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12/28/2008 - Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rene Bourque registered his first career hat trick in Calgary's 6-3 win over the Senators, as Ottawa was dealt its 11th consecutive road loss.
Todd Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist for the Flames, who won for the fourth time in five contests. Andre Roy and Adrian Aucoin also lit the lamp, while Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 27 shots.
The Flames, who turned a 2-0 deficit into a lead by scoring three times in a 2:07 span of the second period, beat the Senators for a fourth straight time.
"It's a good feeling," said Bourque. "The puck was going in for me tonight. Once I got that first one we got a lot of turnovers, odd-man rushes and we got the ball rolling."
Chris Phillips, Jason Spezza and Alexandre Picard had the goals for Ottawa, which has dropped seven of nine overall. Alex Auld gave up five goals on 41 shots.
"Every time we seemed to make mistakes they seemed to be in the back of the net," said Spezza. "When you're losing games it's hard to get out of it. Obviously, we're not happy where we are right now, but we played pretty hard. We have to find a way to start getting some wins and get above .500 on this trip."
The Senators, who played the second of eight straight on the road, haven't won an away game since October 30 against the Florida Panthers. They won't return to Scotiabank Place until January 10 to play the New York Rangers.
Despite this being a nine-goal contest, neither team scored in the first period but Phillips and Spezza netted goals 7:20 apart in the second.
The game then changed in favor of the Flames thanks to Bourque, who had two goals in a span of 58 seconds. His first of the night came at 10:05 on a wraparound, and he scored again on a shot from above the left circle.
It became 3-2 Calgary when Adam Pardy directed a cross-ice pass to Roy, who was alone at the right side of the net for the tap-in.
Ottawa tied the game on Picard's power play tally 8:15 into the third when he lifted the puck from the high slot past a screened Kiprusoff, but the Flames responded 44 seconds later. Mike Cammalleri faked a shot from the right circle and passed to the lower left circle for a successful one-timer from Aucoin.
Bourque completed his hat trick with 5:35 remaining on a give-and-go with Daymond Langkow. Bourque had the disc along the left boards and passed to Langkow behind the net, and Bourque then scored from in front for his 14th marker of the season.
Bertuzzi scored into an empty net with 1:16 left.
Game Notes
Ottawa was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Calgary was 0-for-4...The Senators continue their swing at Vancouver Sunday...The Flames host Minnesota Monday.
<< Wolski, Budaj help Avs to shootout win over Red Wings
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The Avs have won both matchup
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Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Roy erupted for 18 points in the
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deficit in a 102-89 decision against the Toronto Raptors.
Roy finished with 32 poi
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Tim Duncan added 29 points before
<< Artest's late heroics help Rockets silence Jazz
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Artest scored 10 of his game-high 28 points
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23rd-ranked Minnesota hosts High Point >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 23rd-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers
are off to their best start in over three decades, and they will put that fast
start on the line this evening, as they play host to the High Point Panthers
in non-confe
Bruins battle Bulldogs in City of Angels >>
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Top-ranked Tar Heels set to vanquish Scarlet Knights >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Rutgers Scarlet Knights have never
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10th-ranked Boilermakers clash with Crusaders >>
West Lafayette, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 10th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers host
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Valparaiso is desperate for a victory, as the team has
In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
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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. “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).
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.
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.”
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