Action x3, plus 1 lean
I'm dipping my toes into the 2006 betting water very slowly — only three plays for me on the first Saturday of the season. Here's what I'm taking:
BETS
Northern Illinois at Ohio St. (-10, 1H), $20/$20.20
Cal (-2) at Tennessee, $22/$20
Utah at UCLA (-3), $20/$20.60
There is also one game I was leaning on, but talked myself out of taking. I'll list it and the end. First, here's why I took the plays I did:
Ohio State
I decided against taking the Buckeyes for the full game because I think the Week 2 game against Texas might have coach Jim Tressel torn between wanting to get his first-team offense as many reps as possible before facing Texas in Week 2 — in which case they should roll over Northern Illinois like Germans over Poland — and pulling starters to avoid risk of injury. Even if the starters come out, I still think Ohio State should easily cover the 17-point spread, but I don't want to take a chance on the Huskies, and their excellent running back Garrett Wolfe, sneaking in a backdoor cover. A first half, 10-point spread seemed a better deal to me.
Cal
Tennessee had been favored in this game — and I wish I had jumped on this lines — and that puzzled me. The Vols were 5-6 last season and I can't see why poll voters except such an amazing improvement from this this year. The Sporting News' Matt Hayes thinks the beginning of the end for Phil Fullmer has already arrived, and I tend to agree with him. The only thing that has me a little concerned is the game being held in Knoxville, but I believe Cal should overcome that. My feelings are that the Golden Bears would win by two touchdowns at home. In Tennessee they should still win by at least one.
UCLA
Couldn't pass up this line, spotting the Bruins only a field goal at home against a Mountain West team I think that will be hard-pressed to ever again achieve the kind of success as it did in 2004. I think UCLA will only be about second-tier-bowl good this year, but I doubt Utah will do even that.
LEAN
USC (-8) at Arkansas
If the Trojans hadn't played Ike to Arkansas' Tina last year, I'd have played this game. A possible revenge factor kept me off it, though. I still think USC will cover, but I don't feel strongly enough about it to back my opinion with any of my hard-earned cash.
See the Glossary/FAQ page for definitions of terms and numbers.
Sep 2, 2006, 9:18am
Good job so far. If I were a gambling man, I'd have money on Cal today. I didn't know there was such as thing as just a "First Half" bet.
Being that I am only a novice, vicarious gambler, can you explain what a "Moneyline" bet is?
Sep 2, 2006, 10:45am
Moneyline betting is simply picking a team to win, regardless of pointspread. Obviously the payoff is higher when placing a moneyline bet on an underdog than a favorite. The odds are expressed in terms of their relation to $100, either in how much you have to bet in order to win $100 in the case of betting a favorite, or how much a $100 bet would win in the case of betting the underdog. For example:
Team A (+180) at Team B
This means Team B is the favorite to win the game, so if you place a $100 bet on Team A, and Team A wins, you win $180. That's $280 returned to you total: The $100 you wagered plus $180 in winnings.
Team A at Team B (-270)
This indicates that Team B is a heavy favorite to win the game. In order to make a $100 profit, you must bet $270. If you do this, and Team B wins, a total of $370 will be returned to you: The $270 you wagered plus $100 in winnings.
And, yup, there's such a thing as a first-half bet. You can bet on almost anything these days.
Sep 2, 2006, 1:19pm
500
-84
=448.80
Ok. Got it.
Sep 2, 2006, 1:24pm
Smartass Ollie. Current cash is the amount I currently have liquid. Bets pending is money tied up in a wager that has yet to be decided.
Current cash + bets pending = the total current bankroll. Subtract that from starting bankroll to see a running total of profit or loss.
Sep 2, 2006, 7:13pm
I'm not good at math.
Sep 2, 2006, 8:19pm
It's a good thing you can get by on your looks.