Ambrose wins Nationwide pole at rainy Montreal

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/29/2009 - Montreal, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcos Ambrose prevailed during wet conditions to win Saturday's qualifying for the NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Ambrose turned a lap at the 2.71-mile, 14-turn street course at 80.905 m.p.h. in his No.47 JTG/Daugherty Racing Toyota for his second career Nationwide pole. His first pole came in October 2007 at Memphis.

The Aussie won the Nationwide road course event at Watkins Glen, NY earlier this month. He finished third in last year's race at Montreal.

Carl Edwards will start alongside Ambrose after securing the outside pole at 80.116 m.p.h.

Canadian Ron Fellows, the defending race winner, qualified third, and road- racing expert Boris Said took the fourth spot. Brad Coleman completed the top- five.

Jacques Villeneuve qualified sixth, followed by Justin Marks, Antonio Perez, Andrew Ranger and Paul Menard.

Current points leader Kyle Busch will start 12th. Busch holds a 248-point advantage over Edwards.

Two drivers failed to qualify -- Daryl Harr and Morgan Shepherd.

Qualifying was delayed for one hour due to inclement weather. NASCAR instructed teams to bolt rain tires on their cars prior to the session.

Last year, NASCAR ran its first-ever national series points event in the rain, but weather conditions deteriorated to the point where the race was cut 26 laps short of the 74-lap distance.

The weather forecast for Sunday's race, which is scheduled to start around 2:30 p.m. (et), calls for scattered showers with a 40 percent chance of rain.

Jazzspors Autoracing Betting News

<< Dodgers use six-run seventh to halt Reds' win streak
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kemp had a three-run homer and Manny Ramirez added a two-run shot, as the Los Angeles Dodgers ended the Reds' season-high five-game winning streak with an 11-4 victory in the middle test of a th

<< Brees, Saints destroy Raiders
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Brees threw two touchdowns and the New Orleans Saints crushed the Oakland Raiders, 45-7, in preseason action. Brees went 14-for-17 with 179 yards while P.J. Hill had 83 yards and two touchdowns

<< USC WR Johnson fractures collarbone
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Southern California junior wide receiver Ronald Johnson suffered a fractured left collarbone during Saturday's scrimmage at the LA Coliseum and is expected to be sidelined for the nex

<< Toronto FC earns key road point at Seattle
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie goalkeeper Stefan Frei had five saves to post his fifth shutout Saturday, helping Toronto FC earn a key road point with a 0-0 tie against Seattle Sounders FC at Qwest Field. Toronto (8-8-7), which wasted

<< Price pitches Rays past Tigers
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Crawford knocked in an insurance run in the ninth and David Price turned in 7 1/3 strong innings as Tampa Bay edged Detroit, 3-1, in the second contest of four from Comerica Park. Price (7-6) scatter

Red Bulls will try to build on win vs. Columbus >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Red Bulls will be gunning to start their first winning streak of the season when they host the defending Major League Soccer champion Columbus Crew on Sunday at Giants Stadium. The Red B

Red Sox demote Tazawa, make other moves >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox on Saturday made several roster moves, the most notable of which was optioning pitcher Junichi Tazawa to Single-A Fort Myers in the Gulf Coast League. Tazawa, the highly touted rookie

D'Backs recall OF Young, place C Snyder on DL >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks recalled outfielder Chris Young from Triple-A Reno and placed catcher Chris Snyder on the 15-day disabled list prior to Saturday's game with the Astros. Young was optio

Chiefs QB Cassel exits with leg injury >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel left Saturday's preseason game against Seattle with a left leg injury. Cassel, who signed a lucrative contract after being acquired in an offseason trade

Verdasco captures Pilot Pen title >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco took down sixth-seeded Sam Querrey in the title match Saturday night to capture the $750,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final U.S. Open tune-up. Verdasco of Spain dis

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.