Surging Wizards seek more road success at Union

Soccer Betting Lines

09/03/2010 - Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said last week's 2-0 win at the Los Angeles Galaxy was "probably our best 90-minute performance of the whole season," but the surging Wizards still have work to do to qualify for the Major League Soccer playoffs.

Kansas City has four wins and two ties in its last seven matches, earning more than half its 26 points during the run. The Wizards also won at Columbus, 1-0, to open the streak in mid-July, but the expansion Philadelphia Union present a challenge for K.C. on Saturday.

K.C. (7-9-5) visits PPL Park for the second game of a three-game road trip but Philadelphia (5-11-5) has played well recently, earning two draws and a win in its last four MLS matches. The Union also beat Mexico's Guadalajara, 1-0, this week in a friendly.

Kansas City's victories at Los Angeles and Columbus are its only two road wins this season, as six losses and two draws in its other away games have kept the Wizards from moving up the Eastern Conference standings.

Davy Arnaud had a goal and an assist last week in the win over L.A., which has the best record in MLS (Columbus has the second best record), and Galaxy coach Bruce Arena praised K.C. following the game at The Home Depot Center.

"I think that we got outcompeted. All this was about tonight was fighting and scrapping and we lost that fight. I think that was the difference in the game; they played harder," Arena said.

K.C. is fourth in the Eastern Conference, 11 points back of Red Bull New York, who holds the second of two guaranteed playoff berths from the conference. The Wizards are three behind the San Jose Earthquakes for the final playoff spot.

Philadelphia has quietly put together a decent year for an expansion team, and is only nine points behind San Jose with two months remaining in the year. The Union won 2-1 at the New England Revolution last weekend thanks to a stoppage- time goal from Justin Mapp, then followed that with the win over Guadalajara.

Philadelphia has yet to post a shutout in league matches, but the game against the Mexican power proves the Union are capable.

Union rookie Danny Mwanga, who is second on the squad with seven goals, may be carrying a bigger load this weekend with Alejandro Moreno and nine-goal scorer Sebastien Le Toux questionable, but he is confident Philadelphia can win.

"We definitely are looking to win," Mwanga said on the club's website. "We did a pretty good job against New England [and] we're going to look to continue that.

"If we can keep doing what we're doing we think we can get a good result this Saturday against Kansas City."

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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.