Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza 9/20/2016

by Doc's Sports - 9/20/2016

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz

The underdogs are off to fast start in the NFL with an early winning percentage against the spread of almost 60 percent through the first two weeks of the regular season. In this week's discussion with Doc's Sports expert handicapper Raphael Esparza, we will get his take on whether or not sports bettors should keep riding this trend into Week 3.

Raphael developed his skills as one of the top sports handicappers in the nation during a long and successful career in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry. At the pinnacle of his career, the former Vegas Sports Informer held the prestigious position as the Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria until his retirement in 2013. Since then, he has been splitting his time between Las Vegas and the Big Easy in New Orleans running a 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 Las Vegas sportsbooks took in quite a bit of money on New England's straight up upset against Arizona in Week 1 of the NFL regular season. Which games tipped the scales either in their favor or against their potential winnings in last week's results?

RE: It was another strong week for the books in town, but the action was much more spread out this time around. There was quite a bit of sharp money on Indianapolis last Sunday against Denver, and losses by Green Bay and Seattle worked heavily in the favor of the Las Vegas books as well. Philadelphia's win as a road underdog on Monday night just added even more profit to an already strong Week 2 run.

Doc's Sports: Speaking of underdogs, they are off to a pretty strong start in the NFL, especially when it comes to their winning percentage playing on the road. Is this the type of betting trend that should continue this week or will favorites start to finally assert themselves in Week 3?

RE: I really try to not focus all that heavily on past trends since every week is a new week in the NFL. That being said, I am normally drawn to underdogs in both the Thursday night and Monday night games. While I do not always pull the trigger with a bet, more times than not I find myself leaning towards the dogs in both of these games each week.

Doc's Sports : When it comes to the major conferences in college football, many of the experts have already written off the Big 12 in terms of this season's College Football Playoff given slow starts by Oklahoma, TCU and Texas. What are your thoughts concerning any team's chances to come out of this conference to compete for a national title?

RE: It has been a pretty stunning start for a conference that was supposed to be right in the mix of this season's College Football Playoff discussion with the Sooners leading the way. I still have not given up on Baylor possibly making some noise if the Bears can keep winning games. Given all the offseason adversity surrounding this program, this could still turn into being one of the most interesting stories this college football season.

Doc's Sports : The big game in the Big Ten this Saturday pits No. 11 Wisconsin on the road against No. 8 Michigan State. A win by either team would throw them in the mix with Ohio State and Michigan as a legitimate contender to win a conference title this season. However, which team actually takes that next step with the SU win?

RE: This game hinges on two main factors. The first is which Wisconsin team decides to show up on Saturday following a strong outing against LSU in Week 1 and a close call against Georgia State last week. The second factor is Michigan State's defense. If the Spartans play the way they did against Notre Dame last week, they should come away with another big win this Saturday afternoon.

Doc's Sports: The United States faces Canada this Tuesday night in a Group A matchup in this year's World Cup of Hockey as a pretty heavy underdog. The US team already lost to Team Europe on Saturday 3-0, so would you take the higher risk on Team Canada's moneyline odds and go against them in this game as well?

RE : I am kind of surprised that the number on Canada is so high given the rivalry that does exist between the two teams. I still think the US does go on to lose this game, but the risk in going against them is just a bit too high for my taste.

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 .

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 10:07 PM
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