Wie aces her way to Canadian Open lead

Golf Betting Lines

08/26/2010 - Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michelle Wie aced the par-three 11th hole on Thursday en route to a seven-under 65 and the first-round lead of the Canadian Women's Open.

"It was a fun day out there today, it was a good pairing," said Wie. "Just went out there and tried to have fun. Obviously it worked out well for me on 11. But it was pretty cool."

Already three-under on her round, Wie hit a five-iron at the 183-yard, par- three 11th. The ball landed on the putting surface and rolled in for her second ace in tournament action.

"It was the first time I had actually seen it go in in a tournament," admitted Wie. "It was pretty cool. It was surreal. I didn't believe it actually happened.

"They make that sound like it's going to go in and make that noise and everyone's hands go up. It was pretty crazy."

Wie's hole-in-one wasn't her only heroics on Thursday. She holed out from a bunker at the par-four 17th that got her to seven-under par for the championship.

"It just was an uphill lie, uphill to the green, and I just really thought I could make it, and I went up there, really thought about it, just trusted it, and kind of did what I thought it would do," said Wie.

Sarah Kemp posted a four-under 68 and is alone in second place at St. Charles Country Club.

Defending champion Suzann Pettersen, who won this title last year at Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club, carded a three-under 69 and is alone in third place at minus-three.

"It was windy out there today," said Pettersen. "It was a little different wind than the practice rounds and the pro-am, but hit the ball pretty good, made my fair share of putts, and I mean, I think I hit 17 greens, so that was pretty good."

Wind aside, Thursday's story was Wie.

She collected her first birdie at the par-four third and added back-to-back birdies at five and six to get to three-under par.

Wie parred the next four around the turn, then recorded her ace at 11 to take the lead at minus-five. She bogeyed the next hole, but went on another mini- run to grab the lead.

She rattled off back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th, both par fives, and found herself two strokes clear at six-under par. Wie's hole-out birdie at 17 padded her cushion, and she took the first-round lead for the first time since her days as an amateur at the 2005 U.S. Women's Open.

"It's been a long time ago. It's pretty cool, you know, but it means nothing, really," said Wie. "Today is over and done with. We still have three more days of the tournament, so I've just really got to focus and try to play better every day."

Jiyai Shin, Jane Park, Meredith Duncan, Pernilla Lindberg, Ilhee Lee, Kristy McPherson, Karen Stupples and Amy Hung are knotted in fourth place at two- under 70.

NOTES: World No. 1 Ai Miyazato struggled to a two-over 74 and is tied for 63rd place...Cristie Kerr, who was No. 1 two weeks ago, was a stroke worse with a three-over 75...Shi Hyun Ahn and Ilmi Chung were disqualified on Thursday.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

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.