Many professional bettors are starting to adapt in order to get better situations at +EV. As I’ve talked about before, +EV is expected value, and that should always be a positive amount. One of the ways that bettors are doing this is by focusing on half wagers instead of full game plays. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get a full game effort out of basketball teams, especially late in the season. The obvious move to counteract that would be to look at bets one half at a time.
These do take knowledge of season-long trends and possibly a feel for the game, only gained by watching it. If a star player is injured in the first half and is going to try and play through it in the second half, you won’t be holding a full game wager and hoping for the best. You can simply make a second half play at +EV with the information that you know.
A lot of times, oddsmakers have set lines for second halves. In a lot of cases, the second half lines for sides will try to mirror the full-game line as much as possible. If the Knicks are a five-point favorite and the game is tied at halftime, the second half line will probably come out around Knicks -5. The books don’t want to give hedging options or middles. If the second half line came out Knicks -8, somebody holding Knicks -5 could come back on the other team and have a three-point middle, encompassing some of the NBA’s key numbers.
This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, in the Boards. As David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”
The easternmost team in the Western Conference may finally get its wish. Since the possibility of realignment started to look more and more likely, the Blue Jackets were adamant in their desire to participate in the Eastern Conference, both to lessen travel and help with attendance when the closest teams to Columbus were in town. It appears that the Jackets will be moving to the Eastern Conference if a new proposal is agreed to by the NHL Board of Governors and the NHL Players’ Association.
The first minor league baseball game I ever went to was in 1991. I was 9 going on 10, and my dad took me to go see the AA Canton-Akron Indians. The tickets, parking and food were all cheaper than the big league club, and the baseball was almost as good. Plus, the Indians had a couple of hot corner infield prospects on the team that Dad wanted to see live and in person. Reggie Jefferson was destined to be the Indians first baseman of the future, and 1989’s 13th round draft pick Jim Thome seemed likely to man the hot corner for years to come. Thome didn’t start that game, but a stir went up around the ballpark when he was announced as a pinch-hitter late in a close game. This was our chance to see the Indians future 3B, and he had a chance to give the Indians a come-from-behind victory. After a long at-bat in which Thome fouled off several tough 3-2 pitches, the future Hall of Famer struck out, the Indians lost and that was that. I remarked to my dad that Thome didn’t look all that amazing, and thus began a future in very poor scouting on my part.
It’s tough to pass over a Hall of Fame pitcher who won 300 games and was a mainstay of one of baseball’s greatest pitching staffs when you set out to select the best player to wear #24 in a Cleveland uniform. But that’s what happened to Early Wynn, the right-hander who spent ten seasons in Cleveland, and picked up more than half of those 300 wins with the Tribe. 