Bolts sign C Pouliot; add Fleming to coaching staff

Hockey Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday signed center Marc-Antoine Pouliot to a one-year, two-way contract.

The 25-year-old Pouliot registered seven goals and 14 points in 35 games with Edmonton last season.

"He will add depth at the forward position and has a great chance to become a contributor in Tampa Bay," said Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman.

Originally selected by the Oilers in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Pouliot has 21 goals and 32 assists in 176 career games.

The Lightning have also named Wayne Fleming assistant coach. He has more than 30 years of coaching experience, both internationally and at the NHL level. He served as an assistant to Pat Quinn in Edmonton last season.

Teantalk Hockey Betting News

<< Athletics sign Suzuki to new 4-year contract
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -The Oakland Athletics have signed catcher Kurt Suzuki to a new four-year contract that keeps him locked up through his arbitration years.The deal announced Friday supersedes his previous 2010 contract and includes a club option

<< Swisher out of Yanks lineup with sore heel
NEW YORK (AP) -Right fielder Nick Swisher was a late scratch from the New York Yankees' lineup because he woke up with a sore left Achilles' heel.Swisher was initially set to bat second Friday, but when he arrived at Yankee Stadium before the game a

<< Oakland locks up C Suzuki with extension
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics and catcher Kurt Suzuki have agreed to a contract extension through the 2014 season with a vesting option for 2015. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that the deal is

<< Dodgers designate Miller, recall Jansen
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers have designated pitcher Justin Miller for assignment and recalled pitcher Kenley Jansen. The right-hander posted a 4.44 earned run average and no record in 19 rel

<< Thomas and Liu in finals of U.S. Junior
Ada, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Thomas and Jim Liu both won twice on Friday to advance to Saturday's 36-hole final of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Thomas, 17, earned a 2 & 1 victory over Scott Wolfes

Royals' DeJesus out for the year >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Royals outfielder David DeJesus is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery on his right thumb after further examination showed a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Earlier Frida

Peters takes truck pole at ORP >>
Clermont, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Timothy Peters will start on the pole for Friday's AAA Insurance 200 Camping World Truck Series race after topping the qualifying charts at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Peters turned a lap of

Lakers: Kobe will return from knee surgery by camp >>
LOS ANGELES (AP) -The Los Angeles Lakers say Kobe Bryant recently underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.Bryant will be fully recovered well before training camp opens Sept. 25, the Lakers said in a brief statement Friday. The two-time NBA

Red Sox activate Beckett for Friday's start >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox activated Josh Beckett to start Friday's game in Seattle after he spent more than two months on the disabled list with a lower back strain. Beckett has been out the last 56 games si

Jays-Tigers postponed; doubleheader slated for Sunday >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second test of a four-game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park has been postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on Sund

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.

Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.

A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).

Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).

Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.