For over four decades, Doc’s Sports Service has earned a reputation as being a leader in the sports betting industry because of the ability to provide our loyal customers with a Unit Betting System for successfully wagering on a number of different sports. One of the keys to the system’s continued success over such a long period of time has been employing the services of some of the best handicappers in the business. The Vegas Sports Informer has been able to quickly move to the top of the ranks over the past five years by combining his handicapping skills at breaking down matchups with the competitive edge that comes from spending the last 15 years behind the counter of one of the biggest sportsbooks in Las Vegas. The Informer then incorporates this insider’s edge into all of his selections. The results speak for themselves with a consistent winning record for a wide selection of sports.

Doc’s Sports decided to tap into this insider’s edge through a series of weekly interviews with The Informer to give our readers a first-hand, behind-the-scenes glimpse at what is really going in the Las Vegas books. Over the course of these discussions, he has been able to provide valuable insight into some of the hottest trending topics in the sports gaming industry today. The following is this week’s discussion.

Doc’s Sports: Last Tuesday you mentioned that the Las Vegas books cleaned up during the first four full days of this year’s NCAA Tournament. With a nine seed, two four seeds and just one No.1 seed headed to this weekend’s Final Four, has this success continued throughout last week’s action?

VSI: The first three days of action last week were really good, especially with Miami’s loss to Marquette on Thursday and Michigan’s win on Friday over Kansas. The only game that really killed the books overall was Syracuse over Indiana as much of the money was already riding on the Orange. Saturday was solid as well, but there was some heavy action on Wichita State and the money line bet. It could have been a record weekend if Duke would have showed up and covered against Louisville.

Doc’s Sports: Louisville remains the obvious favorite to win the 2013 national title, but does Wichita State have what it takes as a 10.5-point underdog to ‘shock’ the Cardinals this Saturday?

VSI: I honestly think they do. The only team that the Shockers have had trouble with this season was Creighton, and the Bluejays are long gone from the tournament. Any time you have a team that is white-hot and playing with house money, they become a very dangerous opponent. Plus, you also have to question the emotional impact on the Cardinals as a result of the horrific injury to Kevin Ware.

Doc’s Sports: Miami has run away with the Eastern Conference this season, but the race for the top spot in the NBA’s Western Conference rages on between San Antonio and Oklahoma City. First of all, which team wins the battle this Thursday night, and, second, which team ends up winning the war for the top seed in the West?

VSI: Even with Manu Ginobili on the shelf until the start of the playoffs, I would still give the slight edge in the conference race to San Antonio, but it would be a small play at best. The Spurs have been known to rest players down the stretch, while Oklahoma City is the type of team to play it out hard until the end. As far as this Thursday night’s game, the edge in any game between these two heavyweights has to go to the home team.

Doc’s Sports: Now that the NFL free agency signing period is almost a month old, which teams would you consider to be the top winners and losers through the whole process?

VSI: The tide may have turned just this week for Arizona and Oakland. The Cardinals picked up Carson Palmer, who, at the very least, should be able to get the ball to Larry Fitzgerald much more often than their previous two quarterbacks did. In his place, the Raiders add a very hungry Matt Flynn, who has been chomping at the bit to show everyone what he can do behind center. To me, Atlanta still made the best overall moves this offseason and remains at the top of my winners list.

Leading the charge for the losers are my Chicago Bears. I think they are going to have a very difficult time replacing all the intangibles that Brian Urlacher can still bring to the table. Pittsburgh is another team that could be in trouble. I do not think the Steelers have the depth on defense to replace some the high-profile veteran players they let slip away.

Doc’s Sports: Everyone knows the importance of a team’s starting pitcher when it comes to handicapping Major League Baseball, but how much emphasis do you place on the home plate umpire when it comes to making your selections for a particular MLB matchup?

VSI: Back in the days when the starting pitcher used to routinely go well into the seventh inning of a game, I would put quite a bit of emphasis on the home plate umpire in terms of his tendencies because of the consistency in the pitching. Over the years, I think that affect has been watered-down quite a bit. The main thing I concentrate on now when handicapping the MLB is a team’s depth in its bullpen. A solid setup man and closer are worth their weight in gold in today’s game.

To keep up on all the inside information from Las Vegas be sure to follow VSI on Twitter @vsidocsports. Also, if you have any questions for The Informer that you would like us to cover in future articles please email them to askvsi@docsports.com and we will do our best to add them into the mix.