Real shoots for more road success at Dallas

Soccer Betting Lines

07/16/2010 - Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake forward Robbie Findley said after a recent win at the Chicago Fire one of our goals this year was to "improve on our road record."

Findley converted a penalty in the 1-0 win on July 8, helping Real win for the third time on the road already this season - a total it failed to reach in its last two MLS campaigns.

Now, the defending league champions return to action and visit twice-beaten FC Dallas on Saturday with another win - and the Los Angeles Galaxy - in sight.

Real captured the MLS crown last season despite going just 2-11-2 on the road, and has amassed the second-best mark in the league behind L.A. with three wins and a tie in seven road matches.

RSL (9-3-3) is six points behind the Galaxy - and have played one fewer game - entering the weekend trip to Pizza Hurt Park against Dallas (5-2-7).

"It's been something we've been working on. We didn't do too well [on the road last year] and it is one of our goals this year," Findley said. "So far we are doing the right things."

Findley, back from the World Cup with the U.S. national team, is joined on the field by three MLS All-Star First XI members in midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales, and defender Jamison Olave.

In addition, Real Salt Lake goalie Nick Rimando has not allowed a goal in his last 498 minutes and posted five straight shutouts, putting the Utah side in strong position for the start of the second half of the season.

Rimando admitted the team's attitude has changed on the road, and that has led to better results.

"I think last couple of years we were happy with a point and if we don't get that point it's not a big deal," Rimando said. "Now it's we aren't happy with a point, we want three points.

"I think the confidence of winning early in the season really helps us out in these kinds of games."

FC Dallas settled for a 1-1 draw against Seattle Sounders FC in its last game, as it tied its league-high seventh game of the season. However, coach Schellas Hyndman has guided his side to third place in the Western Conference.

FC Dallas' only losses were to Red Bull New York and Los Angeles, which is the lone team to shut out the Texas club this season.

David Ferreira scored in the draw against Seattle and has become Hyndman's top attacking threat with four goals. Jeff Cunningham won the Golden Boot one year ago, but three of his four goals are from the penalty spot this season.

Real has allowed just four goals while scoring 24 during its 10-match unbeaten streak, so Dallas could find another shutout tough to avoid this weekend.

"It's a big one for me - I'll be honest. I have feelings about that club - I had been there so long. And every time I go back there's a little bit extra on the line," said Real coach Jason Kreis, who played with Dallas from 1996-2004.

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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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