Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza 1/5/2016

by Doc's Sports - 1/5/2016

Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater

The NFL Playoffs get underway this weekend, and next Monday night is the College Football Playoff National Championship. However, the biggest betting event on Raphael Esparza's plate this week could be his top-unit play for this Sunday's Golden Globe awards. We will try and get one of Doc's Sports top expert handicappers to weigh in with his betting strategy for all three of these topics in this week's discussion.

Once known as the Vegas Sports Informer during a long and successful career in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry, Raphael was able to work his way up to the prestigious position of Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria until his retirement in 2013. Not to be outdone, he is now splitting his time between his adopted home town Las Vegas and the Big Easy in New Orleans while running a very successful and diverse sports investment service. The following is this week's Q&A with one of Doc's most interesting handicappers.

Doc's Sports: The NFL regular season has finally come to a close. What is the final tally between the betting public and the Las Vegas sportsbooks as to which side got the better of things over the past 17 weeks?

RE: The Las Vegas books managed to squeeze out a small gain against the betting public in the final round of NFL regular-season games behind losses by New England and the New York Giants. Most of my inside sources in town have the books posting a moderate gain over the course of the entire 17-week run, but the gains were nowhere as near as big as they were last season.

Doc's Sports: The Wild-Card Round of the NFL Playoffs has a history of producing at least one or two upsets across the four games. Can you give us your top NFL upset special for this weekend's betting action?

RE: The most interesting thing about this weekend's NFL games is that three of the four road teams are favored, and if Green Bay was not playing so bad it would be favored as well. I could actually see any of the four home teams winning straight up, so I guess my biggest upset would be Minnesota over Seattle.

Doc's Sports : Both Alabama and Clemson looked strong in their national semifinal victories. Does that lead you to take the Tigers and the touchdown spread for next Monday's championship game or would you go with the Crimson Tide to notch their fourth national title since 2009 while covering the seven points?

RE: Recent history has proven that the Crimson Tide has had their issues in the past against a mobile quarterback, so Clemson's Deshaun Watson could be the key to an upset on Monday night. Overall, I like the Tigers' chances to keep this game closer than a touchdown against what I still believe to be a slightly overrated Alabama team.

Doc's Sports : Through the first few games of conference play in men's college basketball, is there anything that has jumped out for you as an unexpected result?

RE: College basketball in general is still the most exciting betting sport in my book and games such as Kansas beating Oklahoma in triple overtime this past Monday only further prove my point. I see the Big 12 as a whole being a highly-competitive and exciting conference this season, which is not something I would have expected before the season began.

Doc's Sports: We know that you have already released your selections for this Sunday's Golden Globes, but can you give us your strongest unit play for one of those picks?

RE : My top play for Sunday's awards would have to be in the Best Supporting Actress category. The field is filled with some strong competition, but I am going with the +125 odds on Jennifer Jason Leigh for her role in "The Hateful Eight". I personally think she stole the show in a very powerful cast.

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 .

Pick:	CHICAGO BEARS +3
Start:	November 24, 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Expert:	Doc's Sports

Analysis:

Free Play from Doc’s Sports. Take #256 Chicago Bears +3 over Minnesota Vikings (1p.m., Sunday, November 24 FOX) We used the Bears as a free play winner last Sunday and easily covered the spread and should have been an underdog outright winner. Now we will ride them for a second straight week against another NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 8-2 on the season, yet are only around a field goal favorite. I still do not trust Sam Donald to win consistently over the course of a 17 game regular season. Minnesota is not as good as their 8-2 record would indicate and playing outdoors in Chicago on Sunday will cause issues for them on both sides of the ball. Chicago has been hit or miss this season, but they will be up to play another divisional rival and we expect them to take this down to the wire as well. Do not miss out on Doc’s Sports Weekend Card featuring top plays in college and NFL football. Read More Read Less

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