Barcelona blitzes Sevilla

Soccer Betting Lines

04/22/2009 - Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona regained its six-point lead atop the La Liga table on Wednesday as the club recorded a resounding 4-0 win over Sevilla at the Nou Camp.

Just one day after Real Madrid scored a dramatic 3-2 win over Getafe to close the gap to three points, Barca put together an impressive response with Andres Iniesta and Samuel Eto'o scoring goals inside of 18 minutes to send the hosts on their way.

Xavi made it 3-0 shortly after halftime and Thierry Henry added another goal five minutes later to cap the impressive offensive display.

Iniesta had Barca on the scoreboard after three minutes when he collected a loose ball in midfield and was given room.

He carried the ball towards goal and curled a perfect shot into the upper right corner, giving Sevilla goalkeeper Javi Varas no chance.

The Barca pressure continued minutes later when Daniel Alves struck a free kick that took a slight deflection and sailed just over the crossbar, while Eto'o fired over the net from 10 yards with only the keeper to beat.

Sevilla got a rare look at goal in the 12th minute when Diego Capel crossed to the back post for Jesus Navas, but he volleyed wide from six yards and Barca struck again five minutes later.

A nice build up saw Xavi and Iniesta work a nice one-two with Iniesta taking the return pass inside the box and sliding a first-time pass to the penalty spot for Eto'o, whose shot was tipped by the keeper but settled inside the left post.

Xavi almost made it 3-0 before the break when he chipped the ball inches wide of the far post, but the Spain international didn't have to wait long to put his name on the scoresheet.

Eto'o took a pass inside the box from Iniesta, and he dropped the ball back to Xavi to curl inside the upper right corner.

Iniesta was again involved in the build up five minutes later when he laid the ball off to Henry inside the box on the left. The former Arsenal man dribbled towards goal and calmly rolled the ball inside the far post, surprising the keeper and capping the win.

Valencia continues to chase a Champions League spot and they improved their position with a 2-1 win over Real Betis as David Villa scored twice, Deportivo downed Almeria 2-0, and Malaga overcame a 2-1 halftime deficit to beat Osasuna, 3-2.

Wwwworldgaming Soccer Betting News

<< Revs defender Albright out 6-8 weeks after knee surgery
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Revolution defender Chris Albright underwent successful surgery to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee, the Major League Soccer club announced. The 30-year-old former U.S. in

<< L.A.'s Wagner earns WPS Player of the Week
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Sol midfielder Aly Wagner was voted the Women's Professional Soccer Player of the Week for Week 4. The U.S. international lead the Sol to a 1-0 victory on Sunday over visiting FC Gold Pride at

<< L.A.'s Wagner earn's WPS Player of the Week
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Sol midfielder Aly Wagner was voted the Women's Professional Soccer Player of the Week for Week 4. The U.S. international lead the Sol to a 1-0 victory on Sunday over visiting FC Gold Pride at

<< United doubles up on Pompey, extends lead to three points
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United opened up a three- point lead on second-placed Liverpool on Wednesday as the Red Devils recorded a 2-0 win against Portsmouth at Old Trafford. Liverpool was held to a 4-4 draw

<< Rangers' Benson heads to DL
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers placed right-handed pitcher Kris Benson on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 16, with right elbow tendinitis. On Monday, the club announced that Benson's scheduled

Cabrera's homer pushes Yanks past A's in 14th inning >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melky Cabrera blasted two homers, including the game-winning two run shot in the 14th inning, as the New York Yankees outlasted the Oakland Athletics, 9-7, in the first extra-inning game at the new Yan

Roberts, Haren help D-Backs shut down Rockies >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Roberts' pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh inning broke a scoreless tie, as Dan Haren was credited with his much- deserved first win of the season in Arizona's 2-0 decision over Colorado. Haren (1

Molina lifts Giants over Padres in 10th >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pinch-hitter Bengie Molina knocked in the winning run with a ground-rule double in the bottom of the 10th inning, as the San Francisco Giants outlasted the San Diego Padres, 1-0, to sweep a two-game series

Phillies announce rescheduled rainouts >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies announced Wednesday the rescheduled dates for a pair of games that were postponed due to inclement weather earlier this month. The April 20 home date against San Diego h

Giants bolster O-line with T Carnahan >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants acquired tackle Andrew Carnahan off waivers from the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday. Carnahan, 25, was originally a seventh-round selection out of Arizona State by the Jaguars

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.