Allgaier captures Nashville Nationwide pole

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/05/2010 - Lebanon, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Allgaier will start on the pole for Saturday's Federated Auto Parts 300 Nationwide Series race after posting the fastest lap in qualifying at Nashville Superspeedway.

Allgaier, the 2009 rookie of the year in the series, turned a lap of 158.063 m.p.h. for his second career pole. His first pole came last October in Memphis. Allgaier is currently fifth in points. His first Nationwide race win came in March at Bristol.

Brad Coleman recorded a lap of 157.772 m.p.h. to claim out the outside pole. Coleman is driving the No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which Kyle Busch has driven for the first 12 Nationwide races this season. Busch, who has five victories in the series so far in 2010, is concentrating on his Sprint Cup Series efforts this weekend at Pocono.

Trevor Bayne qualified third, followed by Jason Leffler and Scott Lagasse Jr.

Mike Bliss will start sixth in Kevin Harvick's No.33 Chevrolet. Carl Edwards, one of four drivers attempting the Pocono-Nashville combo, will roll off seventh.

Scott Wimmer, Scott Riggs and Paul Menard qualified eighth through 10th, respectively.

Menard, Brad Keselowski and Michael McDowell also are attempting the Pocono- Nashville double-duty. Keselowski, who holds only a one-point lead over Busch, qualified 24th. McDowell was 28th.

Kevin Lepage and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. failed to qualify.

The 300-mile race at Nashville is scheduled to start around 8:00 p.m. (et).

Footnall365 Autoracing Betting News

<< Report: Thibodeau accepts Bulls' three-year head coaching offer
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has reportedly accepted the Chicago Bulls' offer of a three-year contract to become the team's next head coach. According to the Chicago Tribune, the hire will

<< Former Virginia AD Copeland passes away
Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former University of Virginia football player and athletics director Jim Copeland has died at the age of 65 following a lengthy battle with cancer. The Charlottesville native was the school's AD fro

<< Hill lifts Blue Jays to 14-inning win over Yankees
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Hill lined a base hit to the left-field gap to score Edwin Encarnacion with the game-winning run, as Toronto won a 14- inning pitching duel, 3-2, against the Yankees. Chad Gaudin (0-3), New York's fif

<< Park joins Staten in first at Prince George's
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jin Park shot a five-under 66 on Saturday to join second-round leader B.J. Staten in first after 54 holes of the Melwood Prince George's County Open. Park and Staten, who had a three-under 68 on Saturday,

<< Manchester City signs German defender Boateng
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany defender Jerome Boateng has agreed to a five-year contract and will officially join Manchester City on July 1. Boateng has completed the formalities of his 10 million move from Bundesli

Price joins Armour in first in Iowa >>
West Des Moines, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Famer Nick Price fired a six- under 65 on Saturday to join first-round leader Tommy Armour III in first after 36 holes of the Principal Charity Classic. Price and Armour, who had a two-u

Struggling Kansas City earns draw at Toronto FC >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmy Nielsen made three saves for his fourth shutout of the year and the Kansas City Wizards earned their first road result of the season with a 0-0 draw Saturday at BMO Field against Toronto FC. Kansas City

Drosselmeyer storms back to capture Belmont Stakes >>
Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drosselmeyer passed several horses down the stretch to win the 142nd running of the Belmont Stakes in a close finish. Ridden by Mike Smith, who was replacing last year's Belmont-winning jockey Kent Desormeaux, D

Niese returns and pitches Mets over Marlins >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Niese returned from the disabled list to toss seven strong innings while Ike Davis went 4-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored as the New York Mets downed the Florida Marlins, 6-1, in the second

Bills sign LB Torbor >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Bills signed free agent linebacker Reggie Torbor to an undisclosed contract on Saturday. Torbor, 29, appeared in all 16 games for the Dolphins last season -- his second with the club --

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.