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Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza


by Doc's Sports - 3/6/2018

Jose Altuve Houston Astros

Las Vegas is the place to be this week for college basketball conference tournament betting action. We will be checking in with Doc's Sports expert handicapper Raphael Esparza to get his take on how to bet on two of his favorite conferences in town this week; the Pac-12 and the Mountain West. We will also take a closer look at a key Kentucky Derby prep race this Saturday at Santa Anita Park.

For most of his career in the Las Vegas Sportsbook industry, Raphael was better known as the Vegas Sports Informer as he worked his way up the ranks to become one of the best sports handicappers in the nation. At the height of his sportsbook career, he held the prestigious position as the Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria until his retirement in 2013. These days, he continues to stay busy by 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 Pac-12 is the highest-profile conference tournament in Las Vegas this week. The opening futures odds have Arizona set as the clear favorite to win, but there are number of other teams on the board that can make a run to the title. How do you see things playing out in this season's Pac-12 Conference Tournament?

RE: Arizona has been fighting an uphill battle all season long starting with a slow start out of the gate all the way to the recent off-court issues surrounding its head coach and certain key players. I believe that all this adversity has put a big chip on this team's shoulder, and I really like the Wildcats' chances to make a big statement this week with a run to the tournament title.

Doc's Sports: We also know that you are a big fan of the Mountain West, which is another conference holding its postseason tournament in town this week. You have been high on Nevada all season long, so do you have the Wolf Pack adding a conference tournament title to this year's resume along with their regular-season title in the MWC?

RE: I have been touting Nevada all season long, and I do have the Wolf Pack winning this week, but it will not be easy. Boise State is a solid second-favorite as the No. 2 seed, and anything could happen in the championship game.

Doc's Sports: The current MLB exhibition season is designed to get all 30 teams ready to go for opening day. Some avid baseball fans will bet on these games, but is there any value in spring training moneyline odds from a professional handicapper's standpoint.

RE: There can be some good value in the numbers, but the handicapping effort to mine it out is much higher than in the regular season. You have split squad games, starters making limited appearances on the mound, and quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding which players will be in the starting lineup and which ones will be resting. I personally do not get involved with betting on exhibition baseball with so many other things going on in March.

Doc's Sports : The $400,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park is set for this Saturday as an important prep race on the 2018 Kentucky Derby Trail with Bolt d'Oro and McKinzie highlighting the projected field. Do you have any early thoughts on how to bet this race?

RE: Bolt d'Oro has not raced as a three-year old after finishing third in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, so I am not really sure how to approach this race right now. Track conditions at Santa Anita are an important factor, which means that I will probably wait until Saturday to formulate my betting strategy. There are actually three big prep races this Saturday with the Tampa Bay Derby and the Gotham Stakes also on the slate.

Doc's Sports: We have jumped around the board quite a bit this week, but we also cannot help but feel that we might have missed something. What else do you have on this week's betting radar?

RE : I would put boxing at the top of the list with ESPN and Showtime offering a decent card of bouts this Saturday. The featherweight title bout on ESPN between Oscar Valdez as the champion and Scott Quigg should be a very entertaining fight. My top fight on Showtime would be the welterweight title bout between champion Sergey Lipinets and challenger Mikey Garcia as a heavy favorite.

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 .

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