It’s a new year and a new chance to capitalize on Doc’s Sports winning picks as we enter our 43rd year in business as one of the top selection services in the sports gaming industry. We just wrapped up an incredible season of college football, and we are primed for even more success in the NFL Playoffs as well as the NBA, NHL and college basketball. One of the biggest reasons for our ongoing success is a strong working relationship with some of the best handicappers in the business.

One of our top performers for the past seven years has been Raphael Esparza. He was formerly known as the Vegas Sports Informer during a long and illustrious career working behind the counter of some of the biggest sportsbooks in Las Vegas, including the position of Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria. Raphael has since retired from the sportsbook industry, but he remains hard at work sourcing inside information from vast network of contacts in Las Vegas. This ‘inside edge’ continues to be a vital part of his handicapping efforts for all the selections he releases. Raphael offers selection packages for one of the widest arrays of sporting events in the business, so if you can bet on it, he most likely offers a pick!

Doc’s Sports has been tapping into this ‘inside edge’ on a weekly basis with a series of open discussions with Raphael that are specifically designed to uncover valuable insight into the hottest trending topics in the sports gaming industry today. He continues to prove time and time again that working and living in the undisputed sports gambling capital of the world helps to keep him at the top of his game.

Doc’s Sports: The NFL’s wild-card weekend offered some exciting games and fantastic finishes, but it is time to turn our attention to this weekend’s divisional round of the NFL Playoffs. Starting in the AFC, do the top two seeds (Denver and New England) advance to the title game, or are San Diego and Indianapolis cooking up another pair of upsets as underdogs?

RE:The Colts have a shot at pulling off another upset behind an offense that is more than capable of matching New England point for point. As impressive as San Diego has been over the past few weeks, I just do not see them going into Denver and beating the Broncos on their home field twice in the same season.

Doc’s Sports: The two games in the NFC offer a rematch from a previous regular-season matchup. Do Seattle and Carolina pull off the two-game sweep or do New Orleans and San Francisco even the score with a victory in the game that matters the most?

RE: I would have to go with Seattle straight up in the first game, but things will be much closer this time around. I also like San Francisco, simply because its defense should be able to rattle Cam Newton, which in turn, could lead to a few costly turnovers by the Panthers.

Doc’s Sports: Florida State scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to get past Auburn 34-31 in this past Monday night’s BCS Championship, but it came nowhere close to covering the closing spread that ballooned to as many as 11 points with most of the books. Looking at where all the action ended up for this game, who were the big winners; the Las Vegas books or the betting public?

RE: It always helps the books when the favorite does not cover, but the word around town is that they may have really cleaned up last night with some heavy action on Auburn on the moneyline. The fact that the game stayed “under” the 68-point closing line also helped the books by breaking up a ton of action on parlay bets.

Doc’s Sports: Conference play is underway in college basketball, and the big matchup this week in the Big Ten pits No. 3 Ohio State on the road against No. 5 Michigan State this Tuesday night. While these are definitely two of the top teams in the conference, who do you see coming out on top in the Big Ten this season?

RE: The Buckeyes and the Spartans may be attracting all the early attention in the Big Ten, but the team at the top of my list in this conference is Wisconsin. As expected, the Badgers’ primary strength is still their shut-down zone defense, but this year’s squad has quite a bit of talent on the offensive side of the ball as well. My sleeper team in the Big Ten is the Iowa Hawkeyes, who are also well- positioned to make some noise in this race.

Doc’s Sports: January marks the start of the Triple Crown Trail that features over 60 stakes races for three-year old thoroughbreds from now until April that will ultimately shape the final field for May’s Kentucky Derby. Are there any early races on this schedule that have caught your eye?

RE: My personal ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’ starts with the Gotham Stakes on March 1 at Aqueduct, but I will be handicapping all the big prep races for three-year olds leading up to the Triple Crown. One race to keep an eye on this month is the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 20. An early horse to keep an eye on is New Year’s Day, who won last November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which is the premier event for two-year old thoroughbreds.

Click here to visit Raphael Esparza’s Insider’s Page at Doc’s Sports for more information on his amazingly-profitable sports handicapping picks. Also, get $60 worth of Esparza’s member’s picks absolutely free – no obligation, no sales people – you don’t even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit for any sport Esparza handicaps. Click here for $60 worth of free picks from Raphael Esparza. Also be sure to follow him on Twitter @VSIDocsports.