Ames, Verplank share lead at Disney World

Golf Betting Lines

11/03/2007 - Lake Buena Vista, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Ames posted a two-under 70 on Saturday to join Scott Verplank in the lead after three rounds of the Children's Miracle Network Classic.

Verplank carded a one-under 71 as he and Ames share the 54-hole lead at 13- under-par 203.

The big battle this week is for players to move into the top 125 on the money list to keep their tour cards for next year.

Tag Ridings is one of those battling for his tour card. He is well outside the top 125 and needs to win this week to keep his tour card. He posted a 71 in the third round and is now tied for third at minus-12.

Ridings was joined in third place by Mathew Goggin (69), Justin Leonard (70), Jeffrey Overton (69) and Tim Petrovic (68). Of those four, Overton is the only one near the bubble as he stands 117th on the money list.

After two days of playing with amateur partners and rotating over the Magnolia and Palm Courses at the Walt Disney World Resort, the field is playing the final two rounds on the Magnolia Course.

Saturday's third round had a volatile leaderboard with eight different players grabbing a piece of the lead during the round.

Ames and Verplank broke from that pack with their play on the back nine. Ames parred the first six holes before kicking in a two-footer for birdie at the seventh.

That birdie gave him a share of the lead with Brett Wetterich at minus-12. Wetterich pulled ahead thanks to an eagle on the 10th, but Ames got back within one as he two-putted for birdie on the par-five 10th.

Ames dropped in a five-foot birdie putt on 13 and followed with a nine-footer for birdie on 14 to grab a two-stroke lead as Wetterich began to struggle.

The 43-year-old Ames also stumbled down the stretch. He three-putted for bogey on the par-four 16th. At the last, he chipped to six feet but missed the par- saving putt to drop into a share of the lead with Verplank.

Verplank, who went 4-0 for the United States at the Presidents Cup in September, opened with a birdie on the par-four second. Back-to-back bogeys from the fifth dropped him to minus-11, one behind Wetterich and Ridings.

The Byron Nelson Championship winner got one stroke back with a birdie on the 10th. Verplank gave that stroke right back as he bogeyed 11. He bounced back with a birdie at the 12th to return to 12-under.

Verplank rolled in a birdie putt on the 15th to get to 13-under. At that point, he trailed by two but Ames' late bogeys erased that deficit. Verplank parred the last three to share the lead.

Heath Slocum posted a three-under 69 to move into eighth place at 11-under-par 205.

Wetterich, who led by one on the 11th tee thanks to an eagle on the 10th, played the final seven holes in plus-four to shoot even-par 72. That dropped him into a tie for ninth at minus-10.

He was joined there by Robert Gamez, J.P. Hayes, J.B. Holmes, Ryuji Imada, Steve Marino, Cameron Beckman, Rich Beem, D.J. Brigman, Stewart Cink and Tim Clark.

Holmes is currently 126th on the money list, but could bump Ted Purdy out of the top 125 on the money list. Holmes is exempt for next year thanks to his win at the 2006 FBR Open, but his finish will affect Purdy, who missed the cut, and others. Hayes is near the bubble as well as he stands 123rd on the money list.

Wwwnelottery Golf Betting News

<< Davenport reaches Bell Challenge final
Quebec City, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Lindsay Davenport continued her push to a second title this year, ousting second-seed Vera Zvonareva in three sets to reach the final of the $175,000 Bell Challenge. Appearing in her third

<< Harvick wins race, Edwards clinches Busch title
Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Harvick won Saturday's O'Reilly Challenge Busch Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway and an 11th-place finish from Carl Edwards clinched his first Busch Series championship. The No.21

<< Rangers send Kasparaitis to Russia
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers have loaned defenseman Darius Kasparaitis to SKA St. Petersburg of the Russian Super League (RSL), the team announced on Saturday. Kasparaitis, 35, appeared in four games with the

<< Dunn, Auburn pound Tennessee Tech
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Dunn caught two touchdown passes as 19th- ranked Auburn celebrated homecoming with a 35-3 rout of non-conference foe Tennessee Tech. Brandon Cox completed 9-of-11 passes for 167 yards and a touchd

<< Moreno leads the way as 10th-ranked Bulldogs topple Troy
Athens, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Knowshon Moreno ran for 196 yards and three touchdowns, leading 10th-ranked Georgia to a 44-34 victory over Troy at Sanford Stadium. Matthew Stafford threw for 217 yards and a pair of late second-qu

Argos crush Riders; take East Division title >>
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Bishop threw for three touchdowns, and the Toronto Argonauts claimed the CFL East with a 41-13 win over Saskatchewan in the regular-season finale for both clubs. With the win, Toronto (11-7) passed Wi

Boise State overwhelms San Jose State >>
Boise, ID (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Taylor Tharp completed 28-of-35 passes for 259 yards, with three touchdowns and an interception, and 21st-ranked Boise State routed San Jose State, 42-7. Jeremy Avery gained 56 yards on seven rushes with

Tennessee unanimous No. 1 in preseason poll >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending national champion Tennessee is back atop the women's college basketball rankings, earning a unanimous No. 1 selection from the media in the preseason Associated Press poll. Tennessee capture

Tennessee pummels Louisiana-Lafayette >>
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arian Foster and Lennon Creer both topped 100 yards rushing, and the 24th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers pounded Louisiana- Lafayette, 59-7. Foster rushed 20 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns for th

Stillwater shocker: Longhorns rally in fourth, win on last-second FG >>
Stillwater, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Bailey's 40-yard field goal as time expired capped a furious fourth-quarter rally, as the 14th-ranked Texas Longhorns came back for a 38-35 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a Big 12 Conf

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.