Rain stops U.S. Women's Open

Golf Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heavy rainfall and lightning in the area forced the suspension of Friday's second-round play at the U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont.

Sophie Gustafson birdied the first hole, her only hole on Friday, to move in front at even-par.

Cristie Kerr, the No. 1 player in the world and runaway winner of last month's LPGA Championship, shot an even-par 71 on Friday and moved into a tie for second at one-over 143.

First-round leader Brittany Lang carded a three-over 74 and joined Kerr in the clubhouse at plus-one. Wendy Ward, Shinobu Moromizato and Kristy McPherson are in the midst of round two at one-over, while Song-Hee Kim and Jeong Eun Lee are one-over and have yet to tee off.

Almost half of the field completed play before the horn blew at 2:30 p.m. (et). The rain stopped and it looked somewhat promising that play would resume, but around 4:00 p.m. officials made the decision that play would be suspended for the day.

The golfers will return to the tough Oakmont layout at 7:30 a.m. Saturday to finish the second round. The decision has been made to group the players in threesomes and send them off both the first and 10th tees in the final two rounds.

With a decent forecast for the weekend, play is expected to be completed Sunday evening.

Christina Kim carded her second straight one-over 72 on Friday and is in the clubhouse at two-over 144.

Paula Creamer and Angela Stanford headline a group on the course at two-over, while Michele Redman and amateur Lisa McCloskey are part of a large group at plus-two, but haven't started round two.

MORE TO FOLLOW.

Sportsbook-internet-sportsbook Golf Betting News

<< Raiders ink two from draft class
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders have signed offensive linemen Jared Veldheer and Bruce Campbell, two members of the team's 2010 draft class. Veldheer, taken 69th overall in the third round, started 46 games

<< Bucs ink G Vincent
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added some depth to the offensive line position on Friday by signing veteran guard Keydrick Vincent to a two-year contract. Financial terms were not disclosed. The 32-year-old spent

<< Crew square off with Dynamo at Robertson Stadium
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew travel to Houston to take on the Dynamo in Major League Soccer action on Saturday night. The Crew have just two losses this season thanks in large part to

<< TFC tries to keep unblemished home record against Rapids
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC puts its home unbeaten streak on the line on Saturday when they welcome the Colorado Rapids to BMO Field. TFC has yet to taste defeat at home this season after Dan Gargan rescued a point for the

<< Chargers sign two draft picks
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers announced the signings of third-round draft pick Donald Butler and fifth-rounder Cam Thomas to four-year contracts Friday. Butler starred at Washington as an inside linebacke

Ducks send D Eminger to Rangers >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks have acquired forwards Aaron Voros and Ryan Hillier from the New York Rangers in exchange for nomadic defenseman Steve Eminger. Voros registered three goals and four assists in 41 game

Flyers sign RW Zherdev >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers signed free agent right winger Nikolai Zherdev to a one-year contract on Friday. Zherdev played five seasons in the NHL, four with the Columbus Blue Jackets and one with the

Tyrus Thomas returning to Bobcats >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats have reportedly reached an agreement to bring back power forward Tyrus Thomas. The Charlotte Observer confirmed that a deal has been agreed to in principle between the two sides whic

James signing with Miami deflates MSG stock >>
NEW YORK (AP) - Now that LeBron James has decided to play basketball in Miami, shares of Madison Square Garden Inc., owner of the New York Knicks, have gone south as well.Madison Square Garden shares had risen as much as 11 percent this month as a n

Mets demote Igarashi, recall Evans >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets have optioned right-handed reliever Ryota Igarashi to Single-A St. Lucie and recalled utility man Nick Evans from Double-A Binghamton. Igarashi was 0-1 with a 7.91 earned run average in

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.