-straight wins set by Roma last season when Atalanta comes for a visit and second-place Roma hosts Cagliari.

SERIE A WEEKEND FIXTURES

SATURDAY -------- Ascoli - Chievo Verona

Catania Calcio - Sampdoria

Fiorentina - Messina

Inter Milan - Atalanta

Livorno - Torino

Parma - Lazio

Reggina - Empoli

Roma - Cagliari

Siena - Palermo

Udinese - AC Milan

Wwwmenshealth Soccer Betting News

<< Aberdeen, Rangers battle for second place
Aberdeen, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With league-leaders Celtic a whopping 14 points clear of the rest of the pack, it is time to start playing for second place for the rest of the Scottish Premier League. On Saturday, second-pla

<< Pistons get 'Sheed back
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Pistons got one of their key players back this week when Rasheed Wallace returned from a two-game absence to help beat the division-rival Cleveland Cavaliers. Wallace, who had missed the previous two wins

<< U.S. WNT to open 2007 against Germany
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States Women's National Team will open the 2007 season by participating in the Four Nations Tournament from Jan. 26-30 in China. The tourney will pit the U.S. versus some of the world's stronge

<< Griffey breaks hand
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati Reds center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. suffered a broken left hand due to an undisclosed accident at his home, the team announced Friday. Griffey, an 18-year veteran and 12-time All-Star, will

<< Report: Browns' Frye has broken bone in wrist
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Browns quarterback Charlie Frye reportedly has a broken bone in his right wrist. Frye was hurt on December 3 against Kansas City and has missed the past two games with what the team had d

Playoffs Or Bust >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The final two weeks of the regular season are upon us, and now is the time to bet against teams that already have locked up playoff bids. Indianapolis and Seattle combined for a 1-5 ATS mark in the last th

Patriots sign P Sauerbrun >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots signed former Pro Bowl punter Todd Sauerbrun on Friday. Sauerbrun, who was released by the Denver Broncos in October after serving a four-game suspension for testing positive for t

Bucks need some road work >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks can just forget about their five-game home winning streak because it's on the road where this team struggles. Milwaukee, which resides in last place in the Central Division, has lost four straight o

Top three stay the same in FIFA Women's Rankings >>
Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany finishes the year as the world's top women's team for the fourth year in a row in the FIFA World Rankings which came out Friday. The USA and Norway hold the second and third place

Playoffs Remain a Possibility for Rams >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The playoffs are still on the minds of the St. Louis Rams, and they will try to do whatever it takes to stay afloat in the crowded waters of the NFC postseason race. St. Louis will shoot for its second straight win on Sund

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.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.