Olympic Bet of the Day – That was just a bad, bad day all-round. That’s all I’m going to say about that. Tomorrow is the quietest day of the games, and absolutely nothing of interest pops out, so the bet of the day is going to be to not make a bet. Tuesday’s a much more interesting day.
Sports Betting Section
MADDUX'S WINNING PICKS
MADDUX'S LIVE ODDS
SITE FEATURES
Author: T.O. Whentam
Olympic Bet of the Day – I knew that there was a reason I don’t typically play parlays. I threw in the curling yesterday because they were the two games I felt most sure of. They were the only ones I lost. Annoying. These parlays are a lot of fun, though, so I’m going to keep trying. I pretty much have to because I have a bit of a hole to get out of – $342 – and only a week to get out of it. Here’s what I’ll be including today: Kristina Groves to win 1500m speed skating (-107), Ole Einar Bjorndalen (-265) over Michael Greis in 15km biathlon, Ivica Kostelic (-169) over Benjamin Raich in Super Combined, Russia (-145) over Czech Republic in hockey, and Canada (-188) over U.S. in hockey. That would pay a whopping $998 if it won. That would help.
Olympic Bet of the Day – I had an easy win yesterday – I needed Finland to win by three goals, and they win by six. That means a modest profit of $83 on the day, and a loss up to this point of $242. Not great, but not bad all things considered. Today there is a lot going on, so I am going to do a big parlay to have a cheering interest in as much of it as I can. Here are the events: Sweden (-330) to beat France in men’s curling, Great Britain (-225) to beat the U.S. in women’s curling, Andrea Fischbacher (-110) to beat Fabienne Suter in Super G, Petter Northug (-205) to beat Dario Cologna in XC skiing, and Shani Davis (-400) to beat Chad Hedrick in 1500m speed skating. $100 on that will pay $568.
Continue reading “Curling and Antawn Jamison In The Same Article”
Olympic Bet of the Day – Lindsey Vonn ruined it all for me today. Things were looking good on both bets, but then her ski went on the wrong side of a slalom gate, she hit the ground hard, and my dreams of profits died. The worst part about it was that she was clearly on her way to winning the gold when she went down. Sport can be cruel. So instead of being profitable I’m now down $325 on the games. Things need to turn around. Today is a lousy day – there is very little of interest. The best can find is taking Finland (-2.5 -120) over Germany. Not great, but it will have to do.
Olympic Bet of the Day – We got back to the winning ways thanks to the dominance of Lindsey Vonn. She paid off at even money (less by post time), so she netted me $100. That means I’m down just $125 and climbing. Happy days are ahead. To try to keep up the winning spirit I’m going to go right back to the well. Lindsey Vonn skis again today – this time in the Super Combined. That event involves one run of the downhill and one run of slalom. Vonn is far from the best slalom skier out there, but she is competent, and I think that her downhill competence and current form gives her a good chance of opening up as much of a lead as she’ll need. She pays +240 to win, so she’s worth a shot.
Olympic Bet of the Day – We came darned close yesterday – our Japanese skater finished second by a very small margin. That means that we are down $125 after three days of betting. We’re going to get it back today by betting on women’s curling. I may get my passport taken away here because Canada loves their curling, but I am going to bet against them. Canada is the favorite in the tournament, and I like their chances of hitting the podium, but they have no international experience and little experience dealing with the pressure of large-crowd tournaments. Their first game is against he Swiss. Mirjam Ott has the distinction of being the only curler to own two curling medals – both silver. She’s a wily veteran and will be more settled early than Bernard and Canada. The Swiss are at +175, and I see a lot of value there.
Olympic Bet of the Day – Because everything is a competition, I’m going to put a mythical $100 per day on these Olympic bets and keep score. Feel free to make your own bets in the comments along the way. Things started out well on this front when Simon Ammann took down the ski jumping in dominating fashion. Splitting the $100 evenly between my two picks I wound up making a profit of $75. For today’s pick we’re going to go with biathlon. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is like the Tiger Woods of biathlon. He has a record 91 World Cup victories, and he won four golds at the last World Championships, including the 10 km sprint that is being contested today. He can be had at +210, and that seems like a solid price given all he has accomplished. I’ll put my money on him.
Olympic Bet of the Day – The first medal presented is scheduled to be in ski jumping, so it’s only fitting that it’s also our first pick. Pinnacle is the only place I have seen odds for the event so far. They list two jumpers – Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer at +243 and Simon Ammann of Switzerland at +250. You can take either of them, or take the field at -111. Amman has two firsts and two seconds in five starts this year, while Schlierenzauer has six wins in 2010 alone. My pick for today is to take both Ammann and Schlierenzauer. They’ll pay well over even money if one guy wins, and that sounds better than the field.
Programming note – Each day of the Olympics I’ll be posting an Olympic bet of the day. There will be some hockey, of course, but we’ll also throw in everything from biathlon to bobsled. It should be good fun, and hopefully it’s not too terribly unprofitable. The first medals will be awarded tomorrow, so keep your eyes open.
I’m fairly confident that there is going to be a Big Ten team in the Final Four. There isn’t a lot of depth there this year, but they have three very good teams at the top. I’m not sure which one of the teams is going to be the finalists, but we got a pretty good hint of what could happen today when Purdue headed to Michigan State and emerged with a very convincing win. They won the game by 12 thanks to a monster performance from E’Twaun Moore. Kalin Lucas didn’t start for the Spartans, but he did play 29 minutes, so they can’t use that as an excuse. Purdue unquestionably staked a claim atop the conference with the win. They’ve faltered down the stretch the last couple of years as they have had key bodies wear down. They seem reasonably healthy this year, so they will be fun to watch. They have the advantage of playing the Final Four very close to home in Indianapolis if they make it, so that stands as an added incentive. It will also be a huge incentive that the team knows that if they don’t get there this year then they won’t for a while because next year will certainly be a rebuilding year.
Betting News
Online Sportsbooks
