Bolton equalizes late to tie Bayern

Soccer Betting Lines

11/08/2007 - Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Davies scored in the 82nd minute as Bolton earned a surprising 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in Group F of the UEFA Cup on Thursday.

Ricardo Gardner gave Bolton the lead in the eighth minute, but Lukas Podolski scored two goals as Bayern Munich rallied for the second game in a row in the UEFA Cup.

Bayern needed an 86th minute goal from Miroslav Klose and a stoppage-time goal from Toni Kroos to win its first game in Group F, 3-2 over Red Star Belgrade.

The Bundesliga leaders couldn't hold off Bolton, though, surrendering the late equalizer to disappoint 66,000 fans at the Fubball Arena Munchen.

Gardner took advantage of poor defending for the early goal when Bayern failed to clear a throw-in. Gardner took a pass from Daniel Braaten and scored off a deflection.

Podolski, who took a reserve role this season with Bayern Munich following the signings of Luca Toni and Klose, scored his first goal in the 30th.

Midfielders Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger helped set up the score, which Podolski easily slipped past Bolton goalie Ali Al Habsi.

Podolski, who started in place of Toni, added his second goal after halftime off an assist from Ribery.

Bayern was in control after taking the lead, but after Podolski (57th), Ribery (60) and Schweinsteiger (73) were taken out, Bolton was able to find the tying goal.

Kevin Nolan, who scored a late equalizer against West Ham in the Premiership on Sunday, set up Davies' goal with a nice pass in the box. Davies struck the ball low past Bayern goalie Oliver Kahn.

Bayern visits Braga when UEFA Cup play continues on Nov. 29. Bolton (0-0-2) hosts Aris Thessaloniki on Nov. 29.

Also in Group F, Thanassis Papazoglou scored two of Aris Thessaloniki's three goals in the final 14 minutes of a 3-0 win over Red Star Belgrade.

In Group A, Mikel Arteta and Victor Anichebe scored in the final 10 minutes as Everton beat Nurnberg 2-0, and Konstatin Zurianov and Fatih Tekke scored in the final 20 minutes as Zenit St. Petersburg rallied for a 3-2 victory over Larissa.

In Group B, Dame Ndoye scored in the 15th minute and Panathinaikos held on for a 1-0 win over FC Copenhagen after Hjalte Bo Norregaard missed a penalty kick in the 64th minute, and Lokomotiv Moscow's Branislav Ivanovic scored in the 45th minute to equalize Alexander Diamond's goal in the 27th for Aberdeen in a 1-1 draw.

In Group C, Kahveci Nihat and Gonzalez Santi Cazorla scored as Villarreal defeated Mlada Boleslav 2-1, and Martin Jorgensen had two goals as Fiorentina rolled to a 6-1 win over Elfsborg.

In Group D, Basle held onto the top spot with a 0-0 draw at Dinamo Zagreb, and Bruno Cheyrou scored on a penalty kick in the 88th minute as Rennes tied Brann, 1-1.

In Group E, Roman Pavluchenko and Santos Batista Mozart scored on penalty kicks and Spartak Moscow held on for a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen, and Karol Kisel scored the second of his two goals in the 88th minute to lift Sparta Prague to a 3-2 win over Toulouse.

In Group G, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov scored in the first half and Tottenham had no trouble holding on for a 2-0 win after Hapoel Tel Aviv had a man sent off early in the second half, and Mattias Lindstrom scored in the 86th minute as AaB tied Anderlecht, 1-1.

In Group H, Henrik Larsson, Razak Omotoyossi and Christoffer Andersson scored as Helsinborg overcame two goals by Galatasaray's Shabani Nonda for a 3-2 win, and Silva Wendell converted a penalty in the 88th as Bordeaux rallied for a 2-1 win over Austria Vienna.

Ccaisno Soccer Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING

NFL Football Betting Online

In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.

It is called the "pointspread."

Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.

But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.

A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.

In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.

The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .

Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.

Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

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