Category Archives: Sports Gambling Strategy Articles

Grandmaster sports handicapper Joe Duffy is the world’s most published author on sports betting strategy discusses virtually every aspect of winning in sports gambling.

Fantasy Football Update

Fantasy Tip of the Week – RB Rankings

By Chris Goudey

WagerWeb

The key position you need to focus on to have a championship fantasy football team is running back. Running backs are the core of almost any winning team for two reasons: They usually score the most points of any player, and they are normally the most reliable players. In almost every league I draft, I will take RBs with my first two picks because they are that important. In my previous article, I gave you a breakdown on what your overall draft should look like, but this article will focus strictly on which RB you should target and when.

The Big 3
Larry Johnson, Kansas City
After taking over for the injured Priest Holmes midway through last season, all LJ did was set the league on fire and become the most dominant player in fantasy. With Holmes either not playing or on the bench this year, Johnson has a shot at breaking the single-season rushing record if he can stay healthy. He is the clear No. 1 pick.
Shaun Alexander, Seattle
The reigning league MVP should put up similar numbers to last year, and if you have the No.2 pick, you should feel lucky to grab such a great player. Alexander is the most consistent RB to come along in years, and he plays on a good team, so he should be churning out the yards late in games to close them out.
LaDanian Tomlinson, San Diego
I would say at least 75 percent of fantasy drafts this year are going to have LJ, Alexander and LT going in the top 3 spots. Tomlinson was the top-rated RB going into last year, and while he had a good year he has been passed up by the top two. San Diego might struggle this season, so LT might not have as many rushing opportunities as the other two, but he is a much better receiver than LJ and Alexander, so if your league counts receptions and/or receiving yards, you can’t go wrong with him.

The Next 3
Edgerrin James, Arizona
As I stated in my last article, the top 7 picks in my mind are the big 3 RBs, Peyton Manning and these next 3 RBs. These three RBs aren’t in any particular order, so be happy to get any one of these guys if you’re in the 4-7 slots in the first round. The Edge moves to the desert of Arizona and should continue to be a top-flight producer even though he moves away from the high-powered of offense of Indianapolis. Arizona actually might have as good a passing game as Indy this year, with Kurt Warner at QB and top 10 receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin to take the focus off of James. The Cardinals also have a very good offensive line, so Edge should be just as good as he’s ever been.
Tiki Barber, NY Giants
No back has more heart than Tiki, and the past two years he has turned into a premier RB. His production is close to that of the top 3, but the only reason he is grouped lower is because of his age. Tiki is 31 this year, and most RBs really start to lose it once they hit the big 3-0. As I said, Tiki has a ton of heart and will always do everything he can to get on the field, but this should really be his last top-level year. If you’re drafting in a keeper league, I’d move Tiki down in your rankings.
Clinton Portis, Washington
Portis is the one back I really see making a noticeable improvement this year, and the reason is that the ‘Skins have hired former KC offensive coordinator Al Saunders. Saunders was the engineer of KC’s running game for the past few years and turned Priest Holmes (and Larry Johnson last year) into a fantasy force. The plan is to use Portis exactly the way Holmes was used the past few seasons, so if he can stay healthy Portis could put up top 3 numbers. The only X mark on Portis’ resume is he does get nicked up a lot, so make sure you draft Ladell Betts, his backup, in a middle-to-late round.

Potential, Potential, Potential
I will rank these guys in order of preference, with a note about each. Remember, once the top 7 are gone you can start to pick these guys and feel just fine about it. If you are at the end of the first round (pick 8 or later) go ahead and draft a RB here and then assuming it’s a snake draft (where you’ll pick near the beginning of the 2nd round), take the next best RB. There are no QBs or WRs who are as good a value here as having two good RBs.
Steven Jackson, St. Louis – Look for Jackson to have a career year this year due to two things: Marshall Faulk is now out for the year (and possibly his career), and new coach Scott Linehan wants to focus on the run.
Rudi Johnson, Cincinnati – Rudi has slimmed down and wants to take a step up to the top level of RBs. He has been very productive and reliable thus far, but the only drawback to him is that he isn’t much of a receiver and the Bengals love his backup, Chris Perry.
Kevin Jones, Detroit – I probably have him ranked a lot higher than most other experts, but I really think Mike Martz will do wonders with him. He sees him as his next Marshall Faulk and is going to do everything he can to get him the ball. If Detroit can get decent QB play out of Jon Kitna (or Josh McCown), KJ is going to be a stud.
LaMont Jordan, Oakland – After having watched Jordan play in college and play behind Curtis Martin for a couple of years with the Jets, I knew he’d be a great player if given the opportunity. He got that shot last year with the Raiders, and much like Kevin Jones just needs good QB play to turn him into a star.
Ronnie Brown, Miami – With Ricky Williams heading to Canada to do whatever it is Ricky does, Brown gets his shot as the lead RB for the Fins. Coach Nick Saban has big plans for Brown and needs him to be the complement to the passing game he is trying to implement with Daunte Culpepper. There’s a reason Miami took him so high in the draft last year, and this year we’ll see why.
Julius Jones, Dallas – JJ could be a superstar if only Bill Parcells would let him. Parcells seems to have a soft spot in his heart for Marion Barber III and plans to give him more carries than he should. Watching Jones in his rookie year I saw a lot of the same things Walter Payton brought to the table and thought he would be incredible in his sophomore season. This is a situation to monitor closely in the preseason. If Jones looks like he’ll get 25 carries per game, I’d rank him even higher. If not, he stays here or moves down if Barber gets more carries.
Cadillac Williams, Tampa Bay – Cadillac had a great rookie year and is very tough. The only reason I have him this low is the presence of Michael Pittman and the fact that Williams is a little on the smallish side. He is a great runner, but I have a feeling he’s going to be injury-prone once he takes a lot of pounding.
Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia – Westbrook is like Tomlinson-lite. If you’re in a league where receiving is important, Westbrook moves to the top of this group. With the departure of Terrell Owens, coach Andy Reid has stated he plans to run the ball a lot more and Westbrook will be the beneficiary, IF he can stay healthy.
Willis McGahee, Buffalo – McGahee is just as talented as those above him, but he has a lot of question marks coming into this year. His primary problem is lack of good QB play. Without a good passing game, teams are going to stack eight in the box and shut Willis down. If JP Losman can take some pressure off McGahee, then he can return to the level he was at going into last year.
Domanick Davis, Houston – Davis has potential to move to the top of this list, but like the others here he has issues to overcome. The first issue is he is currently injured and is a question mark to begin the season. The second is lack of a passing game, much like McGahee. If David Carr can get a solid connection going with Andre Johnson and new WR Eric Moulds, then Davis should be a top-10 guy.
Jamal Lewis, Baltimore – Potential, potential, potential. Every year Lewis is ranked highly, and every year except one he has not lived up to it. He’s either been hurt or in jail and now he has competition in Mike Anderson. Lewis has the skills to be a top-3 guy but he is really a question mark this year.
Reggie Bush, New Orleans – He will probably be overvalued in your drafts and will go much higher than he should. There happens to be an All-Pro back already in the New Orleans backfield going by the name of Deuce. He’s going to take a lot of the carries Bush should get, but like Westbrook Bush will be much more valuable in a league with receptions and/or a big emphasis on receiving yards.

The Rookies
All of these guys are in similar situations, currently the backup but with poor performance or injury by the starting RB, they could shine:
Laurence Maroney, New England
Joseph Addai, Indianapolis
DeAngelo Williams, Carolina
LenDale White, Tennessee
Keep an eye on their situations during the preseason and try to grab them in a middle round if it looks like they’ll help you. These are also guys to grab as backups to the main guy. I often like to grab a tandem of guys, and then I’m guaranteed to have the starter every week.

The Best Of The Rest
All of these guys have issues: age, uncertain playing time or just not as good as what they once were. These should be guys you target as your third back. These are in preferential order.
Cedric Benson, Chicago — assuming he wins the job over Thomas Jones
Tatum Bell, Denver — assuming he wins the job over Ron Dayne
Chester Taylor, Minnesota — I like him as a sleeper
Warrick Dunn, Atlanta — bound to breakdown sometime and has T.J. Duckett to share carries with
Reuben Droughns, Clevelandhas the job but just isn’t that great.
Willie Parker, Pittsburgh – Good for yards but not for TDs.
Deuce McAllister, New Orleans – Moves way up if Bush doesn’t sign soon but will still be a decent 3rd RB for your team even if he splits time.
DeShaun Foster, Carolina – Productive when he plays but has injury issues and DeAngelo Williams to deal with.
Frank Gore, San Francisco – Splits carries with Kevan Barlow but should take over the starting job by the end of the year.
Dominic Rhodes, Indianapolis – Will start out with the job but Joseph Addai is more talented.
Thomas Jones, ChicagoWill probably lose his job to Benson, but if he starts he moves up to a top-15 guy.
Fred Taylor, Jacksonville – Avoid if possible, but he has a shot to be productive. He’s just so unreliable.
Ahman Green, Green Bay – How the mighty have fallen. He was a top-two RB two years ago and is now fighting to stay on the field and to keep his job. Age, a bad offense and Samkon Gado are his problems.
Ron Dayne, Denver – Will probably back up Bell, but should he get the job he moves up to the top 15. Denver always gets great RB production. I’d draft the Bell-Dayne tandem and hope for the best.
Curtis Martin, NY Jets – Stay away. Stay far away. He’s half the player he once was and will get picked much earlier than he should.


WagerWeb

NASCAR

Handicapping The Chase Field

By Bill Kiser

WagerWeb

went to its present championship format two years ago, the thinking was that the “Chase for the Championship” would rivet race fans to their televisions for the final 10 races of the season.

But the public’s attention hasn’t so much been drawn to those final 10 races, but to the 10 races leading up to the Chase.

The “Chase for the Chase,” as some media have coined it, has seen the top 10 in the NASCAR
WagerWeb

Nextel Cupstandings change drastically from race to race, with drivers in the top 10 one week and on the outside looking in the next.

According to NASCAR’s computations, 34 drivers are mathematically in contention to make the Chase for the Championship; realistically, the number of drivers who have a chance entering next week’s Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not half that.

And even sitting in the top 10 in points — heck, even in the top five — at this point of the season won’t ensure a driver a spot in the final 10 come September.

There’s historical precedent backing that up — last year, Elliott Sadler was third in points entering the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway and was considered locked in for the Chase.

But Sadler and his No. 38 Robert Yates Racing team slumped badly down the stretch, falling 10 spots in the point standings and ultimately failing to make the Chase.

With six races left in the “Chase for the Chase,” only two drivers — points leader Jimmie Johnson and No. 2 Matt Kenseth — appear to be near-locks to make the final 10.

Beyond that, however, things are still very much up in the air — only 188 points separate third through 12th place in the Nextel Cup standings.

Here’s a quick look at how I believe the “Chase for the Chase” is stacking up, followed by my picks to make the Chase for the Championship.

99.9 PERCENT THERE: Jimmie Johnson (first in standings), Matt Kenseth (second in standings, 97 back of Johnson).

THEY’RE IN, BUT …: Jeff Burton (third in standings, 318 back of Johnson), Kyle Busch (fourth in standings, 39 points behind Burton), Kevin Harvick (fifth in standings, 19 points behind Busch), Mark Martin (sixth in points, six points behind Harvick).

ON THE FENCE: Kasey Kahne (seventh in standings, 42 points behind Martin), Denny Hamlin (eighth in standings, one point behind Kahne), Jeff Gordon (ninth in standings, two points behind Hamlin).

NEEDS SOME HELP: Tony Stewart (10th in standings, 35 points behind Gordon), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (11th in standings, 15 points behind Stewart), Greg Biffle (12th in standings, 29 points behind Earnhardt).

FORGET IT: Kurt Busch (13th in standings, 122 points behind Biffle), Carl Edwards (14th in standings, 69 points behind Busch), Casey Mears (15th in standings, 57 points behind Edwards), Brian Vickers (16th in standings, 51 points behind Mears), Jamie McMurray (17th in standings, 46 points behind Vickers), Ryan Newman (18th in standings, eight points behind McMurray), Clint Bowyer (19th in standings, 16 points behind Newman), Elliott Sadler (20th in standings, 29 points behind Bowyer).

KISER’S PICKS: Johnson, Kenseth, Burton, Busch, Harvick, Martin, Kahne, Gordon, Stewart, Earnhardt.


WagerWeb

Sports Can Unite


WagerWeb Writer

Sports Can Unite

By Sean William Toth
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

It seemed just like yesterday, didn’t it? Billions and billions of people got together on this planet, set aside their differences, found common ground and “harmoniously converged” for what unfortunately was all too short of a time.

No, I’m not talking about the latest Kitaro concert tour. I’m referring to the 2006 World Cup tournament in Germany. The same thing has happened on a regular basis over the years in the Olympics. Many, many diverse cultures have been gathering and participating in friendly competitions with very very few outbursts of hatred and intolerance.

I play quite a bit of backgammon online. I’m probably borderline an online backgammon addict … 15-20 games a day. But I rationalize it is by saying to myself, “I guess I could have much worse addictions.” I enjoy playing people from all over the world.

Backgammon is very popular in countries I never thought it would be … such as Bulgaria. Who would have guess that? But there are literally thousands and maybe even tens of thousands of Bulgarians playing backgammon online right now as you read this! It doesn’t seem to be very popular among the Asian populations. Every once in a while I’ll play somebody that has a Japanese flag next to their name or sometimes China, but other than that, I see very few people from Asian countries on any of the four sites I play on. Interesting, eh?

Whatever game or games you enjoy playing, chances are that there are web sites where you can play among thousands of people from anywhere in the world any time of day. I highly recommend it. You get to meet and chat with people from all over the world, sharpen your skills in that particular game, and you learn the world’s flags very quickly … which may not seem very interesting, but believe me it is once you get into it. People are usually very friendly and are usually open to talk about their culture, language, politics, etc. Many times, the backgammon game becomes secondary and we find ourselves chatting away (I can’t wait until we are able to actually talk by voice!).

The greatest thing about that I have learned from the hundreds of conservations I’ve had with people from all over the world is how much alike we all really are. You wouldn’t think that by the way each country’s “leaders” and media carry on about how different we are, how hostile many countries are towards each other … blah, blah, blah, you know the dialog.

I would say I have had 400-500 conversations with people since I’ve been playing online, and of those I have probably only have had 10 or so hostile conversations. Even from people in countries that are not particularly fond of Americans. I was surprised at first, but have learned that people know that most average Americans are not bad people. I was pleasantly surprised how many people realize that the United States is a good country with many truly good people, but a country that is going through a very difficult identity and political time right now. To the few hostile players I meet, I just try and be as friendly as possible with the hopes that they will calm down and maybe they’ll see that we aren’t all the snobs that are gung-ho militarily … in fact, quite the opposite. Maybe they will change their minds, maybe they won’t, but I try and put out that fire before it gets out of control because you never know whom you’re talking to.

Anyway, I was playing a person from Israel a few days ago on a web site that has a very large Middle Eastern population on it (backgammon originated in the Middle East and is still extremely popular there). I asked how things were going where he was. “Not good,” he replied. I don’t know what I was expecting him to say … I knew the answer to that. We chatted for a while about what is currently going on in his part of the world and the U.S. response.
I was surprised, though I don’t know why, that many Israelis including him thought that his government is really overreacting.

By the way, you can find out quite a bit of things by just observing things on such web sites. For example: Since the beginning of the increased hostility in the Israel/Lebanon border, I have noticed the number of players on this particular Internet backgammon site from Israel has not changed much while the number of players from Lebanon has gone from scarce to almost non-existent. In fact, the only person I’ve played a backgammon game with a Lebanese flag by his name was currently stuck in Germany while there on business!

“They’ve been waiting for an excuse to kill and displace Lebanon ever since they were forced to pull out of there in 2001,” he said. He also said that many people in Israel feel the same way, but no media in any country is reporting that. Now that right there says quite a bit, doesn’t it? Do you know how big of a difference that could make if they were reporting that even occasionally?

He was right, I spend quite a bit of my waking and sleeping hours listening and/or watching many different politically themed shows, and nowhere in the mainstream media did I hear anything even remotely reporting that. Once again, I had to go to the Internet to find anything reporting the news from that part of the world from that perspective. I found several Internet-based radio stations and blogs that gave me many perspectives I never would have gotten from the big “monster media scoundrels.” Once again, the media resources we have become so dependent on over the past 100 or so years failed again. But what is perhaps most frightening is that I had time and initiative to seek these “alternative” news sources. Many people in many countries either won’t or can’t do this and thus form an opinion based on many different unreliable news sources with many different opinions and agendas. And chances are millions of people are doing the same thing … and I’m a firm believer that a mass of misinformed people is more dangerous than any arsenal of nuclear weapons.

So many times over the past 50 years, the big media outlets have intentionally lied and misled the masses in many different countries and cultures. But we as humans still continue to get their vital information from the same sources.

However grim that might sound, there are many reasons to hope. People are really beginning to take notice and, most importantly, action! People are now noticing that the mainstream media is often owned by billionaires and the reporters are millionaires, both of which have many interests to protect and are quite intimidated by “‘state-sponsored information sources.” How can a very select few amount of people who are not interacting and have very limited exposure with the general populous (with very few exceptions, but there are exceptions) profess to know what the masses need to know?

While most Internet-based news resources are experiencing exponential growth and have since the “rebirth” of the Internet in the mid-1990s, more traditional media outlets are falling all over each other trying to keep their ships from sinking. Instead of actually becoming more reliable and accurate, they are trying everything but that. They are catering to people on the go by making podcasts available; they are putting blogs on their sites, but restrict them greatly (which defeats the purpose of the whole reason why blogs exist and have gotten as big as they are); they have even put out web sites and media players making them look as though they are independent, but with a little investigating many of those sites and players are backed by big billion-dollar multinational new corporations. (i.e., NBC is owned by General Electric, Winamp media player is owned by AOL, etc.).

Don’t get me wrong, the big media companies still have their place in our world. They have access to the masses unlike anybody, else and they do use that to do plenty of good things. But they are having to compete with truly independent media, even single person blogs, and that (along with other things) is forcing them to straighten up! The two things keeping them afloat is access and money. That’s what their “ships” consist of now. Will they stay alive in these “turbulent waters?” We the people will decide that! And as long as they realize that, they should be OK. But the days of their total dominance are gone.

If you want to learn a lot on the Internet, go to one of the many free web sites that allow anybody to type in a media name, and the web site will tell you who owns them and what alliances that media source has … I promise you will be amazed and you will feel very empowered!

But again there is reason to be optimistic! The will of the people all over the world are speaking out! And the big trend now is to get their information on any topic from other sources other than the big media companies, and that is truly revolutionary! That is why web sites like Inspin are experiencing incredible growth! When I have talked to other people from Inspin, you can hear the excitement in their voice. Those of you who have been with Inspin from the very beginning have seen the web site grow so much in a short amount of time.

The greatest thing about Inspin is that you’re not getting your sportsinformation from a highly paid talking head with a “Ken Doll persona.”. But you are getting it from somebody that could be your neighbor … somebody whom you can relate to. And advocating the things that sports advocates and creates is something that I deem very important if we are going to survive. I don’t feel as though I’m above anybody because I do that … I feel honored and privileged for the opportunity to do this for the better!

So next time somebody tells you that sports is just a distraction from the real issues that affect us in life, ask them how often every weekend millions and millions of people from all different walks of life get together, put all their political and philosophical differences aside and root … root … root for the same team! (or at least the same outcome to an event) And hold on … football season, where tens of millions of people get together all over this great country is right around the corner.


WagerWeb Writer

Go Against and With in the Second Half






Overvalued and Undervalued Second-Half Pitchers and Teams

Joe Duffy (JoeDuffy.net)

As we’ve said a gazillion times—and make it a gazillion
and one—we do not ever blindly bet any one system, theory et al, but we have
copious starting points.  A case in point
would be teams or pitchers we believe will be good value for sports bettors to
go against or with.

Here are some highlights of that list:

Undervalued:

Atlanta,
the Braves are already turning it up.  As
you know, we have had great success in handicapping the mental part of the
game.  Even with stars like Greg Maddux
and Tom Glavine long gone, the fact that Atlanta
has won 14 straight division titles gives them the feeling of invincibility. However
Tim Hudson could be an exception as trusted opinions tell me they think he
could be fighting an injury.

Jeff Weaver, Cardinals
starter. The sportsbooks have not taken into account his move back to the NL
puts him in a pitcher friendly park. 
Wise sports gamblers know that 90 percent of pitchers perform better
knowing they are likely to get run support. Pitching for the Redbirds accomplishes
just that.

Felix Hernandez,
Mariners starter. Here is a guy we faded when he was overvalued, now he has
actually pitched better than his numbers. 
Hitters are producing twice the number of ground balls as fly balls
against him, so look out.

Chris Young,
Padres starter.  Young actually has
middling numbers at home, but he’s much better than he has shown.  History proves that pitchers with (relatively
speaking) more impressive road numbers have much more of an upside. He is also
ranked much higher in WHIP than ERA, the single best precursor to a pitcher who
will raise the bar.

Dave Bush, Brewers
starter.  Though we must admit, he’s
better at home, Bush is another guy who ranks much higher in WHIP than ERA.

Overvalued:

Francisco Liriano,
Twins starter. How many times have we crushed the sportsbooks by fading Second
Comings who proved not to be?  Liriano no
longer is pitching under the radar. The burden of high expectations is new
territory for him.   

Detroit,
few argue they are far and away the surprise of the first half. Manager Jim
Leyland has always been his best in getting teams to play with emotion.  But as we are in the dog days, talent
overrides emotion.  It’s much more of a
case of everything going right for the Tigers than everyone being wrong about
how good this team is.

Houston, they have underachieved as much as
any team and have a great upside. 
Repeat, we are big believers in the mental aspect, so adding stopper
Roger Clemens can be a boost overall, not just when he’s on the hill.

The famed
scorephone Tailgate Party goes high tech this football season at JoeDuffy.net We start the
week out with advanced news and notes from Joe Duffy of Godspicks.com , top computer trends from
forensic handicapper  Stevie Vincent of KnockoutPicks.com, live weather radar,
sportsbook contests, free sports service picks, late breaking injuries on game
day, and more to “beat the screen” on the sports information superhighway at JoeDuffy.net 

Fantasy Baseball

By Chris Goudey
Contributing Writer
WagerWeb MLB Baseball Odds

If you are still in contention to win your fantasy baseball league title, the All-Star break was the time to determine your end-game strategy. We are now slightly more than halfway through the season, and you should know if you have a shot at winning. If you do still have a chance at the title, there are several things you can do to help your chances.
The first thing you need to take a look at is your current rank in each specific category, and how far you are from moving both up and down within that category. For instance, if you are in sixth place in wins but could move up to second with just 2-3 more, then that is something to target. Likewise, if you are barely ahead of three other teams in stolen bases, it is imperative that you focus on that and make sure you have enough speed so you don’t lose precious points in that category.
At this point in the season there isn’t going to be a ton of help available on your league’s waiver wire, so the best way to acquire the help you need is via trade. Let’s say most of your closers lost their job or were hurt early in the year, so you are last in saves. If you are really far behind the teams just in front of you, it would be wise to just punt the category altogether and trade whatever closers you have left for help elsewhere.
If you need help in the other pitching categories, a solid starter is going to help you much more than holding a closer. Good starting pitchers eat up innings, so they will help your ERA/WHIP much more than a closer will. Also, if your league counts strikeouts, then that’s a fourth category you can get help in. Trade those closers for help in other categories.
Likewise, if you are strong in steals and think you can maintain your rank while trading a steals source, target a good power hitter if you need help there. A team with a lot of power and good numbers in HR/RBI is probably lacking in steals, so a trade where both teams are getting what they need makes a lot of sense. Batting average and runs scored can be acquired from power hitters and speed guys, so there is no real advantage either way. Obviously if you are low in average, runs and steals, a player like Ichiro is perfect for you, as he will be among the league leaders in all three. A player like Albert Pujols will get you the help in every category except steals, but he will obviously be much harder to trade for.
One more thing you can do to find a trade target is to look a player’s career numbers for the second half. There are lots of players who are much better in the second half than the first historically, so you might find a diamond in the rough if you do your research. All of the major sports sites and MLB.com have this information. The other thing you can do is to read the daily player notes on many roto-based sites or in USA Today. These notes will give you updates on playing time and injuries that can be crucial as we get down the stretch.
Trading is a delicate thing, especially if you are in a league with friends. Obviously you want to get the best of the trade, but at the same time you don’t want to develop a reputation as someone who is difficult to deal with. The best trade is one that helps both teams, but you just a little bit more than your trading partner. You want to try to make sure the person is getting value, but you don’t want to hurt your bottom line, which is your chance to win the title. If you’re trading with someone who is above you in the standings, don’t give them what they need to beat you. Usually you’ll want to try to trade with someone who is below you in the standings so they don’t hurt you long-term. As a rule I try to put myself in the other team’s shoes when I offer a trade. I look at their standing within each category and try to make sure they’re getting something they need. There’s no point in offering a closer to a guy who already leads the league in saves. It’s just a waste of time and will get you a bad reputation.
The stretch run is about to begin, and while the real pennant races are beginning to heat up so is your fantasy race. Be smart about what you need to do to get yourself over the top, and hopefully both you and your favorite team will be holding the trophy at the end of the season
Chris Goudey
WagerWeb MLB Baseball Odds

Poker Tip of the Week

Poker Tip of the Week: Bad Beats »
By Chris Goudey
WagerWeb Casino

“#$%(&%#(&$)@&!!!”, I said for what seemed like the 10th time. Yes, I just got sucked out again on the river by a 2-outer and have now lost my last four sit-and-go tournaments in the same way. The donkey across the table has pulled one of the two or three cards in the deck that they needed to beat me after the flop. Those are known as bad beats, and as any player who plays regularly can tell you it seems to happen all the time.
Bad beats happen to the best poker players, the worst poker players, and everyone in between. There really isn’t a definition of what a bad beat is, but I would say it’s any time that you have your money in the pot and have at least a 75 percent chance of winning the hand. There are plenty of times where you have a 50/50, 55/45 or 60/40 chance of winning and you lose, but those aren’t really bad beats. They’re just part of the game. The times when you are in a “race” with someone, meaning one of you has a pocket pair and the other has two cards larger than your pair, are really not much more than a 50-55 percent chance for the person holding the pair to win. Also, a situation similar to this, where you have one overcard and your opponent has two cards higher than your kicker, you are only a 60 percent favorite to win.
The bad beats I’m talking about are the ones where you dominate your opponent, either with a higher pocket pair than his, a pair with a higher kicker or some other situation where he is a huge underdog once all the money goes in. Those are the ones that make you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut when you lose, and your reaction to these bad beats can make or break you as a poker player.
There is actually some good news in a continued string of bad beats. Bad beats happen to good players more often than they do to bad ones because the good players realize they have the best of it and get all their money in with the best hand more often. While a long run of beats will hurt your bottom line, you can take solace in the fact that you are playing solid poker. In the long run, getting your money in with the best hand a large percentage of the time is going to make you a ton of money. It’s hard to remember that sometimes when you’ve just been rivered, but if you can control your emotions and not go on tilt, you’ll be much better off. The key is just to tell yourself you made the right play and get on with it.
One way to lessen the effect of a bad beat in a tournament is to try to stay away from going all-in as much as possible. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve suffered a stomach punch but still had enough chips to come back and do well. In fact, just the other day I was down to $40 in chips in a sit-and-go and came back to win. The saying “a chip and a chair” really does apply, so while you do want to maximize your profits when you have the best of it, you also want to try to insure that you don’t get yourself knocked out of a tournament if the fish catches what he’s looking for. You can be aggressive without over-betting.
As I said, bad beats happen to everyone who sits down at the table, but if you can remember that they are part of the game, don’t go on tilt when they do happen, leave yourself some wiggle room, and know that you are actually playing very well, you can live to fight another day.
Chris Goudey

WagerWeb Casino

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Citing Sites to Make Your Football Picks Out of Sight

Joe Duffy (JoeDuffy.net)

We love the Information Age when it comes to sports
betting. We have added some new sources to add to our arsenal.  Frankly, biases aside you should bump my blog JoeDuffy.net to the top of
your list of best free information this football season.

In a recent article we focused on Steve
Presson
, full time Palm Beach
luxury real estate agent and part time NFL guru.  Steve told us about far and away his favorite
website for pro football information www.profootballtalk.com.

Our only caveat is that Steve isn’t only looking at it
from a handicapping standpoint, but from a fantasy football (in which we’ve
said many times overlaps with sports gambling) as well as being just a great
source of all gossip that is pro football.

So far, we agree it’s great for offseason information and
we are optimistic it will be a goldmine for the timely preseason poop of great
use for the sports investor during the games that don’t count in the standings,
but sure do in the back pocket.

While we have no shortage of resources for the skinny
during the regular season, we are always open-minded about an upgrade or better
streamlined source.  We will be keeping a
close eye on Pro Football Talk.

Many of you have followed me since my JD of the ACC
scorephone “Tailgate Party” reports on game day. For the first time in 15
years, I won’t be giving that great information via recorded message.  Instead we are moving all the free gambling data
to JoeDuffy.net.  Best of all, the same price applies: FREE.

Stevie Vincent, of KnockoutPicks.com
was the original Executive Editor of the Tailgate Party and will supply computer
trends.  Best of all, we’ve worked out a
deal with AllianceHandicapping.com
the online betting syndicate.  They will
supply their pool of bettors who will be assigned to monitor pre-game shows via
satellite, internet and traditional radio for real-time information on key
players who are “game time decisions”.  Then
via AIM, they will transmit the same info and I will post it within seconds to JoeDuffy.net .

This is in addition to the Godspicks.com news and notes, live weather
radar, injuries and more you got on the scorephones for 15 years.

For fantasy football information that is a must for your prop
bets, two sites still stand above the rest, ProFantasySports.com and Rotowire.com.  Actually this is true in all sports, not just
football as far as the marriage of sports betting and sports fantasy.

Scorephone.com
remains a great source for much of our favorite syndicated content such as the SportsNetwork write-ups and Sports
Databases match-ups. 

Finally we hope the best sports talk show host from a
gambler’s standpoint, Rick Ballou, formally of Sportingnews Radio lands on a
radio station we can listen to on the internet. 
SNRN was forced to let all their top talent go in a cost cutting
measure, but nobody has a better handle on college football than Rick.

Speaking of top sports stations being available on the
internet, we raved in a recent
article
about New York’s WFAN
finally being heard on the World Wide Web. 
Another great talk show host from a gambling standpoint is Philadelphia’s
Jody McDonald who can now be heard on Sportstalk950.com.  Keep in mind, the City of Brotherly
Love
is a pro sports town and it’s the pros that Jody
gives his best insight for your investing pleasure.

Today’s free winner (no password needed), late
breaking information as game time approaches, and advanced news and notes are at JoeDuffy.net
 Premium picks are at www.godspicks.com

Specifying Pitchers Followup and Industry Commentary

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God’s Tid-Bets, Vol. 23

Joe Duffy (JoeDuffy.net)

This is the latest in a series of a Godgepodge of sports
betting strategy and other sports handicapping and gaming issues.

Follow Up on When to Specify Pitchers

Stevie Vincent of KnockoutPicks.com
is generally accepted as the top baseball handicapper in the world when it
comes to handicapping pitchers. He’s clearly established himself as the
foremost authority on baseball totals plays. 

Because he’s the most respected voice in the “pitching and
defense is 80 percent of the game” crowd, it should come as no surprise that he
says gamblers should always specify pitchers when placing a bet.  In fact, he continued that it’s doubly true
with over/under plays. “When betting a total, anyone who does not specify
starting pitchers shouldn’t be gambling.”

With his unprecedented over/under record, who are we to
argue?

Is Nothing Sacred?

I’m all for the fact that people can bet on just about
anything.  If only our own government
realized this unalienable right. However, now sportsbooks allow anyone to bet
on the number of hurricanes to hit Florida
this summer or if certain terrorist leaders will be captured.

There just seems to be something intrinsically wrong with
someone rooting for more killer hurricanes or that a terrorist mastermind stays
on the loose, just to win a $100 bet.

By no means would I suggest such bad taste would ever be
the difference between the United States
finally legalizing online sportsbooks, but often one has to win the hearts and
minds of the public and the elected officials. 
Sportsbooks that carry such inelegant proposition plays aren’t helping
matters any.

But Nothing Unsacred

There are few people more universally respected in the
industry than Buzz Daly (www.buzzdaly.com),
the veteran industry writer. Ironically enough, Buzz asked the same “is nothing
sacred” question regarding the practice of sports gaming posting boards paying
top posters to move to their site.

First of all, I had no idea of such practice, but I can’t
say I see a darn thing wrong with it. My philosophy at Godspicks.com has always
been to put most of my time, effort and money into the product. 

Other handicappers spend more money on marketing, but I believe
in worrying about the product first and foremost.  Bravo to posting boards that do the same. Is
paying people to stimulate interest with quality posts any more sacrilegious
than paying an SEO guy to have you ranked ahead of the competition at Google?
How about upgrading software to make a posting board look better?

I’ll take substance over style any day and if bells and
whistles are worth paying for, why isn’t quality content?

Now if we can only convince some posting boards to pay
people not to post.

The famed
scorephone Tailgate Party goes high tech this football season at JoeDuffy.net.  We start the week with advanced news and
notes from Joe Duffy of Godspicks.com .
Then on game day (starting around midnight Friday and Saturday nights for the
next day’s action) it’s top computer trends from
forensic handicapper  Stevie Vincent of KnockoutPicks.com, live weather radar,
sportsbook contests, free sports service picks, late breaking injuries on game
day, and more to “beat the screen” on the sports information superhighway at JoeDuffy.net 

The Importance of Handicapping Backup QBs

Steve Presson is a very successful entrepreneur who now sells luxury real estate for Corcoran Group, a high end realtor in Palm Beach, Florida.  Steve pays minimal attention to any sport but one: pro football.  A fantasy football guru, Steve is approaching legendary status in NFL “Last Man Standing” or “Survivor” pools.

They go by some other names, but essentially participants pick one game a week and if they lose, they are out.  The winners advance until there is one man (or women) standing.

The reason Steve doesn’t bet on football more often or play higher stakes is that his keep-it-simple philosophy only presents limited opportunities, perhaps 10-15 times per year. His strategy?  It’s going against second string, incompetent quarterbacks.

Our only minor disagreement is that we believe successful teams are built around quality skilled position players with quarterbacks topping the list, but Presson believes the oddsmakers can’t compensate enough when an injury forces a significant downgrade behind the center.

I heard an NFL General Manager once say the most important player on a team is the starting quarterback and the second most important is the backup QB.

Look no further than Steelers’ Super Bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s recent brush with stupidity and death.  Literally every qualified opinion I’ve heard is that Pittsburgh is on firm legal grounds if they voided his humongous contract, which would free up plenty of money for non-quarterback additions.

Yet also unanimous is that every NFL talking head agrees as long as an eventual full recovery is likely, there is zero chance of Pittsburgh voiding his contract.

This is because while Mike Lupica and his cohorts can ramble on about the Steelers’ great defense but clearly Pittsburgh management realizes their defense performed best where all defenses pick up their best stats—on the sidelines.  And nobody is more responsible for that than Roethlisberger. The handicapping ramifications behind the indisputable fact are enormous.

Ironically Roethlisberger is a rare exception to another rule of thumb Steve has.  However, arguably he was the first notable one since a young Dan Marino. “Another trend is to look at young quarterbacks making one of their first 10 starts and preferably against a tough defensive team.  Rookie QBs don’t win and they should be taken advantage of.”

For every Marino and Roethlisberger aberration, there’s an Elway, Aikman, Manning (insert your choice of first names), Palmer and many, many others proving that theory extremely reliable in beating the NFL betting odds.

Nobody uses the Information Age in sports handicapping better than I do.  But as Steve and I were discussing strategy over 2-for-1 beer at Pete Rose’s sports bar in Boynton Beach, Florida, I was reminded of something I can’t be reminded of enough.  It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then, winning sports betting comes down to keeping it simple.

Most enlightened conversations happen over beer and in my never ending quest to acquire further knowledge, I’ll be handicapping back-up quarterbacks more than ever in my football betting.

Oh and luckily I’ll be getting Steve’s survivor pool picks.

Joe Duffy’s premium plays are available exclusively at GodsTips.com part of OffshoreInsiders.com handicapping network.