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Conference Championships: N.E. v Baltimore, Atlanta v S.F.


maqroll

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Flacco will do enough wrong to torpedo any chance the Ravens have against us.

If Atlanta can contain Kaepernick, they'll win. I just don't think anyone has an answer for this kid yet. Tough pick. I'd prefer Atlanta.

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Every rational thought says the 49ers destroy the Falcons, but...

My predictor for some reason says it's a toss-up.

The amount of money being bet on the 49ers is staggering. Pinnacle opened it on Sunday night at 49ers -1 for small ($2k limit) bets. It almost instantly got bet to 49ers -3, which is when the other books cloned the line. I'll give the history from Bookmaker, as they've probably got the sharpest customer base of the books listed on Covers.

1/13/13 5:05 pm: 49ers -3 for -130

1/13/13 5:15 pm: 49ers -3.5 for -110

1/13/13 5:25 pm: 49ers -3 for -130 (the move back is almost certainly the result of bettors who got -3 or better trying for a middle... this is why that a game moved onto and then off of 3 is just amazing... before the move back to 3 I'd guess that 5 million had been bet on the 49ers and nothing on the Falcons)

1/13/13 8:51 pm: 49ers -3 for -125 (probably got a big Falcons bet from a sharpish player who had money tied up on the Patriots)

1/13/13 8:55 pm: 49ers -3 for -130

1/13/13 9:15 pm: 49ers -3.5 for -105 (another flood of 49er money)

1/13/13 11:05 pm: 49ers -3 for -135 (some more middlers hit it)

1/14/13 12:15 pm: 49ers -3.5 for -105

1/14/13 12:25 pm: 49ers -3.5 for -115 (everybody who got -3 or better who was going to middle has, now getting imbalanced action at -3.5)

1/14/13 3:05 pm: 49ers -4 for -110 (moving onto 4 is not as big a deal as moving off of 3)

1/14/13 5:25 pm: 49ers -4 for -115 (even at 4, the money flows in for the 49ers)

1/14/13 5:35 pm: 49ers -4 for -110 (some Falcons +4 for -105 came in)

1/14/13 7:35 pm: 49ers -4.5 for -110 (this is getting absurd)

1/14/13 8:35 pm: 49ers -4 for -110

1/15/13 12:35 am: 49ers -4.5 for -110 (probably just conservatism for the overnight)

1/15/13 11:35 am: 49ers -4 for -110

1/15/13 1:55 pm: 49ers -3.5 for -110 (Falcons money shows up)

1/15/13 3:05 pm: 49ers -4 for -110

At the -4 line, Bookmaker is showing 76% of the individual bets being made on the 49ers to cover.

I can't remember a game where the action was this one-sided. I can't see how the books aren't making a collective large (closer to a billion dollars than nothing, if this holds up) bet that the 49ers don't cover.

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Who are the bookies cheering for?

Whenever a big event happens, the sports books often find themselves between their best- and worst-case scenarios. On the few occasions the books win huge, it’s usually because of what’s called the ‘bookmaker’s dream’. That’s when the favorite wins, but doesn’t cover.

“There is kind of a misconception that we’re always rooting for the underdog to win, “ said South Point sports book director Bert Osborne. “We’re rooting for the underdog in most cases, but not necessarily to win, especially in big, isolated games. Dogs winning outright in a two-game setting like this weekend can sometimes be just as fatal for us with money-line parlays as both favorites covering the spread.“

The favorite-to-favorite, against-the-spread parlay, which pays 13-to-5 odds, is generally the most common wager. But further down the list – just below side-to-total parlays in popularity – is the money-line underdog parlay. A $10 wager at 13-to-5 odds pays $26. A $10 wager with the Falcons money line (+180) to the Ravens money line (+330) pays $110.40. Although the handle on that combination won’t be as high as the others, it’s still a risk factor feared by books.

This Sunday in the NFL’s conference championships, Vegas bet shops will be hoping for the bookmaker’s dream in the Falcons-49ers game — San Francisco winning by three points or less — but it’s not shaping up that way in the AFC, where the underdog Ravens have garnered all kinds of public action on both the spread and money line.

Bettors aren’t piling on the Patriots like we have seen all season. They’ve come to respect the Ravens, not only from the last two weeks with their core defensive stars in place, but also from their recent history. The Ravens beat the Patriots, 31-30, in Week 3, and John Harbaugh has covered both times he's faced Bill Belichick in the playoffs.

The books’ best scenario for the late game may end up being the Patriots steamrolling the Ravens — by a score of, say, 28-10 — with the game staying under the total of 51. The 49ers winning by no more than 3-points and the game staying UNDER 49 is the books’ best-scenario in the NFC game.

After a relatively quiet Wednesday at Las Vegas sports books, we saw the LVH Super Book, South Point and William Hill books all move the Patriots from -9 to -8.5 within 10 minutes of each other on Thursday morning. Most of the other books in town soon followed, and Stations went from -8.5 to -8.

The 49ers are holding steady at -4. The LVH Super Book went to -3.5 on Wednesday night, but was back at dealing -4 early Thursday morning.

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