Khedira helps Stuttgart steal point against Bayern

Soccer Betting Lines

12/13/2008 - Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sami Khedira scored twice, including the tying goal in the 90th minute, and Stuttgart tied 10-man Bayern Munich 2-2 in the German Bundesliga on Saturday.

Bayern, which got goals from Tim Borowski and Luca Toni, still moved into first place with Hoffenheim idle but wasted a chance to put more pressure on the new Bundesliga club.

Hoffenheim hosts Schalke on Sunday needing just a tie to lead the league at the winter break.

Defending league champion Bayern was in great shape to take all three points at Mercedes-Benz Arena, but defender Massimo Oddo was red carded in the 85th. That helped Khedira add his second goal in the dying seconds of a half - he also had a goal on the last play of the first half.

Stuttgart slipped one spot to 10th, but is still just 10 points behind Bayern. The top five clubs - Bayern, Hoffenheim, Hertha Berlin, Hamburg and Leverkusen - are separated by just three points.

Khedira handed Stuttgart the lead off a corner in the last seconds of the first half, running onto a flicked on header from Matthieu Delpierre to head the ball into the left side past a diving Bayern goalie Michael Rensing.

Borowski, starting in place of injured French star Franck Ribery, tied the game in the 48th minute with a tap-in goal from close range. Bayern played a corner kick short and got the ball to Bastian Schweinsteiger on the top right edge of the area.

Schweinsteiger unleashed a shot that forced Jens Lehmann to make a diving save, but he gave up a rebound and Borowski picked up the easy goal for his fifth of the season.

Borowski set up the tying goal in the 66th, delivering a cross from the left to pick out Toni on the right. Toni didn't get a great touch on the ball, but his shot bounced in front of Lehmann and hoped over the diving goalie. Toni's goal was his ninth of the season.

Bayern was cruising toward the win until Oddo got a red card in the 85th minute for trying to win the ball with his studs inches from the face of Stuttgart's Christian Trasch.

Stuttgart pushed everyone forward in the final minutes, including Lehmann, but Khedira was the hero. He ran onto to a short punched corner from Rensing to hit a rocket just under the crossbar, a nearly unstoppable tying goal, in the 90th.

Bayern still extended its unbeaten streak to 16 straight games, including five Champions League games, but has to watch the scoreboard Sunday to see if it can hold onto the lead for the winter break.

Hertha Berlin quietly continued to take care of business and remain with close range of the top two clubs, getting three late goals to defeat Karlsruhe 4-0.

Maximilian Nicu opened the scoring for Hertha in the eighth minute, and Valeri Domovchiyski (74th), Fabian Lustenberger (86th) and Raffael (88th) capped the win to pull Hertha within two points of the top spot.

Hamburg also moved with two points of Bayern, getting a goal from Mladen Petric in the 59th minute to edge Eintracht 1-0.

Bayer Leverkusen's slide down the standings continued when Jiayi Shao scored in the 90th minute to give Energie a 1-1 draw. Bayer, which led the league a few weeks ago, is fifth.

Werder Bremen got a goal from Per Mertesacker and an own goal to edge Wolfsburg 2-1 to move up seventh, one spot ahead of Wolfsburg.

Nine-man Koln got goals from Kevin McKenna and Manasseh Ishiaku to edge Bochum 2-1 and Artur Wichniarek scored in the 59th and Arminia Bielefeld earned a 1-1 tie with Hannover to wrap up Saturday's matches.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.