Current Odds to Win the British Open – 2009

Tiger Woods Betting Options

As they get ready to tee it up at Turnberry for the 2009 British Open, all eyes will be on Tiger Woods. Nothing new of course. All eyes are on Tiger Woods in every Tournament he plays in. After all, he is the best golfer in the world. But if you’re planning on betting on Tiger Woods in the 2009 British Open we suggest you reconsider as the current odds on Tiger to win present very little value.

Tigers average current odds to win the Open are +225. Which means you wager $100 to win $225. A those odds, you simply have to pass. You can do much better by simply betting on Tiger in the head to head matchups. For example, some sportsbooks offer three way betting. They match 3 golfers for a particular round, or for the entire British Open and post odds for each. One sportsbook has the following 3 way odds. Tiger Woods -175, Lee Westwood +225 and Ryo Ishikawa +665. In this scenario, all Tiger has to do is beat Westwood and Ishikawa in the first round and you win your bet. It will cost you more than betting Tiger to win the Open, but instead of having to beat the entire field for the entire event, he just has to beat those two in the first round.

Speaking of the entire field, most sportsbooks also offer a Tiger Woods vs. the Field wager. The average current odds we have seen for this prop are the Field at +400. Which means you can wager $100 to win $400 and you get every player participating in the British Open against Tiger Woods. As long as Tiger doesn’t win, you win your wager. again, a little more value in this instance, backing every player as opposed to just backing one.

No guarantee Tiger will win as it is. He’s never played this course before. Last time we checked, Tiger doesn’t win EVERY Tournament. Padraig Harrington won the last two Opens (no Tiger last year) and he has current odds of 25/1!!! Greg Norman not only won the Open in the past, but he won it at Turnberry on this very course and has current odds to win of 100/1. Now that would be a nice Score eh? And a nice story as well. Ok, he won it here 23 years ago. But still, dare to dream.

The point we are trying to drive home is that there are far better betting opportunities for the British Open than betting on the favorite, Tiger Woods, to win it all. Aside from the bet offers we have already discussed, there are head to head matchups, there are odds posted on each players chance of making the top 10 (Tiger is a 5/1 favorite to make the top 10). There are odds posted on the top Englishman, the top American or the top European. There are also odds posted on whether or not each player will make the cut.

Here are the Current Odds to win the British Open gathered from several different Sportsbooks including SBG Global. Make sure you shop around and check the odds at all the top sportsbooks. What you save is what you earn!

Tiger Woods +225

 Field (Any Other Golfers) +400

Sergio Garcia +2000

Lee Westwood +2500

Padraig Harrington +2500

Ian Poulter +2500

Rory McIlroy +2500

Steve Stricker +3000

Retief Goosen +3000

Hunter Mahan +3000

Paul Casey +3000

Henrik Stenson +3000

Geoff Ogilvy +3000

Jim Furyk +3000

Anthony Kim +3000

Martin Kaymer +4000

Ross Fisher +4000

Adam Scott +4000

Ernie Els +4000

David Duval +5000

Zach Johnson +5000

Camilo Villegas +5000

Kenny Perry +5000

Ben Curtis +6000

Angel Cabrera +6000

Graeme McDowell +6000

Sean OHair +6000

Vijay Singh +6000

David Toms +6000

Mike Weir +7500

Justin Leonard +7500

Tim Clark +7500

Luke Donald +8000

Stuart Appleby +10000

Andres Romero +10000

Justin Rose +10000

Stewart Cink +10000

Robert Allenby +10000

KJ Choi +10000

Greg Norman +10000

Lucas Glover +10000

Miguel Angel Jimenez +12500

Rory Sabbatini +12500

Stephen Ames +12500

Davis Love III +12500

John Daly +15000

Chad Campbell +15000

Darren Clarke +15000

CURRENT ODDS TO WIN WIMBLEDON – 2009

Can anyone beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon? The Odds say no. Federer is listed at -225 to win and his nemesis Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Tournament because of tendinitis in both knees. So it would appear as though he has a clear shot all the way through. Below, we’ll list the current updated odds to win Wimbledon courtesy of 5dimes.com but let’s first take a look and see if we can’t find an upset.

The two likely to have the best chance to beat Federer, according to the odds as well as many tennis experts, would be Andy Murray who is listed at +250 and Andy Roddick who is listed at current odds of 8/1. No value in backing Murray at those odds, but there may be some value with Roddick.

In looking for potential contenders, why not listen to Federer himself? A while back, he named the aforementioned Roddick, as well as Robin Soderling as threats. Soderling has current odds of 60/1. Not a bad Scoreif he comes through eh? He also named Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who already lost to Ivo Karlovic. Many say Karlovic is a threat to beat Federer because his serve is so hard to break. He’s the tallest player in professional tennis standing 6’10” and has already beaten the likes of Federer, Roddick and other top names. Karlovic has current odds of 50/1.

Betting on the outcome of a Tennis Tournament like Wimbledon is very similar to betting on golf Tournaments. With Golf, get Tiger Woods out of there and bettors have a chance to make a nice Scorebecause the odds on everyone else are always so generous. Same situation here at Wimbledon. Get Federer out of there and the entire field really opens up, making room for savvy bettors to really cash in. The trick is finding the live dog. We’ve given you a few examples above, but we’re also sure many of you have your own opinions. We shall soon see how it all plays out. Good luck if you bet.

In the meantime, here are the current updated odds to win Wimbledon, 2009.

 Roger Federer -225

Igor Andreev +10000

For up to the second odds visit 5dimes.com
 

2010 NATHANS HOT DOG EATING CONTEST

Current Odds and Predictions

Joey Chestnut Favored to defend his Title

7/4/2010

You know it’s the heart of Summer when we mention Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi and the famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, and event we look forward to covering each year. As always, we will post the current odds to win the 2010 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at the end of this article. You can tune in at 12 noon est. on ESPN to watch this spectacular event. As a special footnote to this years contest, Nathan’s Famous intends to provide a hot dog lunch to 100,000 U.S. troops stationed overseas.

Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is the Super Bowl of all eating events. It is held annually on July 4, and will be contested for the 95th time in 2010. It began as a contest between immigrants to decide who was more patriotic. The event is sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). In 2006 over 1.5 million people watched the contest via ESPN, and 30,000 saw the hot dog eating contest live. I expect the viewership to top 2 million this year. People won’t just be watching the event, they’ll be betting on the event as sportsbooks have been posting odds on this event for some time now. One such sportsbook, is 5dimes.com

I hate when people say certain things are not sports. Being a horse racing fan first and foremost, I hear this very often. The same is often said of poker, UFC, video Games, and hot dog eating contests. The latter is one of the most exciting events you may ever witness. There is nothing quite like watching a small man eat 50 hotdogs in about 10 minutes. Even more amazing is watching men of massive weight lose in the early stages of the competition.

The 2009 contest was won by Joey Chestnut as he defended his title chowing down 68 hot dogs, a new world record and a full 4 dogs ahead of his archrival, Takeru (Tsunami) Kobayashi. Chestnut took home 20k in prize money along with the “Mustard Belt”.

Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi is one of the greatest competitive eaters to have ever lived. He hails from Japan and stands 5’ 8” and weighs between 128 and 165 lbs. depending upon whether or not he is competing. He is currently ranked third in the world by the IFOCE and he held the record for most hot dogs eaten for nearly six years. He holds numerous records. He was able to eat 20 lbs. of rice balls in just thirty minutes. He devOured 58 bratwurst sausages in 15 minutes. Perhaps his oddest record came when he ate 17.7 lbs. of cow brains in 15 minutes. On May 31, 2009 he beat Joey Chestnut in a Pizza Hut P’Zone eating contest. He is truly a phenomenal eater.

Joey Chestnut is not an ordinary guy. His talent is quite amazing. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut has won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest for two years in a row and is currently ranked 1st in the world by the IFOCE. The 26 year old stands 6’ 2” tall and weighs 210 pounds. He had his first hot dog at the age of five years old and truly loves eating. He is particularly good at eating wings. He proved this in 2007 when he ate 182 chicken wings in 30 minutes setting a new record in the process. February 21, 2009 he consumed over 10.5 lbs of MACaroni and cheese in just 7 minutes.

Last year the odds were much more even as Chestnut was -120 and Kobayashi was -110. Bettors and Oddsmakers apparently feel the gap between these two competitors has widened considerably with Chestnut a whopping 3/1 favorite.

Current  Odds to Win the 2010 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

Odds Explanation – You would need to wager 3 dollars for every dollar you’d like to win on the favorite, Joey Chestnut at a price of -300. For Takeru Kobayashi, at +150, you would risk 1 dollar to win 1.50.

Joey Chestnut

2009 OSCAR ODDS – ACADEMY AWARDS BETTING

By Mike Harrison

Will Kate Winslet cry? Will Sean Penn go long? Can Mickey ROurke pull off an upset for bettors?

Bettors are gearing up for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is 81st Annual Academy Awards show, aka the Oscars, this Sunday and while Hollywood is making preparations, so are the bettors.

Entertainment bets and propositions are gaining in popularity as more online sportsbooks are offering a wide variety of options related to movies and the like—there are a number of these fun Oscar prop wagers floating around for this Sunday’s awards show.

Let’s have a look at a few of the Oscar wagers that have been popular with bettors heading into this weekend.

– After fading into the abyss, what do you know, but Mickey ROurke has become relevant in Hollywood again. Thanks to his compelling portrayal of over the hill wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson in the film “The Wrestler”; ROurke (+100) is up for Best Actor. Bettors like his chances, not as much as the guy below, but ROurke is definitely the favorites amongst bettors looking for an underdog upset.

Mickey is seeing 35% of the betting action at online sports book 5dimes.com.

– While much of the talk surrounds “The Ram,” Sean Penn’s turn as openly-gay politician Harvey Milk, in the movie Milk, is the performance tabbed as the most likely to win this category. Penn is currently listed as a -125 favorite and the Oscar betting public have responded by backing him with 60% of the Best Actor action.

– Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire (-1000) was a film that seemingly came out of nowhere and won the hearts of critics, audiences and now bettors; the love story about a teen from the Mumbai ghetto that goes on India’s version of “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” is getting an overwhelming 85% of the action in Best Picture betting.

– The Best Actress category is offering up some drama at 5dimes.com, as the top three are all seeing decent action from the betting public. Six-time nominee Kate Winslet (-250) is the favorite (40% of the betting volume) for her role in The Reader, but past winner Meryl Streep (+300) is close on her heels, as she is being backed with 30% of the volume for the movie Doubt. Making this a three-horse race is Anne Hathaway (+400) as she is at the 20% mark for her performance in Rachel Getting Married.

– Slumdog Millionaire’s director Danny Boyle (-900) is getting a lion’s share of the wagers for Best Director.

On top of the usual award winner bets online sportsbooks are having some fun with the wagering options they are putting up.

Here is a look at the action on a few of the more unique propositions out there.

– Thanks Mom: Not this time
Who will the Best Actor at the 81st Academy Awards thank first in his speech? God , family or the Academy (-130) or somebody or something else (-110)?
The Academy is getting 75% of the prop wager volume in this one.

The betting patterns in the following two prop demonstrate the differences between the sexes.

– For the “Best Actor Winner – 81st Academy Awards – Will they CRY during the live acceptance speech on ABC (Reported by Mainstream Media as Crying or Tearing)” prop, Yes pays out at +275 and No at -400.
No is receiving almost all of the prop action at 90%.

On the other hand, the “Best Actress Winner – 81st Academy Awards – Will they CRY during the live acceptance speech on ABC (Reported by Mainstream Media as Crying or Tearing)” sees Yes at-220 and No at +170?

Following Gwyneth Paltrow and Halle Berry, Yes is getting a 65% majority of the betting action.

– Time limits were placed on acceptance speeches because if there weren’t restrictions, the show would run over by eight hOurs or more but the limit hasn’t stopped long speeches.

In the “Best Actor Winner – 81st Academy Awards – Will the live acceptance speech on ABC Last Longer then the 45 Second Time Limit,” Yes is listed at -240 and No at +180.

Not surprisingly Yes is the choice of the majority of bettors at 80%.

Likewise for the Best Actress time limit, Yes is listed at -220 and No at +170—again, Yes is seeing a majority of the action, this time at 75%.

The show goes live and begins on 5pm PST and 8pm EST on ABC.

You can visit online sportsbook 5dimes.com to see all the prop wagers open for this year’s Oscar awards.

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2009 WIMBLEDON WOMENS FINAL – ODDS – ANALYSIS

VENUS WILLIAMS VS SERENA WILLIAMS

How fitting that we have an all American final at Wimbledon to be played on the 4th of July as sisters Venus and Serena Williams square off.. The Current Odds at most sportsbooks favor Venus Williams with a price of -145 while the odds on Serena are +120. 5dimes.com is also offering Set Betting. For example, think Venus will win 2-0? If so you can get odds of +150. Think Serena will win 2-0? Odds on that are +200. Venus 2-1 is +250 while Serena 2-1 has odds of +300.

Handicapping this sister act can prove to be tough. They are 10-10 against each other. Dead even. Serena has more titles than her sister, but at Wimbledon, it’s Venus who has the edge with 5 titles to her sisters 2. Amazingly, one, or the other has been in the final at Wimbledon every year this decade! Serena has the edge in head to head Slam finals against her sister 5-2. Many are pointing to that stat as reason enough to back Serena at the underdog price. The fact that she wins when it counts most.

It’s certainly tempting to back Serena, who most feel is the better of the two, at underdog odds. But something else to consider is current form, as well as performance at this venue, which clearly favors Venus and explains her being favored, albeit, slightly. Venus Williams absolutely destroyed the world no.1, Dinara Safina while Serena was almost knocked off by Elena Dementieva.

We’re always looking to back a live underdog in any sport and clearly, Serena Williams is a live underdog if there ever was one. But we’re also not afraid to back a favorite if the price isn’t too high, which is where we are going with this one. To us, current form and performance at Wimbledon is the deciding factor. Some Golfers own certain courses. Some NASCAR drivers own certain tracks. Some tennis players own certain cOurts. Venus owns Wimbledon. She has won 20 consecutive matches here.

Venus and Serena have played against each other in the Wimbledon final 4 times so far, Fittingly, each has won twice. So the winner here takes a 3-2 lead in head to head Wimbledon finals. We’re going with Venus here, at odds of -145 to go up 3-2. Current form, and performance at the Venue dictate that Venus is the play. Let’s just hope the match is a little more exciting than last years final, which most agree was, well, boring.

Betting on the WNBA is at the bottom of the sportsbetting totem pole. Football is of course King, followed by Basketball and then baseball, with sports like NASCAR, Golf, Tennis and Hockey bringing up the rear. Last but not least, there’s the lowly WNBA. Virtually no betting interest among the public, which is all the more reason anyone reading this article should instantly become a HUGE WNBA fan.

There are many ways to get an edge over the bookmakers betting on the WNBA. Let’s start with something very simple that requires very little time. Following line moves. You see, the only folks betting on the WNBA are sharps. Unlike for example, the NBA finals currently taking place with the Lakers and the Magic in which there is tons of public action. There is no public action on the WNBA. Everyone is at the beach waiting for pre season NFL to start!

There are some sharp folks really doing their homework in the WNBA. They are light years ahead of the sportsbooks. When they bet, lines move. But unlike the major betting sports, the books simply don’t, or can’t, move their lines enough to compensate. Let’s take a look at yesterdays WNBA line moves. The NY Liberty moved from -3 to -4.5, a loser. But the total went from 150 to 147.5, a winner. So far we’re 1-1. The Washington Mystics moved from -3 to -6, a winner. The total went from 156 to 151, another winner. 3-1 so far. The Minnesota Lynx went from +8 to +6, another winner as they won straight up by 20. The total went from 148 to 154 in the same Game, another winner with 170 total points scored in the Game. 5-1 so far. The final Game of the day had no side movement, but the total moved from 141.5 to 138.5, a loser, for a 5-2 day following moves.

Following line moves in most sports is a losing strategy, but in a sport with so little betting interest like the WNBA, it can be profitable. Especially early in the year when the sharps know so much more than the oddsmakers. The books are spending their time on the NBA finals and MLB, and just about everything else they put a number on. At times, they don’t even pay attention to their WNBA lines. I watched two books not even bother to move their numbers when they were at least a point off the rest of the board. That never happens in the major sports.

The other way to get an edge is a little more time consuming, but can be equally as profitable. Simply become a big WNBA fan. Watch the Games, read about the Games, become an expert. One of the best ways to become a sharp yourself is to specialize in something. Specialize in college hoops totals. Specialize in halftime bets. Specialize in 1st quarter NFL bets. Or, in this case, specialize in the WNBA and become an expert. You’ll know more than the oddsmakers and will be able to spot mistakes on a daily basis.

The bottom line folks, is that as the lines become sharper as every year goes by in all the major sports, making them more and more difficult to beat, the sportsbooks continue to add to their inventory to keep things interesting. They are taking bets on everything under the sun these days, and it’s all these additions that give you, the bettor, an opportunity to profit. The WNBA is one such opportunity.

So Good Luck this summer as you set out to become a WNBA expert. If you should happen to attend a Connecticut Sun Game at the Mohegan Sun Casino, and you glance over and see some guy taking notes, come on over and say hello……..I’ll buy you a beer and share some tips!