Weekly Sports Betting and Handicapping News Articles

Sports Betting Insights: Star Power in the NBA
by Dave Schwab - 1/29/2014

Before the NBA regular season started the Oklahoma City Thunder were favorites to win the Western Conference on many of the bigger sportsbooks’ futures odds list. They began the season without Russell Westbrook due to injury, and they have been without their second-leading scorer since late December as he recovers from another knee surgery. This is where the star power of their leading scorer Kevin Durant has really begun to shine.

This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z
by Ricky Dimon - 1/29/2014

A. Mike Adams. Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy may not be Adams' only reward if Denver wins Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday night. His feet are also set to get a workout. The Broncos' safety has vowed to walk home from East Rutherford, N.J. to Paterson, N.J. if his team beats the Seattle Seahawks. Paterson is a crime-ridden location approximately 10 miles outside of East Rutherford. Denver is a -2.5 favorite at TopBet.

Weekly Q&A with Doc’s Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza
by Doc's Sports - 1/28/2014

Doc’s Sports: The spread with many of the books for this Sunday’s Super Bowl has settled-in at 2.5 points with Denver favored over Seattle. As you continue to break down this matchup, are you more inclined to give or take the points given this current betting line?

Case of the Mondays: Broncos Send Prater Home Sick
by Ricky Dimon - 1/27/2014

One week down. One week to go. So far, no disasters for either the Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks heading into Super Bowl XLVIII. Richard Sherman was fined $7,875 for taunting in the NFC Championship win over San Francisco, but that kind of money is amateur hour to Sherman, and all it does is garner him more publicity (as if that's humanly possible). Meanwhile, Denver kicker Matt Prater missed practice all of last week due to illness.

Sports Betting Insights: Tracking Current Form in the NBA
by Dave Schwab - 1/21/2014

When it comes to wagering on the NBA, you need to pay close attention to a team’s current form as even the best teams in the league go through peaks and valleys over the course of a grueling 82-game schedule. The defending-champion Miami Heat currently find themselves in one of those valleys with a 2-4 record both straight up and against the spread in their last six games.

This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z
by Ricky Dimon - 1/21/2014

G. Genie Bouchard. Everyone’s dreaming of Genie right now. The 19-year-old has the looks and the game, and she is through to the semifinals of the Australian Open. The only thing she has done wrong this fortnight is answer “Justin Bieber” when asked after her quarterfinal win on Tuesday whom she would choose if she could date anyone in the world. That response was greeted with a chorus of boos from the Rod Laver Arena faithful. TopBet has Bouchard as a +300 underdog in her semifinal match against Li Na.

Weekly Q&A with Doc’s Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza
by Doc's Sports - 1/21/2014

Doc’s Sports: The NFL playoffs have pretty much gone chalk with the top seed in each conference advancing to Super Bowl XLVIII. Looking at the early betting line for this game that has Denver favored by two points with most of the books in town, where do you see this number headed as the money continues to pour in over the next two weeks?

This Week in Sports Betting by the Numbers
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 1/21/2014

The main numbers everyone will fixated on between now and Feb. 2 are actually roman numerals… as in XLVIII… as in Super Bowl XLVIII. The NFL’s No. 1 offense will meet the NFL’s No. 1 defense as both No. 1 seeds reach the Super Bowl for only the second time in 20 years.

Case of the Mondays: Belichick, Harbaugh Bounced from Postseason
by Ricky Dimon - 1/20/2014

Bill Belichick was looking for his first Super Bowl win in 10 seasons. Jim Harbaugh was looking to put last year’s Super Bowl heartbreak to rest. Neither one, however, will play for it this time around. Belichick’s Patriots got booted out of the playoffs by Denver, and Harbaugh’s 49ers lost an NFC Championship thriller to Seattle, further cementing the NFC West rivalry as by far the best in all of professional football. Nobody had a worse week than those two guys and their two teams, but Serena Williams came close.

This Week in Sports Betting by the Numbers
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 1/16/2014

There are four teams left standing in the NFL, and looking at the preseason Super Bowl odds, we should have known. The four teams pegged by Las Vegas as Super Bowl favorites are the last four standing. Here are some more numbers that may be just as telling.

Sports Betting Insights: College Basketball Under-the-Radar Moneymakers
by Dave Schwab - 1/15/2014

Each week, the world of sports offers a couple of golden opportunities to take advantage of current trends when it comes to wagering on the games. These trends tend to come and go like set of big waves, so you need to ride them while they are hot.

Weekly Q&A with Doc’s Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza
by Doc's Sports - 1/14/2014

Doc’s Sports: The cream has risen to the top in the AFC with No. 2 seed New England travelling to Denver this Sunday to face the No. 1 seed Broncos in the conference championship. There are a number of subplots in this matchup including Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning, but overall, which team do you see coming out on top?

Case of the Mondays: Luck Runs Out for Andrew, Cam
by Ricky Dimon - 1/13/2014

Young, on-the-rise quarterbacks experienced different fates during divisional-round weekend. Heading into conference championship games, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick are still alive. Andrew Luck and Cam Newton, however, went by the wayside. It was an even split between the youngsters and the veterans, with the older guard of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, and Drew Brees also going a combined 2-2.

Back to the Futures: Seminoles Favored to Repeat
by Ricky Dimon - 1/9/2014

The college football season ended more than a couple of days ago, which means it’s past time to start talking about next year; right? After all, the 2014-15 campaign will be bigger and better than ever with the arrival of the College Football Playoff. According to the odds, though, the more things change, the more they will stay the same.

This Week in Sports Betting by the Numbers
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 1/9/2014

Here is to a positive 2014, although the year started with negative numbers getting the most attention as in negative temperatures and wind chills that swept over the midwest and northeast. In the sports world those negative numbers were most noticeable at Lambeau Field on Sunday where the 49ers defeated the Packers 23-20 in an NFC wild-card game played in -10 degree wind chill at kickoff that only got worse as the game progressed.

This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z
by Ricky Dimon - 1/8/2014

A. Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas does not often lose its way in the Phog, but it did on Sunday for its third setback in its last 115 home games. The Jayhawks fell to San Diego State 61-57, a result that ended their 68-game nonconference winning streak at the house that Phog Allen built. Kansas is a -4.5 favorite at Oklahoma on Wednesday, according to Sportsbook.ag.

Weekly Q&A with Doc’s Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza
by Doc's Sports - 1/7/2014

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?

Case of the Mondays: Kansas City is Choke City
by Ricky Dimon - 1/6/2014

The Chiefs technically play in Missouri, so it was not necessarily the worst weekend in sports history for the state of Kansas. Still, it was not a good time for any team with “Kansas” in its name. Kansas City lost its wild-card game at Indianapolis in improbable fashion on Saturday afternoon, and Kansas’ men’s basketball team got bounced at home by San Diego State one day later. Cases of the Mondays for those squads? That would be an understatement.

This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z
by Ricky Dimon - 1/5/2014

A. Al Horford. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Horford is injured. You’ve undoubtedly heard it before, and now you’re hearing it again. Atlanta’s undisputed best player suffered a completely torn pectoral muscle last weekend and will miss the remainder of the season. Horford is leading the team in points per game (18.6), blocks (1.5) and is second behind Paul Millsap in rebounds (8.4). Sportsbook.ag has the Hawks at +5000 to win the Eastern Conference.

Back to the Futures: NFL Begins to Paint Playoff Picture
by Ricky Dimon - 1/2/2014

BCS games this week have evoked thoughts of just how awesome a playoff would be. The NFL will reinforce that idea when it assumes center stage on Saturday and Sunday for its postseason. Will the expected Denver-Seattle Super Bowl matchup come to fruition, or will an upstart crash the party?