Schelotto, Hesmer lead Crew over Real Salt Lake

Soccer Betting Lines

04/24/2010 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Guillermo Barros Schelotto scored his third goal in as many matches, leading the Columbus Crew to a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday at soggy Crew Stadium.

Schelotto converted a penalty kick in the 38th minute, and William Hesmer made four saves - one a late breakaway Real striker Robbie Findley - for his second shutout of the season.

Columbus (2-0-1), which has finished with the best record in MLS the last two seasons, avenged last season's playoff loss to Real Salt Lake.

Real Salt Lake (1-3-1) defeated Columbus in the opening round of the playoffs, and then beat the Chicago Fire and Los Angeles Galaxy to win the league title. RSL, which won just twice on the road last season, has lost three of its four away from home already this season.

Real Salt Lake created the first chance in the 10th minute when Alvaro Saborio drove in alone on goal. Hesmer sprinted off his line and dove to steal of the ball off Saborio's shoelaces to prevent a shot.

Schelotto set up the Crew's first chance in the 15th when he swung a cross to Andy Iro at the far post but the defender headed nearly straight down into the wet ground and the ball then bounced over the crossbar.

Columbus took the lead in the final 10 minutes of the half when Real Salt Lake midfielder Robbie Russell knocked down Robbie Rogers inside the box. Schelotto drove the penalty to the left side and, although Real goalie Nick Rimando dove that way, converted for his third goal of the season.

Schelotto set up a chance for Columbus early in the second half off a corner, but then the Crew relied on Hesmer to preserve the victory.

Real didn't put Hesmer under a lot of pressure until the final 10 minutes, and Nelson Gonzalez presented the first big test off a free kick from 19 yards. He drove the ball around the Crew's thee-man wall and had the left side in sight, but Hesmer dove across the goal and made a one-handed save in the 81st.

Findley, who came off the bench early in the second half, broke in alone after a Crew player fell down outside the area and tried to slip a shot by Hesmer at the near post, but was denied by another fine save.

Hesmer made another point-blank stop in the 89th, although the shot was called back for a foul, and Columbus held on through five minutes of extra time.

Columbus remained perfect at home with two wins in two matches, and has yet to concede a goal at Crew Stadium this season. The Crew topped Toronto FC 2-0 in their other home match.

Real Salt Lake hosts Toronto and Columbus visits Seattle Sounders FC on May 1.

Wsportsbetting Soccer Betting News

<< Rare Mastroeni goal proves to be winner as Rapids top Revs
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rapids earned a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium in Major League Soccer action on Saturday night. Mehdi Ballouchy and Pablo Mastroeni scored their first re

<< Rays use big eighth inning to beat Jays
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Zobrist had a two-run single to cap a seven-run eighth inning, as the Tampa Bay Rays downed Toronto, 9-3, in the middle portion of a three-game set. Jason Bartlett also had a two-run single in

<< Bohn leads weather-delayed Zurich Classic
Avondale, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Bohn had a three-shot lead when the third round of the weather-delayed Zurich Classic was suspended Saturday night due to darkness. Chasing his second PGA Tour win, Bohn was 12-under par and playing the

<< Falcons re-sign RB Norwood, P Koenen
Flowery Branch, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Falcons re-signed running back Jerious Norwood and punter Michael Koenen to undisclosed contracts on Saturday. Norwood, the club's third-round pick in the 2006 draft, played in 10

<< City goalie Given will miss rest of season
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given will miss the last three matches of the English Premier League season after he dislocated his shoulder Saturday in a 0-0 draw against Arsenal. Given made a nice s

Bucks crush Hawks in Game 3 >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Salmons scored 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting and had seven assists, and Milwaukee blew out Atlanta, 107-89, in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. Jerry Stackhouse came off

Hearn clings to lead at South Georgia Classic >>
Valdosta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Hearn limped in with a one-over 73, but remained in the lead Saturday after three rounds of the Nationwide Tour's South Georgia Classic. Hearn played his final 11 holes at four-over par, making a b

Astros roll past Pirates >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wandy Rodriguez worked 7 1/3 effective innings and was backed by a season-high 13 hits, as Houston topped Pittsburgh, 5-2, at Minute Maid Park. Rodriguez (1-2) struck out seven, walked one and limited Pitts

Lilly's sparkling debut sends Cubs past Brewers >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ted Lilly shined in his 2010 debut, tossing six scoreless innings, as the Chicago Cubs defeated Milwaukee, 5-1, in the second contest of a three-game series at Miller Park. Lilly (1-0), who was activate

Galaxy suffer first blemish with draw at K.C. >>
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Galaxy suffered the first blemish on their record after battling to a 0-0 draw against the Kansas City Wizards in Major league Soccer action on Saturday night at ComminutyAmerica Ballpar

MySportsbook.com offers Blackjack contest and $10,000.00 in Free Prize money!

Every month MySportsbook.com's casino host, Jack Black, gives away $10,000.00 in free casino prize money. To Enter - All you have to do is play at least 10 hands (total) of Blackjack on one of the specified dates of the blackjack contest. The online casino host randomly hands out free bonuses ranging from $50 - $500, and one lucky player who will receive a free $2,500.00 bonus.

"We have been running this monthly free blackjack contest to our active mebers for 5 years now, and the players just love it," says Jack Black, online casino host at MySportsbook.com. "And why wouldn't they love a free chance to win some extra online blackjack cash."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs.

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.