Sports Betting Blog

This was a great game for Sherron Collins, the senior player, who just recently played his last home game in the Allen Fieldhouse Stadium, helping Kansas take over Kansas State 82-65.

Before the season started, both Collins and the center Cole Aldrich made a pact for their senior season. Some sort of if-you-stay-I-stay pact that would give Kansas just enough talent, stamina and experience to win a second National Championship in three years.

Collins had a rough night. He was 1-7 from 3-point range and 5-15 overall. Not quite espectacular yet he was still able to score 17 points and help out a bit on defense.

Sherron Collins guided Kansas to its first big cornerstone on their way to the National Championship. They already won the Big 12 regular-season championship. Now the Jayhawks are going for the Big 12 Tournament where they´ll be the #1 seed in their route to make some headlines in the NCAA Tournament. The team is expected to go all the way into the Final Four in Indianapolis in April.

Xavier Henry had one heck of a first time. He went on to score 15 of his 19 points in that  period and helped take down Kansas State to extend the nation´s longest home winning streak to 59 games. The Jayhawks have clearly dominated the rivalry agains Kansas State in the Big 12 era. And they are looking good to take the No. 1 seed during March Madness.

If one plainly looked into the numbers, one would realize that Collins is not going to leave Lawrence, KS, as the school´s career leader in points, assists, rebounds or steals. None of that. But he is going to walk out of that campus with more victories then any other player in school´s history. Thats 125, and you can keep them counting.

Even Head Coach, Bill Self, is aware of Collin´s charisma and the appreciations that many Jayhwaks fans have shown for the player.

Kansas State kept it close for a while. Both guards Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente gave the Jayhawks a hard time in the defensive side. But then the front line struggled with foul trouble. And that gave the Jayhawks and edge over the Wildcats.

Up to the first half it seemed that the Wildcats had a shot at a first conference title in 33 years. Yet a poor performance in the second half brought down the little hope that was left. The team only had 11 assists in the whole game. They were really hurting in that department.

Right after the second half started, the Wildcats were able to tied the game at 45 points. But that was it. Then it all went south for Kansas State. Collins finally got his aim straight and was able to score seven straight points to lead the Jayhawks to a 66-56 advantage. But the deed is done. Now Kansas has to go over into the postseason and show why they are the favorite team to take it all.

If you’ve been wagering for a while you probably already have marked down the days for some of the big sporting events in your calendar. You probably placed a couple plays in for the Super Bowl and you might be quite thrilled about the exciting 20-plus days of March Madness right around the corner. Perhaps you are looking ahead for the NBA Finals, the ATP Grand Slams, maybe even a golf tournament up in the future when Tiger Woods decide to get back in the game.

This particular year you probably already took some action on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, and perhaps you are seriously considering taking part on the action for the 2010 South Africa Soccer World Cup. Even if you are not that much into soccer, you know that there is plenty of betting action and great promotions coming up for that event.

Perhaps you are a well-versed player and even marked down the dates for each of the horse-races in the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Races: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stake and the Belmont Stake, or all the other events you can play on through our racebook. But there is a chance you might have not considered the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awards as part of your betting strategy. And maybe you should. BetIAS is offering odds to win the Oscars for the main categories at this year’s Oscars Award Ceremony.

The 82nd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 2009, will be held on Sunday February 7th, 2010 at the Kodak Theatre and hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. The favorites in each of the main categories have been already ruled out and there Money-Line odds to wager on the winner of each of the main categories: best picture of the year, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress.

Here are a couple of pointers. The next blog entry will offer some sort of Academy-Award-Winner’s-handicapping, if you will. But for the sake of order, let’s stick to the basics. First, forget E Entertainment Television, TMZ and US Weekly, with all their pre-Award Ceremony hype and marketing antics: they are good at entertaining and improving audience-ratings not at predicting Oscar Statuette winners. Second, although there is always a chance for an upset, and the Academy has brought out one or two Cinderella Stories before, these awards can turn out to be quite predictable. And that explains the higher odds on some of the picks.

The Sportsbook Industry accuracy in this sort of future events (think US presidential campaign, and recent either political or entertainment futures) has been extremely high. Enough as to make it clear, three weeks before election, that it was Obama and not McCain whom was going to sit at the Oval Office.

The theory that betting markets can offer very accurate predictions about future events is relatively new. The logic behind it says that when an opinion on the outcome of an event is backed by a bettor’s own money, it is more likely to be carefully considered. This means there is a lot of consideration behind the fact that Jeff Bridges has a ML-800 to win Best Actor, while Morgan Freeman and his role in Invictus could comeback with $1500 for every $100 you risk on him. So do a little research, it certainly won’t hurt. You might just make a good profit from the movie industry. I mean, that’s the least it could do to get you back for all the hours you’ve spent at the cinema.

The golf world’s elite is getting together at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Arizona. So if you have never placed a wager on golf, this might be the tournament to give it a try. First, it’s an easy to follow single elimination tournament divided into four different brackets. Think, March Madness, with tees and clubs, and a much more solemn audience. The players have it very clear. It’s a win or go home situation. With an $8.5 million purse, and knowing that you only face one opponent per round, the players should have enough motivation to give its very best at each matchup.

Online Sportsbook Industry leader BetIAS has wagering lines available for the key matches of the opening round. What’s more, we are going to offer lines for the key matchups in every round, with daily updated lines as the brackets starts to fill in.

As if that was not enough, you can wager on the odds to win the whole tournament, or wager on the winner for each of the four brackets or Divisions.

The first round brings up some interesting golf matches. Ian Poulter and Justin Leonard (rotation 7013-14) are facing each other in the first round of the Bobby Jones Division. The two players are coming from a solid performance at the Ryder Cup, and might put out a good show. As of press time, Poulter is the favorite for this matchup at ML-170 with a comeback for Justin Leonard of +130.  This tournament gives a good opportunity to the new, younger players to get their name out in the golfing world.

Two of the most promising young players are going head to head in the first round. Camilo Villegas and Dustin Johnson (rotation 7047-48) are expected to battle for a pass into the second round. Rory McIlroy is not likely to have troubles in the first round. He is ML -260 against big underdog Kevin Na +190 (7025-26), both players put college education on hold to play in the professional circuit this year, and this early year win, could boost them into a great 2010.

Defending Champion Geoff Oglivy is ML-270 against Alexander Noren (7045-7046). This could be the third time that Oglivy takes home the Walter Hagen Cup. Some well-experienced veterans are also going head to head this week. For instance, Jim Furyk is a ML favorite by -185 with a comeback +140 for Scott Verplank in rotation 7049-7050 in our matchups.

The top 64 golfers in the World Golf Ranking are meeting outside Tucson, Arizona, for the 12th edition of the Accenture Match Play Championship. This will be the first part of the 4-Tournament-series 2010 World Golf Championship. This year the Tournament is missing #1 Tiger Woods, and #3 Phil Mickelson, in what otherwise is a great selection of the world’s golf elite. The golfers will have to put out their best game in these 5 days of head to head single elimination competition. The Players have it simple: win or go home.

The Tour’s top-ranked players from the International Federation of PGA Tours, which includes the Asian Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, American PGA Tour, the PGA tour of Australasia and Southern Africa Tour, have been invited to the Accenture Match Play. The Tournament format tests the player’s game, confidence and performance under pressure. Unlike regular PGA Tournaments that follow the stroke-play format (which adds up all the strokes from multiple days to decide a winner) the match-play format demands the player’s innermost concentration at every hit, since it is played on a hole by hole basis.

This tournament is divided into four brackets. The number one seed plays number 16th; number 2 plays the 15th seed, and so on. The brackets are each named after one of Golf’s Legends: Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Gary Player and Bobby Jones. For a PDF view of the complete Accenture Match Play Championship Bracket, click here.

The 7.833 yard, par 72 Ritz Carlton Golf Club Course in Marana, Arizona was designed by Jack Nicklaus and it is the longest venue in PGA history. Last year, in this same course, Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy captured the Accenture Tournament after defeating England’s Paul Casey 4 and 3 in the final matchup. This year, Ogilvy, Steve Striker, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood have the highest odds to win the Tournament. These are the four favorites to make it into the demanding 36-hole Championship Game on February 21.